Friday, March 29, 2024
black catscat photographsdaily photofoster catsSmokie

Daily Photo: Way Up There

black kitten on shelf.
Yes?

Smokie has continued with his upward mobility since he discovered “up” on the entertainment center, and has graduated to the shelf above the landing—with great ease and no small amount of feline ego, I might add.

My ceilings were lowered on the first floor, using plaster so they look like the original ceilings, but the original ceilings in this house were 10 feet, not eight. They were not lowered upstairs, so the ceiling you see above Smokie is 10 feet from the landing at the top of the stairs. The shelf is in the corner of the landing above both bedroom doors, 18″ from the ceiling.

black kitten on shelf.
I’m waaaaayyyy up here!

Yes, he likes to look down on me from his lofty perch! The other morning he took a leap from a table by my bedroom door onto the top edge of the open door and stood there, but couldn’t move much without the door moving, and there weren’t too many places to leap down. I watched to see how he dealt with it and he looked calmly around, chose his spot and lept back onto the table. He knows what he’s doing, so I’m not concerned he’ll hurt himself with all this.

And catifying this area to make it a little more safe has been on my list for a while (along with patching all the old cracks and lumps in the walls). You’ve seen Mewsette up there, and Bean too. Right now they hop up from the corner of the wardrobe, and really, for a cat, it’s a small leap, about the distance of jumping from the floor to the kitchen counter, which is no challenge at all.

black kitten on shelf.
I think I’ll grab your hair when you walk underneath.

But a fall could be devastating from that height if they missed—consider if Mewsette was up there and Smokie jumped, was startled and lost his grip. Or, when Mewsette or Bean get a little older and a leap isn’t so easy any more…

Originally I’d installed this shelf to hold my house plants through the winter since it was cooler there, lots of winter light and enough moisture collected from the bathroom to keep their leaves healthy, and in summer it was hot and dry and darker there there and I dried flowers and herbs on the shelf and hanging from it. Until the day that I saw Mewsette up there among the spider plants with one of them teetering on the edge. Clean those cobwebs, Smokie! Make use of that tail!

black kitten on shelf.
You can’t see me.

Putting a shelf above the bathroom door would make it an easy step/leap from the wardrobe, then a right-hand turn and another step/leap onto the existing corner shelf. I could add other shelves too so they could walk all around the tiny 2′ x 4′ landing, up in the air. I’d also considered taking it down, though, in part because that louvered thing in the ceiling is an attic fan and I’ve wanted to to get it fixed so it can help air circulate, and I certainly don’t want any kitties near that! But for now, Smokie enjoys the challenge. And it’s so catlike to look down on the human.

black kitten on shelf.
I’m ignoring you, and looking in the neighbor’s windows.

. . . . . . .

What other photos have I shared on or around this date?

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Why Aren’t We Famous?, 2014
four black cats watching movie
Watching the movie.

Complain, complain, you never heard cats complain so much that I was away for days—weeks, in fact—and they got no attention whatsoever. They always exaggerate, but they are right, I did have several busy days where I was away for most of the day, and I guess the special canned food and treats, which I only do when it seems they truly need such extravagances, didn’t impress them too much. So I decided while I was getting a few things done in the kitchen, we could watch a few movies on the computer they might be interested in. So we read “What cats get up to when you leave the house” and then watched How attached are cats to their owners?. They could have easily watched Kodi walk around with the toy, meowing, for all 35 minutes he did so. But the real excitement was when Shorty appeared. Above, Mewsette, Jelly Bean, Giuseppe and Mimi are transfixed by the movie. I had to play it several times.

Below, more berating for me.

“Why aren’t we famous like those cats?”

“Just what are you doing when you’re out there, not here?”

“You need to work harder to make us famous.”

“Those cats are on the computer, we’re not.”

It’s not true. I played a few videos I’d made of them, and they were pretty bored with it all. But at least I gave them treats.

four black cats looking up
Why aren’t we famous?

. . . . . . .

A Presence on the Stairs, 2014
black cat on stairs
Lady Emeraude appears on the stairs.

Lady Emeraude has been feeling pretty good lately. Not only does she stop over in the studio when we’re all gathered in there, but today when I worked downstairs for most of the day and all of the Five were with me I heard shuffling steps on the stairs and the click of claws that I associate with older cats trying to get a grip on a smooth surface. There she was, holding her own, balanced on a step.

black cat on steps
She’s not coming down any farther but wants us to know she wants us up there!

She’s still pretty unsteady, and I’m not sure she should be cruising the steps, which are fairly steep. She really didn’t want to join us, but wanted us to come upstairs to be with her. She turned around and went back up on her own and it took a noticeable amount of effort to get to the top but she wasn’t incapacitated by it. I thought that was awfully nice of her to invite us up! We never did make it up there.

black cat on steps
Later she sits at the top waiting for us.

. . . . . . .

Wordless Wednesday: Full to Overflowing, 2014
two black cats in basket
Sunshine and Bean in a basket.

 


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From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

2 thoughts on “Daily Photo: Way Up There

    • He knows he’s clever Tabbies, I’m just a little surprised–he’s not the bold explorer Bella is but she hadn’t even been on the wardrobe by then.

      Reply

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