Squeak is back outside

Third times the charm.  I had previously tried to put

Squeak back outside after the threat of below zero and sub freezing temperatures was over without success, but today it was around 70 degrees F and it was much easier.  Not really that easy, but she's out there once again.

Squeak had spent around three weeks in the house because of a severe Winter weather Advisory with ice and snow.  Rick brought her inside and she made herself comfortable immediately.  It took her only about an hour to get used to her new surroundings.  

Squeak picked out my underwear drawer to nap during the day.  We couldn't find her at first, but finally found her only by spotting her beautiful tail sticking out of a cabinet in my dresser.  She picked that spot because it was very well hidden, so we left her alone.  She is very good at opening drawers and cabinets, as all cat owners know.

Squeak slept with me at night.  She liked being wrapped up like a burrito and laying next to me at night as I slept.  Once she put me to sleep she would get up and explore the house.  Unlike my other cats of the past, she never knocked anything over or made any noise, and would return back to my bed for cat naps until I woke up in the mornings to give her fresh food and water.  

She is really a good kitty except for all that cat hair she leaves around.  She didn't really shed much because it's Winter and she needs her thick coat, but Rick was afraid that he might get a cat hair on him.  As for me, I'd like it if she stayed inside with me all the time, even if I was covered in pet hair.  That's just me.  I'm an animal lover and I love my pets. 

  

Sunrise and Squeak

 The cat and I woke up early one morning just as the sun was beginning to rise.  The sunrise looked like it was going to be a gorgeous sunrise, so I texted my daughters and told them about the beautiful sunrise.  Of course Suzanne went out and took this picture of the sunrise that we were watching.  

Isn't it beautiful?  This was a couple of days ago, and the white at the bottom of the picture is of the snow and ice that is covering the ground.

This morning when I woke up Squeak, my cat who is taking temporary shelter in the house was sitting on my bookcase looking out into the snow.  She loves looking out the windows, but whenever we approach her she runs off.  I think she thinks that we are going to put her outside and she's not ready to go yet.  This morning I finally got a picture of her looking out at her snow covered world.  

She came back to bed for a catnap and then we both got up and she followed me into the living room where I drink my morning coffee while watching game shows.

Today Squeak walked to the front door, so we thought she might be ready to go outside.  I opened the door, and she stepped way back so I left the front door open just in case she wanted a better look outside.  I was right and she approached the door again and sat there and looked out.  She left and came back to the open front door several times, so after we drank our coffee we decided to carry her outside.  I stuck her inside of her heated cathouse and she jumped right back out.  We immediately saw that this was a big mistake as she started crying at the door.  She wanted back inside.  We first remained outside for a few minutes thinking that she would settle down and get back into her cathouse, but she didn't and there was no way for us to get back in with her howling in front of the door.

Of course we gave in and let her back inside, and decided to put her back outside when the ice and snow melt away.  Last year or the year before when the winter temps got dangerously cold for pets we brought her inside, but in about 3 days she went right out, no problems, but not this time.  Of course there may not have been all this snow outside at that time, and this time she has been inside for over a week.

The temperature is warmer today and I can see some melting going on, but now tomorrow it's getting cold again.  This week was forecasted to be warmer with temperatures that were safe for our cat, but as things go here in Kentucky the weather changed again.  We may be stuck with Squeak in the house for another week and then I don't see her wanting to go back outside again.  She has to go because it's driving Rick nuts having her inside.  He's not a pet person.

While Squeak has been inside she has cuddled up to me at night and has slept tucked up against my right side.  Rick has been sleeping on the couch so that he can keep an eye on what she does or where she goes when she decides to take her night time walks.  She always comes back to bed with me, but that wandering of her's is not something Rick can tolerate.  

