StrangeRanger

Elegance

We all admire cats, at least in part, for their undeniable elegance.  That grace of line, that confident demeanor, that sheer loveliness of form.  Example 1:

Here we have Daisy relaxing on the bed at the Winter Palace.  She is calming down after a good play, happy with her nose in the sunshine that peeks through the curtain.  Sheerest elegance, stretched out and graceful and suave.

Save for the spit bubble dangling from her whiskers!  

Wait.  What?  For Pete's sake....get that make-up girl in here now!  She'll never work in this town again!!!

Nature demonstrates no wrath that that of a cat with an offended vanity.

I'll leave you with a slightly better-quality pic that does not contain untoward amounts of bodily fluid.  I just happen to like this pic.  If you've looked at this blog in any depth, my appreciation of this pic won't surprise you....

Light, shadow and cat.  Nothing else needed for happiness.

Helping

Being a school teacher I am not a rich man.  I've declared that we can have NO FREELOADERS here at ChezRanger!

Daisy, a dutiful cat if there ever was one, has chipped in to the extent that her youth allows.

Her first task is one she seems to relish:  making the bed.

I got this!!!

She's very enthusiastic.

Don't worry!  This'll be neat and tidy in a jiffy!!!!

Enthusiastic, but she has a lot to learn...

The next task is in the kitchen.  While at the Winter Palace, the Ranger-in-Law's cat Tabby instructed her in the finer points of helping arrange the dishwasher.

(phone pic...please forgive)

Daisy was eager to try out her new skills immediately upon our return.

Where the dishes at???

Here we see the difference between age and experience on the one paw, and youth and enthusiasm on the other.

Daisy also volunteered for a few chores.  Inspired by her many miles on the highway (6600 and counting!) she signed up for an auto mechanic course at our local Technical College.  

I'm not sure she's quite grasped some of the essentials.....

Yeah...The transmission on this couch is shot! Totally fried.  I'm guessing $850 to repair, unless we get lucky with the scrapyard....And your CV boots are cracked.  Probably been leaking lube for months.  I'm guessing a new couch-axle..that's $450 at least.....  And your framistats don't have enough mojo in their dojo, so you need to get that taken care of....that's at least one boat payment worth of moneys.... and see this here?  This is really expensive....

At least I know she paid attention during the class on billing.  

Windows '17

Daisy likes windows.  Doesn't matter whether they're open...

...or shut.

She does like hanging out in the dining room window of a Saturday evening.  

She can relax, keep tabs on us in the kitchen cooking, sniffy the wind and listen to live music.  "Live music?" you say!  Yes!  Our neighbor Ed is an accomplished guitarist and he plays outside when the weather is nice.  He doesn't necessarily play for us, though.  He plays for himself and Puddin' Cat 2.0.

You do, of course, notice the sacked-out kitty to the left of our ancient brick barbeque... Ed's a good guy to provide entertainment for the local cats.  The previous two pics were taken within seconds of each other, so Daisy really is enjoying the music.

Anyway, even given the traumatic events of this markedly awful year, we manage to find things that delight us.

Where am I on that list?  Right at the top?  I thought so.

2017 Just Keeps Getting Better

A week ago we drove up to the Winter Palace again to start the probate procedure for LadyRanger's family.  Looks like it's going to be a grind.  LR's sister and her beau were up as well.  They have been invaluable, really, doing so much to get this, and countless other details taken care of.

They drove the 6 hours back to their home last Tuesday and walked into find that their beloved cat Dorian had died.  They were crushed.

My sister-in-law had found him outside of her apartment over a decade ago.  He was a half-grown kitten on his own.  He'd been declawed and then...what?  escaped? been dumped?  No one knew except him and he was playing his cards close to his vest about that.

He had chosen the perfect apartment to lounge by, though.  S-I-L takes after the rest of the family.  Their default position on cats is instant affection.  She took him in immediately.  

Dorian and S-I-L lived together for years.  When Beau appeared on the scene I expect that Dorian had a paw in the interview and approval process.  One of Beau's early nicknames for Dorian was "Dexter", given Dorian's occasional murderous stare.  Nicknames that followed included "Oliver" (please sir, can I have some more?) and Reilly ('cause he was living the life of...).  Dorian finally signaled his acceptance of this new human by sitting on him.  They were happy together.

I hope you'll forgive the lack of recent pics.  I have a few, but they are currently trapped on my phone.

He was a good cat.  I think it's a mark of his fine, strong personality, coming clearly through many stories and pictures that we felt that we knew him, just a little.  We here at ChezRanger never met him but we can miss him.  

We're sorry he's gone.

Hey! Helloooo!!! We're Still Here!

Hi!

We are still here.

 

I apologize for the lack of Daisy for the last three months.  It's been a terribly busy terrible 2017 thus far.

LadyRanger's parents have been in poor health for a while, especially her dad.  There have been numerous health crises since New Year's.  LadyRanger's been up at the Winter Palace more than she's been here.  Daisy and I have driven up to see her almost every weekend.  Daisy and I have put over 6,000 miles on our paws. We're happy to do it, to see LR and to help however we can.  But it's wearing and there's been no time or energy for posting.

It culminated with the death of her father in the middle of March.

Jim was a good man.  We'll miss him.  Loved cats.  He seemed to enjoy my company, but I think that's only because I brought Maddie, Ivy, or Daisy up to visit.

As for cats, Daisy has become a seasoned traveler and has grown into something close to an adult cat!

She is still a kitten at heart, playing whenever she's not asleep.  She's a sweetie.

There will be more posting as travel becomes less frequent.  There's still a lot to be done up at the WP, and LR's mom cared for, so we're not done yet.  Hang with us, please.

There may also be more posting as our energy level begins to approach normal. Dunno when that'll happen, tho.....

For now, we're kinda almost sorta closing in on being back-ish.

And Daisy?

Back??  Hmmph!  I've never been gone!  I'm always exactly where I am!  Because no matter where you go, there you are!

Thus sayeth our wee gray philosopher.

And mad internet points for the one who identifies the source of the last sentence!