This coming Wednesday would have been Maddie's 21st birthday.
YAY ME!!
I do love Daisy to distraction, but I also miss Maddie most every day.
She was a great cat.
If I ever make it to the sunny side of whatever the great beyond is, I hope she's there to show me around.
Daisy likes to get high. Really high.
If we had a catwalk around the walls a foot or two from the ceiling, I doubt she'd ever come down.
Why should I muddy my beeeauitful wee gray paws with terrestrial matter? I am a creature of the airy heights!
This actual ascent probably wasn't too hard for her. A hop onto the desk, a short step onto a bookcase to get halfway there, and then one giant leap for cat-kind and she has summited. She did it all with stealth and ease. Of course, for any dedicated traveler who has reached a goal, the question is ever present: what next?
One quick hop, I jam front claws between the picture rail and the ceiling, start scrabbling rear claws into the plaster wall.... work my way to the right 4 feet til I get to the top of the door jamb, use the top of the other door for support and BOOM! I can open the door of the cabinet at the top of the closet and I am IN where no cat has gone before!
What she'll do once she is in that rarely opened closet space, I have no idea. But seriously, look at her face and you can see the wheels turning....
When you need to know, I'll let you know.
Such is the life I live with an adventurous cat....
Have a great week ahead, all!
Sing it with me!
Ooohhhh Theeeeeeerrrre's a...
cat
in the box
on the desk
in the middle of the floor!
You're going to be singing this to yourself all day long, now. You're welcome.
I'd like to apologize to the world at large for this weirdo.....you don't deserve this.....
Have a great week ahead, all!
Daisy is a smart, curious cat. If anything new comes into the house she has to give it the ol' once-over. Often times she gives it the ol' 27 time over. And that's just the box or bag that carried it in. Daisy won't rest until she has explored the new item and figured out where she will allow it to fit into her proprietary reality.
And God forbid we humans mess that up and put the item in a spot that Daisy does not approve.
Daisy also explores the boundaries of physical reality. She has realized that her reality is not exactly the same as the humans.
HAH!! And you said I was mad! MAD!! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Daisy pushes the bonds of reality to get low and compact, and then soars to heights unattainable to mortal man!
Where I lead, no mere human can follow!
Whoa.....
Daisy has always been interested on the effects of gravity on objects. Specifically, objects that have been placed on a surface from which they could fall. With perhaps a minimal amount of feline assistance. For those of you familiar with feline behavior, that's right, Daisy enjoys playing "knock". She's been playing knock, or rather, studying the effects of gravity on various household objects while in freefall, for a while. She has recently found one particular object whose properties seem to fascinate her.
Yep, our wee gray cat kitchen timer. (one note: we're not usually given to kitchen kitsch or silly cat-related knickknacks, but this one we could not resist...)
Anyways, this poor object has been put through the gravitational wringer by our wee gray mad scientist. Daisy usually conducts her experiments in the wee hours of the morning, testing the effects of local time on gravitation fields. I tend to think that she is really studying if the gravitational field of our bed is substantial enough to overcome out curiosity about what she's up to and keep us in bed.
In any event, the poor timer tends to go skydiving on an alarmingly regular basis. We've talked to Daisy about this frequently. And what does she reply from her perch?
ummm..... Geronimo?
Have a great week ahead, all!
It's August here at ChezRanger. High summer. The past week has been mild enough, only in the mid to upper 80s, but this week we're supposed to be well into the 90s again. This is the type of weather that really too the ginger out of Maddie. She was an energetic cat most of the year, but in high summer our heavily furred creature of the Maine woods just sort of pitched the idea of vigorous physical exercise. She liked to spend hours crashed near an a/c vent, tummy to the breeze.
The summer of '06 was especially rough. A lightning strike took out our central air and left us, in the middle of July, with no cool air for a week. Rough on both long haired kitties. Ivy found a spot in front of an open window and didn't move except to eat or hit the litter box.
Daisy's not much of a tummy-up girl, even in the worst of the heat.
Darn tootin'! I'm not exposing this trim, furry, gray tum-tum during ANY time they call the Dog Days! No. Way.
Rest assured, I'll be there with the camera if ever she does!
Regular readers of this blog know that there have been many and many guests over the years. Our neighbor, Ed, and his cats have appeared on several occasions. We're always happy to see them. Sometimes they hang out on our back porch of an eve. They came by yesterday. (and forgive the poor quality of the pics. they were taken through a window...)
That's Puddin' Cat on the right, but you haven't seen Nadine, the kitty on the left, since she was wee tiny! Remember this wee little bean?
Hi! Will you be my friend?!?
