New York Renovator

We went on a two-day trip and left our half-Siamese baby, Livvy, alone in the house. Well– we also left the two Yorkshire terriers and the cockatiel, too, but they are mere pets. They are also contained (the dogs in a large penned area and the bird in a cage), so Livvy has the rule of the roost while we’re gone.

I have several “pet cams” set up around the house to keep an eye on the critters whenever we are out of town. Previously, we’ve always taken Livvy with us when we travel but this time we decided to leave her home to watch over everything. The surveillance camera monitored all the activity in the house, and we were able to get a good idea of what exactly Livvy does while we’re away.

The first thing she did was hop in my desk chair and snooze. She always sleeps in my desk chair when I’m away.

After a few hours, she realizes that we aren’t back yet. She waits for our return.

Nobody comes in. Hm. She saunters over to the Yorkies. She seems very pleased when they go bananas in their typical Yorky way. They bark, they spin in circles, they crash into each other and trip over the food. I can’t see her on the camera, but I just KNOW she is snickering at them.

We left her PLENTY of food, but she does like her meals “fresh.” She she tips over the cat food bag for a quick bite.

Hm. Nobody comes running to sweep it up.

WHAT IS TAKING THE FAMILY SO LONG?!

She inspects the camera.

“I’m going insane!!! It’s booooring around here! Don’t leave me alone with these nutty dogs!!!”

Unrecorded on any camera, Livvy wanders upstairs. She ferociously gnaws on the white cords to my window miniblinds. How do I know? I come home to find the blinds all mangled and chewed beyond repair. It was her only bad deed but FOR PETE’S SAKE she’s eaten through seven miniblind sets since the summer!!!!

FINALLY we arrive home, and she’s all happy and love-y again. Happy Face.

Oh we haven’t had such a cute Find the Kitty Friday photo in a long time. My daughter got this shot with her cell phne (which explains the grainy-ness of the photo).

I love it when she makes that “peekaboo” face. CUTE!

She’s been in a “hiding mode” lately. We have to constantly check for her, because sometimes *someone* leaves the basement door open and I’m terrified she’ll go down there and through the hatch that leads to the outside. Gotta get her an rfid chip or something. I’ve had too many close calls.

…Just a thought– why don’t cell phones come with better cameras? Even the slick iPhone 4 has a measly 5 MP camera. Is this some purposeful attempt to keep the digital camera industry in business? You know, if I had the choice between a 10MP cell phone camera and a 10 MP digital camera, I’d go with the cell in a second. I wonder if that’s why they don’t improve cell camera technology?

Anyway, have a great weekend folks. Be sure to hug your kittehs.

What IS it with cats and laundry? At least, with THIS cat and laundry.

She’s always skulking around the dirty and clean clothes. She likes to hide behind the mounds surrounding the washer. Then she likes to try to hop in the dryer while I’m pulling them out. Finally, she jumps in the basket of warm unfolded clothing or plops on top of the piles of folded laundry. What a silly girl. Somebody find her an anniversary gift or something to keep her outta my hair while I wash the clothes! LOL

It’s hard to believe she’s 3 1/2 years old now. She’s still such a baby. A big baby. A big laundry-loving, laundry-mooching baby.

Daylight Saving Time ends tomorrow night. I will miss it terribly. I like winter but one of the worst things is the lack of daylight. Livvy is soaking up as much as she can before the plentiful rays disperse for the winter.

We’ve had a wonderful string of warm weather here. After October’s very chilly, dismal rainy denouement, we’d unpacked all our coats and brought out the hats and gloves. November’s first week has been sunny and *moderately* warm– warm for November, that is. Still, we’ll wait until next year to break out the kenneth cole reaction shoes — the boots are nearby and ready for action. I think this is indeed autumn’s last hurrah.

Our home stays very warm with our gas heaters. Livvy loves them. She stretches out in front of them, exposing as much fur as possible in soaking up the radiant warmth. I shall be joining her very soon.

Happy weekend, friends.

I have a number of Find the Kitty photos but in the disaster that is my desk and computer, I can’t seem to find them. :S

I did find a number of cute, albeit subpar quality, photos of Livvy around the house. So here she is in all her casual glory.

Doing what cats do best.

Really enjoying herself, too. I wish I could sleep so well.

So cozy.

Here she is, staring at my shoes. She knows that when I put on my shoes, I will leave the house. And she knows that when I leave the house, I must leave her behind. The kids tell me that she moans and whines and scratches at the door until I come home. It’s a great thing to be loved. ….or maybe she doesn’t care for me as much as she wants to GO OUTSIDE.

Alack, the closest thing she sees to to great outdoors is the view from the Car Transport — the family vehicle. I don’t like her wandering around the yard. For one, there are ticks in the grass from all the deer that wander around. And two, I don’t want to encourage her into thinking that it’s OK for her to wander in the yard. She escaped from us once and took off like a wildcat. FREAKED me out. I don’t know how you cat owners do it with your cats coming in and out such well-trained pets. Livvy is a maniac outside.

