New York Renovator

…and how do I know that?

Why the stink in the dog room is starting to subside.

A little.

But aren’t they the cutest little things?

We’ve been doing a little experiment with Smell Control. So far, the best cleanser is bleach and the best deodorant is Linen Febreze. The Febreze is intended for clothing and furniture and the like; I use it to spray the curtains and couch. For the air, we all prefer the Thai Dragon Fruit scent. It’s sweet but not overpowering. And it’s WAY better than the smell of those little tootsie rolls the dogs leave behind. :-p

She’s been doing it ever since she was a baby: cuddles.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of her cuddling because, well, because she usually cuddling the photographer (me) in the wee hours of the morning. It’s like a routine with her.

Early every morning — sometimes as early as 4am but other times later — Livvy scampers onto my side of the bed, seeking to get close to my face. If I have a pillow over my head (I do that to block out light and noise sometimes), she noses her way under the pillow to press her cold, wet nose onto my cheek or nose. If I am not already awake, that usually does it.

She worms her way under the blanket (if it’s winter) or on top of the blanket (if it’s summer) in search of my hair. I don’t know what it is about her and hair, but she loves hair! The longer and darker, the better.

Once she’s face first into my hair, she “kneads” it with her front paws. I read somewhere that this is called “smurgling.” I don’t know if that’s really the word, but it’s comical enough for the family to have become attached to it. So now when Livvy starts her kneading, we call it smurgling.

Sometimes her very sharp claws snag my tender skin- ouch! She doesn’t seem to realize it. It’s like she’s in this other world. Her eyes are glazed, half shut, she drools a little, and kneads with her paws. She rarely purrs when she does this. And she does it just about every morning. My husband thinks Livvy smurgles because she was taken from her mother when she was too young (only a few weeks). Since I was so affectionate to her, she adopted me as her mom.

She’s such a sweet, affectionate kitty. She doesn’t like to be held or carried. She won’t sit on laps, she’d rather sit on a towel instead (none of my cats have ever been lap cats!). But she likes to plant herself under my neck like in the first photo above. My guess it’s because it’s warmer there, and she can hear my little cooings to her.

I love my Livvy.

We’ve been away from the house so often this summer (a roofing project) that Livvy has spent long periods of time alone. I’m starting to get a little concerned. LOL

Seriously, when we leave, she moans and howls quite loudly out the window. As we drive away, we can hear her pleas through the window. Sheesh!

So the husband turned to me the other day and said quietly, “She needs a buddy.” I looked at him, my eyes shining. I knew exactly what he meant. No, not another stuffed animal buddy— another KITTEN!!!!! This from the guy who has to hold me back from becoming a crazy cat lady!

We *may* get another kitty, then. I’ll keep my eyes open for a Siamese or Siamese mix. Maybe by winter, Livvy will have a pal. And I’ll have another tiny feline to squeeze!!

Oh she’s a BIG BAD PUMA when she’s outside. But put on a great big Uncle Sam hat for the Fourth of July, and Livvy’s a little baby cat who needs her mommy. LOL.

My husband got a huge patriotic hat for Independence Day. Think “Cat in the Hat” size. Yeah, it actually spooked me, too, when I first saw it. He wore it for the first time around Livvy today, and this is her reaction.

Good thing we don’t have fireworks!

She’s so cute when she’s spooked.

Well, well. This will take care of the weeds in the garden.

I came right up to the thing, about 3 feet away. It’s a young buck, can you see his stubby antlers? He kept rubbing them on his leg. When I tried to touch him, he jumped out of the garden and wandered around the backyard for a while.

The deer here are incredibly tame. He sat in the grass, swishing flies from his tail and munched on my lawn.

Later, I was sitting in the screened gazebo with Livvy when the deer came around again. My other cat, Fuzzy, was with us, too. Fuzzy was oblivious to the deer, because he was facing Livvy with his back to the deer. The deer spotted Fuzzy and for some crazy reason, started to approach him quietly. It looked like the deer wanted to play with Fuzzy! Slowly, slowly, the deer gingerly crept closer to Fuzzy. Livvy and I watched, spellbound, from only about 3 or 4 feet from them.

Suddenly, Fuzzy turned around and saw the deer. BOING!!! His tail exploded into a bushy rod and he sprinted for the basement doors (where he sleeps). The deer snorted several times and chased after Fuzzy!!! It was pretty wild! I’d never heard a deer snort, and I don’t think Fuzzy had, either. Fuzzy peeped his little head up from the basement steps as if to ask, “Is the coast clear?” The deer stared after him, wondering why the pretty kitty didn’t want to come out and play. It was a “Bambi and Thumper” moment. LOL.

Well, the deer eventually gave up and wandered back into the garden to eat more weeds.

