2014 Top Ten Cat Moments

The cats enjoyed the lack of  furniture during window replacement

 'Tis the season for countdowns so here is the Duffy contribution:

10.The clowder gets stoned on catmint

9.  Jersey trains the neighbors to feed her treats five times a day

8.  One (or possibly more) of the cats sends a fax from our computer printer

7.  Frank—enough said

6.  Biff ends his self-imposed 7-year exile to the bedroom and rejoins society on the living room sofa

5.  Finny climbs the ladder to help install new upstairs windows

4.  Jersey climbs onto the neighbor’s roof after racing up a spruce tree to escape a Great Dane (ouch!)

 

3.  Toby falls off the garage roof when he rolls the wrong direction

2.  Toby falls in love with a hedgehog named Henriette

and the #1 cat moment of 2014 is…

1.  We take a 10-day Amtrak vacation without cats

Looking forward to outdoor time in 2015

Slow News Day Part 2

              We're all feeling the bloated, post-holiday slump as we await the return of routine on January 5th.  The squirrels have obviously been enjoying our treats--my daughter has been regaling them with the rock'n'roll parody "Fat-bottomed squirrels, they make the rockin' world go round." Toby enjoys watching...and napping...and watching...and napping.

Slow News Day

                Things are pretty quiet here at the Duffys so I'm taking this opportunity to show how our cats can completely cover the heat registers during nap time.  The first photo shows Jersey wrapped around the register.  The second is of her in the exact same location, but the register has magically disappeared under her.  Winter sloggishness has decreased the cats' entertainment value...hopefully things will pick up again soon.

New Year’s Resolution

                It’s that time again—time to start fresh at being a better person.  Actually, this is a seasonal thing for me.  After about three months I’ve forgotten my old resolution and find a different habit in need of fixing.  I imagine we’re all in the same boat—works in progress instead of perfect masterpieces.

                Usually I look at myself for resolution ideas, but this year I’m looking at society's big picture and the picture I see is very negative.  We humans do “ugly” very well.  In fact, we wallow in it—filling up on media imagery of terror, anger, and condemnation.  Sometimes I think we’ve forgotten that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  As such, man is capable of creating things of breathtaking awe and loving others well beyond reason.  Why are we stuck spending energy on the toxic in society when instead we could be traveling the path toward becoming the beautiful, amazing creatures that God intended us to be?

Humanity bisects the sky with a remarkable invention of flight

                This year (well, season) I resolve to use my words, thoughts, and actions to lift up others, to encourage them to be the best version of themselves.  I regret all the times I discouraged others, the times I went on and on with negative complaining, the times I picked apart some other’s work.  This year I will be mindful to be positive and not feed the “ugly” side of our society.

Unwelcome Guest

Finnegan's "good child" status is under review

                My apologies to the neighbors who left their home in my hands when they traveled for Christmas.  I’m sure they did not intend to have it tramped through and sprinkled with cat hair, just as I did not expect Finnegan to sneak in behind me when I brought in their newspaper.

                I was just about to leave their home when the silence was broken by a jingle…the exact same pitched jingle as my cats’ collars.  I’ve had these cats long enough that I didn’t even register surprise, but instead headed straight to the bedroom to collect my pet.  A small gray flash passed by as Finnegan dashed to the next room.

                The rooms on the first floor are laid out in a circle, making it hard to corner Finny as he sprinted from room to room.  The chase went on for ten minutes before he suddenly stopped, walked over to me, and started purring.   Apparently he was done playing and was ready to leave.

                At least this time I didn’t have to get the ladder out to retrieve a cat from the neighbor’s house.

The Aftermath

Toby hidden in gift wrap camouflage

                  No matter if we are six or ninety-six, people never outgrow the thrill of unwrapping packages to see what’s inside.   The cats, however, are more interested in the aftermath of gift opening.  

Frank vs. the orange cat toy (too exhausted to stand)

                While their people are preoccupied with new gadgets and baubles, cats have free reign of the house.  They take full advantage of unsupervised time to raid the Christmas goodies, climb into gift bags and boxes, shred discarded wrapping paper, and chase ribbon.  Styrofoam packing peanuts are especially exciting.  They static cling to the cats’ fur so the cats think the peanuts are attacking and run, roll, and wriggle to get away.    

               Out of a feeling of Christmas good-will, I won’t list the clowder’s punishable offenses.  Let’s just say that they enjoyed the celebration as much as we humans did.

Biff prepares to attack the orange cat toy

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Merry Christmas from the Clowder!

May your day be filled with joy and love...

 

...and may our day be filled with new boxes.

Christmas on the Farm

                A green Christmas—I think this is a first for me.  I remember many white and brown Christmases, but never one with grass returning to life in the gentle rain.  Thinking back to how cold it could be, triggers memories of Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ farm.  The upstairs of the old house was heated by warm downstairs air rising through round iron floor grates.  I can still feel the bone-jarring, teeth-chattering cold of climbing into bed, the mountains of blankets heavy on my young frame.  Eventually the shivering would warm the covers enough that my teeth would quiet and I could listen to adult chatter floating through the grate as they played cards long into the evening.  The air still smelled of wonderful food—mostly the final course, Grandma’s plum pudding made from her mother-in-law’s English recipe.  As scrumptious as it smelled, I could never bring myself to ignore the raisins and try some.

                It was hard to fall asleep after all the festivities.  There were afternoon games with the cousins—cards and Chutes and Ladders.  If it wasn’t too cold, the older ones would go for snowmobile rides while we younger ones played on snow piles near the house.  Grandma always had a huge batch of hot cocoa on hand when we came in.  When gift opening time arrived, the kids had to work for our presents.  We could either sing a Christmas song or read a story or poem from a box of clippings.  The cousins exchanged names back at Thanksgiving so there was a toy present to open from them and a practical present to open from Grandpa and Grandma.  Usually Grandma crocheted hats, scarves, or slippers.  I still remember wearing my red and white hat and purple scarf in grade school.

The cousins sporting our new hats--1976

                 In the morning, we’d race downstairs to the warm kitchen for a quick bowl of cereal before church.  It’s funny how I still picture their church from a child's perspective—people towering over me, blocking the view as we belted out the long Glorias of “Angels We Have Heard on High.”  After church we’d head down the road for a town Christmas with my other grandparents—another  day filled with cousins and games and food.  Sifting through these memories feels a lot like a hug…the kind you thrive on as a child and miss as an adult.