As I mentioned in my last post about my former garden, this year is the year of the container garden for me as I do not have any gardening space at my apartment, just a small deck. I am determined, however, … Continue reading
Container Gardening
Tag Archives: cats
Scarlett’s Birthday
It was Scarlett’s birthday today. The vet sent her an e-card.
What is this world coming to?(!) Even our pets have gone digital.
Scarlett is 5 years old today. I can’t believe it. Off to kittygarten in the fall!
This is her in her big-girl bed. She loves to lounge by the window and keep tabs on what’s happening outside.
She also LOVES plastic bags, so I gave her a bunch to play with today. She went nuts.
All of the excitement wore her out so she took a long nap on the sofa.
I think Gus was jealous that Scarlett was getting special treatment on her birthday so he decided to act up and get in the dryer. What a little daredevil.
Good thing he didn’t try to get in the washing machine. It would have been hard to decide if he should go in with the “whites” or “colors.”
Clearly his plan to get my attention worked as he made it into Scarlett’s birthday post.
Happy Birthday, Scarlett. You’re such a funny little poodle.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
Scarlett and Her Chair
This was my cats Scarlett’s chair at my parents’ house. She has good taste in chairs as it was the most comfortable chair in the house, but unfortunately it did not face the TEE-v so people rarely sat in it. That was just fine with Scarlett.
She’s so cute when she’s sleeping.
“What about when I’m awake?” (frown)
She loved to sit up on the back cushion of this chair, which was very wide and soft. It had a permanent slouch in the middle of the cushion from her sitting there so often. I imagine she liked sitting there not only because it was comfortable, but also because she could observe all of us sitting in the family room and see through the door opening into the kitchen to keep tabs on the activity in there as well. This is very important to her as she insists that her contribution to the household is to secure the premises. She’s not just a pretty face, ya know.
Because this was her favorite spot, I was a little bit nervous about how she would handle the move given that I was not taking her chair. It did cross my mind to take the chair but a) it’s not mine to take as it is part of the seating arrangement in my parents’ family room, b) it’s an enormous chair and would be way over-scaled for my 980 square foot apartment, and c) it would be absurd to bring a large chair for a cat.
So as we settled into our new apartment, I waited to see where Scarlett would perch. She quickly adopted one of my Aunt Anna’s chairs that I have in my apartment. I am sure it is no coincidence that she chose the one where she can stare me down as I watch TV from the sofa as she simultaneously watches birds flitting around on my deck through the glass door.
She has really taken to this chair.
As it is a tight-back chair, it isn’t comfortable to sit on the top of the chair (I would imagine), so she just kicks back on the seat cushion like a raccoon.
“Hiiiiiiiiii.”
And looks regal.
“What now?”
Sometimes she falls asleep on the job.
“I heard that.” (stink-eye)
She’s really leaning into that armrest. Good thing it’s just her height.
While the chair is her usual hangout, she sometimes opts for the higher altitude of the back cushions on the sectional so she can see me if I’m at my desk or in the kitchen. These are not nearly as soft as the cushion on the chair she loved so dearly at my parents’ house so she is making her way around the sectional, breaking in each of the pillows for me. What would I do without her?
Livin’ large.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
The First Supper
After a tearful goodbye with my parents at the airport, I decided I needed something to cheer myself up. Food usually does the trick (because to me a good meal = home), but the only problem was there wasn’t any food in my apartment other than cheerios, so I decided to go grocery shopping.
When I arrived at the store, I browsed at my leisure for a while and then walked out with a very random assortment of items, such as herbs de provence, granola, polenta, and dried pinto beans. I can’t explain these choices except to say that it was an emotional afternoon.
Thankfully, I had the sense to purchase frozen macaroni and cheese because I was busy all day and still unpacking and was not up for cooking a full meal.
I got home and took that sucker out of the box and went to put it in the microwave.
Oh wait, I don’t have a microwave.
Undeterred, I searched the box for oven directions because I do, in fact, have an oven. And people must have made frozen macaroni and cheese before there were microwaves, right? ……..No? ……..Frozen macaroni and cheese was invented for the microwave? Oh….…. Well, anyway, there were oven directions on the side of the box.
The oven directions said to unwrap the plastic and place the container on a tinfoil-lined baking sheet.
