Showing posts with label Boots cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boots cat. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Welcome Princess Neko
Here she is. We asked her owner if we could keep her. That's the short version of the much more lengthy post I was in the middle of - then decided that could wait.
We are happy to have her as part of the family.
Monday, November 05, 2012
Autumn activities here at the Oasis
Seems like I've been away from this blog for a long time. I have gone back to a lower frequency of posting, which I attribute to a burnout of sorts. By the time I've listened to radio news (NPR) for many hours, get my daily dose of Rachel Maddow, (almost daily) Stewart/Colbert, and wade through the endless stream of Facebook friends and Liked-pages news feed, commenting here and there, or not, (this election is INSANE) or issuing a status update maybe, plus scrolling through Twitter... I am too mentally wasted and worn out to put together a posting. It will be time for dinner+couch+TV with the spouse, or just getting out and being in the world in person. Anyway, here's a rundown.
Oct 20 was Tour de Fat, which we attend pretty much every year. It's a touring bike-themed, beer-themed, steampunk-flavored play day and costumed bike parade hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado. MrB likes to ride in the parade. I sit it out but enjoy the day. I tend to have one beer too many and get too much sunshine. None of that changed this time. A few pics from the day:
On the 24th I went to the book signing of Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal - who creates some of the funniest comics you'll find anywhere. His new book is called "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you," and contains How to Pet a Kitty along with a whole book-full of other cat comedy. I absolutely love The Oatmeal.
On Oct 27 we went to see 18-yr-old guitar phenom Carson Brock. He is the son of Kyle Brock, who goes way back to the 1970s playing bass with Eric Johnson, and gets better every time I see him. Good voice too. Look for him on your geetar radar. Here he is on the Jimi Hendrix song, Red House.
Halloween came and went. We had a solid hour of very cute costumed children coming to the door. The most popular costumes still seem to be Princess and Pirate, not much changed about that since I was little. I was never a Princess though, always a Hobo.
Nov 3rd we went to the Celtic Festival, where we had an enchanting day of wonderful Celtic music, climaxing with Moya Brennan (of Clannad) and band, including Cormac De Barra, two harps, drum, fiddle and guitar. It was really quite a treat. Here's one of her videos from about a year ago. Our venue was not nearly as magical as the setting in this video, but it was really nice, a stage in an intimate setting with the lake behind. It is still very warm here, still a bit warmer than I would like it to be, but the weather is still lovely and it cools down a nicely in the evening.
And there's cat news... mostly we do not go out except on weekends, and look forward to nightly visits from some neighborhood kitties. There's one in particular who has stolen our hearts. She is owned by the people 2 doors down but she is left out what must be most of the time. On Friday night, in the exact middle of the night, we heard a meowing in a place where there should be no meowing. There she was, on the second floor roof (which was very steep) crying at a high bathroom window which isn't any taller than a cat door. Everybody was pretty freaked out and scared. I went outside and didn't really see any path down that wouldn't be painful. MrB was finally able to pry the screen off and pull her through there. We don't know why she was up there, whether she was escaping some critter or just decided to see if that might be an alternate place to be let in. We think she must have balanced on the plank fence and jumped up. We hope that she was sufficiently terrified by it to not try again. Anyway, couldn't help but think of this song.
The election is on Tuesday, and it can't get here soon enough. I think our heads might just spin right off at the neck. Will be checking in here again soon, I hope.
Oct 20 was Tour de Fat, which we attend pretty much every year. It's a touring bike-themed, beer-themed, steampunk-flavored play day and costumed bike parade hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado. MrB likes to ride in the parade. I sit it out but enjoy the day. I tend to have one beer too many and get too much sunshine. None of that changed this time. A few pics from the day:
On the 24th I went to the book signing of Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal - who creates some of the funniest comics you'll find anywhere. His new book is called "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you," and contains How to Pet a Kitty along with a whole book-full of other cat comedy. I absolutely love The Oatmeal.
On Oct 27 we went to see 18-yr-old guitar phenom Carson Brock. He is the son of Kyle Brock, who goes way back to the 1970s playing bass with Eric Johnson, and gets better every time I see him. Good voice too. Look for him on your geetar radar. Here he is on the Jimi Hendrix song, Red House.
Halloween came and went. We had a solid hour of very cute costumed children coming to the door. The most popular costumes still seem to be Princess and Pirate, not much changed about that since I was little. I was never a Princess though, always a Hobo.
Nov 3rd we went to the Celtic Festival, where we had an enchanting day of wonderful Celtic music, climaxing with Moya Brennan (of Clannad) and band, including Cormac De Barra, two harps, drum, fiddle and guitar. It was really quite a treat. Here's one of her videos from about a year ago. Our venue was not nearly as magical as the setting in this video, but it was really nice, a stage in an intimate setting with the lake behind. It is still very warm here, still a bit warmer than I would like it to be, but the weather is still lovely and it cools down a nicely in the evening.
And there's cat news... mostly we do not go out except on weekends, and look forward to nightly visits from some neighborhood kitties. There's one in particular who has stolen our hearts. She is owned by the people 2 doors down but she is left out what must be most of the time. On Friday night, in the exact middle of the night, we heard a meowing in a place where there should be no meowing. There she was, on the second floor roof (which was very steep) crying at a high bathroom window which isn't any taller than a cat door. Everybody was pretty freaked out and scared. I went outside and didn't really see any path down that wouldn't be painful. MrB was finally able to pry the screen off and pull her through there. We don't know why she was up there, whether she was escaping some critter or just decided to see if that might be an alternate place to be let in. We think she must have balanced on the plank fence and jumped up. We hope that she was sufficiently terrified by it to not try again. Anyway, couldn't help but think of this song.