Squeak has been on her best behavior for a cat.  She hasn't knocked anything over or insisted on being perched somewhere up high.  Rick has seen to that and she knows what NO or GET DOWN means too.  Sometimes I feel that she is getting depressed because she's not free to roam around and be inquisitive like cats are.  She sleeps the whole day and catnaps at night.  She definitely is nocturnal and does most of her eating at night.  When she's been outside we feed her in the daytime and remove the leftover food at night.  This is so as not to attract other wild animals near her cathouse.  

We originally brought her inside because it was so cold out that she wasn't leaving her heated cathouse all day long.  We hated that for her because she was not getting any exercise.  We may have done the wrong thing by bringing her inside.  I just don't know, but it made us feel better.  Squeak protested at first and hid out under the bed, but this time she didn't remain hidden until the last day, but came right out after just a couple of hours.  I'm afraid that we might not be able to put her out without her crying to get back in until the temps reach 50 degrees F.

The Christmas and New Years Holidays, the death of Jimmy Buffkin

 Thank goodness the holidays are over with.  They're just so hard and stressful these days, of course unless you have small children to keep the spirit alive.  Young children just get so excited about Santa and presents that it's hard for any adult with children to feel sad at Christmas, or at least it would seem so.  I may be wrong.

Rick baked the Christmas turkey and both of us had a very pleasant Christmas dinner all by ourselves...just the two of us.  On New Year's Eve we stayed home to welcome the New Year in with a bottle of non alcoholic sangria, and we watched other's on TV across the world welcome in 2023.  

Earlier on New Years Eve Rick had attended a Memorial Service for one of his co-workers, Jimmy Buffkin who passed away on Christmas Eve.  He was only 52 years old and such a nice and friendly guy.  I really liked him.  The holidays will never be the same again for his two sons and his wife.  Prayers for his family and his friends who will miss him very much.   

 On New Year's Day, Rick drove me to the new 16,000 foot house that they are building in London, Ky  It was very impressive, but having 3 finished floors with so many bedrooms, bathrooms and fireplaces is not my cup of tea.  It was beautiful, but for me I'd rather have something much smaller and only a one floor plan, because I don't like climbing so many stairs and this new home had staircases, and stairs everywhere.  Much too many stairs for me.  The basement level of this house is all I would need, and even that was really big, but actually that was my favorite floor of all.  The in-ground pool was on that level which made it even more perfect.  The lower level had everything I want in a house and at least 3 times the size of my house.  You could tell that this level was clearly made for entertaining lots of people, but then so was the next level up with its huge deck made for at least 50+ people.  Their parking lot outside their two large garages had ample concrete parking for about 40 cars to move about easily.  You could easily set up a large church revival tent on their parking lot, that was how big it was.  The house was set on 100 acres, with 3 fully stocked ponds, tennis courts, basketball court, woods and meadows with 3 deer stands scattered here and there.  Rick said that sometimes the deer would appear in the fields behind the house.  Their was a circle drive winding between the 3 ponds with a wooden fence and electronic gates to let you in and out of the property.  Below and beyond the pool area there was a large round fire pit.  These people had thought of everything.  I found out that they were moving into this house from their other home that has an indoor swimming pool, so I'm assuming that their other home isn't too shabby, but also a luxurious home as well, just maybe this home has more acreage.  I really don't know.

Anyway, this is how Rick and I spent New Year's Day at that new house under construction.  I walked up and down stairs looking around and exploring while he worked on the swimming pools with a long telescopic brush.  I don't know what he was doing, but that it has to be done everyday for a while to the bottom and sides of the inside of the pools.  It was the first time that I have been out of the house in weeks, other than to go out to feed the cat, and it was nice.

