The Understudy

As usual on Saturdays, “She” and “He” try to get caught up on all the things they don’t have time to do during the week. This usually includes a thorough vacuuming of the whole house, however today, that’s not happening!

A few years ago (three, or so), they purchased a Dyson DC14. With the unique challenges we present, they have had many vacuums through the years that just couldn’t meet the demands of a nine-cat household. They were pleased to find the Dyson could actually do the job. They have been equally impressed with the cleaning ability of this appliance on both bare surfaces, as well as carpet.  But, today, the Dyson succumbed and was making a terrible noise. She (who has never been afraid to take something apart – don’t ask about the curling iron, or VCR incidents) immediately got a screwdriver and tried to fix the problem. Don’t worry – this one has a good ending! Unfortunately, She wasn’t able to correct the problem, so she called the Dyson toll free (seven day a week) support number and spoke with a really nice lady (way up in Chicago), who walked her through diagnosing the problem. It seems that the end of the beater bar that allows it to spin has become restricted and the bar is no longer spinning free.  After attempting to free up the sticking, and failing to do so, it seemed the only option is to order a new beater bar. 

So, after chatting with the nice lady for a while, She went ahead and ordered the part. It will take 5-7 days for the part to arrive, so now She has no way to vacuum. Because they can’t stand the idea of not being able to clean, they will probably try to find an inexpensive little unit that can step in and take up the slack. A “Dyson understudy” of sorts.

Jazz
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Boxed Sets

I just cannont help myselve! I see zee box, I must climb een! No matter zee size of zee box, eet ees eensteenct!  Sadly, I am not alone een zeese adeection!

 

Kosmo has zee crazy eyes!

And, zen zere ees thees fellow. He ees so lucky! He has hees box wiz heem every vhere he goes!

Thees Box Turtle vas een zee meedle of zee road, so “She” placed heem over een zee grass.  Howeveair, zee turtle must have been camera shy because he weent eenside hees box and slammed zee doors and vould not come back out for a peecture!

Of course, I vould not vant to geeve up zee freedom of being “boxless”.  Zere ees much to be said for lounging about on a nice soft blankeet!

Casanova

 

Happy Memorial Day

This post is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Korean War.  Particularly these soldiers who were killed in action, or went missing, November 28, 1950.

Kosmo

A Brush with Greatness

We have a new implement here at The House of 9 Lives which has been a great new tool. “She” was reading a post over at Nola’s blog about the Furminator.  Based on Nola’s endorsement and many positive reviews it had on multiple sites, “He” picked one up.  It was pricey, but his line of thinking was if it did what it is purported to do, it would be worth it.  If not, they would return it.

Well, it does not disappoint! This thing is pretty amazing.  With all the fur removed from the cats around here, we could build a whole new cat! Lilah’s coat has always been bad, due to her allergies.  Regular brushing has helped somewhat, but has done nothing to tame that thick undercoat. But, the Furminator gets in there and does the job!  After a few strokes, enough hair was removed to make a difference in the look of her fur!  With regular use, we all expect to see a big difference.  Kosmo’s coat is deceiving.  He doesn’t look like he would shed so badly, but when brushed with the Furminator, a lot of loose hair was collected.  Jazz has a thick beautiful orange coat, which the Furminator smoothed into nice shiny fur.

Look at this hair that was brushed from Lilah, Kosmo and Jazz, in just a few short minutes.

Kosmo really enjoyed being brushed and wanted to pose with the Furminator. Unfortunately, the picture is blurry, but he insisted I post it!

Here’s Boomer wondering where all this hair came from! 
It’s pretty much a consensus around here. The Furminator is definitely a brush with greatness!  He and She are just happy the hair removed with the Furminator won’t wind up on the furniture, or their clothes!

Flirt

Ninja Turtle

Teenage? Defintely not! Mutant? Possibly. Ninja? Without a doubt!!  “He” and “She” were driving down a little two-lane road when He spotted this guy on the side of the road.

They have a history of moving turtles out of roadways, so it was an easy decision to stop and make sure this guy wasn’t on a death mission.  She got out of the car and attempted to get behind the guy and push him along with her foot, but this turtle was having none of that. Every time She would move behind him, he would turn to face her.  When they realized that walking around was just making the turtle spin, they decided She would get in front to distract him, and He would pick him up from behind. 

It seemed like a good plan – who knew a Turtle’s neck is so long? That guy reached out and if weren’t for the quick reflexes He has, He would have been snapped!

References say a snapping turtle can live 30 – 40 years, and judging by the size of this one, he had been around for quite a while.  They finally decided if he had done well without their help for this long, he would probably be okay.  So, they made a pact with him, and the turtle agreed he wouldn’t get in the road if they wouldn’t try to pick him up again.

