Nims with golden streamers on her collar
Our pretty Miss Nimbus is in the doghouse for killing birds. To help protect the birds we have added gold streamers alongside the bells on her collar. To be extra careful, she is now only allowed outdoors at night. Catch all the rats you want, honey.
She spent a night in jail, the doghouse, (literally a large dog pet carrier), after bringing in the bird’s body.
Seattle is having a mild winter compared to many parts of the country. The varied thrush only visits at this time of year; it’s a rare bird that looks a little like a robin but with a big black V on it’s chest. Learn more about birds at the Audubon Society and get hooked by joining your local chapter. Unfortunately, even well-fed cats kill a very large number of songbirds, with more solitary species being more vulnerable. Here is an article from the American Bird Conservancy.
The fishpond in the yard is a water supply for birds and my bird list for recent visitors is pretty impressive. The nuthatches have been absent this year, sad to say.
Bird list: Chickadees (Black Capped and Chestnut Backed), Cooper’s Hawk, Crows, Juncos, Purple Finches, House Sparrows, Rufous Sided Towhee, Varied Thrush, Robin, Flicker, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Steller’s Jay, Pine Warblers, and a glimpse of a wren.
Nims bravely enters the tub
Miss Nimbus had one bath, months ago, when her white coat was really dirty. She did not take kindly to this warm water dousing, and has been hesitant to even enter the bathroom, and especially not the dreaded bathtub!
Mo hops in the tub often to check out the dripping tap and get some really fresh water. I was thinking it would be handy if she were aware of this extra water source, and wanted to quell her fear of the bathroom, so I decided to try bribing her with food.
They both adore Hills Tartar Diet food, which I originally got for Mo’s dental health. I tried leaving a couple pellets of this treat in the bottom of the tub for Nims. At first she was very interested but would not go near it while I was in the bathroom. Later I checked and it was gone. Soon she was putting her paws up on the edge of the tub and watching me put out treats, licking her lips, then she was brave enough to jump in the tub – but immediately jumped out with the food in her mouth to eat it in the safety of the doorway. Pretty funny. Finally she was relaxed enough to eat what she found right there in the tub.
Here they are having a tussle in the kitchen. They will play fight and chase each other around the house. I hope they are playing more than fighting, sometimes I break them up when it starts sounding too mean.
Nimbus and Mo play fight
Hello Mo fans!
snow camouflage
We had a nice dusting of snow for Thanksgiving, so pretty watching it fall and transform the landscape. This was likely the first time Miss Nimbus had seen snow, and I saw her shaking her paws. With her white coat it turned her into the camouflage kitty.
After a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with family, I was home on the sofa watching TV with a furry fake leopard throw blanket on my lap. Mo came by to purr and be petted on the lap. Soon it was the turn for Nims, who was being extra affectionate. After walking along the back of the sofa purring and rubbing up against my head, she settled in for some lap time herself. Hah, Mr Mo, who is now on the floor, gets jealous and stands up on his back legs to swat her twice, trying to shoo her away. I made him desist, but he came back a little later, noting my now reclining pose, he took the shoulder spot, and there I was, with a blanket and two cats keeping me toasty. A festival of felines, a pile of purrieness. Snow always makes me thankful to be warm.
snow falling softly
Hello Mo fans!
Sawdust and Nims
The cats are settling in to their new home. Miss Nimbus has been quite interested in vertical exploration. I have often seen her up on the roof of the garage, and one time she exited that roof along a tree branch, threading her way over to the neighbor’s garage roof, with the pale orange cat in close pursuit.
Let’s dub this pale orange cat Sawdust cat. It is not as mean a bully as Creamsicle cat, and often comes to watch from a polite distance when I am doing yard work. Here is a shot of Sawdust cat checking out Nims on the shed roof.
Oh yes, she found her way up onto a new roof, and did not quite know how to get down. I put the ladder out for her, but she opted instead for a leap into the giant boxwood bush, a seven foot monster I refer to as Senor Mosh Pit, as the only way I can reach to prune the top is to lay a towel on the bush and surf across the top to reach the back corners.
Nims and Senor Mosh Pit
It was near the end of the day when I shot these photos, hence the dusky quality, but the actions were quite entertaining. Click on the images for a closer view.