The week before Christmas we had below zero weather and on one of the coldest days our natural gas went out.  We got very cold but by evening the gas company turned it back on.  I worried about Squeak our kitty who got frightened by how I was bundled up when I went out to feed her and ran off.  I also scared her when I touched her plastic door and it snapped off making a large cracking noise.  That night it got to -21F with the wind-chill  and I didn't see her for the next two days which never got above minus single digits all day long.  I was very happy to find her one morning snuggled up tightly in her heated cat house.  What a relief that was to me.  She has a warm house in the backyard and a heated one for those extremely cold nights on the front porch.  She now has 2 heated water bowls because when she moved to the front porch I had to go out every 2 hours to give her fresh water and to retrieve the ice cube that was her previous water bowl.  Hopefully we won't have such frigid weather again, but winter is just getting started.  From one week to the next the temps jumped 100 degrees F.  We went from a -21 F to +69 F degrees in 24 hours and our daily temps have been nice since last Tuesday after Christmas.  Yesterday there were many motorcycles out riding, but today it's cloudy and 64 F degrees.

So far this New Year is starting out fine, and I hope it stays that way for the entire year.  I'm hoping all is well with everyone, and that Brandon & Krystal got moved in to her sister's without any problems.  Krystal now only has around 6 months to go in her pregnancy with my new great-grandson and their first child.  I know that Brandon & Krystal are extremely excited, and so am I.  I pray that all goes well with her pregnancy and with the baby.

I woke up very sore this morning from climbing up and down so many stairs yesterday, but now I'm feeling much better.  It doesn't take me long to recover with a couple of Extra Strength Tylenol.

Here's wishing everyone who reads this a Happy New 2023!

The colors of the sky reached to the ground

I don't know if you can see it, but the white on my cat Squeak's coat is a shade of pink and so is the board that she is sitting on.  

The air, as I looked out my dining room window late last night and living room glass front door looked an erie shade of pink.  I tried to capture it with my cell phone camera, but the pictures didn't do it justice.  

These are the best pictures that I got.  The air doesn't look pink, but you can see the pink shade on the railings, and the board that the cat is sitting on.  Those are definitely not a shade of pink usually.

This was the color of the sky at the time. It was beautiful to say the least.  It's at these times when I wish that I had a really good camera that could capture exactly what the human eye is seeing.  But then, I guess every human eye might not see things the same as my eyes see them.

I just had a thought!  What if someone would invent an implanted camera lens behind your eyes that would snap pictures whenever you asked it to and then bluetooth them to your computer or phone so that everyone could see what you saw?  Wouldn't that be great!  Then you wouldn't have to try to describe to others what you saw and how beautiful it was, they could see it for themselves.

I know that most everyone has seen how beautiful and green everything appears after a rain storm.  It must be the humidity that also makes the air look like it has a hint of green to it.  I love it when you can actually see the air........not the smoggy air like I used to see as a child in California, but the air that is tinted by the sky's colors or the greenery of everything around us after a rain.

Everyday Life

 This day has gone by so fast.  I haven't done very much, but I did get around to sweeping the floors which needed to be swept, believe me!  I've really been slow about getting back to my regular routine after my hip replacement.  By regular routine, I mean all the things that I used to do before my hip started bothering me about two years ago.  

Rick mowed my yard yesterday for the first time this year.  We need to mow his two yards as well, and this time I'm going to help him mow.  I did help with picking up all of the fallen branches and sticks that fell through the Winter months in my yard.  That was a big job too and I ended up with my back hurting, but right now I feel fine.

Suzanne took some pretty pictures of some of her flowering trees which I will share here, and Sharon shared a picture of a snake that she had seen probably while on one of her camping trips.    

We think the snake is a cow sucker or a rat snake, as far as we can tell.

I'm feeling kind of lazy now, so I think I'll stop and have something to eat.  It's just about 2:45 p.m. and I haven't even thought about what I'm going to have for breakfast, but it's almost time for supper so maybe I should just have a snack instead of a meal.

Before I go, I probably should make a note here that Jybow & Squeak, my two cats, have voluntarily (on their very own) moved to the backyard now because of the repeated attacks from the neighbors pit-bull.  Jybow moved onto the safely of the back porch which is surrounded by a railing which she can walk through, but the pit-bull cannot get in.  The cats have put themselves in jail for their own safety.  The back porch is perfect because it has a covered area for their food which Rick built, and a doghouse for shelter.  There is also a second larger dog house just outside the railing that sits high on a table which the dog can't access either.  I'm so glad that the cats have decided to stay here instead of on the front porch where they are easily picked off by this vicious dog.  Jybow can barely walk, still healing from her 3 previous attacks.  The neighbors say their pit-bulls are gentle, but they do hate cats.

