Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Punky See, Punky Do

Following in the steps of her big sister.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot...

...like Christmas.

We can always tell when the holidays are approaching. The cat ends up in the tree (you can see previous years here and here).  She litteraly didn't even wait for Mr. L to finish putting the tree together this year, Tiggher started climbing the minute he got the trunk up. She was at the top before he had even organized the branches.

As for Pumpkin, she does what big sister does and made a quick climb up the tree herself. Alas, because of her balance problems she promptly fell out of the tree. One snowman broken, but Pumpkin herself, seemed to be none the worse for wear. We plan on keeping a keen eye on her if she ventures up in the tree again (and yes I have considered a baby bumper all around the tree!). 

 

Cat Hiding from Catarazzi

"No Mom,

no more photos!"

~Pumpkin

 

 

Cat cute of the day taken with iPhone.

Cat Cute

We interrupt the sweetness of the A Strawberry A Day posts to give you...cute. I'm mean seriously, are these two not the cutest? 

This is not an unusual photo, I have many more pictures of Pumpkin curled up in Tigghers arms. I love the way this photo shows Pumpkins tortoise cat markings.

Pumpkin likes to hide her face when she sleeps and Tiggher doesn't seem to mind that she's become "momma" cat. The two have seriously become the best of friends, and love playing together, though you can see the look on Tigghers face at times going "gees, can you just leave me alone Pumpkin, I'm trying to rest here!!"

We are forever grateful that we were able to rescue these two and give them a home.

I now return you to the monthly strawberry sweet fest.

 

 

And Then There was Four

Or as I like to think, Mr. L is now completely outnumbered by females.

As I mentioned earlier, we have a new addition to our family, a cute little calico named Pumpkin. And I need to make something clear, if you saw Mr. L and I at Target last weekend buying a baby gate for "our kids", please don't rejoice (or panic) that we are suddenly going to be parents of children...we were buying the baby gate for our cats.

We had read the best way to introduce two new cats to each other was to install a baby gate on the room where the new cat is being kept (our spare bathroom). After a week of Tiggher sniffing the door we put the baby gate on, opened the door and let the two cats see each other. There was sniffing, paws on either side being put through the gate, but no hissing. After a few days of this (and feeding each cat on either side of the gate) we decided it was time to set Pumpkin free.

The first day there was much chasing and pouncing. Tiggher really had no clue what this new play toy was but she seemed to like it. I think they played with each other until they were both exhausted. The two of them sound like a herd of elephants running up and down the stairs chasing each other. First Tiggher chases Pumpkin down the stairs, then Pumpkin chases Tiggher up the stairs. Tiggher still sleeps with us, she still takes naps on our laps, but she's very aware that this thing that moves is around. Right now she seems to keep one eye open for Pumpkin.

Pumpkin is settling in nicely. She's still a bit skittish at times, but she learned right away that our bed is the most comfortable place to take a nap in the sun. She's learned where the little cat beds we've scattered around the house are, when feeding time is, that we regularly toss ice on the floor for Tiggher to chase, and that Tiggher tends to leave a little tid-bit of wet food in her bowl after being fed.

It was important for us that Tiggher accept Pumpkin and that she know that we weren't replacing her, just adding a new member to our family. We had no clue how long that would take and we were prepared for acceptance of Pumpkin to take months. Today though, made us realize that the two of them are probably going to be okay together. It wasn't that both cats were napping in the kitty condo this morning, but what happened this afternoon as Mr. L and I were getting ready to head out for a walk.

Tiggher had plopped herself on our bed in a prime spot in the sun. Pumpkin jumped up and plopped herself down right next to Tiggher. Then we watched as Tiggher put a paw on Pumpkin and started licking her.

And of course, like a proud mom, I cried.

 

How Could We Resist?

Her name is Pumpkin. And she's ours.

Several weeks ago, while Mr. L was perusing the latest posts on Facebook, he saw this face. He melted. He showed me the face. I melted. And thus started the road to the Mr. and Mrs. L household obtaining a second cat.

Around Thanksgiving, a wonderful couple found Pumpkin and a buddy of hers huddled up in a garage. The kittens were cold, hungry and in need of attention. The couple took both kittens in, took them to the vet, had them cleaned up, given their shots, had the kittens fixed and then set about trying to adopt them out (the foster family already has five cats otherwise I'm sure they would have kept both of them!).  Once they posted this photo of Pumpkin, Mr. L and I knew we had to act quick if we wanted her to join us, because really, is that just not the cutest face?