And here she is playing with a roll of kraft paper.

Whenever I get a package in the mail (a frequent event because I order everything online except groceries), Livvy gets to have the packaging. Car Shipping Rates and prices are good right now, so she’s had more than her usual fare of boxes and bags and twine. Like the kid that gets to lick the bowl of frosting after the cake has been iced, Liv gets to play with the “stuff.”

And here she is, being a bad cat. Yes, hard to believe! She can be bad. She hopped up onto the table after we’d cleared the plates (but before we removed some of the dinner). She must like Italian food.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Yep, we’re still here. Still in the same rickety old house! I’ve just been busy and renovating has come to a grinding halt right now, although Lord knows we have yet to batten down the hatches for winter. We still have to fix the chimney, and the windows need to be ordered so we can get them installed before it gets really cold.

But PRIORITIES, right! You all need photos of Livvy!!! Where could she BE? Hmmmmmm….

That was easy. Hey, for extra bonus points, find the bird. That’s what she was after that evening.

Sorry the photo is grainy. Taken with a non-quality iPod camera in low light.

I don’t know about you, but I remember when fall and winter used to be *kind of* quiet and uneventful. These days, I’m hopping. We’ve been traveling much more than usual these days, and of course there’s school for the kids and work for the mom and dad. I also have to rearrange my office which has swallowed up the living room. Lord willing, I have plans to build a storage barn and workshop next summer. All the stuff in our attached garage will go in there, and I can convert the garage into a family room/music room. Then, I’ll have the living room all to myself as a big office. I have great delusions of grandeur, getting this all accomplished in the next year or so….. hahahahaha!!! Maybe I’ll even throw in some Energy speakers for bookshelf or snazzy new carpeting… yes, I dream big.

The renovations seem very elusive, actually. A bit like how Livvy feels about that bird.

I wonder if Livvy is the first cat to ever climb Blue Mountain, in the Adirondack Mountain range of New York State? Our climb was quite the adventure! The mountain rises about 3700 feet into the atmosphere, and the views are incredible. The climb, however, is rather laborious. Livvy could only get so far.

She wanted to stop constantly, to smell the balsam fir and ferns. These were new smells for her.

Some of the trails were pretty rough.

After over 2 hours of hiking (and being carried in a cat carrier some of the way), Livvy stopped. She was probably 20 minutes from the summit, but the climbing was very intense and I didn’t feel comfortable hauling her carrier up such a steep incline (and back down again). I was afraid one of the guys would slip and Livvy would go tumbling down the incline. Also, Livvy had had very little water and I didn’t want her to continue climbing. So we stayed put on the trail and waited while the family reached the peak.

While we waited, several other groups of climbers passed us by. Each one of them exclaimed about Livvy— “Well, that’s a new thing!” ‘OH, what a beautiful cat!” Livvy got lots of attention. I really think she may be the first domestic cat up Blue Mountain! It was good to get away from home, away from the hustle and bustle of work and the city and news about the economy and annuity rates and all that stuff. Livvy ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Adirondacks. We came home a week later, and she was disappointed—- I think she thought we were going to live there! Ah, if only!

If you want to read more about our climb and see some spectacular photos of the views from the summit, you can read my article about our adventure, on my New York Travel blog.

We’re back! We were gone for a week in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York! The Adirondacks is the largest park in the country. It’s 6 million acres of mountains, lakes and thick forests. In the northern parts, it’s pretty rugged. I was going to leave Livvy to fend for herself alone at home while we were gone, but at the last minute, we decided to bring her. I am so glad we did! She had a blast and was a very good kitty. Can you find the kitty?

She had quite a few adventures, and so did we! I’ll have more about that to come. But I think she just MAY be the first domestic kitty to climb a certain mountain! Does she get a la flor dominicana double ligero? Stay tuned! LOL Happy weekend, friends.

She’s always ready to help.

We’ve had a big problem with mildew this year, thanks to the uber-abundant rain, two hurricanes and humidity. My poor furniture is suffering, and I can’t seem to keep the mildew away. Lots of other folks have been having the same problem. And I saw just yesterday that some gardeners are now dealing with late-season blight that’s striking tomatoes and potatoes again. Ugh, when will the wetness ever end.

Anyway, while we clean Livvy gets to have fun. And that’s always important, isn’t it? Today she was so cute– I got a big box in the mail and before we could even open it, she was all over the box in curiosity. She’s such a doll, so curious and innocent. I love this baby. The box contained my new lasagna pan! Oh, I was hoping for a samsung lcd screens, sure , but I needed a lasagna pan. I’ve been using a 13×9 inch pan and… let’s just say you can’t make good lasagna with such a tiny pan. I got a honking monster, stainless steel and everything. Gonna make a whopper apple crisp in it, too!

So how are you doing this fall? Do you do any fall cleaning? Cooking? Have a great weekend, friends!

We’ve been chipping away, little by little, at the spring cleaning chores I never finished. Livvy always like to lend a paw.

Happy weekend!