She assures me she can stop anytime she wants.
Tag Archives: Christmas
The Gift of Scout
Scout recently went in for her yearly checkup and got an especially good report. The vet found it hard to believe she was about to turn nine as physically she seems like a much younger cat. Scout spent the rest of the day running around the house pumping her little fists, shouting “Take that Ponce de León!” to no one in particular.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
We had a nice relaxing Christmas this year. I’m off from work for a couple of weeks so I got up before sunrise and went to Ridgefield as I have most days this week. Today, though, instead of staying all day at the refuge I came home for the afternoon. The cats were treated with extra salmon treats while Ellie got a new baby hedgehog to go along with the other two. One of the older ones has been designated for outdoor use but has seen so much love that its face is starting to fall off.
New baby hedgehog was a huge hit and an excited Ellie squeaked it all day long, taking a break only to toss it at us in hopes of play. She finally tuckered out and is sleeping beside me at the moment.
She’s posing here beside our bedraggled tree with the new hedgehog. The eagle-eyed observer may notice that there are two new hedgehogs in the picture, the toy at Ellie’s feet and a new ornament that my wife made in Ellie’s honor.
The eagle-eyed observer may also note that Emma is sitting underneath the tree. She has not been climbing the tree so much since the ornaments went on, although she did break one of the colored glass balls and beloved gold Santa took a beating.
That’s Not the Way We Left the Tree, Em
There’s a reason I don’t put the ornaments on the tree right away.
I thought with another year of wisdom and experience the cats might be kinder to the tree. But yesterday we got home from work to find this carnage in the living room.
The investigation initially focused on two prime suspects, juvenile offenders with a past history of tree climbing, but the discovery of a clump of soft, black fur in the treetop has narrowed the focus. The accused did herself no favors when, as I righted the tree, she climbed back into it before I even had it upright again.
In her defense, the tree stand isn’t the best. It certainly wasn’t designed with the idea of a 10 lb. ornament hanging from the top.
Unboxing Day
Many parts of the former British Empire celebrate Boxing Day after Christmas, a day originally set aside to give gifts to the less wealthy parts of society. While we don’t celebrate Boxing Day here in the States, we do celebrate Unboxing Day in our home, a day set aside to unbox our artificial Christmas tree. This day will always be a day of joy and sadness for me, as it was not only one of Templeton’s favorite days of the year, it was also the day he died in 2007.
But it is also a day of joy, as the cats all love it, Emma especially. I brought the box down early this year but didn’t get the tree out for another week, and every day when I came home from work Emma would be sleeping beside the box. I’m not sure if the smell brought back pleasant memories or if she was trying to guilt me into putting the tree up.
I finally put it up last night, and before I even had the top assembled Emma was sleeping under the bottom branches. Sam was climbing in it before I had the branches spread out, and today it showed clear signs of cats tunneling upwards through the branches. We’ve had this tree throughout our married life but I don’t how much more of this kind of love it can take. Scout used to love to climb in it when she was younger, but being the resident genius she at least figured out how to climb up without leaving an evidence trail behind her.
Last night all three cats were under the tree, and I hoped to get some pictures but Emma woke up and came out to greet me so I didn’t have much time. Snuggle buddies Sam and Scout stayed put so I had a little more chance with them.
