Dennis, hanging out up the chimney before I blocked it off.
“Go ‘way, lady. I needs my privacy.”
His favorite daytime resting place: between the blinds and window, behind Fred’s headboard. I love how his tail is curled up onto his back.
Silly boy.
Dennis is now NOT AT ALL allowed to be downstairs EVER when the door to the back yard is open. I will not tell you the details of why that is, but I will tell you that it entailed much worry, me wailing “Susan is never going to let us have any fosters again, everrrrrrrr!”, and being awakened at 4:30 by Fred saying “He came back!” Dennis might want to be downstairs during the day and early evening hours (not to mention all night long), but that’s just TOUGH for him. He’s going to have to look longingly through the screen door and know that it’s HIS OWN FAULT. Brat.
I sure wish his forever home would hurry it up!
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Grant, just strollin’ along.
“You can’t see me.”
Eyes on the feather teaser.
“Watch out, bro. I’ve got it!”
The side eye from Grant is killing me DEAD.
They sure do like it when I swing that feather teaser around.
LOVE those belly spots.
“What?” Marshall in the front, Gilbert in the back.
“I’ma climb up on your shoulders and GET that teaser!”
“Or maybe I just need a hug.”
Marshall and the Ears of Half-Annoyed, Half-Interested.
How much do they love to take turns climbing into this plastic basket and stick their paws through the holes at each other? SO much.
“Hey! Get outta there! Give someone else a turn!”
Here’s a video of Marshall, doing what he spends most of his days doing: fighting with his fish cave bed, and fending off attacks from his brothers. (That “No!” at the end is me telling Gilbert not to climb up the back of my shirt. Not that he listened!)
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Jobey Jobey Jobey Joe. (Or, if you must, Joe Bob.) That boy can sleep harder than any cat I’ve ever seen.
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Previously
2013: “MAMA. I am CLEAN!”
2012: No entry.
2011: Mister Boogers, doing his Donald Trump impression.
2010: “I am but a poor wee kitteh!”
2009: Phyllis: always smiling.
2008: Banzai!
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Marshall’s stunned, big-eyed deer-caught-in-the-headlights stare cracks me up. And he’s the brains of the operation!
I would have had a stroke if one of my guys ended up outside and was out most of the night! Dennis must be going through his teen-aged years.
I did NOT sleep well at all that night! I’m so thankful that he came back to us, and determined that that isn’t going to happen again!
Poor you — and poor Dennis! What about one of those collars for young sir? And that is a WONDERFUL picture of Jobey Joe, the hunk- y-o.
The problem with putting a collar on him is that I don’t want him to be comfortable going outside, so it’s easier for me to keep him from the downstairs during the day.
To make life a little easier for him, we’ve decided to let him have some little friends to play with (ie, we opened the door to the foster room!)
🙂
Many years ago, when my first two cats were still very young, I once coudn’t locate them in the entire apartament. I searched for them for some two hours, turned every piece of furniture upside down, and finally got to the conculsion that they must have had sowehow left the place. Important detail: I live at the 11th floor, all windows cat-proof, and I just left the main door open for a few seconds when I collected my washing from the drying room. I was so convinced that they had escaped, somehow got to the elevator or walked the stairs all the way down to the ground floor, or were kidnapped by some evil people. It was in February, lots of snow and late in the evening. I cried like crazy out of worry and the feeling of responsibility and guilt. I printed the leaflets and distributed them in the neiborhood, had my parents come to me and help me search some 2 square kilometers of ground before I got back home, crying all the time, and opened one of the drawers in my daughter’s bed. There they were, totally surprised by me interrupting their nap. I swear I had checked that drawer ten times or more! I guess they used this bloody Schroedinger trick on me just to find out if I cared for them or not. And then I had to collect all these leaflets I had left around… 🙂
Awww, I’m so glad they were safe and sound! That reminds me of a story similar to yours, I need to see if I can find a picture of the cat in question, and share it on Friday. 🙂
When one of my cats (RIP at age 17) was a 8 week old kitten, she bolted out the door at night. I was panicked because I feared I would never find her in the pitch of night. However, her mama (Dalmatian mix)bolted out after her and found her around the side of the house under a shrub asap. In no way was she going to lose her baby (they were BFFs like I have never seen)!!! My cat l-o-v-e-d dogs and was completely unimpressed by cats). 🙂
When we were tramping around the property calling for Dennis after he’d escaped, Maxi and Newt started following us around. I said “Find Dennis! Go find Dennis!”, but they were no help at all!
Funny, you know they understand you- they just choose not to help : )
GD – I have pretty much the same story. My Elliott boy (RIP) loved to escape the house. He was deaf which made it even scarier for me. When he was a kitten he got out at night a few times. Guess who found him every time? His sister the Dalmatian puppy! They were a great pair. It has been many years but I still miss them.
Dalmatians are obviously kitten rescuers by nature!!!
I miss both of mine, too! The cat passed Oct 2003 (17 yrs old) and the Dalmatian 1998 (13 yrs). I know that they are playing together!!!
Oh, those ears of half-annoyance! That pic made me chuckle.
My cat Pandora got outside once when my grandmother came to visit; it totally freaked me out because we couldn’t find her for two hours. She did come back on her own, and gave us a look like ‘what?’ And her sister Zowie got outside one evening back when I lived at home. My brother left the front door open (!!) when he came home at night and she slipped out. She ended up in my neighbour’s garage, freaked out because it poured rain. I was not happy with my brother, to say the least.