Pumpkin seems to be about 7 mos old. The vet says she seems to be in good health. She will probably be a small cat compared to most. We do think there might have been some abuse when she was younger...her tail is broken and she has some back hip problems. But it doesn't matter to us. We love her even if she doesn't have a perfect body.

Pumpkin was a bit scared when she came to live with us last Friday. Lots of changes in such a short period of time and way to many trips to the vet to get poked and proded. But she seems to be ajusting well. She's eating, playing with her toys and yes, I felt like a new Mom yelling to Mr. L "we have poop!".

Tiggher still isn't sure what's going on. She knows 'something' is currently living in the spare bathroom. She also knows that that "something' gets some really good smelly tuna cat food. Tiggher does not. I think she kinda resents that. There have been a few hisses when she's seen Pumpkin through the open door. I should say she hisses and then, tail all fluffed, she runs away. Yes, our big 2 year old cat is afraid of little Pumpkin who is half her size. We are taking it slow, following all the "keep new kitten in safe room for a week or two" before letting her out. We're hoping that Tiggher will learn to except and become friends with Pumpkin...we'd like nothing better than having the two of them keep each other company when Mr. L and I are away.

For now, my spare time is spent sitting on the new kittens floor...giving her lots of attention, making sure Pumpkin knows she is safe and loved. Enjoying the joy that a little kitten can impart to their surroundings.  But don't worry, we're giving Tiggher plenty of love and attention too.

 

 

Relaxing

Wow, where did December go? Actually, where did the year go? Heck, who am I kidding, where did the decade go???

I think Tiggher has the right idea. I think I'll just relax in front of the fire for a bit and not worry about all the things I should be doing.

Be safe tomorrow night, enjoy the bubbly, see you next year.

It's Snowing Yellow Leaves

This past weekend, while Mr. L and I were running around, scrambling to get errands done (read that as prepping for Christmas) we stopped dead in our tracks while driving down a street not far from our house (Cherry Ave in Willow Glen for those locals). The sidewalks and lawns of those living on this particular stretch were blanketed in yellow leaves. You can see from the photo that there is even a line of the leaves between lanes in the street. Literally several blocks looked like there was a fresh snow of yellow leaves. It was absolutely beautiful, and it made us stop for a bit to marvel at what Mother Nature had done. Those that get snow might not think something like this is is a big deal, but for an area that doesn't really have seasons, something like this is impressive. Alas, once the rain and wind came, all evidence of the "yellow leaves of snow" disappeared.

Not a lot of posting going on these past few weeks as, typical of the holiday season, life is crazy busy. Both mine and Mr. L's work has us putting in long hours. There have been home cooked meals, a few frozen meals from the freezer and, okay I'll admit, we gave in to a craving for McDonald fries last night (not so fond of the new Angus Burgers by the way). We tried a new (to us) Mexican food place that is right down the street (Mexico Lindo) and we got some take out BBQ that fed us for days (Famous Daves).

We have so many Christmas lights, lit snowmen and flame-less candles going in our house that you can walk from room to room and never turn on a regular light. It may take ten minutes to turn everything off before we go to bed at night but it's worth it.

I'm hoping to find a bit of time to post a few things, but honestly any spare time we have we'd rather spend in front of the fireplace, reading a good book, sipping some piping hot cocoa from our Christmas mugs, marveling at all our Christmas lights. And trying to ignore the cat in the tree.

The Christmas Tree Ride

I think Tiggher just assumes this is her new playride. Something like a tree roller-coaster. Run up the middle tree trunk and then just run round and round on the outside tree branches until you reach the bottom. And then bat around the low hanging lights.

Next year we may sell tickets.

Live Cat Ornament

Can you spot the live cat ornament in the tree?

Yeah, that's our 8 month old kitten Tiggher. She found the Christmas tree and has decided that it's her new play toy. We've tried everything to discourage her. Spraying her with water until she looks like a drowned rat. Putting tinfoil around the trunk. Spraying the tree with that citric stuff that's supposed to keep cats from chewing. Tiggher thinks it's catnip. Other than the suggestion of putting a shock collar on the cat to keep her out of the tree (which is NOT an option) we are out of options. So the tree will come down today. Replaced by a two foot tree. With no ornaments. With lights somehow secured in place. Don't worry about the tree falling over...Mr. L put about 75 pounds of buckshot in bags on the base of the big tree to keep it steady, I think it will work on the two footer.

This weekend will be a challenge...to figure out just what of our holiday decorations can be put up around the house that Tiggher will not decide to confiscate as her own (like my toothbrush which she decided was a new chew toy). And before you say "should have gotten a dog" please realize that Tiggher knows how to play fetch and the command "sit". It's the "No Tiggher, leave that alone" command she hasn't mastered yet.