Dogs and Cats and Chickens, Oh My!

Tucker’s new sweater.

On a recent trip to Nashville we found a really cute sweater for Tucker.  He needed it as the weather here has been dropping down into the teens this winter and he only has one that will fit.  Now he has two!

Don’t you think its cute?

Well…

HE HATES IT!!!

Do You Know Where Your Daddy Is?

It’s the 4:00PM lineup and we’re all waiting for Daddy to come into the drive and through the door…

Tucker is the first alert.

(BTW, now you know why my furniture nearest the front room window is always covered!)

Buddy listens intently as he watches the big window.

Even Jabba, I mean Fatty, er Smokey waits for her favorite person to come home.  “So Daddy can FEED ME!!!  My tummy is EMPTY and he’s late!”  she says.

Cats Have a Purpose?

They do.  They make us laugh!

Jabba the Cat

Her real name is Smoky, but she’s just so, how else to say it, FAT!  We found her at the animal shelter when we went looking for a mouser and ended up bringing her home too.

The conversation went something like this:

Bob:  She looks  just like Pinta.  (The cat we lost right before we moved)

Me:    Do you want her?

Bob:   She’s five years old.  Nobody else will probably take her.

Me:     Do you want her?

Bob:   She’s so beautiful and affectionate.

Me:     Can we get two?  (I had already picked Claus as our mouser)

Bob:    OK!

The hysterical thing about “Fatty” (Cat’s always have more than one name) is that she was supposed to be an outdoor cat.  Ha!  She spent the first month and a half in the kitty room and refused to come out.  Now she thinks she owns the place.  HOWEVER, she is absolutely terrified of the outside.  She lords it over us and the dogs, Buddy is actually afraid to pass her in the hall, but put her outside and she totally freaks!  She glues herself to the door, or hides under the deck, waiting for her chance to barge in.

Claus von Mouser

Meet Claus.  He has many special talents:

1. Streaking through the house and flying through the air at the sound of the door latch!  (Fast Kitty!)
2. Purring very LOUDLY!  (Love that!)
3. Potty Buddy (can you say ANNOYING!?!)
4. Excellent picker and scratcher of furniture  (HATE that.)
5. Can’t climb trees.
6. To date – hasn’t caught a mouse.

Poor baby, when we got him he was about 4 months old, and we didn’t notice his limp.  As he began to grow the limp became quite pronounced.  The vet said that he had his knee dislocated when he was a kitten.  EXPENSIVE.  He also said that as long as Claus was not in obvious pain, that it would be better to wait on a surgery.  The only real disadvantage his knee causes for him is it keeps him from adequately defending himself.  He has gotten himself thrashed by the resident feral cat twice!  We now only let him out when we are home, and that is only in the back yard with the dogs.  It is easy to keep him there as he can’t jump the fence like most cats.  Occasionally, he streaks out the front door and gets to play there for awhile.  (We watch him though)  When it is time to come in I have to be tricky… I go sit on the lawn furniture and he comes over to get petted, or into my lap, and then I have him!

Chicken Logic

B-o-k, bok, bok, bok… Hm, if it moves again I’m eat’n it.