It’s that time of year when kids and their folks like to dress up and have fun.  What about their pets?  I don’t subject my fur-face, four-pawed, fastidious feline friend to such indignity.  Okay, I’m not above having some fun with photos.  Imagine answering the summons to your door this evening and finding this.

Trick or treat

Midnight with the eye patch was done with my graphics program.  Putting that image in the eye of the beholder was done at PhotoFunia.

I saw a couple of images at icanhascheezburger that reminded me of Midnight.  In the spirit of this day I present:

Grumpy Kitty

Does this poor fellow appreciate his staff?  Perhaps at another time?  How about this one?

Scaredy Scary Cat

I don’t think I want to go anywhere near that place after dark.  How about you?

Midnight joins me in wishing you a great day and a fun filled evening.  Don’t let the goblins get you.

Last week I was looking through some photos of my four-legged friend, Midnight.  As I considered his expressions, it began to dawn on me that there might be an important message from kitty for us.  Here is what came out of that:

Curious kitty never misses a thing that happens.  How can he be so alert and constantly aware of his surroundings?  I can’t do that.  Can you?

Yes, Midnight will bite.  He has learned not to bite too hard on people.  At least for the most part he doesn’t.  Take no chances.

Midnight was on the back of a chair and I was laying on the floor looking up at him when I capture the image above.  It is one of my favorite shots of my little buddy.

What could be more feline than that expression–especially from that angle?

If you come around here during the day, you’ll see that Midnight is my kitty.  When he wants something he comes and talks to me.  If he’s not getting enough attention.  He walks across my desk in front of the monitor.  If that fails, he tries to walk on my keyboard or whack the track ball with a paw.  Sometimes he just settles down on my lap.  He’s not that easy to work around.  I usually take a break to talk with my little buddy and to give him some attention.  When he thinks my attention is lacking, he sits with his rear on my lap and front end on my tummy.  They he looks me in the eye or nuzzles my chin.  I can’t ignore that.  And he knows it.  He just did that as I was writing this.

Sylvia greets him early in the morning.  (She usually starts her day about an hour before I can drag myself out of bed.)  She gives him a bit of dry cat food and fills his water bowl before doing her morning exercise routine on the treadmill or the weight machine.

When I shuffle out, I’ll give him some canned cat food, before starting the coffee and going into the office.  Around 2:30 or so in the afternoon, I’ll give him some more canned cat food.

Later in the evening, when Sylvia finally takes some time to rest in front of the TV, he is all hers.

Evening in front of the TV

He usually sprawls beside her on the recliner foot rest.  At other times, he likes to rise above the fray where he can keep a better eye on things.  It is now that time of year when we see an occasional fly in the house.  Midnight never misses them, and will always try to catch them.

Recently he was keeping company with Sylvia when he spotted a fly.  He had to check it out.  He wanted to catch that bad boy.

Midnight, the fly stalker

When a bug flies near or lands on the lamp, Midnight is going to strike.  That’s why you see Sylvia with a hand on the lamp.  Our adventurous guy had almost knocked it over just moments before.

He does keep our life interesting.

Last week, I installed some new energy-saving bulbs.  I bought a few a couple of years ago, and I’ve been happy with them.  A few of them I’ve had for over 10 years.  They still work fine.

There is one exception.  There always has to be and exception, right?  We were having trouble with the remote control for the satellite receiver/DVR.  This would only happen about twilight time and would last for a few minutes and then things would work fine again.  That is until the next evening.  After months of frustration, I finally figured out that it was one of those older compact fluorescent bulbs that emitted just the right wave length to interfere with the infra-red remote control.  I swapped in a newer model, and the problem was solved.

With energy costs rising and my income remaining flat, replacing light bulbs is one step I can take to control the cash outflow.  I suppose I could also stop eating, but doubt I’d want to stick with that plan past the first day.  If I lasted that long.

My little helper, aka Midnight, found the ladder sitting under the combination fan and lamp in the family room.  While my attention was on something else, up he went.  Cats will do that, won’t they?  I think we’ve been together long enough that I can tell the thoughts that are racing through that feline mind.

Can I reach those dangling chains and not break my foolish feline neck?

I’ve been here 20 minutes.  There has got to be a way.

I wrapped up that and started work on another fixture.  This one is higher, so I had to get the six-foot ladder.  While I was away, my helper took over.

Oops!  Busted!  I didn’t even get to the top.  Drat!

I’m out of here!  Easy.  This sure is high.

So goes another day around here.  Sure is nice to have such a handy helper as Midnight.  I’ll have to go out and bring some catnip in for him.  He’s such a good kitty.

Sylvia and I were enjoying a meal a few weeks ago when we noticed that Midnight was acting very fidgety and was making funny noises while looking out a window.  We looked up and saw large twin fawns on the edge of the lawn.  I think Midnight was trying to get them to come closer and to play with him.  They were more interested in chewing on the grass at the edge of the lawn.

Some days later, the two returned.  This time they were much closer to the house.  Midnight was mesmerized by the pair.  Sylvia went for the camera and returned to capture this image:

Although the twins are getting to be rather large, they still have white spots on their sides.  Midnight really wanted to go out and play, but he sat completely still as he watched their every move.

