Leaf Like

It's PO'Monday!

November, 2014, and Celestial Paddy O'Malley was enjoying the fallen leaves.

He liked being petted.

He liked sunshine!

He liked to wait for me on the front porch.

Paddy was one-in-a-million.

❤️ 🍁 😻

Tease

It's PO'Monday!

January, 2013:

Celestial Paddy O'Malley tried to entice me outside, by making a spectacle of himself as seen through the front door cat flap.

Paddy: "Come outside!"

Paddy: "Okay then, I'll just make myself at home."
*lick lick lick*

Having made it outside onto the back deck

Paddy: "Now, that's SO MUCH BETTER!
You get to see me in my entirety!"

That was some entirety, Pommy...you big ol' roly poly!

😻

Not A Stray

A dear friend texted me, with a photo of this cute kitty:

Said kitty appeared on her doorstep one day, and my friend asked for instructions on what to do with a stray cat.

The kitty lived on their porch for a few weeks, was fed and watered, and being a friendly cat, was picked up and carried to the nearby veterinarian.

Guess what!

Microchip information led to the sweet kitty returning to her loving home, where she was greatly missed.

Yay!

Today, I am thankful for my friend, and for all others who help cats.

Some talk the talk, yet the ones who actually walk the walk are to be praised!

Even if it's just a sweet stray on the porch, or TNR in an abandoned building or park, or fostering.

Thank you!

Let's Hop!

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Close Encounter

Angel let her curiosity get the better of her!  My iPhone was the object of her sniffing...

"Hey Mama, what's dat?"

"?!?"

"Up Close and Personal!"

So, I played with my Prisma app, and love the result!

"Whoa, Dude!"

What The Flap?

We allow Angel and Chuck to venture outside from time to time.  For the first seven or eight years of their lives, they were indoors-only.  Then I got the bright idea to buy a harness and leash, to give them a chance to visit the outdoors.  At that time, there were no 'O' Cats in the yard.

One day, while The Hubby was on the front porch enjoying a good cup of joe (hot-as-lava, bitter-as-sin coffee) and a gorgeous morning, he opened the screen door a crack for Chucky to venture out.  And some other day, Angel went out too.  No harness, and a free as birds.

We decided that we cannot put the genie back in the bottle, and now they can go in and out through the cat flap installed in the front door. We monitor them constantly, and I cannot tell you how fun it is to drive up into the driveway, while a cat sits on the front steps meowing a Welcome Home!

"Lemme IN!"

"I see you in there...what are you doing?"

Funny thing is: if they know one of us are nearby, they'll sit at the flap and wait for us to open the big door for them, instead of pushing through the small one themselves!  That's where I captured these photos.

Neither cat travels very far, and they spend most time investigating our gardens or the neighbor's front gardens on either side of us. Angel is obsessed with our driveway, and around the cars (where Patty and Sweetie tend to nap).  Chuck wanders to tall things: tall grass, plants like iris and daylilies. We do not use pesticides or any chemicals in the yard, (neither do our neighbors), and The Hubby is careful to not have any automobile that leaks anything.  The cats are not allowed out when it's dusk, dawn or dark, and they will NOT stay out if there is: a noisy truck anywhere within a block, people walking on the sidewalk, any kind of rain or wind (or blowing leaves), lawn mowing within a block. They can hit that cat flap in a running sprint...POW!...and race right inside.  Usually the first thing they do is visit the food bowls, just to make sure.

Peek-A-Boo Patty

We've set up a box for Patty to sit in
on the front porch.  He often waits for me
to appear every morning with breakfast.

This view is from inside the house.
You can see the tip of his ear!

There is some more ear...

When I open the front door, he jumps
out of the box, and dances around.

"Hey, what's inside there?" as Patty
looks through the cat flap.

And I always respond, "Come on in, Patty!"
I hold the door open...and he runs off down the
steps and towards the driveway.

And yes...we have two front doors!  The original bit of our house was built in Victorian times, then there were at least two additions, probably in the 1920's and 1940's. At some point, the house was divided for an apartment on the second floor, and the large front porch was enclosed as a permanent room.  It's this once-porch that can be locked off from the rest of the house downstairs, and we use that door as our 'front door'.  The original front door (which Patty's box sits in front of), is now used as a window. The old apartment kitchen upstairs is what we've made into a separate cat room, should I ever encourage Patty and Sweetie to venture up to stay.

I realize that Patty and/or Sweetie have to come in on their own four paws and not be carried in. Both sets of cats know each other, see each other, and smell each other on me.  However, I am guessing that Patty will only play peek-a-boo because he is aware that Chuck and Angel have the territory inside, while his is all of the outside. Someday, we will make him understand that the upstairs Cat Room is for 'O' Cats only!

Gargoyles

Gar-boyel and Gar-goil

Gar-goil on her favorite perch!

Yep, she'll scare away any evil spirits...that's what Gargoyles are supposed to do, right?  (Actually, she just sits there, watching the squ-oirrels and the boir-dies).