Hello Mo fans!
The Mo report is back, after a break to relocate to Seattle from Medford. We will miss the deer in the backyard, but Mo is glad to be on familiar turf and Miss Nimbus adores the place.
I have noticed Mr Mo is a little hesitant about going outside lately. He must be intimidated by the neighborhood bullies. I encourage him to go out now and then, but he seems to enjoy luxuriating in a spot near a sunny window, usually lying half in sun and half in shadow.
Mo finds a sunbeam
This funky old farmhouse has a door at the foot of the stairs, and I have cut a small cat portal in this door so the cats have free passage. I try to keep this door closed so the heat doesn’t all drift up the stairwell. Sometimes the cats knock the door open, like when Mo tries to drag his stuffed buddy Heath through the opening. In the wee hours of the morning I heard Mo open this door and I trotted down and slammed it so it was securely shut before going back to sleep.
Heath hanging out the cat door
Ha ha, morning arrives and when I try to open the door the handle is not turning the latch and then it falls out of the door, leaving me trapped in the attic. Kicking the door didn’t free me and I feared having to climb out an upstairs window and leap for a tree. Luckily I found a pair of cuticle scissors and used those in the lock mechanism to twist the latch free.
…
The nerve of that trickster Mo. I suppose he loosened the screw on the doorknob too. It is fixed now, and it’s a good lesson to consider one of those attic escape ladders. That and a spring so the door shuts itself!
Hello Mo fans!
Pleeeease let us out
The cats are enjoying the warm days of summer. Mo loves spending the night outside and sleeping indoors during the day. They prefer the warmer upstairs and when I get home they will be stretched out flat on the floor or on their backs, waving the paws in the air.
Miss Nimbus had to be kept inside for a few days due to a banged up eye. A redness was visible above the eye and it got swollen, either she bruised herself or got a bee sting. It is looking better this morning, and she was extra happy to get her morning petting. Poor little girlie girl! Here she is sporting her collar with fancy bead. Mo is super happy to have lost yet another collar, that bad boy. Tsk tsk.
Miss Nimbus has a sore eye
One Saturday morning I was teasing Miss Nimbus by sliding a leather belt along the floor like a snake. She watched it carefully from a safe distance, keeping a chair between herself and this threat.
I got to wear her shoes later that day, when an odd striped turd caught my eye, while out visiting my friend’s farm. Yessiree, a genuine rattlesnake!
rattlesnake coiled
I snapped a photo, and then participated in the rattlesnake relocation program, holding the lid on the bucket while we escorted the snake several miles away. I did not participate in the actual capture, rest assured.
There are some thirty species of rattlesnake, this one was thankfully relatively docile. It was photographed near Ruch, OR.
Hello Mo fans!
nims under the bureau
The cats have settled back to their normal routine of chasing each other around the house. One day Nims was hiding under a small braided rug while Mo circled around batting at the odd lump. I wasn’t fast enough to snap a shot of that but I caught the end of this episode of hide and seek. Nims used to hide under this bureau as a kitten and can just barely fit under there now.
She is eating well and seems completely recovered from her intestinal distress. I guess I will have to eat the rest of the liver, pumpkin, and prune juice. Hmm, what would the Top Chef Masters do with that challenge?
Hello Mo fans!
Miss Nimbus returns
Miss Nimbus returned this week from her convalescence in the mountains. Mo was unbelievably cranky! He reacted with plenty of hissing, growling, swatting, and even charged at her. Then he went and sulked under a bookcase.
It was quite amusing hearing him growl while eating, “ggrrmmnlnrr, grrup, ggrrrhrmp, grrrmplh, grrlahr, glramph, grllu, grrllm.” He would be sitting next to me, look across the room at her, start growling and then smack me!
She was entirely relaxed, not intimidated in the least, and happy to be home.
I woke up the next morning with Miss Nims snuggled up to me purring, and Mo lying on the floor ten feet away, front legs under him like his arms are crossed, GROWLING at us! That brat stole his spot!
Miss Nims loves her big brother and follows him everywhere. By the fourth day they were settling down and I finally heard a purr out of Mr Mo. I am going out of my way to be extra nice to him.
the mo report | mary | 
January 29, 2011 12:35 am | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe