Theo's big snow adventure!

The snow just keeps on falling. It's so beautiful to watch. Earlier, when the big flakes were falling, Theo was having fun gazing out the window at the snow flakes falling. But, what's better than watching the snow fall? A big romp in the snow of course!

Ok, my paws are frozen, time to go in!

No telling how long the snow will be around for. Hopefully there will be time for one more snowy adventure.

yardtime

What a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We had beautiful weather and I got lots of fun and good things done. I made sure to get extra plays with Nahum and had some quality yardtime with Theo! 

Didn't hunt any mice on rock pile but had fun walking through tall grasses

Marking new kitty house as "mine"!

Follow the nose...

So much fun!

Good high spot to survey my yard

Time to come in?! But...

first yard-time

Just had the the first sunny weekend of the year! We celebrated by enjoying some yard-time.

Theo watching Gromit (a friend's doggy) mindlessly chase the ball

Theo giving me a glare

stalking prey in tall grasses

checking out a kitty trail

yard-time

I had to run to the vet to pick up somethings, so I harnessed up Theo and took him with me. On the way back home, I let him explore the yard a bit. He loved it!!

Getting yard-time pictures of Theo is way more challenging that it was with Max. Theo is constantly moving, he rarely stops! And when he does stop he has his back to me, so getting good pictures is really difficult.

 It had been too long since we have had some yard-time, I forgot how fun it is!

yardtime

Theo recently enjoyed some yardtime.

kitty tent first run

This past weekend was the first opportunity to try out the new kitty tent. And as you can see from the pictures below it was a success! The cats really seemed to enjoy being off-leash outside!

kitty tent

After some last minute lobbying and bargaining, approval was granted to explore options and come back with an estimate for materials to create a portable cat-enclosure for the side yard.

So, to Craigslist I went, searching for portable carports and animal enclosures. Soon enough, I found a portable picnic table screened tent. It is meant to go around a picnic table to provide dry and bug free camping. I instantly realized it was the perfect portable kitty tent. And it was well below budget, only $35!

After a phone call, some planning and a trip after work to Renton - we now have a portable kitty tent! it is quite large, which I hope will help the cats feel like they are not in a cage. I will need to engineer a fix so the cats can't escape under the sides, but a design is already being worked through.

This summer's project is to paint the exterior of our house. Whenever I am working on the house, the cats are in the windows longing to come out too. Now, the cats can lounge in the grass, enjoy the sun and hear and smell all the cool outside noises and smells as I make progress on the house. The next warm, sunny weekend, we get to try it out! Yahooo!!

first yardtime

Max loved his yardtime. When he heard the jingle of the harness and leash he would come running - he knew that soon he would be out in his yard, sniffing and rolling in the grasslike the big tough outside kitties. He never tired of taking excursions into the wild.

Today was Nahum's and Willow's first excursion in the yard. Nahum got first shift - he was a little put off by the harness and leash at first, but soon the adventure consumed his focus. He sniffed in motion and thus covered a lot of ground. When it came time for his turn to end, he firmly protested.

Willow watched longingly through the window while Nahum explored. When at last it was her turn, she was scared at first, but after some time under the large planter her curiosity took over and she was off. She very meticulously explored her new world. I was struck by how naturally and beautifully Willow interacted with the wild.

For the remainder of the day, Nahum was glued to the windows, gazing out at his newly discovered yard. It seemed that he desired more than anything to take another romp around the yard. If the dry weather holds, he may get another opportunity tomorrow.

For me, this yardtime was a mix of fun and sadness. It was a delight to see Nahum and Willow so alert and engaged as they experienced the big outdoors. A feeling of sadness and loss also stirred in my heart, as I remembered many of the wonderful yardtime memories that Max and I shared.