Daily Photo: Squirrel on Deck!
Fatso hasn’t stolen anything lately but loves to go rooting around on the deck, making really exciting little scratching noises and then leaping from one thing to another. Torture! they say. Environmental enrichment! I say. Fatso eats well, not always intentionally, but he does a good job keeping my cats entertained.
In other news, our Chewy order came in today. They were on the box as soon as I set it down and someone has been guarding it all day today.
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Photos from previous years on this date
What Cats Think Ironing Boards Are For, 2012
For some reason, this photo is one of my favorites and I have to share it again.
Mr. Sunshine is rolling around and feeling groovy while Mimi looks at the world from a new perspective. What we humans, especially female humans, see as the ultimate object of drudgery, even household slavery, our cats find to be a source of entertainment and even joy.
I admit, I did warm it up nicely for them, and it has a nice soft pad on it, plus it’s elevated, and as a bonus I was using it and would not let them on it, all criteria for any cat to absolutely need to be up there. Underneath that nice clean muslin cover is a reflective Teflon cover, so it’s like a heated cat shelf. Like some nice fresh black cat hairs with your freshly-ironed tee or tablecloth? They come free with every order unless I go after them. The ironing board cover gets rolled for cat hair more often than any of my garments.
When I screen print or block print a product, the ink needs to be set with heat once it’s dry to make it completely washable. This can be done in the dryer, but then said item is rumpled and looks used, not something you’d want to buy that’s considered new, so it needs to be completely ironed. It can also be set just by ironing for a period of time, and this is what I usually choose to do. But I often end up ironing and entire thing anyway—t-shirts come packed so tightly in the box they practically pop out when I open it, and are sometimes so wrinkled I have to iron them to print. Tablecloths and placemats and other fabric items are made from fabric which I prewash so it needs to be ironed in that case, then often I hem or trim it so that also needs to be ironed. Iron, iron, iron, they don’t tell you you’ll be doing housework when you say you want to be an artist. Good thing I enjoy it; I can sing to my cats or watch a good movie on my computer and the ironing time flies.
And because the ironing board is a little tippy and I know as soon as I leave the room that two or three cats will immediately launch themselves onto it, I actually set it up so it is braced and is very difficult to knock over. The iron is unplugged and placed in a safe spot on the floor.
I can keep these guys from jumping on it while I’m working, and I’ve kept most cats from doing so, but Cookie would have none of that. Unless I ironed outside she would find a way to get onto the ironing board—she couldn’t ever jump that high, even as a kitten—so even if it meant she had to start in another room and step up and up and up from one thing to another she would eventually get up there, prance around and wave her tail and purr, very pleased with herself and happy to have my attention. From last June, I Will Never Get To Retire.
Mamá, they all say, you are incapable of doing all this without our supervision! I should be glad for it, I guess.
Besides that, black cats look spectacular against a background of white cotton and unbleached muslin.
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Kitty Sorrows, 2014
Is Giuseppe considering drowning a few kitty sorrows in a glass of white wine? He certainly doesn’t look too happy. What is it—Mlle. so far away? Bored with life here? What could a cat who has everything be unhappy about?
Or is it just his moody artistic nature? He wasn’t chosen for the role of “Rodolfo” in La Boheme? Well, we creative types do have our challenges.
Giuseppe’s mom and brother join him in commiserating.
Bean, always compassionate offers a few suggestions to lighten up. “He bro, wanna watch some kitty porn?”
What other photos did I feature on this date?
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Wordless Wednesday: I Just Love My Brother
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Mewsette Makes a Good Cat Bed, 2013
Yesterday Mimi curled up on Giuseppe, now it’s Mewsette. Mimi reserves the right to use her children as soft and warm cat beds any time she pleases—you can see this in her expression.
Mewsette has been persisting in her newly-transformed box; in fact, that’s how she learned what the box wanted to be. Though she considers her installation to be complete, she still curls up deep inside the box.
Her tiny Mama Mimi (accents on the second syllables for my French cats) gently steps into the box and curls up on top of Mewsette, barely making a dent, and not bothering Mewsette in the least. Nice, soft, furry, warm, purry cat bed, Mimi obviously thinks, and it’s one of those reasons you have children.
Bath En Plein Air, 2013
Emeraude was on her windowsill again yesterday afternoon, having a good bath after a mid-day meal. From October 6, the day she began acting a little subdued, she hasn’t paid any attention to her windowsill at all, but has just been sleeping on her fleece bed on the floor, eating well, but very quiet. So it was good to see her yesterday finish her food and head for the three step journey to the windowsill—toilet, sink, window—and then spend the warm afternoon enjoying the sun and the air, a little bit of her old self. Each time I went in the bathroom she stood up and greeted me with her not-so-pretty voice. I hated to disturb her.
She’s been feeling better with some sub-q fluid support and supplements and another acupuncture treatment. Nothing has gotten in the way of her appetite. Read more about Emeraude.
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Wordless Wednesday: Remembering
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Shadow Kitty, 2012
The gentle mixed shadows reminded me of an illustration, and yet it changed every second with the sun, moving near midday shining through layers of trees at a long angle into the bathroom window, past the tall maples and the shorter tulip poplar and even shorter mulberry to the pussy willow right outside the window. Jelly Bean sat on the sink, head tilted toward the faucet, waiting for his human to “get it”, just the top of his head showing at the very bottom of the frame.
Then just a little later he moved up to the windowsill and look like a monster kitty heading into the room!
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Mimi on My Shoulders Makes Me Happy, 2011
Above, Mimi supervises my work from the best angle she can find—my left shoulder.
This is the cat who was always just a little cool about touching. She could do the limbo under your hand and bend herself into some pretty complicated shapes in order not to be touched.
Mimi was never, ever unfriendly, mind you, but she was not accustomed to being touched in her former home where she lived as a mostly outdoor cat having kittens and pretty much being ignored.
But she has come up with her own little games for attention, some of them involving sitting right in front of me with her back to me or sitting on my right wrist as I work at the computer. This proves to me that she has to take drastic measures in order to be noticed.
She has just begun this practice of getting up onto my shoulders. When I’m working bent over a table, she gets on the table and then steps up onto one of my shoulders. She is so lightweight I hardly know she’s there.
Below, Mimi moves over to my right shoulder do take a break. She works so hard.
These photos were fun to take. I only had my big DSLR with me, and holding that far enough away from my and focusing without looking through the viewfinder was pretty fun! And all that without dislodging Mimi.
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item. Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter. © 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski Weekly schedule of features: Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters Tuesday: Rescue Stories Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork Thursday: New Merchandise Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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When a squirrel runs along the deck or railing it gets the cats all excited too.
The squirrel is lucky that glass is there 😉
We like the other pictures also,especially the brotherly love, rolling on the ironing board and cats in boxes 🙂
Nancy and the kitties
Very day is such an adventure here, Nancy! I like when Mimi gets together with the young ones.