Well, she's grown into a long, slim, House Panther!
She is always wide-eyed and alert!
She has a great deal of fun stalking everything that moves in our back yard.
Nadine is long and graceful.
Nadine is also a bit skittish. Friendly as you could wish, but skittish. When I was feeding the cats while Ed was out of town for work, Nadine was always happy to see me and rather cuddly, in a high-energy, head-bonk and zoom away mode. When I opened the door to get some better pics, she zipped off to the side yard. Maybe I'll get a decent pic of her sometime....
Puddin' of course, knowing me as a friend from way back, stayed regally on her perch.
Puddin' seems to be recovering nicely from her Lion-Trim. She should be nice and shaggy for autumn.
Daisy always seems to be aware when Puddin' and Nadine (or any other mammal, for that matter) is on her turf.
What the actual...?? You're seeing this too, right?
Some days Daisy does not like being an indoor cat. But then she thinks about the trade-offs....
Well, this does have it's compensations....
Indeed it does.
Have a great week ahead, all!
Daisy is an indulgent cat. She forgive me my many trespasses, such as clumsy feet, unwanted pettums or lack of true-to-life fluttering of the feather toy. She indulges me with purrs and leg-bumps and tail-hugs. She almost always naps on my outstretched legs as we watch tv. And occasionally, very occasionally, she'll come into the bedroom in the early morning hours an dlie down on my chest. She doesn't stay long, mostly, but I love it.
But there are times I transgress. Whether it's a loud noise, an accidental bump or step, or even a really bad joke. Then I get what I call the "primate, please..." look. Here it is:
Puh-leeze!
But, Daisy is usually a benevolent little gray tyrant. I'm going to go earn another look now.
Have a great week ahead, all!
It's been a busy, stressful month here at Chez-Ranger, so I have not found the time to turn my camera lens towards Daisy. This is usually the moment when I slap up an old pic of Maddie or Ivy and make my exit. Today, though, you get a real vintage pic.
My two brothers and I got together last week and spent an afternoon going through the last of my parent's belongings and assorted family artefacts. Mostly, this was the old photo albums and boxes of ancient pictures of people we didn't know and now have no real way to identify. I saw this one and had to put it in my pile.
Let me introduce you to Dot and Spot.
The handwritten text on the back reads:
"Full names being Dot & Spot Twinklepaw. Dot had only a few dark hairs beside the right ear, barely visible in this picture. I swear this report to be accurate. Historiographer of 1961 A.M.B.K. Picture taken in Oneida, Wisconsin, Summer of 1893. Dot & Spot were children of Tibbi, a real friend of the Burleson Family." and a note on the bottom of the photo reads "mission house kittens"
The historiographer was my great grandmother. The handwriting belongs to my grandmother. I'd be happy to have this photo, even if it wasn't a pic of the two cutest mission house kittens of the 19th century.
I will do my best to get new pics of the current house kitten this week. I assure you that Daisy is well, happy and full of beans.
Have a great week ahead, all!
A month ago I posted about our recent trip to the Zoo. I had been smitten by a particular bird in the aviary. This guy:
We had been unable to find him on any of the ID cards and were rather frustrated. He and his compatriots were delightful. They have a lovely song and weren't shy singing it.
I came home and did some on-line research and came up with....nothing. The only results I could get from my image searches were birds that looked nothing like our little dude. Google, my faith in you has been shaken!
I started typing in descriptions, hoping to luck into a good result and.... it worked!
May I present Garrulax Leucolophus, the White-crested Laughingthrush!
how are ya how are ya how are ya?
These birds are native to Southeast Asia, from the Himalayan foothills of India to Vietnam and Singapore. They are a very gregarious and vocal species and have even been know to hit up random passers-by for a snack.
And now we all know. What a relief!
You should go to the wiki page linked above. It has an audio file of the Laughingthrush's song. I think you'll be as charmed as we.
Daisy was a naughty cat the other day. Her collar came off and she was walking around nekkid! Can you imagine? She may have been inspired by the loose manners of some of our neighborhood strays, or perhaps by our newest neighbor, a woodchuck who wanders around au naturel as he nibbles at our clover.
LadyRanger was the perfect detective, however, and found the missing garment under the couch. It was soon back on our lovely feline, who didn't seem to mind recovering her modesty.
Prude.
At least we know that she has her ID on her if she ever gets out again.
Also shocking? I'm getting old. But the benefit of that? LadyRanger makes me cakes.
Chocolate raspberry with a chocolate ganache icing. Exceptional!
Of course, the best present is another year with LadyRanger and Daisy. They make me happy.
Have a great week ahead, all!
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