Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
As hot as it’s been in Scottsdale, it gets hotter when two furry furnaces are sleeping on your legs. I wouldn’t have it any other way. A quick snap with my iPhone a couple of nights ago, I was going hiking in 5 hours and struggling to join Sam and Trixie in slumber. My two sleep advisors suggested taking a nap in the afternoon and I’ve done that the past three days, an early hike then a swim then a nap. It’s worked out wonderfully but not tomorrow, don’t think they’d appreciate that at work.
Since she always wanted to be near us, we kept a dog bed in most rooms of the house so Ellie would have a comfortable spot to sleep no matter where we were. Sometimes though she preferred either the tile or the hardwood floor, perhaps because it was cooler. This was taken on a July evening 6 years ago at our house in Portland, long before we added air conditioning, so the cooler floor probably was an attraction.
Boo had a difficult time in the transition to the new house and more so I think with Ellie’s failing health and her death. At times he went to the bathroom elsewhere in the house, at first in my wife’s closet but things got more serious when he switched to my closet. After Ellie died my wife bought a couple of new cat beds and he peed on both of those, and occasionally pooped around the house, but that cleared up in time. He’s still a bit unsure of himself but he’s been on the straight and narrow as far as bathroom duties are concerned for a while now. I was nervous when we got my new couch and kept the doors to my office closed when I wasn’t in it but it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, he’s enjoyed being able to curl up beside me or on my legs. Here he’s on the cat tree where he can watch the birds in the backyard.
Ellie and I playing catch with a tennis ball at the dog park at Irving Park in the fall of 2011. She couldn’t go off-leash when we adopted her in 2009 but with a desire to please and a desire for treats she was pretty easy to train and soon enough was able to zoom around the park.
From 2010, resting in her cat bed on my desk. She was were she always wanted to be, beside me.
In Portland I had a cheap love seat with a large matching ottoman that all the pets could join me on, but since it wasn’t in great shape we didn’t bring it to Arizona. However we also didn’t want to replace it until we were in our permanent home and knew the size and shape of my office, so in the rental house I used my wife’s old futon. It was comfortable to sit on, and inadvertently sleep on, but there was less room for cats. When they did sleep on my legs outstretched on a coffee table even little Trixie, 8 pounds soaking wet, was putting too much pressure on my knees. We found a nice used sofa with an attached chaise lounge at a secondhand store that was a good size for my office and the cats have enjoyed having room to snuggle up again, no one more so than Sam.
I told Boo he wasted his money as the leg extenders he ordered online wouldn’t actually make his legs longer and boy do I have egg on my face.
A cactus wren sings atop a saguaro at the end of April in 2018. It was also the end of our first month in Arizona and my second trip to Brown’s Ranch, having visited the day before as well. The cactus wren was the first bird I saw on my first hike after we moved here, at nearby Pinnacle Peak, also singing from a saguaro but before the sun had risen. They were nesting at the Brown’s Ranch trailhead and I assumed would always be so easy to see so close but I’ve had less luck this year.
At least on the trails, at home one was beside me a few minutes ago as it worked the porch for food. A couple of weeks ago two wren parents were also close by on the porch, feeding their hungry and boisterous chick as it fluttered its wings to draw attention the way so many young birds do. As one parent fed the little thing I heard a thud at a nearby window and my heart sank thinking the other adult had flown into it. But then I laughed when I realized the sound came from the other side of the window and the source was our youngest cat Trixie who could no longer hold back her desire to be introduced to the young family.
I don’t think little Squeaks has ever been happier.
When we adopted Boo in the summer of 2013 we knew he was a sensitive fellow who was stressed by his time at the shelter and would need a slow introduction to the other cats. Despite the long history of cats and dogs he took to Ellie quickly, here curled up tight beside her as she slept on her dog bed. He especially loved taking her spot when she got up, reveling in the warmth left behind, and if she came back and found the bed occupied she’d quietly lay down beside the bed rather than try to get Boo to move. She was all that is good.
Boolie 