Abby Gail and Gracie

Abby Gail:

Dreaming of Herding Cattle? {April 13}

After I took this picture, she started to go across the street. I would not let her as I had the sprinkler going in the garden and I needed to shut it off within a few minutes. (Note. I use a timer. I can be lazy and use sprinklers before 10:00am on Sundays and Thursdays here where I live).

She isn't going outside as much as she used to as I am paranoid after seeing a baby snake on the move. We need to set that brush pile out back afire. She has grown up and matured so much that she does not need as much activity. However, when she does, she does. In other words, she goes nuts.

She made me think of Sheldon's lullaby from the Big Bang Theory TV series:

Soft kitty, warm kitty,
little ball of fur

Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
purr, purr, purr.

And yes, she lays on me like this all the time.

Gracie:

{April 17}

She is doing well after a long struggle with skin and ear infections. We saw a cat dermatologist and are now attacking her suspected allergies from three possible sides -- food, environmental and flea -- at one time. She is currently free of both the skin and ear infections and will be on medication and the special diet for another five weeks or so. Once past this time, we will start determining what her allergies are by either taking away the special diet or the medication (for environmental allergies). She is much happier, more active and so much more normal these days. She shocked me when I turned around and saw her on the back of this chair.

{April 15}

This was the first time she went without the cone of shame under supervision. She was extremely happy bathing herself. Both Dan and I are pleased that she rarely sought to scratch herself and whenever she did, it was mostly the normal scratching that cats do. And yes, she is missing fur around her face and neck; but, it is growing back slowly and surely.

We're Hard at Work in my Studio....

I wanted to show y'all the setup in my studio. I have a craft table that I use for making general crafts and folding laundry on (while watching TV). By the way, we made the table using free plans and it is foldable so that we can put it away if needed. I am going to need to figure out how to raise it up a few inches; but, I am fairly happy with the thing.

Anyway, we turned that craft table into a desk and were hard at work on our tax returns.

But, the reality is....

the cats wanted attention! (I had to resort to using the flash with a faster shutter speed because both of them were too fast.) This is Abby Gail playing with a kick stick. (Dan: "I'm trying to work here!")

And, Gracie wanted attention from Dan.

(In case you do not see her, She is on one of his legs).

FYI: We went out the next day and purchased TurboTax: Premier edition for $25 off. It ended up being worth the cost because it saved us thousands of dollars. No joke! This is the first year we had to deal with stocks and more and we were not confident of our initial efforts. So, my advice would be, when in doubt, seriously invest in TurboTax.

Abby Gail Amongst Wilfdflowers

I have already posted these pictures on facebook; but, there are many who are not on facebook with me. So, I am posting them here for everyone to see. Both of these pictures were taken with my camera phone on the same day and both were in our backyard. Abby was pretty much annoyed with me by the time I took the last picture.

Christmas and New Year's "Loot"

Foreword: I would get packages of fabrics and not open them. I believe this started back in late June of 2016. At first, I would use a package as a reward for completing a block or a section of the Gypsy Wife quilt. But, I never did open up a box. So, they kept piling up. In the end, I just decided to open up a bunch of packages that were in mailing envelopes on Christmas day at the lake and the rest of them at home on New Year's Eve. Opening up the packages on Christmas day was extremely fun. (Note: Dan and I did not exchange gifts this year. Instead, we got our own gifts.)

The below is from New Year's eve and I finally got through them all on January 2nd. By the way, most of the fabrics were purchased at 50% off or more with either free or cheap shipping (e.g. flat rate shipping of five dollars).

Abby Gail photobombed my picture of the pile of packages. She made me laugh!

She looked like how I felt about these packages -- drool and slurp! Ha!

The other side of the pile of boxes.

The result of opening up all the packages. By the way, the fabrics inside the crate is from Christmas day.

I had just sat down in my chair and thought that the view was pretty. So, I decided to take a picture of the back of this pile.

