Chilling in the backyard with Oakley

It's been a little over a month since our dog Digger passed away and it has been more than a little lonely without him.  Parke and I find ourselves getting all misty eyed at the most smallest things.  Like having left over french fries at the restaurant, first instinct is to get a doggy bag because Digger would of loved them.  Eating supper and being full and having no one to give the end of the meatball sandwich to.  Silly stuff, I know but it was part of everyday life.   But one thing that I haven't done this past month is sit out in the backyard.  That's because there is no Digger to pest me. Digger either wanted his headed patted or his butt scratched so sitting out on the back porch and not being bothered was to sad to handle.  Until today.

Today after we got done cutting the grass, Oakley, the neighbors cat, decided to visit.  I decided to join him in the backyard with the newspaper, I knew I wouldn't be alone.  There was something comforting about reading the paper with a cat under the chair.  He then decided to sit on the chair next to me, I wanted to get a picture of this, but when I moved, he followed.  After I sat down again, he joined me again.  He even walked up and down the yard with me, I guess he is kinda like a dog.  Maybe Oakley just knows what I needed today, a pet underfoot, someone to pat on the head, and obviously someone to guard the newspaper so no one can read it.  That's what cat's do best. 

Thanks Oakley, for being a friend, and that's another day in Catasauqua

Never try to read the paper with a Cat

As a cat owner, I know that there some things you cannot do in the house.  Things that attract the cat, like running the can opener, opening the refrigerator and don't even think about moving the cat treat box because even if the cat is on the third floor they will hear it.  Moments ago I saw Tipper, my cat, leap over the sleeping dog in a single bound when he saw me reach up to the top of the fridge (that's where the cat treats are).

After dinner I decided to read the newspaper on the front porch.  Can you believe this weather? I am off tomorrow so I have been using this three day weekend to do gardening and houseclean the kitchen.  So I decided to relax and enjoy the weather for a little bit.  As I started to read the newspaper, Oakley, the neighbor's cat came over to my porch.  Oakley has my mom trained to feed him dry food and cat treats.  I endeavored to ignore Oakley.  As I was reading the Comics a paw came over the top of the paper pushing it down.  I said no, no treats Oakley, I am reading the paper. 

Next Oakley jumped up on the arm of the chair, pretending to rub his head on the chair, he then decides to wash my arm with his sand paper tongue.  I still tried to read the paper, and then it happened Oakley sat on top of the paper and I had no choice but to pet him and scratch his ears, when he got off my lap I went in and got him some treats, this is when Tipper leaped over the dog. 

After treats I went back to reading the paper, however whenever I picked up the paper and tried to read it this somehow signaled Oakley to again jump up on my lap.  After several tries I gave up, it was now getting dark and Oakley had finally left and was back over on his porch. 

I will now try to read the paper on the sofa, but I know, as soon as I do, Tipper will come over and sit on top of the paper.  Some things are inevitable in life, and cats not letting you read the newspaper is one of those things.

Enjoy the weather and that's another day in Catasauqua.

Cheeses of Nazareth and Crazy Cats in Coats

Cheeses of  Nazareth and crazy cats in little coats is the kind of day I am having.  It's been a day full of laughs and giggles.  First it started with our North Catasauqua Community Choir, "We Sing", we had two concerts today.  One at Our Lady of Perptual Help and one at Country Meadows Assisted Living.  The songs were lively and fun.  We had lots of laughs rehearsing and even while we were singing.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Afterwards the bffs and I went for dinner.   Nancy wanted to find Nazareth Diner and with a few turns here and there she found it.  While we were eating she mentioned that there was a cheese shop nearby and that she would love to find it.  I was game, I love cheese.  Anyway she asked the waitress if she knew where it was, she said she didn't know the name of the place, I turned to Cathy and said it was Cheeses of Nazareth and that was it, I and her lost it.  They said the directions and we didn't hear a word.  So they wrote down the directions for us, they said the place started with a "C"  and again I started laughing saying yup Cheeses of Nazareth.  Anyway we did find it, it was closed and it wasn't called Cheeses of Nazareth.

On another note, I have been trying to get my mom to stop feeding all the neighborhood cats, I know the neighbor's cat Oakley is like one of my own.  He has been coming over for years for treats, sits on my lap in the summer and even comes to the back door and looks in the kitchen window when he is really hungry.  But the food being out on the front porch has attracted a few more cats, one very fat little mouse, whom I think met his recent demise since he couldn't run anymore and maybe, just maybe a skunk.  So I took the food in.  I told my mom, that she can feed Oakley in the morning and that's it.   Tonight we are sitting here watching TV and there was a noise at the window, I asked Parke to check, and to be careful, just in case it was a skunk.  He opened the door and said nope, just a cat out here in a green coat.  I said what??  He said the cat was wearing a little green coat, and sure enough there was this cat, yet another one I haven't seen wearing a little green coat with dog bones on it.

Parke's theory is that the cat roughed up some little dog and stole it's coat.  The strange sites here in Catty.  Well, in case you didn't know where I lived before, you will now, just look for the house with all the cats on the front porch including the one sporting a coat, and that's ...another day in Catasauqua.

The Mystery of the Missing Mouse

This morning, at about 4:00 AM I was awaken by a sound, it was familiar but I couldn't place it at the time.  A series of squeaks or tweets - I reasoned it to be a bird, perhaps on my windowsill.  But later I woke again and this time to the rattling on my bedroom door.  Tipper, my cat, was trying to get in.  Oh no, I thought, that was the sound of a mouse, a dying mouse.   My thoughts raced, did Tipper catch the mouse, was it still around?  Tipper has a way of not killing them and playing with them for a long time.  Not like a cat I had along time ago when I lived in Whitehall. 

Jelly Bean was a mouser, a cat with knack of catching and killing mice, and lining them up to show me how proud she was.  We lived next to neighbors who never cut their grass which was like a "field of dreams" for a cat.   One night she came home and "knocked" at the door, I think she would rub up on the screen door which causes a knocking noise.  When I looked she was sitting there, just sitting with a stupid grin on her face.  I was like "what the heck JB what are you doing?"  Well, she showed me, she came and opened her mouth and out popped a live mouse, which she proceeded to chase all over the house.  My greatest fear was that while I slept she was going to kill and bring it into the bedroom and put it on the bed and I would wake up with a mouse head on the bed (shades of the Godfather but in a tiny way).  Well, she had it in the living room under the coffee table, that wasn't too bad. 

But  this mornings challenge was - is there a dead mouse somewhere.  Tipper and the attic Cat, better known as Cat, were both hyper this morning.  So I don't think it was either one who got the mouse.  But I believe it was perhaps outside of my bedroom window.  The neighbors Cat, Oakley and three other cats visit my front porch since my mom moved in and  feeds the cats.  But with that, last Saturday I saw a rather large mouse also partaking of the cat food, which scampered into my ivy upon me seeing him.  I said to Parke, that it was funny that it was out there with all the cats about.  My thought is that it is no longer a resident of Catasauqua. 

Well that's my morning here in rainy Catasauqua, hey at least it is not snow.  We are really having a mild winter.  I like it, and with that.....it's another day in Catasauqua.