Posts Tagged ‘Cat’

Presto’s Disappearing Act

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Presto is sick. Very sick. Cancer.

The outlook is grim, while we don’t have much hope, we are trying what we can.

I’m randomly breaking out into tears over this and while I may risk shorting out the keyboard, I want to write down the things I’m going to miss.

Presto, as expressed by the person at the Humane Society, is a “spitfire”.

Constantly getting into trouble, picking at stuff, Presto generates strong emotions. But when he snuggles, is playful, you can’t help but love him.

So I want to make a list of every little thing I’m going to miss about Mr. Presto so that I’ll never be able to forget.

  • The thick feel of his fur.
  • The way that he comes when I whistle.
  • The rolling purr he makes when it’s time for his wet food.
  • The way he likes to drink from a running faucet.
  • He follows you everywhere you go.
  • The way he lies against you by practically shoulder charging in to you.
  • He lies on my legs when I go to sleep.
  • In the summer time he’ll lie on my legs and rub his head on my heels. It feels like velvet. Better then velvet.
  • How much he loves to chase his puff.
  • He’ll play fetch with his puff.
  • The way he sits at the window like a little boy.
  • You can’t pull your hand away from him without him grabbing at it.
  • The way he holds your fingers gently with his teeth.
  • The way he grooms magic.
  • The way he will be at the front window pawing at it when we get home.
  • How he will run from anywhere to beat you to the top or bottom of the stairs.
  • He sometimes misses his jumps.
  • The strangest things will scare him and he’ll jump about two feet up.
  • The way he sits in the corner of a chair like an old man.
  • The little white patch on his throat.
  • How he’ll nap by his water dish.
  • He’ll climb on top of the cabinets and nap.
  • He’ll look out the window with Magic and have no idea what she’s looking at.
  • He’s just so damn lovable.
  • If you brush his fur back he looks like a little lion.
  • The way he knows exactly which wires to chew on to get a reaction out of us.
  • How he made “Damn it, Presto!” a thing.
  • He digs for China in the laundry basket.
  • He’ll scratch the headboard on the bed next to me to wake me up.
  • He won’t go down to the food dish in the middle of the night without me, I have to walk with him down.
  • Bowling for Presto
  • He helps in everything you do. “Presto’s helping!”
  • You can touch his paws all you want, but you can’t touch his belly.
  • He’ll chew, but not eat, cardboard boxes. Leaving little bits everywhere.
  • He likes to get in large paper bags from The Works.
  • We bought a house because of him.
  • He’ll steal balled up socks from the laundry bin as we’re folding.
  • I can pretty much voice what he’s thinking.
  • He doesn’t do anything half way. What he does he does full blast.
  • He’s Anita’s “Special Little Guy.”
  • He’ll knock the toilet roll off the holder with his tail and not even notice.
  • He often goes by “Pesto” or “Señor Fluffybutt”.
  • He will walk in the room, drop his puff and cry until you throw it. But sometimes he’ll look at you like “Why did you throw that, I just brought it in!”

I plan to keep adding to this. I may be adding to it for the rest of my life.

Cat pee will destroy my furnace.

Monday, December 10th, 2007

So, I was right.  It was the HRV motor which was starting to melt down.  The guy from J.D. Swallow did a bunch of tests on our furnace and everything seems in tip-top shape with it.

We’re just waiting to hear what will cost more, a replacement part (the innards of the HRV is pretty much just the motor as one whole unit) or just getting the whole thing replaced.

What I didn’t know was that it’s not a good idea to have a uncovered litter box in the furnace room.  The ammonia can cause the metal in the furnace to corrode.  Apparently Meow Meow isn’t that bad for the size of our basement and the fact that the furnace has it’s own fresh air intake.

Meow Meow Penitentiary

Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Now that I’m done with overtime, I can finally show off my first “construction”.  I’ve never really “built” anything before, and from a certain point of view I still haven’t.  Nothing well built at any rate.

But the idea was to move the cat’s litter boxes into the basement and to keep them from having free run while they’re there.  With that in mind I guess it was technically a success.

The main room in the basement has this one wall that isn’t at a 90 degree angle.  It’s actually closer to something like 60 from the perpendicular sides.  It’s also the wall separating the basement and it’s unfinished on the other side.  Which is perfect for attaching things to.

I completely built it on the fly and I didn’t measure anything.  (And it shows!)

Cat Prison Closed

It doesn’t look that bad when it’s closed.  But you can really see how “not square” the parts are when the door is open.

Cat Prison Open

 But I am pretty happy with the way the hinges work on the door.  The weight keeps it closed without latches or locks and it folds out of the way almost completely for when you need to clean the litter boxes.

The whole project took close to 100 screws (I used two screws per join.) and almost 700 staples.  (For which I bought a staple gun!)

I’d like to say I’ve learned from the experience for next time, but there was nothing done worth learning from. :-)

And…. touchdown.

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

I’m back in the Nation’s Capital with 2000+ pictures totaling around 6+ Gig’s of data. (Of course that includes Joseph filling up a 1 Gig card all on his own.)

Good times.

Anne-Marie took stellar care of my little kittens. For almost two weeks!! As far as I’m concerned – she’s family now.

Not only are my cats that important to me, they’ll just that much trouble.

Still tho’, I’m going to have to do something big to make this up! :)