I think I have a severe problem, don't you?

Feline Friday {Cats Stealing Chairs}

I was sitting in the nice chair (on the right). When I left to go do something and returned, I discovered Abby Gail has stolen the chair. I pushed her back and then sat down on the other chair. I left once again to do something and returned to find Gracie in the other chair! I sputtered, fussed and then laughed! I gave in and let them have the chairs while I worked on something else. I did not really need to be on the computer.

Abby Gail and the Water Tower

We bought a water tower for the cats mainly for when we are gone several days. Abby Gail hasn't adjusted to the tower yet and will only drink water by dipping her paw into the water bowl and then licking it off. I have seen the tower being moved around; but, never seen who was doing what until now.

Feline Friday {That Tongue}

Feline Friday (Epic Photobomb}

I have not let Gracie outdoors in eons due to suspicions that she is allergic to something, even when I brushed her upon returning indoors. When we mow down part of the back yard later this month or early June, I will let her outside once again. In the meantime, Gracie decided to sleep on my Mother's dry sink in the studio. She has been wanting to be close to me of late which is strange for her. But then, she has her moments. I decided to see if I can get a decent picture of her.

I then went to the other side to see if getting a picture from that angle would be better. I snapped a series quickly adjusting the lens and whatnot in between. (FYI: I rarely check the screen after snapping pictures.) The below is what I got.

You can almost see Abby Gail asking "what was that?" after the first click. And then, checking the camera out upon the second click. She made me laugh and I had to abandon the project after taking a few boring pictures with her in focus.

Feline Friday {Grounded}

Abby Gail got herself grounded recently. Literally. This was more for my own sanity's sake than her own.

While we were outside planting some new trees and daffodils last Sunday, she quickly and absentmindedly crossed through the fence and into the neighbor’s yard while hunting butterflies; but, I managed to grab her leash before she could get too far. She can be like a Cheetah and go from 0 to 60 mph in nanoseconds. I also discovered that I am either too old to run or badly out of shape.

Dan was inside for about five minutes while I gently struggled with a hissing, growling Abby Gail trying to get her to cross back over to our side. Dan joined me in the effort and ended up getting a scratch on his wrist. In the end, she managed to get out of her harness. I thought she was going to bolt and I would lose her.

In the meantime, Gracie, our tripod, saw the hullabaloo and ran to the fence to watch. She can run fast if she wants to. I ignored (forgot about) her because I trusted her to not cross the boundaries.

I ended up having to trespass our neighbor's yard to get to Abby Gail. While I was running/trotting to the neighbor's yard, she was running back and forth along the fence but not crossing back over (through). Dan remained on our side of the fence to keep an eye on her (and Gracie). He thinks Abby was more scared than anything because of her behavior. She was just freaked about being on the wrong side of the fence and could not figure out how to get back to our side even though there were tons of openings she could have slipped through easily.

When I arrived near her on the neighbor’s land, I squatted. She immediately approached me hissing and growling. This was not the defensive kind of communication with hair raised and ears flattened; but instead, it was her expression of displeasure, fear, unhappiness, etc., and etc. kind of communication.

She has been my weirdest unusual cat in terms of body and vocal language which is why I think she's extremely unadoptable. Most people, even cat fanatics, would be scared of her. It is just a matter of knowing and learning the cat’s language as no two cats are alike. Plus, I believe Abby Gail does have some “wild” cat in her genetics. In other words, I think she is a close descendant of a wild cat (e.g. Bengal) unlike those of domesticated cats which are many generations from a wild cat.

As soon as she sniffed my fingers and subtly relaxed, I got up and gently lifted her using both hands around the chest under her front legs. She was growling and hissing all the while; but, just hanging in there (relaxed).

Anyway, I took her over to the fence, said a quick prayer that she would go straight home and dropped her on our side of the fence. Upon landing on the ground, she immediately ran for the back door. When I arrived back in my own yard, I remembered Gracie and looked for her. She was already calmly and slowly working her way back to the immediate back yard area. I think she was highly entertained by our (and Abby’s) antics. She's a good cat that knows her boundaries.