The election is on Tuesday, and it can't get here soon enough. I think our heads might just spin right off at the neck. Will be checking in here again soon, I hope.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Catblogging - Lost
Last November this pair of adorable kitties showed up on the block. It was a very lookalike pair of brother/sister tuxedos (and we soon found out it was a trio, as they had a longhaired tuxedo sister, but she hardly ever visits). This is the first one who showed up on the right. She sported 4 white boots and her brother had white boots in the back with white toes in front. You never saw sweeter or more affectionate cats, these were cuddle-monsters from the start. We later nicknamed them "Boots" and "Bisou." (Our original name for him was "Spats," but Bisou being French for 'kiss' it seemed like a cuter name.)
The first time these kitten/cats ventured onto the screened porch, they both piled into my lap and went to sleep.
These cats seemed to be mostly outdoors, but they always looked good - good coats, no injuries or obvious health issues. Because of that, I tried to worry less, or at least I was able to push the worries to back of my mind - because these are not our cats, and they have a home around here somewhere. Before long, Bisou started to readily come inside the house for belly rubs, snuggling, and occasionally a short nap. We never feed local cats anymore, and no longer have litter pans, so we make sure the visits are very short. It is important to us that neighbor cats know where they are supposed to be living, where their real home is. It's important that they don't think they live with us.
We just can't go through cat-parenthood again. It's far too painful, expensive and hazardous to our own health through stresses. But I looked forward to every visit from Bisou, and really tried not to fall in love.
We started to see Boots a lot less frequently in the daytime, and found out that she had become a night kitty. Any evening, after dark, we can go out in the driveway, and she will come running. She is usually either under a truck down the street or coming out of the storm sewer. She wants belly rubs and petting, and does not get tired of them. She got to be much more skittish about the house though, and stopped coming inside at all, ever.
About a week ago, these posters went up in the neighborhood. It is Bisou. I am happy that Bisou's humans cared enough to put them up. I have seen many cats go missing around here without seeing flyers or getting an inquisitive knock at the door to let people know that they are missing their little sweetie.
If you are a long-time reader here, you know that I have strong feelings against leaving cats to roam freely and unsupervised outdoors except under certain circumstances - but for me those circumstances do not include a suburban neighborhood. The outdoors in general present dangers from venomous snakes, scorpions, coyotes, and all manner of things. In areas where humans are denser, there's the extra danger from vehicle death, child/teenage/adult pranks, dogs, other cats, communicable cat diseases, whatever lives in the storm sewers, plus the snakes, scorpions and coyotes. It's an active debate in the cat-world and there are pros and cons to both indoor and outdoor choices. What is not in dispute is that outdoor cats have a much shorter lifespan.
We do not know what happened to Bisou. It is possible that some neighbor who fell in love with him decided to make it permanent. That's what we have to hope for. I contacted Bisou's people to send them our photos, and the woman said that they provide shelter for Boots in the garage. I don't know if that means an open or closed garage, but a closed garage in the winter here is a welcome thing, but in the Texas summer it will not be shelter. It will be an oven, even at night. If Bisou is really gone from this world (and we don't know what happened), he will never have experienced a whole summer, as he was a young cat just out of kittenhood when he came into our lives last November. We miss him very much.
Bisou
The first time these kitten/cats ventured onto the screened porch, they both piled into my lap and went to sleep.
These cats seemed to be mostly outdoors, but they always looked good - good coats, no injuries or obvious health issues. Because of that, I tried to worry less, or at least I was able to push the worries to back of my mind - because these are not our cats, and they have a home around here somewhere. Before long, Bisou started to readily come inside the house for belly rubs, snuggling, and occasionally a short nap. We never feed local cats anymore, and no longer have litter pans, so we make sure the visits are very short. It is important to us that neighbor cats know where they are supposed to be living, where their real home is. It's important that they don't think they live with us. We just can't go through cat-parenthood again. It's far too painful, expensive and hazardous to our own health through stresses. But I looked forward to every visit from Bisou, and really tried not to fall in love.
We started to see Boots a lot less frequently in the daytime, and found out that she had become a night kitty. Any evening, after dark, we can go out in the driveway, and she will come running. She is usually either under a truck down the street or coming out of the storm sewer. She wants belly rubs and petting, and does not get tired of them. She got to be much more skittish about the house though, and stopped coming inside at all, ever.
If you are a long-time reader here, you know that I have strong feelings against leaving cats to roam freely and unsupervised outdoors except under certain circumstances - but for me those circumstances do not include a suburban neighborhood. The outdoors in general present dangers from venomous snakes, scorpions, coyotes, and all manner of things. In areas where humans are denser, there's the extra danger from vehicle death, child/teenage/adult pranks, dogs, other cats, communicable cat diseases, whatever lives in the storm sewers, plus the snakes, scorpions and coyotes. It's an active debate in the cat-world and there are pros and cons to both indoor and outdoor choices. What is not in dispute is that outdoor cats have a much shorter lifespan.
We do not know what happened to Bisou. It is possible that some neighbor who fell in love with him decided to make it permanent. That's what we have to hope for. I contacted Bisou's people to send them our photos, and the woman said that they provide shelter for Boots in the garage. I don't know if that means an open or closed garage, but a closed garage in the winter here is a welcome thing, but in the Texas summer it will not be shelter. It will be an oven, even at night. If Bisou is really gone from this world (and we don't know what happened), he will never have experienced a whole summer, as he was a young cat just out of kittenhood when he came into our lives last November. We miss him very much.
Bisou
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