StrangeRanger

Old Game, Old Arena, New Lighting

Daisy has always been up for a good, vigorous play.  Not surprising since she is a young and vigorous cat.  She carries or drags her toys around, drops them near us and asks for a play.  She even, in the dark hours of the morning when our alarm has just rousted us for a new day, comes dragging a toy on to the bed for a play.  I almost always give her a quick few minutes of psychotic play after I make the bed.  As a result, Daisy brings toys in throughout the day for a solo play on the bed.  Sometimes she'll leave a toy there in the wee hours and come back for a little rough-house later on. 

The autumnal sunpuddle has made it's slow return to the bedroom and has finally bestowed it's illumination upon her antics.

Daisy appears upon the bed and looks over the side.

What does she see as she peers into the abyss below?!?  A TOY!  Tongue out, she pounces!

She reals it in....

...but there's fight left in it!  Oh NO!!!

It tries to flee, but is caught!

Final justice is swift but sure for the furry, springy, glittery interloper...

Afterwards, she rests, contemplating...what?

oh god, don't start on all that "...ineffable name..." crap...  I'm hungry.  I'ma look out the window for a while and then go have a snack.  Poetic enough for you?  geez.....

And there you have it.

Sunpuddle + Open Window =

Happy cat.

The autumnal sunpudlle is back.  Combine that with an open window on a lovely fall day and you get a happy cat!  Daisy spent time here enjoying the warmth of the sun and all the good smells that the cool breeze could bring.  

This does not suck....

True, she seemed quite pleased with life.  And what does all this comfortable contentment bring on?

Really?  mid-yawn?!? That is not very flattering, dude.  Thanks heaps.

And after the criticism of my photographic timing?  A nap.

Yeah.  This does not suck.

 

Reclaiming what is rightfully hers....

We found out the other day that our most convenient pet store is discontinuing Daisy's preferred brand of cat food.  We haven't broken that to her yet.  We have, however, begun the process of bringing lots of different foods to see what she actually likes.  We've done this many and many a time and thought we'd found a winner.  Curses upon modern business relationships!

I went up to the store the other day to grab a few assorted cans.  The place was hosting it's regular Saturday adoption fair (this is the place where we found Maddie all those years ago!).  Saw three charming older kittens and a passel of friendly, more-or-less apprehensive dogs.  One of the most confident of the canines greeted me with a few sniffs and lick and hopped her front paws up on my chest to get better acquainted.  

This did not go unnoticed when I got home.  

I'd tossed my fleece on the bed while chatting with LadyRanger and someone realized that I'd been fraternizing with the enemy!

Hrrrmph!  You take the trouble to send your human out into the world smelling all proper and he comes back like this!  Honestly, some people have no self respect or regard for the feelings of others!

I'm just going to have to sit here until things smell the way they should again.  Which could take a while, 'cause, y'know....dog.

You should be grateful, young man, that you have someone like me around who cares enough to take care of you like this.  Hmmph....next thing you know you'll come home smelling like bird!

Daisy returned all to it's proper order.  I dished up some of the new food as a peace offering.  It seems to have been accepted and all is well once again in ChezRanger.

Have a good week!
 

The New Family on the Block

I was out a month or so ago having a meager attempt at a workout.  I was headed home, walking down one of the nicest streets in our old, working class neighborhood.  I have always kept my eye out for neighborhood cats and many and many is the time that I've come home rewarded with the sight of a new feline.

There are a couple of spots where I keep a special lookout, having been lucky there before.  There are houses known to occupied by a Crazy Cat Lady or a good person willing to foster.  As I passed by the one nearest our house I kept an eye out.  This family has usually has no fewer than 4 cats out and around their property, some belonging to the house and most being fostered.   I've made friends with several and am nodding acquaintances with the rest.  As I approached I noticed a new face.

She seemed calm but watchful, friendly but alert.  Why?  Was it simply the usual cat reserve around the unknown?  No.  

She was guarding her kittens from the odd stranger.  Or should I say, the Strange Ranger.

I had a lovely 10 minutes or so, hanging out on the sidewalk watching the kittens romp around the outside of their porch, having a grand old time under the protective eye of their mama.

Sadly you have to put up with phone-quality photos.  And 4 year old cheap tracfone phone-quality photos.  My view was much clearer.

I've seen them once or twice since.  The kittens are bigger and plumper.  Mom is doing well, cadging meals for herself and the wee ones from families up and down the street.  I hope the crew is off to forever homes soon.  I'll keep an eye out and pass along any updates.

Have a lovely week ahead!

Natural Disaster!

Trauma at ChezRanger.  In a desperate attempt to get their lives under control and slowly regain use of the living room, the humans have finally moved Box Everest to the basement.  Daisy has been rather perplexed.

Weird...my box mountain is smaller!  Was it you?!?  Did you dry it on high heat?!?  AGAIN?!?  Mountains SHRINK if you dry them on high heat!!!  Wait...what?  you...moved my mountain?  Well, at least you had the decency to leave me this foothill....

Aaannnd then we told her that we were moving that one, too.

whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?

We think we repaired the emotional damage with treats, loves and pats.  And Daisy does like having a bit more room to maneuver in when she gets the zoomies, so I think we're gonna be okay.

Have a good week!

Storage Box Everest

We have, for a variety of really good reasons, a stack of storage boxes in our living room.  Daisy really likes them.  They tower over our living room give her a nice, off the floor spot from which to survey her Queendom.

That's right.  Mine.  My Queendom.  All mine.  I can see all the Himalayas, from Lhasa to Cat-man-du to, um, Albequerque?

Really, our cat rocks mutton-chop sideburns like....well...the originator of that awesome look:  Ambrose Burnside.  