Oh wait, I don’t have any tin foil. Bummer.
Not to worry, I actually bought stovetop macaroni and cheese because I found it before I got to the frozen section. It was a long day of unpacking and I was tired and too lazy to take the stovetop macaroni back to its isle so I left it in my cart and purchased it. Good thing, because I was ill-equipped to prepare for myself what seemed to be the impossibly easy dinner of microwave macaroni and cheese.
So then I got out one of my new pots, filled it with water and set it on the stove to boil.
Then I smelled something similar to what a hair-dryer that’s about to burn out smells like. I turned the stove off momentarily and immediately called my cousin Lauren who I thought might have a similar stove at her apartment. Luckily she answered and told me that that had happened to her before if it had been a while since she turned on the stove and that it was likely the cleaning solution burning off from when my apartment was prepared for my arrival. Phew.
Confident that I was going to be eating dinner, I got the water back up to boiling and threw in the pasta.
Then I realized I didn’t have a strainer, but that was fine. I would just use the lid to the pot to drain the water. I only lost a few past shells down the drain.
As I was pulling out a bowl to put my pasta in, I saw that I actually did have a strainer.
Oh well.
I then made bake-and-break cookies without incident. These are normally against my religion, but judging by the chain of events I just described, do you really think I had the ingredients, equipment or mental capacity to make cookies from scratch? Ah, no.
The cookies weren’t terrible but they didn’t quite taste like home sweet home either.
Full of sub-par macaroni and cheese and square cookies, I continued to unpack and the cats watched, exhausted from tracking my quest for dinner.
Just as I was worried about the drive and hotel stay with the cats, I thought they might take a while to adjust to my new apartment. As you can see, Gus is barely managing to hold it together on the sectional.
While things are going well in the living room, I think there is only room for improvement here in the kitchen.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
Hello, Nashville!
Hello, Nashville!
19 driving hours, 1150 miles and 8 states later, Amarillo, my mom, my dad, Gus, Scarlett and I arrived in my new hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. My dear mom and dad, as well as Amarillo (my moving truck that I grew attached to) were along for the journey to help me move.
Although my cat Gus meowed constantly for about an hour straight after we left, the cats traveled much better than I thought they would. I think their pleasantness had a lot to do with my ingenious set-up for them in the back of my car. I purchased the largest animal crate that would fit into the back of my Jeep and used the divider (intended to be used vertically) to create a mezzanine level so the cats wouldn’t be on top of each other. Scarlett took the main floor and stretched out in the camper while Gus opted for the upper deck and was able to see out the windows and enjoy the scenery. I realized about an hour into the trip that Gus’ blanket (“the mommy”) was outside the cage so at our first rest stop I put the blanket in his bed in the cage. He snuggled right in and the meowing abruptly ceased. What a weird cat.
They were much more relaxed when we were moving at a steady pace than when we were stopped. I think the might have thought that a stop meant we had arrived at the vet’s office. They do not like the vet.
The drive was especially beautiful in some of the states we passed through, particularly Virginia and eastern Tennessee. This was my view for about 500 miles. Not too shabby.
I love me some hills.
This was a very pretty sky. I can’t remember if this was late Thursday or very early Friday. It’s all a blur.
Here is my naked apartment right after I signed my lease and my life away.
Love the pale pink counter tops. Not.
I will be painting as soon as I have some energy after packing up, driving across the country and then unpacking my life. Maybe I’ll feel up to it by the time my lease is up.
My seeeester, Eugene, and my cousin Lauren drove down from Lexington, Kentucky (where they both go to school with the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions. No big deal).
They were such great helpers and I really don’t think I could have gotten everything carried up into my 3rd floor apartment and pretty close to set up without them. I think I’ll keep them around. I tried to get them to stay at my apartment but they gave me some spiel about having to get back to school for class. Lame.
Who could say no to this?
After a few hours of unpacking the truck and carrying my ridiculous amount of stuff up to my apartment on Friday, we were all starving and we went to one of my new favorite spots in Franklin called Sol. It’s kind of funky Mexican or Mexico meets the South or something like that. Whatever you want to call it, it is obnoxiously delicious. We started out with some freshly made table-side guacamole. YUM. As our entrees were ready to be served, our waiter took the guacamole bowl and I was very displeased because I had not yet scraped the bowl clean with the homemade tortilla chips so as not to leave a morsel of deliciousness behind.