To be fair to the neighbors, they have done all they can to keep their 3 dogs inside of a fence, but sometimes one will escape when they rush someone who opens their gate.  The neighbors run right after the dogs, but sometimes not before one of the dogs grabs Jybow who is half blind and can't hear.  She is going on 21 years old now and she used to be brave, but now she is defenseless and easily caught.  For a while now she wouldn't get off the front porch because she was too afraid, but on Easter Sunday, while we were gone she was attacked again and now she doesn't want anything to do with the front porch.  The dog has been grabbing her right out of her kitty house while she sleeps, so I don't blame her for wanting to move to a safer place.  

Squeak is a younger cat and can run like the wind and climb a tree if she thinks of it, but she usually just gets under a low building to hide.  I'm sure if the neighbors didn't run right after their dog, that the dog would have dug Sqeak out of her hiding place and also would have killed Jybow by now, but the neighbors don't waste a second chasing after their dogs.  

I should also add that the neighbors are extremely nice and helpful.  Yesterday he put the belt on my riding mower for Rick & I.  Sometimes he mows the steep bank in front of my house too and won't take any money for it.  We just never know when he is going to mow it.  We just come home and it's mowed.  All of my neighbors are very nice and if we needed them for anything, they would come to our aid and ask for nothing in return.  That's just the way they are and if they need my help I'm there for them too.  My second neighbor took my trashcan to the road every week for me  for several  years, and used to mow my entire yard until I told him to stop, that I could mow it.  As I said, I have extremely nice neighbors who are always willing to help if they think I need their help.

Surprise for Rick by Squeak

This morning while Rick was waiting on the front porch swing for his ride to work, one of my cats, Squeaker (we sometimes call her that) did something that is very much out of the ordinary for her.

 If you first read the picture to the left you will understand Squeak a little better.

Squeak has always been a shy cat and now that she is an outdoor cat she is even worse.

Now you mix Squeak with Rick and you have quite a pair.  Rick is a very unusual man too.    Rick is loud, has no filter on what he says and he doesn't like cats, even tho he insists on feeding them every morning for me.  That's only because I have trouble bending down to reach their cat dish, he says, and that he wants to help me out.  Ok, that's fine, but at times I catch him petting them even tho he doesn't like cats, he says.  

  

Here's Rick at a DQ eating a banana split with a napkin on his head.  He doesn't care what people think and that makes Rick fun, and unusual.

And here is Squeak, the cat that won't hunt real birds unless they are stuffed and make a squeaky noise.  She is afraid of daylight, people and other animals and she spends most of her days hiding.  The only other cat that she likes is Jybow, our orange female that she sleeps with.

Squeak is most often spotted out at night in the darkness, and when she sees you she is gone in a flash.  Sometimes she lets Rick pet her in the darkness, but when she sees me she disappears.  But this morning she surprised us all.  I looked out and while Rick was sitting on the porch swing, in the early morning light, there was Squeak, and she wanted Rick to pet her so he did.  Rick petted Squeaker for a long time, and then after she had gotten enough petting she left for the backyard.  I stayed indoors and watched because I knew that if she saw me she would leave.

In the last couple of days I have seen Squeak in our backyard  venturing further back each time.  I think after being outside for about 5-6 years she is finally getting used to it, or getting curious.  I have seen her smelling the tall grasses and plants and I think she smells other cats, the pig that was loose on Monday and the chickens and ducks that are frequent visitors most everyday.  I think she would like living on a farm, but one thing that I do know is that she has taken up with Rick the cat hater, and they are making an unlikely pair.