Oh Dennis, I do hope your forever home comes to get you soon 🙂
If Marshall is the “brains of the operation”, I think that group is in BIG trouble.
Does Joe Bob sleep harder than Stefan? I didn’t know such a thing was possible….
Joe Bob sleeps less than Stefan does (since Stefan sleeps 23 hours and 52 minutes of every day, that’s not so hard to do), but when he sleeps he sleeps HARD.
“Sleep Hard: The Joe Bob Story” I also have a hard sleeper who cracks me up when she face plants in the couch.
*snort*
hehehe, that made me laugh because (in my head), I heard you saying the word ‘hard’ like ‘harrrrrd’… not pirate-y but sort of like curlers do when they say ‘hurry harrrrrd’
And in that 8 minutes of awakeness he manages to catch birds, bunnies and mice? He should write a book called “The 10 Habits of Highly Effective Cats – Sleep Hard, Prey Hard”…
Oooh, that’s a good one! Love it.. except what are the other 8 Habits? Maybe: repeat four times?
I reckon the first chapter would be all about how to score such a cosy gig as he has found himself on Crooked Acres and after that there would be a lot of repetition. But there is always some padding in self-help books, isn’t there?
Almost nothing scarier than having an indoor kitty make a break for it and being gone outside for hours. I’m so glad he was smart enough to come back on his own!
Dennis, you are soooo grounded! I’m going to be humming “Little Runaway” all morning now.
That picture of Marshall looking over his shoulder at his brother is just killer.
Ah man! What did Dennis do?
Oh! He got out and probably had the best day of his short life lol. Maybe thats why hes so reserved. Maybe his cat fam were wild, and that was passed down to him along with his coloring/markings. Maybe he is an outdoor cat in training. Not trying to humanize him, but you know cats are smart and have personalities. Or catanalities.
catanalities LOL. Must remember that word.
When he was originally found, he was living rough outside as a little one, so maybe he remembered being outside and thought he’d go back to his wild roots a little! 🙂
Harley lived in a feral community for her first year and a half or so, and has NO desire to go outside again! The late-lamented Simon used to regularly make a break for outside, where he usually flopped down and rolled around, making him easy to catch. Harley watched him do this with a look of absolute horror and disbelief – she knew they had it good indoors!
Emma came from Chick-Fil-A on a 6 lane highway. She has NO desire to ever leave the comforts of her spoiled-rotten-kitty-life-home.
He knows whats good for him though, he came back!
Oh Robyn! I heart you for your continuing fearless foster foibles! Those kitties are there to test your strength and mental well being! Nothing scarier that seeing your indoor-never been outside-cat flee out the door. So glad Dennis made it back in one piece. 🙂
You and me both! 🙂
Marshall cracks me up – his expressions are hilarious!!!
Dennis – you are giving your foster mom gray hair – knock it off!
So Dennis is no longer a Player from Shakespeare – he in fact Dennis the Menace???
He’s a TOTAL Menace. Fred’s been calling him Denny-Menny for a while. 🙂
I SO wish I could come get that little boy.
Dennis.. went on a little walk about did you?? I’m pretty sure she’d continue to give you foster kittens even if..
Love the “What?” photo! 🙂
I posted this picture on Robyn’s FB page yesterday. I think that it is a perfect representation of Crooked Acres! 🙂
http://cheezburger.com/7372803072
Joasia’s story reminded me of when my calico indoor/outdoor kitty took off for a few days. I was a total wreck. I actually paid almost $100 to print fliers with a color picture on them. The next day when I planned to go pass them out is when she returned. She is now indoors with supervised outdoor privileges. It’s funny to think of the money I spent for nothing, but having my girl back is worth way more than I spent.
Ok, I guess I’ll tell my lost cat story too.
We were moving so my brother, who was on his own, took the cat for a few days. Well, at 10pm one night we got a call, he had lost Sabrina. We had just had a blizzard so he had been out in the 3ft high snow calling and looking for her.
He was hysterical and crying by the time he called us. His roommates had torn the house apart, he had torn his room apart, the whole thing.
We go over there and my father immediately rattles his sleeper sofa. Five seconds later the cat pops out, we had disturbed her beauty sleep.
I swear my brother was about to string her up at that point. Of course he didn’t but he never forgave her.
And this was the guy who’d leave his basement bedroom if she wanted to use her litter box in the nearby laundry room. She’d come to his doorway, meow, and more times than not, he’d go upstairs and wait for her to come trouncing up the stairs before going back to his room.
I thought of you and your little hats, Robyn, when I saw these! (And of course, Jon Snow!) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/10871592/In-pictures-Cute-kittens-get-the-star-treatment.html?frame=2929165
Oh Dennis, you scoundrel! I am so glad he was found, safe and sound.
I have a young cat, Mewlan, who loves to drive me nuts by hiding. Our other two cats are like dogs, they come when called-but not Mewlan. We never leave the door open, but we are in and out quite a bit, and I live in fear she will bolt out the door. She is so independent, she would probably be on her merry way, without a backward glance!
Dude, that side-eye pic is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a LONG time. I want to scoop him up and smooch him!
One day, we couldn’t find our smallest cat, Loki. We looked everywhere, and I tearfully told my furious husband that I had lost his cat. We ended up roaming around outside with a flashlight looking for her.
We come back in, and she “slorped” out from the footrest and chirped at us. >:( Silly thing was taking a nap.