She rocks them from on high on her box stack, sometimes only peeking out.

I can be sneaky from on high, too, y'know....especially when I'm up in the Himalayas hunting those yummy llamas......

Sometimes she wonders what all the fuss going on below is all about and comes out for a better look.

Did you fall into a crevasse again?  Stop crying.  Joe Simpson didn't cry when he took an unroped whipper into a crevasse on Siula Grande and walked out with a broken leg!!  It's not like you're way high up on box-Everest, like me!

Speaking of which, how am I going to get down?  Hmmm...  May have to have my dinner brought all the way up here....ALERT THE SHERPAS!!!!

Fear not.  She made the descent to the food bowl safely.  Quite capable, this one.

Enjoy your week ahead!  Remember to be careful in the high mountains!

The Bedroom Chair

The chair in our bedroom belonged to LadyRanger's grandmother.  Over the years it has been a favorite spot for cats.  It provides a comfy spot for a cat to gaze upon the back garden, often chock full of squirrels (those fuzzy-tailed rats!) and occasionally a possum or a raccoon.  The sunpuddle also makes it's first appearance there, before it migrates to the blanket stack and the bed.

Daisy discovered that the other day.  She'd hopped up to have a quick gnaw on two of her best friends, the Aflac Duck and Wild Thing.  She found it so comfy that she decided to settle down for a bit.

Yep.  Bath time.

Do you mind??

Of course, she never minds showing off a little leg while bathing...

And, like a kid with rubber duckies handy, there was some play.

grrrr.....

Hey!!  You're upside down!!

I think she enjoyed herself.  Perhaps she'll continue this fun as the sunpuddle slides across the bedroom over the next couple of months.  I'll keep the camera handy, just in case.

I hope you have a good week ahead!

Yesterday

Yesterday would have been Maddie's 18th birthday.

Yep.  Old enough to vote.  Probably would have registered as an independent. 

We know her exact birthday because it was written on her Certificate of Pedigree.  That's right, we had a Grand-kitten of Grand Champions!  Said so right on her paper.  See!

See?  My pedigree is longer than yours, bucko!

She got all the beautiful from all her forebears and packed it into one cat.

We got her from one of our local adoption agencies.  She'd been dropped there by the folks who paid big $$ for her in Washington.  Their loss, really....

She was playful and smart.  She loved to be chased around the house.  I spent a lot of time chasing this plume of a tail from room to room.

The best thing about the game was that Maddie knew that the best part of being chased was getting caught!  We'd end up on the couch, the bed or a chair for a quick pat and then off again!

Energetic as she was, she could always be counted on to enjoy a good nap.  And to look good doing it.

She weathered some rough times, like when we had to have her knee surgically repaired.  She had to be locked in a kennel in our sitting room for 6 weeks.  She displayed great fortitude.

Noobooody knows...da trubble I seeenn... Noobooody knows muh sorrooowww......

And she displayed the intelligence to figure out what she needed to do to escape.

hmm... Blind Pete down at the shelter used to do this by feel...

She recovered well and resumed her active lifestyle.

She was a dry-food junkie and, I'll never understand why, she preferred to eat out of my hand.  I don't have a pic of it, my hands being occupied, obviously.

She never liked Ivy but, in the face of Ivy's quiet determination to be an equal member of the family, she made her peace with the inevitable.

Oh, for the love of...MOVE!                                                                                       No, you move!

No, you move!                                                                                                           No, you move!

No, you!                                                                                                                    No, you!

No, you...                                                                                                                  No, you....             

Eventually they learned to ignore each other.  

Maddie usually slept with us.  She'd plop between us to get pats and then sigh and sleep.  If it was 2:00 a.m. and she wanted some skritches, she'd tap the back of my head until I rolled over and gave in.

We had Maddie for 14 of her 15 years.  She was a remarkable cat.  Daisy is a wonderful little creature, sharp and pointy as she is, and I love her dearly,  but there will always be a Maddie-shaped  space in my heart.  I do miss her.

 

Two Years

Today is Daisy's second gotcha-versary!  This is the very first picture I took of her.

Not a very good pic, to be fair, but you can see that she's only sneaker-sized!

She's always loved an open window, then and now.  Here's the absolute most recent pic I've taken of Daisy, Indeed, a pic from mere minutes ago!

Daisy's been enjoying watching the remnants of Hurricane Florence pass by.  We're not near the worst hit areas, so don't worry for us.  We've had a few days of windier than normal, rainier than normal, but no real problems.  That is, if you don't count frantic, panicky people behaving like idiots...  anyways, back to Daisy!

She didn't fill up as much of the window as she does now.

 

She doesn't lounge about on the bed much anymore.  She prefers to be with us, supervising the happenings.  She has started sleeping with us more, though.  She usually goes off on cat-patrol when we hit the sheets but comes stealing back in the wee hours.  She was sleeping twixt my knees this morning.

She is as playful as she has ever been.

While she can be very sharp and pointy (she plays with me like I'm a cat and don't mind being punctured repeatedly) she can also be very sweet.  And responsible!

She supervised our bathroom renovation.

You're doin' it wrong.

And she plays well with the neighbor cat, Puddin'.

HI!!!!  HI!  Do you see me waving?!?!?  HI!!!!!!!

She can be rather excitable at times....

And you couldn't ask for a prettier cat.

We're glad you're here, Daisy.  We're happy we have you.

 

Just a pic today

I'm tired and a bit under the weather.  You get a simple post today.

One of my favorite pics of Ivy.  Safe and warm with a full tummy.  And stealing Maddie's spot in the sunpuddle!  What cold make a cat happier?