The window screen does not show in this image.  The auto-focus did not zero in on it and I resized the image.

Take a look at an attempt to zero in on the visitors.

Oops!  The auto-focus did see the screen.  Pity.  Yes, they were that close while the three of us watched to see what they would do next.

A noise from the neighbors (a couple of hundred yards away and across the road) startled the twins.  They ran into the protection of the pine trees.

Midnight soon got over his disappointment and life returned to normal here on our secondary road.

Labor Day

Hope you are enjoying the long holiday weekend.  Traditionally, Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer season here in Michigan.  Children will soon be returning to school and the warmth of summer gives way to cooler air.  This year remains true to tradition.

Last week we had a few very hot days.  This morning, I’m writing this line at 9:48 AM and the temperature is 53 deg. F.  Big Huge change!  It may reach 62 degrees this afternoon.  I’m not complaining . . . come February, I’ll have a different opinion of weather like this. 

Sylvia participates in the Secret Pal program with the other ladies at church.  They seem to have fun giving their secret pals greeting cards and small gifts.  Each year, they try to guess who is their secret pal.  They are always looking for clues.  In February they all get together and for a “Revealing Party,” where they find out who their pal was for the past year.

Sylvia has been doing a painting for her pals.  She tries to find out what they would like, so that she has it ready for the big party in February.  That didn’t work for her this year.  Annette had to wait until last week.  In February, she gave a small photo album featuring her cats to Sylvia to use to paint a picture of her two favorites.  Sylvia put the finished product on the couch to take a picture.  Midnight saw the painting and, of course, had to check it out.

Hey!  What’s this doing in my house?  On my couch?  Do you really have other feline friends?  Well, I never . . .

If our four-footed ninja had his nose out of joint, he soon got over it.  The painting went to Annette and her cat, and life is back to normal at Midnight’s house.  (Whatever that really means.)

What a crazy time we’ve been enjoying.  In the midst of everything else, Sylvia decided to clean the windows.  That in turn led to son Scott and I, with Sylvia’s assistance doing some serious window maintenance.  But this is the day of the kitty, and he wants to be involved in everything–as an inspector of course!

At the sound of a window being raised, the inspector came running to supervise whatever activity might be taking place in his house.

Hey lady, whatcha doin’?  Don’t miss that spot to your left.  Rub a little harder.  There.  That’s better.  [Mr Funky Tail may be planning to make a break for it . . .]

Eventually, he decided it was too far to leap to the ladder.  And eventually Sylvia finished washing the windows.  Scott and I did our maintenance chores and life is back to “normal.”  Whatever that really means.

Still kind of crazy around here.  I’ll try to post again on Wednesday.  I haven’t forgotten you.  No, really.  I haven’t.

lurk vi 1. a: to lie in wait in a place of concealment . . . 2. a: to be concealed but capable of being discovered . . .

Midnight loves to lurk atop the kitchen cabinets.  It takes a long leap to reach the counter top.  From there another long leap to the top of the refrigerator.  A short hop puts him atop the cabinet.  And that is a great place to rest and watch the world go by.

I saw him there the other day.  I was a bit surprised to see him there in the summer.  It is one of his favorite winter-time places.  The warmth the of the kitchen rises toward the ceiling, and what a comfy place that is for kitty to rest.

The figures on the refrigerator door are bread dough dolls from Ecuador.  (They have magnets on the back.)  The making of these is a typical Ecuadorian folk art.  We have some that we bought about 35 years ago, and which we use as Christmas tree ornaments.  The older ones are more stylized than these modern versions, which were a gift to us from friends.

The magnetic yellow note says, “Smile God loves you!” in Spanish.

Midnight just came into the office and started pawing the back of my chair and talking to me.  He just wanted some loving and attention, which he received.  He seems to be quite a bit more vocal lately.  After his short visit with me, he carefully scanned the outdoor world through both windows and then left.  I’m hearing a strange sound from the other room.  I’d better go see what is happening.  I’ll see you again tomorrow.

Like most of the nation, last week we suffered under oppressive heat and humidity.  To make matters worse our air conditioning broke down.  Open windows, fans and tall glasses of ice water helped cool the human inhabitants of our country home.  It wasn’t so easy for my four-legged, fur-coat wearing, feline friend.  He spent a lot of time in the cool basement.  His staff did too, and we enjoyed the respite from the heat.

One of Midnight’s strategies is run into the bathroom as I am leaving, leap up on the counter and ask me for some water.  I’m happy to oblige my little buddy.  There is only one small problem–the faucet is not designed for kitty to get a drink.  What’s a fellow to do?  Here is the story in Midnight’s own words:

It’s easy.  Isn’t it?  Just tip your head and stick your mouth under.  Nothing to it.

On second thought do a semi head stand.  What could be simpler?

Okay . . .  Let me wrap myself around this problem. I know I can do it.  I’ve done it before.

Don’t retreat.  Retry.  Hey!  This works!  Nice cool water.  Ahhh.  Now that’s refreshing.


My male staff person also put a couple of handfuls of water on my back and that was cooling too.  Don’t I have a good staff?