Learning with Little Kitty # 3

Toys

 

I don’t have a regular feature on Mom’s blog like my big brother, Sully but I have been wanting to tell you all about my toys. So Mom said I could tell you today.

I have learned that almost anything can be a toy for this curious kitty.
I have played with the usual candidates like string, yarn, water bottle or milk jug caps, and pony tail holders.
I have played with pork rinds that have been dropped and lost in some obscure corner of the kitchen or living room. I have tried to eat them but they are usually rock hard when I find them.

Speaking of eating, some toys are actually food that you have to play with first then you get to eat it. These type of toys include bugs,(not the stink bugs or box elder bugs not only do they stink when you play with them, they taste awful and you have to spit them out then get a drink to wash the awful taste from your mouth), house flys if you are quick enough to catch them, spiders they are pretty easy to catch, and small moths. Big brother, Sully told me he ate all these too when he was a kitten.

A few weeks ago I saw this tiny little moth flying around the kitchen. I was able to bap it down onto the floor. It was flittering around so I put my paw on it. I lifted my paw to find it again and bap it, but it was not on the floor. All of a sudden I get this weird tickley feeling between my toe beans. The darn thing was stuck so I licked and pulled at it until it fell out. Well no more messing around I ate that sucker. Then do you know what happened? I forgot I ate it and was trying to find it on the kitchen floor again. Mom thought the whole episode was hysterical.

I bet if I gave you a million guesses you will never guess what is my all time favorite toy.

It is this thing Dad uses to clean his teeth after he eats dinner called a floss pick. He leaves them laying on his tv tray. I find them there and just have a good old time. Dad does not like that I take them though. It is not my fault he and Mom can’t remember to hide them from me. When I see it laying there on the tv tray I just can’t help myself.

It’s my green floss pick toy and you can’t have it!

 

Mom got this video of me playing with my green floss pick one morning.

 

I was having a blast. I kept loosing it under Mom’s crochet bag. So that bag decided to attack me! I was able to escape its clutches unharmed. I do some pretty awesome flip moves too. I did a really good one but Mom didn’t follow me with the camera fast enough to get that move on the video. Don’t worry Mom supervises me when I play with the green floss pick.

 

Later in the morning she got photos of me looking out the window. I like to do that when I am not playing with my toys.

What are those crazy turkeys doing?

Oh, you took a picture of my cuteness!

 

Thanks, Mom for letting me share about my toys. I hope all of you have a good day and take the time to have fun with your toys too.

The Petunias Have a Frequent Flyer Visitor

 

A humming bird moth has been coming in the mornings and early evenings for about the last week.

I did not even try to get a still photo of him this day(September 12, 2018). He was just too busy tasting every flower in site. So I got this just over a minute video. You see him best at the end when he is flittering around in the left corner of the frame.

 

 

A few days later I was able to get a still of him. I was a bit more patient and he was taking a little longer to taste each flower.

Sully Saturdays # 15: The Weather and Little Sisters Both are Unpredictable

 

The weather has been nice and the snow has all melted, so Mom has been able to take me outside. I was so ready when she asked if I wanted to go outside. I didn’t even want to wait to put my harness and leash on. Well actually it was Milly’s Pink leash. I broke the clip on my leash last year. Mom is still looking for a new clip. Once Mom had me all harnessed and leashed she opened the door. I made my way down the steps, dragging Mom behind me. She clipped me to the step rail and went about doing her stuff outside.

It is too early yet for any reasonable amount of catnip to be by the steps. So I had to be happy with just smelling and rubbing on last year’s dry stalks. When Mom was done doing her stuff, she unclipped me to take me for my walk around the house. I have not been for a walk all winter, so it was new to me again. When we approached the corner of the house that took us into the backyard, I stopped dead in my tracks and fluffed up my tail. Something in the backyard made me nervous and a bit scared. There was nothing Mom could see, so maybe I hear or smell something that she can’t. Mom gently coaxed me forward so I ran through the backyard. I was fine when we reached the end of the house. I continued on to the front yard at a happy little trot to the front deck, up the steps, and waited for Mom to open the door to go back in. As a treat for doing well on my walk, Mom found a small patch of green catnip and brought some in to me. I LOVE IT! I can’t wait for my patch by the steps to take off!

As you know I got a new little sister back in November. Her name is Little Kitty and she gets to stay in the house. My other sister Milly is the shed cat. Here I am with Milly during one of her house stays this winter. She was in a good mood that day and let me snuggle, cuddle, and give her kisses.

Any way Little Kitty and I are getting along for the most part. Mom will let her out after I have had my breakfast which can be any time between 4 am and 6 am, I am not always the reason Mom gets up at 4 AM. Sometimes she just can’t sleep any more and decides to get up on her own. Most days I get her up at 5:30 ish.

Little Kitty has to stay in her bedroom at night because she is still learning the house rules. She is still too hyper to be left to her own devices. She likes to get into the trash for one and she gets on the counters to lick the grease out of the pans that were used to cook supper, if Mom leaves them to wash until morning.

When she comes out of her room, she will run up to me for snuggles and kisses.

 

She is all sweet and nice for a little while then BAM! She is running up and down the house, jumping off of everything. She will run through the house, jump onto the cat tower, then leap off of it with such force she knocks it over or sometimes she pounces off it on to my head as I walk by it.

This action then takes us into the living room where the wrestling matches begin.

Naturally when she pounces on me I have to shove her off, hold her down, and give her some bites.

All the while she is kicking me in the chin and chest with her back feet.

It is no wonder my chin is all scabbed up.

 

All this rough housing with Little Kitty all winter has

helped me loose some of my extra weight.

Mom says she can actually see my hips again and my stomach doesn’t stick out

the sides as much when I lay in the loaf position.