 Doesn’t it look like he’s making that promise? (Men’s shoe size 9.5 shown for scale).

Alley

Throwing in the Towel(s)

I realize living in a house with nine cats is probably not easy for “He” and “She” in some respects.  Every decision made has to take us cats into account.  “Will it be safe for the cats?”; “will the cats enjoy it?”; “will the cats tear it up?”; “will the cats eat it and cost a fortune at the vet, or worse yet, be beyond saving?”; and, one of the biggest considerations:  “will cat hair come off it easily?”  When they purchased new furniture a few years ago, She really had her heart set on a hot little red microfiber sofa, but She settled for leather.  Between the leather sofa and two leather chairs (each known as a chair and a half), the living room could have easily started looking like a bachelor pad.  So, to soften the look, they bought this sweet upholstered paisley printed chair and ottoman. 

It’s beautiful, however, it is literally a cat hair magnet.  And, where do you think two of our favorite places are to take naps? You guessed it! On the cat hair magnets!

Once She realized this was an issue, She started covering the chair with towels – tacky, but I know others of you with pets will understand.  Fortunately, we don’t get a lot of drop-in company, so there is always time to take them off and tidy up before guests arrive. However, She didn’t think the towels provided enough coverage. Her solution was to buy a large roll of clear plastic (like that used for drop cloths while painting), and using clear packing tape, she made a slipcover, of sorts, for the chair. Of course, this worked well to protect the chair, but did not make it too enticing for cat naps.  Back on, the towels went.  The plastic-covered, towel-laden chair – good for cat naps, not good for decor.

After a while, the look of the plastic on the chair got old, so She decided to buy a proper slipcover, thinking this would be an aesthetic and practical solution to her dilemma.

After much searching on the Internet, She felt like She had found the solution.  Two slipcovers available from Wal-mart, a pretty red one that would be the perfect accent color for the room, and a sage green one that would blend nicely.  The idea is to be able to change them out and always have a nice clean one ready.  They are both machine washable (of paramount importance), and appear to be the right fit for the chair.  After some confusion and a longer wait than usual, She found that the red slip cover has been discontinued.  Of course, that was the one She wanted the most!

Upon receiving the sage green slipcover, She proceded to put it on the chair . Alley helped to interpret the instructions.

It actually fit pretty well, and, with a light pressing and a little more smoothing, is a grand improvement over the plastic. However, she did feel the red one would have looked so much better.

Sadly, after getting it on the chair and seeing that it looked nice, She wanted to protect it, too, so back on went the towels. I guess living with nine cats will always mean throwing in the towels.

Blossom

Dear Old Meme

Scout over at Three Tabby Troublemakers has tagged us for a meme.  We’ve never been tagged before, so we think it’s pretty cool!  But, this could prove to be problematic.  First of all, we couldn’t decide who should answer the questions; secondly, we didn’t know if we should be honest, or creative; and thirdly, who are we going to tag?  Well, we settled the argument among ourselves when we conducted an interview.  “She” answered the questions, completely unsuspecting of our intent!  So, here you go:

 

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 4 or 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you have posted your answers.

 

1. What I was doing 10 years ago: 
Ten years ago, I was only owned by two cats, the regal and charming Garfield and the precious blue-eyed P.J.  They were wonderful kitties who never got up on the counters.

2. 5 things on my to do list for today:

Buy cat food, brush cats, clean up cat hair, clean the cat box, and serve as a pillow for as many cats as possible.

3. Snacks I enjoy: I really like True North Almond Crisps – these things are really addictive! They have several other varieties of snacks as well!I also enjoy Planter’s Nut-rition – the Cashew, Almond & Macadamia mix. Only the good stuff! No peanuts to pick through!
4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Give a lot of money away! Probably to animal charities, or maybe I would have Jazz do a drawing on the blog! Wouldn’t that be fun? Oh, and buy more land and make sure nothing gets built on it. They aren’t making any more land.

5. Three of my bad habits:
Cat collecting, rubbing a cat from head to tail and blowing cat hair into the air, and running Alley all over the house with the laser pointer.

6. Five places I’ve lived:
I’ve only lived in two cities. The one before and the one now. I hope I live here forever.

7. Five jobs I’ve had:

Cat wrangler, litter box cleaner, scratching post, massage dummy, and comfy cat recliner.

So, there you have it. All you could ever want to know about our dear “She”. To share the fun, we are tagging Aunt Granny, Sydney, Emily, Fivecats, and Scrappycat!

Barny