Jump to comments Jump to sidebar
When you get a chance, could you please refresh my memory about the invisible fencing you have for your permanent residents? Thank you!
It’s the Purrfect Fence – we use the conversion system and it works great. We have chain-link fence around 3/4 of our back yard, and wooden privacy fence on the 4th side, and we have never had an escapee since we’ve lived here.
Having said that, I will say that if a cat wants IN the back yard, they can climb over the fence and get into the back yard, but then they’re stuck and can’t get out. For that reason (and because possums and skunks are able to get through the fence with no problem and I would rather not have a possum or skunk in the house) we bring the cats inside at dusk, and they’re not allowed outside at night (though they can still go out on the screened porch.)
I made this picture at the last house that explains how the Purrfect Fence works.
What it looks like.
How it works. (If that’s hard to read, it works like this: there’s a brace bolted to the fence. A spring-loaded arm fits into the brace. Mesh deer fencing is stapled to the wooden fence and attached to the spring-loaded arms with zip ties. If the cat climbs the fence, the spring-loaded arm bends under his/her weight and drops them to the ground. (With the chain-link fence, the deer fencing is attached to the fence with zip ties.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi- it seems Kirk is always tackling his siblings, more so than the other kittens. Is it a boy thing? Dominance thing? Or just plain normal kitten behavior? Do kittens try to establish a pecking order like their more wild cat cousins do? They are all so adorable.
I think it’s just a Kirk thing – he’s very exuberant and excited (while also somehow being a very chill dude), so he’ll jump on anyone (including his Mama, which is so ruuude). That said, kittens do have a pecking order that changes a lot, so one day one kitten might be at the top of the heap, the next it’s someone else entirely. (I think we all know Troi rules the roost a lot of the time.) But mostly, it’s just how kittens are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You had made up a chart detailing your permanent residents and their personalities, including likes and dislikes and different traits or quirks, etc. That was almost 10 years ago, and I have to say it’s rather sobering to this long-time reader (I think I started reading in 2009 when the True Bloods were in residence) to look at it and realize how many on the list have gone over the Rainbow Bridge since then, wow. Anyway, having said that: Would you perhaps be willing to update that spreadsheet with entries for your current clowder? No great hurry or anything, but I’d be interested to hear about Dewey and Khal and Charlie in comparison.
I actually looked at that when I was putting together the post, and it’s utterly amazing to me how many cats have come and gone in that time (I keep saying that one day I’m going to put together a timeline of permanent residents through the years; perhaps that will happen… SOME DAY). But as far as an updated personality chart, yeah – I can do that! It’ll be a while, probably (it’s about time to start putting together the calendars), but it shouldn’t take too long to update it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did the Star Trek theme get chosen because the mark on Uhura’s face look like the badges they wear?
Yep! She came from our local animal control, and they were calling her Swiss Miss. We were kicking around names of hot cocoa brands for her kittens (and there are not many!), when I looked at a picture of her and noticed how much that spot looks like the Star Trek insignia. So it seemed like an obvious (and better) naming theme!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kirk’s so sleepy he didn’t even make it into the pie plate.
Spock’s still lovin’ that cat tree.
Uhura looks very serious, doesn’t she?
I’m getting a little bit of attitude from Kes, here.
Nap time for Janeway and Troi.
Janeway’s keeping an eye on me.
Kes is all “Going into space, don’t hold dinner for me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charlie (aka “Charlesburg” (Fred), “Charlie Bear” and “Charlie the Bear” (me) and “That [expletive] who always yowls at me” (Trixie and Rocco)) still loves those crocheted beds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr) yesterday.
It’s Thlurrrpsday, so please admire this quadruple-thurrrp situation. From left we’ve got Kirk and Spock thlurrrping, Janeway with the face of “not gonna do it, and you can’t make me”, then Troi and Kes with their own thlurrrps.
Throw Back Thursday: I ran across this in blog post from 2006 (when we were fostering our very first bottle baby, Maddy), and the post made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it with y’all. (Sugarbutt, the orange tabby who belongs to that tail, was a permanent resident).
The absolute best moment of the day came when I was just hanging out with Maddy, and Sugarbutt and Tom Cullen came in to hang out, too. Sugarbutt got into one of the cubes that stays in the kitten room. His tail was hanging out one of the holes, and Maddy saw it and became curious (she’s turning into a real little CAT!) and ran over to sniff his tail. I snapped a picture of that moment.
And one instant later, Sugarbutt realized that Maddy was sniffing his tail, and he simultaneously hissed and levitated out the hole in the top of the cube, and he hung there for several long seconds, then pulled this running-sideways Matrix move, where he ran along a part of the wall and out the door. This act scared Tommy, who was hanging out in Maddy’s cage, so badly that he hit his head on the side of Maddy’s cage with a resounding ::clang:: and then tore out of the room so fast that he was nothing but a big black portly blur.
I called Fred to tell him about it, and ended up laughing so hard I was crying and he couldn’t understand what I was saying.
YouTube link
Throw Back Thursday: Someone recently asked how I get line-up pictures of the kittens, which made me think of this video I made back in 2018, when we were fostering the 9 Mainers kittens, in answer to that same question. I obviously need to do an updated video of how I do it now (short answer: Churu and feather teaser, and a desk that’s high enough that they hesitate to jump down from it).
Throw Back Thursday: I have shared this picture like 7 million times, but I’m sharing it again since it’s been 18 years (!) since I took it, and it remains one of my most favorite pictures ever ever ever. That’s foster kitten Bear/Barrett (who became permanent resident Tom Cullen) jumping up after the feather teaser, his brother Sad Eyes (these kittens came to me pre-named)(who became permanent resident Sugarbutt) cheering him on, and their sister Little Cal.
YouTube link
Kes has a purrrr.
YouTube link
Kirk versus Spock, versus Kes, versus Janeway, versus… well, really, everyone versus everyone, including Spock versus the rug, who was just lying there minding its own business!
Good night innernets. (Spock and Kirk)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2022: Saul with the crazy eyes and the crazy whiskers and the “What you DOIN’, lady?!”
2021: “These kids want my pie plate, and I ain’t movin’.”
2020: Good ol’ Featherlips.
2019: “Where did the milk bar GO, I could swear it was RIGHT here!”
2018: No entry.
2017: Hubble selfie. They learn so young!
2016: Does it make anyone else dizzy, or am I the only weirdo?
2015: Don’t you just LOVE a happy ending?
2014: “What can I say? Whiskers is tasty!”
2013: No entry.
2012: No entry.
2011: If dogs could purr, that’s what he’d be doing.
2010: Meet Starsky and Hutch.
2009: Six of the six!
2008: DISAPPEARING UP THE CHIMNEY.
2007: No entry.
2006: This can’t end well.
2005: Nas. Tay.