I quickly got over my outrage as soon as my dinner arrived. I ordered one of the evening’s specials: chipotle honey pan seared salmon with herb and parmesan polenta (and some sautéed spinach that I ignored). This was heaven on a plate. I have a picture that will surely make you hop in your car and drive however many miles (it doesn’t matter how many) to taste a bit of this wonderfulness.
After dinner, we were all drifting off into food comas and wanted to pass out. Eugene, Lauren and I had to make a quick trip to Walmart, however, because I had no food in the house and no couch for my sister or cousin to sleep on. As with all Dyer Walmart trips, this was an adventure. We were delirious at this point and must have circled the bedding department 43 times before I made up my mind on which sheet set and blanket would coordinate best with my décor (even though they were going on an air mattress).
I expected to find an air mattress in this section also, but I was informed by my cousin Lauren that such an item would actually be found in the “camping and recreation” section. I mentioned to her that I was impressed by how well she knew the departments and that I was grateful to have her along because I never would have found it on my own. Her response:
“Honey, I was practically raised in Walmart.”
Her parents might find this statement troubling, but I thought it was hilarious.
We got back to my apartment and Lauren blew up the air mattress (inflated it, rather. She didn’t explode it. That would have been real bad). And then we all passed out at the thought of more unpacking the next day.
More to come.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
Nosy Cat
If you look up nosy in the dictionary, this is what you will find:
No matter how hard I try to discipline my misguided cat Scarlett, her nosiness seems to get the best of her, especially when it comes to people food and the kitchen.
Several times a day, as I am sitting in the family room or my office, I hear the very distinct thump of 4 furry paws landing on the kitchen floor after leaping from the counter.
I then walk into the kitchen and find Scarlett either hurriedly trotting into the dining room or standing nonchalantly in the middle of the kitchen, staring into space.
Sometimes there is evidence that she has been on the counter, such as a stray paper towel or green bean on the floor. One time, I found the remnants of a rib-eye steak on the floor half-way across the kitchen and Scarlett was nowhere to be found (behind a chair), licking her chops.
But most of the time I just hear the thump and by the time I walk into the room she has already destroyed (consumed) the evidence.
This is how our talks about her behavior normally go:
Me: “Scarlett, what were you just doing?”
Scarlett: ……………(stares intently at nothing)
Me: “Scarlett, you’re acting guilty. Anything you want to confess?”
Scarlett: …………..(stares at Gus in an effort to divert my attention while praying that I have a bout of amnesia)
Me: “Scarlett!”
Scarlett: “Who?…….Me???” (tries her best to look innocent, shocked and pathetic)
Me: “Scarlett, I know you were on the counter.”
Scarlett: “I want a lawyer.”
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
Scarlett
This is my cat Scarlett.
She’s a piece of work.
She is a tad smarter than my cat Gus and knows when she is being bad but goes on doing whatever she pleases anyway. What a punk.
She is nosy on a clinical level, which leads me to believe she is half raccoon. She would prefer to spend her days making bird noises (strange, given she’s a CAT), rummaging through small waste baskets (thus leaving a crime scene on the floor) and dragging food scraps out of a sink of dirty dishes. So far, my attempts to discipline her have been unsuccessful. If her behavior gets any worse, I am threatening to send her to a feline correctional facility. Here’s how she feels about that (note: photo taken after an altercation with the vacuum hose, her nemesis):
Here’s a mug shot from her previous offenses:
When I catch her in the act, she runs and hides, though she could use a lesson on being stealthy.
She also insists on sitting on/getting in any item you place on the floor (even if it’s a scrap of paper and especially if it is a box/bag/large purse).
Even though she’s a little rascal, I keep her around because she provides excellent tech support.
And, sometimes she just kills me with that little puddin’ face.
She wouldn’t want me to give you the impression that she’s really a big softie at heart so here is a much more regal shot from her linkedin profile:
She’s a mess but I love her.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Sugarlump
P.S. Most of these photos were taken before I got my new camera so I apologize if they look as if they were taken underwater. I assure you that they were not because Scarlett HATES baths/anything to do with a large quantity of water.
The Sugarlump 