endless fleece!

We gots a package! And it was addressed to the kitties, wow!

Can you read what it says on the left edge? It says: "Because kitties need to be comfy"

Hmmm, what do you suppose is in this box??

Willow's in the box, but that's only after it's contents were emptied!

So, what was in the box? A huge piece of wicked soft thick fleece! I'm a terrible judge of quantity, but this has got to be at least 10,000 yards of fleece! Wowza!! Our dear friend, Lisa and her mom, gifted the kitties with such extravagance. It's destined to be made into a slip cover for the love seat. 

The piece of fleece that used to cover the love seat wasn't big enough to cover it all, which meant a stretched out kitty was only half resting on cloud-like softness - clearly unacceptable! The kitties have been complaining about these horrid conditions for years but to no avail. But now, finally their pleas have reached a caring ear.

Old love seat covering

New love seat covering

Now, we need to get the sewing elves working on getting it cut down to size and fitted properly. Wow!

Yes, Nahum, you have Bold Style

more Hershey

Some asked about how Hershey and Buddy are getting along. Well...

They are actually co-existing quite fine. Hershey is young and he's not a dominate personality, so he must come across as less of a threat than Oliver. The indoor boys are a little cautious around Hershey and the girls just hiss, which is how they treat any new kitty.

Hershey really, really wants to play!

Nahum sniffs Hershey

Theo watches safely from above

Hershey's been trying to get the other cats to play with him, but he hasn't had any luck. He attempts to initiate play by pouncing on the unsuspecting cat, which for some reason only freaks them out! He's not afraid of the cats at all and doesn't seem to understand why the other cats might be so cautious with him. 

Hershey's gonna make someone a great cat! If I had a huge house with unlimited funds and time he could join the gang, but since I don't have those things, it wouldn't be fair to the cats who already don't get enough of my time. Hershey will be placed in a good home where he can get all the spoils he deserves.

Hershey integration

The integration process has started with Hershey!

At first, he was a bit timid about coming out of his safe room, so I just left him be with the door open and the option to explore or not. After awhile his curiosity got the best of him and he started exploring!

He came right downstairs and started checking everything out.

Each of the indoor cats (with the exception of Rose) have met Hershey individually upstairs in his room and it generally went well. There has been some hissing and growling, but more sniffing. 

Before checking out more of the house, Hershey opted to try out the enclosed front porch first.

He looks big, but he's really small!

Hershey gets overcome with curiosity and goes exploring. He's not afraid of the other cats one bit even when they hiss and growl at him.

While exploring the porch Oliver came round, which got Buddy going so, the visiting was cut short and Hershey ran back up to his safe room. There'll be more time for exploring tomorrow, no need to rush!

And exploring gets in the way of kickerooing!

Hey you, with the flashy box...

stop writing about me and rub these tummys!

Now!

Well, I guess I'll cut this short, duty calls!

Oliver's Halloween

I can't believe it's November already! Seems like the year was just getting underway and here we are nearly at it's end. Crazy.

As I posted earlier, Halloween is one of those 'holidays' that causes me significant worry over the safety of Oliver and his family. Early on Halloween night, he and I had a long talk. I told him it was Halloween, a night when people are crazy stupid, and being a black cat out and about the neighborhood was not safe. I pleaded with him to be a good host and keep his family safe by having them hang out with him all night on his cozy back porch. I told him I would provide lots and lots of stinky wet food for him and his family to enjoy throughout the night. He just looked at me like I was crazy and rolled over in his heated bed to have his toasty warm belly rubbed.

This morning when I went out to replenish the wet food, I was greeted by Oliver and his two sons! I was thrilled to see them healthy and well! They were waiting for their daily special wet food breakfast and quickly scattered to outside the screened door as I filled the bowl. As soon as I turned my back to come back inside, they were eating!

Later in the evening, when I looked back through the pictures of the network camera on the back porch, I see that Oliver did exactly what I asked of him! He and his family hung out on the back porch all night! It's hard to tell who's who in these pictures, so I don't know if Oliver's little girl showed up too or not, I sure hope she did.

12:24 am

Pesky raccoons crashing the party, stealing all the snacks.                2:53 am

3:33 am

3:39 am

3:42 am

4:39 am

5:58 am

6:03 am

6:25 am

This makes me so very very happy! I just love seeing them all together, I wish all four had been there at once, but three is a delight too. I am very fond of Oliver and I just love how he looks after his family. I'm very thankful he choose my yard to hang out in, I feel it is an honor to get to care for him and to watch his beautiful family.

spooky night

May all the outdoor kitties, especially the black ones, be safe tonight.

Halloween night is one of the nights of the year when I really worry about Oliver and his family. It's not a good night to be a free roaming black cat. I've given Oliver special instruction to watch over his family this night and to do all he can to keep them safe.

Hershey

Thank you to Caren from Cat Chat for the perfect name suggestion for our foster tabby, who is hereby known as Hershey!

He's the color of chocolate.

He has chocolate fur around his mouth.

And he's as sweet as chocolate!

He's our smallest boy by far, less than 10 pounds. He's fairly timid yet curious. His teeth are pearly white and still sharp, so, I'm guessing he's about a year old. He briefly met Nahum, our ambassador, and they smelled noses. A good start.

warm fuzzies

Rose and Nahum were inseparable last winter. Rose frequently snuggled right into Nahum's warm furs. Over the summer, they didn't spend much time together, so recently we wondered if Rose would snuggle with Nahum again when it got cold.

Ok, maybe it was a dumb question.