This is the most recent photo of me.

 

Eventually I start to get tired after about an hour of this very physical play. It is time for me to take my morning nap, which usually last until lunch time. Little Kitty will go off keeping herself busy or Mom will keep her entertained for a while. She must get bored with that and Mom because around 10 AM she thinks I have rested enough and tries to get me to play again. She will come over to the big living room chair and paw at my head between the bars or jump up beside me paw me and jump back down expecting me to chase her. Well I am getting on in years and I need my full morning nap. So I will paw her on the head, she thinks she has gotten me to join her in play. So I then paw at her and hiss at her a bit. SHE DONT’ GET IT! Her cat mom must have never have yelled or hissed at her to teach her that this is a warning noise that means back off! She just keeps coming. I will try running away from her while hissing she thinks I am still trying to play and chases after me. Mom will hear me hissing, she will call me a grumpy old kitty, then she opens her bedroom door to let me in, she closes it again so Little Kitty can’t follow me in. Ahh, now I can finish my nap in peace. She knows that I have had enough of my little sister’s rambunctious, unpredictable ways!

Learning with Little Kitty #2: Healthy, Happy, and Home

 

Hi,  You All! It’s me Little Kitty!

I have been with my family now for 4 months as of today! I guess that makes me about 6 months old now too. I have grown alot and I am feeling great. I am all healed up, well except for the new ouchies I get playing with Sully. They are no big deal not like the ones I had when I got here. They are just some little scratches on my chin and forehead once in awhile. I have grown taller, Dad says I am going to be one of those tall slender cats. Mom weighed me on the bathroom scale holding me while she stood on it. I made Mom gain 6 pounds! I have come a long way from that bony, sickly, scabbed up, screaming kitty in The Driveway!

What’s this thing you are holding?

Little Kitty

That is a scratch from Sully on my nose.

I have been trying to learn all kinds of things.

I have learrned my favorite toy is a pair of shoe laces that Mom tied together. I call it my string. Mom will drag it around on the floor for me to chase. I catch it with my paws. I can also catch it in my mouth. If Mom gets to busy or forgets my string in my bedroom, I will carry it out in my mouth, dragging it behind me. I like to bring it in the kitchen to pounce on it or paw at it under the chairs.

Here are a few photos and a short video of me playing with, and pouncing on, my string.

Mom thinks I am so cute when I drag it around in my mouth.

Ooo! Look it’s my string!

Mom and I playing Catfishing! You caught me, now try to reel me in. I will put up a fight like a good catfish!

Sully joins in playing string.

 

I am having a hard time learning what things it is ok for me to climb around on.

I can sit on the chest freezer to look out the window.

I can sit on the seat of the chairs but I can’t sit on the backs to sharpen my claws.

I can sit on the couch. I also can sit on the cat tower, it is ok to sharpen my claws on it.

I can’t get on the counters to lick the grease out of the pans that were used to cook supper in. I have not decided which is my favorite yet, bacon, hamburger, or chicken grease. Lately though Mom has been making sure to wash the pans before she goes to bed that night instead of waiting until the next morning. This is what lead me to learn that I am a kitchen sink cat. I sit it in now, when I can’t find some pans to lick. I don’t know why, I just like to sit in it to think or stare off at far away places.

I have learned that some of these things are considered being naughty. They will get me squirted  with the spray bottle.  I have learned to run from the spray bottle. Mom doesn’t even have to spray me now. I have also learned I have a nickname for when I am being naughty. Mom calls me Little Stink, but it is still said with a laughing  affection in her voice.

I am pretty good at parkour.( wikipedia link for those not in the know 🙂 ) I can run across the freezer, jump from one kitchen chair to the other. Sometimes I will run through the kitchen, jump onto the cat tower, leap off of it, knocking it over. It makes a cool thump noise which scares Mom. I continue running into the living room jump from the big chair to the couch, then run to the other end of the house, just to do it all again. Mom says I am doing laps.

I will somtimes jump off the cat tower onto my brother, Sully’s head as he walks by. This is the start of some great wrestling matches. He will eventually hold me down to give me a few bites, but I get my kicks in. He will wrestle and play for a while then he likes to lie in the big chair to rest. I will go do other stuff for a bit, then I get bored and want to play with him again. So I will go over to the big chair and paw at him around the arms. He wakes up and paws at me and makes this really strange noise. I think he likes me pawing him this must be his way of saying to keep pawing my head. I keep at it, but then he gets up and runs away. I give chase the whole time he is running and making that noise. Mom will say he is being grumpy and having a hissy fit. She aids in his escape from me by letting him in her bedroom and closing the door so I can’t keep pawing his head or attacking his tail. I really like to get his tail.

Oh well, I guess I will go do something else until he decides to come back out to play again.

Now where is my string!

See you all later and keep on learning!

Little Kitty

He Just Stopped in The Driveway.

 

David and I had to go into town this morning. David went out to the pickup before I did. I was just closing the door when I looked up to see that David had come to an abrupt stop as he  neared the end of the truck. I approached with caution cause David doesn’t startle easily. He stopped because there were two snakes having a life and death battle. He wanted to make sure of the species so he did not get bitten.

The two snakes were a good-sized green snake and a small bull snake. I started to take pictures but that was no good as they kept moving. I did get the one clear shot that I used for the feature photo.

So I turned on the video. I filmed for about three minutes. Then we went on into town. When we got home about an hour and half later both snakes were gone.

The little bull snake did escape for a short time. I think we startled the green snake and he slithered under the truck’s rear wheel. David pulled the truck forward. The green snake then went on the hunt again for the bull snake. I edited the full video down. It picks up just after the green snake catches the bull snake again.

 

This is the video.