It’s one of her favorite chores. Can ya guess?

From what I have seen on your blogs, it looks to be one of a kitty’s favorite things– “helping” to make the bed. LOL. Livvy LOVES it. She races all around the mattress as the sheets and blankets flap up and down, snagging and grasping the flying materials. It’s so cute. Even though Livvy is now a mature young lady (she’ll be three next month!), the kitten in her rises up when she helps to “make” the bed.

It’s so amazing how quickly Livvy has grown up. I wish kittenhood lasted longer. I really miss the cuddles and the squeezes; I miss carrying her around in my pocket all day long. Now, she’s too grown up for that. I am SO tempted to get another kitty. But then, reality hits. I can’t have too many more pets, we are busting at the seams now. The last thing I want is to have more critters running around, needing their shots and needing to get “fixed” (which is incredibly expensive, yikes!). Non-neutered male cats, especially, are a pain in the butt. They walk around with this chip on their shoulder, whizzing everywhere, ugh. I have sworn off male cats FOREVAH.

But kittens are soooooo cute!!! Must. Resist!!!!

Can you spot her? Where could she be?

Hint: It’s where cats love to be….

Isn’t she the sweetest thing?! She often hops onto the clothes dryer to nestle in a laundry basket. She cares not if the basket is filled with socks, just as long as it’s warm and cozy. Gotta love cats.

We took her with us on our trip to Virginia. Yes, a 10 hour drive EACH WAY. She was…. vocal. We didn’t need to lock her in a carrier, she behaved well enough with her harness and leash. But we think she howled during the ride because she probably got carsick. After a few hours, she settled down and snoozed. She even used the litter box! What a good girl!

When i told my brother in Virginia that I would be bringing Livvy, he was incredulous. “You’re bringing your cat?!” he said. I explained that Livvy was a member of the family, that Siamese are special, etc etc. He doubted, can you believe it! But as soon as he saw her, he said, “Oh my gosh, what a beautiful cat!” And by the time we were packing up to go back home, my brother asked me if he could have Livvy. I said of course not! What would all her blogging fans do without her?!

Most of the time I tolerate Livvy’s antics pretty well. She has this very bad habit of climbing up on my desk and planting her big Siamese butt in front of my monitor. She then presses her wet nose on the screen– or even licks it!– so the monitor is speckled with slimy cat snot. *gag* Before I moved my keyboard into a keyboard desk tray, she’d lounge on the keyboard, too. If I was frittering away my time on the computer, that’d be one thing. But I work from home! I have scads of articles to write, and all she wants is ATTENTION! Who does she think she is, Cleopatra??

Well, I had a little fun with Livvy yesterday. Yeah, I was a bit stir-crazy. Looks like it was contagious.

She can be such a pain sometimes, but isn’t she adorable?!

This is one of my daughter’s Yorkies (well, “Morkies.” They are a Yorkshire and Maltese mix). Isn’t he adorable?!?!?! His name is Cricket, or “Cricket Bug” as we affectionately call him. The picture is a little fuzzy because he is pausing mid-motion for a split second. Whew, these critters move fast.

We let them out of their pens (wearing doggy diapers– a must!) to run around the house. I would love to have them run around the house all the time, but we don’t think they will ever be housebroken. They are good dogs, they don’t make any trouble. I have always liked Yorkies.

Livvy was out with them, too, but she refused to be in the photos with the dogs.

I think Cricket looks very dashing in his diaper and sweater. Hey, give the critter some bling and he’s looking quite fearsome. Beware the home intruder– he’d be yapped to death!

GOSH I spoil this cat. Must be old age or something, I NEVER used to be this way. Or maybe it’s Livvy’s adorable face and charm. I’m in love, lol.

Well, the temperatures finally crawled up into the mid 20′s, so she sat and meowed at the door, giving me those dopey sad eyes and batting her feline eyelashes at me. How could I resist? I strapped on her harness and out we ventured into the snow. I figured as soon as she tried to walk around in 2-foot high snow, she change her mind and want the creature comforts of the house again.

Not so fast.

I barely snapped the harness buckle before she bolted out the door. Whoa, talk about cabin fever! She haz it!

When I talk to her, she ignores me! She wants to be independent, be a Great Explorer.

BIRD!

On a wild goose chase. The snow is deep and only slightly crusty. It can’t hold her weight, so her legs go BOOP into the snowbank. I had to laugh (sorry, Liv!) because she was jerking her legs around to keep them out of the snow. No puss in boots for kitty cats!

Finding refuge from drowning in snow.

Getting a little cold now.

Yeah, ready to come in.

As soon as she was back in the house, she groomed her fur all clean, and took a long, deep nap. Ahhh peace and quiet at last!