Some Days Jybow needs more attention than other days

 

Yesterday I spent a good part of the day with Jimmy's cat Jybow.  She was crying out very loud again for me to come outside and spend some time with her.  It's not a loud meow, but cat screams like she's in danger, so I go right out.  

She's a people cat, and that's because she spent so much time with Jimmy.  She followed him around like a dog and never left his side when he was home.  She was such a loyal and devoted cat and Jimmy showered her with love and affection every chance he got.  

In those days when Jimmy was alive Jybow spent her days inside and outside wherever Jimmy was, but now she's strictly an outdoor cat.

She still waits for Jimmy by the front door, waiting for him to come outside, but of course Jimmy won't be coming out anymore, so I go out and sit with her until she falls asleep.  She's hard of hearing and can't see so well so she doesn't see me leave, but when she wakes up, we do it all over again.   Jybow is 17 years old. 

Sometimes Jybow and I take a walk into the backyard and we look for her buddy Squeak.  

Squeak and Jybow sleep together every night in a heated cathouse on the front porch but, Squeak goes into the backyard and hides out for most of the day.  Since it's been so hot out, and the temps reaching into the 80 degree mark I've unplugged their house.  

Squeak mostly only comes out at night.  Squeak has always been afraid of daylight and being outside, so she hides for most of the day.  Sometimes we see her out and lately she has been curious about the two white ducks that wander in our yard, so she ventures out from under a building and sits on top of a trashcan to watch the ducks.  The ducks belong to one of our neighbors, but you know the saying, "The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence," so the ducks spend most of their day in our backyard along with the neighbors chickens........ and Squeak is afraid of big birds.

Squeak and Jybow were orphaned very early in their little lives and didn't have a mother cat to teach them how to hunt, so they are not hunters and things like birds scare them.  They won't even look at a baby bird because one time a BlueJay got after them when they approached a baby BlueJay out of curiosity.  They weren't going to hurt it, they just wanted to look at it.  Now they avoid baby birds at all costs, therefore we have plenty of birds in our yard of all kinds.

Here's another picture of Jybow.  I sometimes fear that she won't be with us much longer, so I try to spend as much time spoiling her with special food and attention as much as I can.

This is a much younger picture of Jybow when she was allowed indoors and Jimmy was still alive.  She doesn't mind spending her days and nights outside now.  She doesn't even try to come inside when the door is left open while we carry groceries inside or for some other reason.  Squeak doesn't try to enter the house either.  They have both been outside cats since Rick came to live here in 2016, and now they don't mind it at all........except when the mean cat from next door comes over and tries to beat them up and eat their food. 

Here is a January 2014 picture that I found of Jybow when Jimmy was still with us.

ONE FRIEND by Dan Seals  

 

First night out

A couple of nights ago our little calico Squeaker spent its first night outside, from dark until daylight.  When daylight came it was ready to come inside and it became a very needy cat not wanting to be anywhere but in Jimmy's lap.

Last night Squeaker stayed outside until 2 a.m. before she and her mother Princess were ready to come inside.  We're very happy that Squeak is getting accustomed to the outdoors and to the backyard in particular.  We want her to feel safe anywhere that she might be, and this has been a big, big step for Squeak.  Before this time she wanted nothing to do with the out of doors.  She still refuses to go out in the daytime and prefers the dark of night, but it's a start and one we're very happy about.

The Squeak,
better known to Jimmy
as his little fuzz ball.

Squeak

Squeak just got spayed yesterday and look at her stretch.  Nothing phases this cat.

Squeak

Squeak is Jimmy's biggest annoyance.  Squeak can terrorize Jimmy like no other cat can, so when she's resting quietly I take pictures of her. Jimmy loves to be the center of her attention and he is forever calling me to come see what cute thing she's doing. Next week Squeak and her mother Princess are going to visit the vet and make a day of it.  I'm sorry Squeak, but this way you will always and forever be our baby.  

Make room for the cat...

Squeak taking it easy

Jybow watching Youtube
while Jimmy plays Spider Solitaire

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