Dan said Abby was hissing and growling with front paws on stoop. He said it was like she was cussing and swearing wanting the door opened NOW. She became grounded. She was not allowed back outside while we worked. I did not dare let her outside again until Wednesday and even then, I stayed with her as it is that time of the year when birds and butterflies are a huge attraction for her and she does not realize what she does (such as slipping through a fence) until after the fact. I just cannot stand the idea of losing her.

What is Wrong with this Picture?

Feline Friday (My Tired Little Girl}

Abby Gail, January 30, 2016, Shot with Phone

My tired little girl. She ran up to the top of the cat tree without begging to have her harness taken off. I think she was hoping for another outing later. And yes, she did go outside again.

Abby Gail and Her New Trackball Toy

I am just popping on for a few to show off Abby Gail once again. You see, she has this toy -- a trackball type toy -- that she stole, more or less, from Gracie.

She would go nuts with it from time to time. She loved the thing until I got her an even better toy. The new one challenges (and entertains) her a bit more than the old one.

I have videotaped her going nuts. If I didn't put it away, she would play with it for hours and even in the middle of the night. She doesn't know when to stop.

Here are a couple of videos of her playing with her new improved toy. I am going to be off for awhile. In the meantime, enjoy watching Abby Gail play!

Wordy Wednesday {Sulking Cats}

On this day (July 17, 2015), I had two sulking cats. For the life of me, I cannot remember why all the rooms were shut. But, both of them were NOT happy cats.

I have not seen them like this before or since this day. Gracie (bottom picture) had never got up on the coffee table before nor has she since this terrible (to them) day. If looks could kill.

Abby Gail rarely gets inside the bottom "tunnel" of the tree house. {She prefer higher places.} I have not seen her in that space since this particular day.

Wordy Wednesday

{Snapped on March 28, 2015}

I could not locate Abby Gail for a few minutes and finally discovered her laying amongst the Bluebonnets. I called her by name and she looked at me and gave a slow blink. For this reason, this is not the greatest picture; but, I liked it very much simply due to the love she showed me. Her slow blinks are kind of like a kitty kisses.

Wordy Wednesday (Selfies}

These pictures were taken the day after we returned from camping at Garner State Park (June 11, 2015) and we discovered Abby Gail is sick. She was extremely needy. The poor thing struggled with bad ear infections that gave her a poor appetite for weeks.

By the way, my forehead is not dirty. It is bruised. A heavy metal camp lantern reached out and hit me in the middle of the night. Ha! Seriously though, I walked into it in the middle of the night and was stunned. (I froze in place.) As a result, the camp lantern swung back and hit the same spot again.

Phone {Picture} Dump V

This is the last dump post. Until next time.

Phone {Picture} Dump I

Phone {Picture} Dump II

Phone {Picture} Dump III

Phone {Picture} Dump IV

Artwork by a grandniece. June 8, 2015

She colored, used stickers and "wrote" things onto paper. I framed them and hung it on my wall.

PS I am hoping that she will continue to gift me with her art work and pictures and these will be replaced (updated). I would do the same for all the others. She was the first to gift me with her “art”.

Abby Gail, June 9, 2015

Abby Gail, June 9, 2015

Abby Gail, June 9, 2015

Note: I took a LOT of pictures during the period of time she was needy and sickly. She wanted me. I finally put down a towel beside my computer and she was satisfied.

My Turn Now! Gracie. June 10, 2015

She looked so pathetic and cute. I had to take another picture. June 16, 2015

This gives you an idea of the depth of her sickness. She did not torment me or my needlework during this time frame. She just wanted to be on me and rest.

June 17, 2015

Abby Gail, June 18, 2015

Abby Gail. June 20, 2015

Abby Gail. June 20, 2015

Abby Gail. June 25, 2015