Thoughts from the T-Shirt Lady

The other day, I talked about our cat, Wilbur, who went missing. Haven’t had the chance to let you know that he’s back and ok.

What a story.

After my last post, we weren’t sure where to look after driving all over the neighborhood last nite. I had some errands to run, and decided to stop by animal control to see if anyone reported him, or he was picked up. No go.

Then I went and ran a few more errands, stopping in parking lots for several minutes at each place.  I was gone probably about an hour. Are you getting the feeling you know where I’m going with this tail??

Drive home, pull up in front of the house, turn off the car and start to get out. Then I hear a pitiful cry. That’s got to be Wilbur! I keep calling him, and walking around in the yard - is he stuck in an out building, is he in a dog box propped up against the fence? NOOOOO HE’S UNDER THE HOOD OF MY CAR! Why he never got down, while I was traveling around, we’ll never know.

Other than a few scapes (fur gone in a place on his belly) and a nervous stomach - he was fine! One life down and 8 to go. He even let me carry him into the house - which for him is a stretch since he doesn’t like to be picked up, held or snuggled. A very independent cat.

We now sleep with the bedroom door open - used to be we kept it closed because we didn’t want the cats jumping up and down from bed to floor, etc. Well, we have decided that we want them near us - with that near miss - don’t want to exclude our cats in our lives. It’s not too bad, after a few minutes, they settle down - Orville at the bed at my feet, and Wilbur on the floor.  One big happy family!

Sandi

Well, it’s been almost a week, since I came home from Ohio. Once my sister got home, we spent some time together, going out to eat, and taking a hike. It was nice weather - glad it wasn’t rainy.

My flight to Ohio was very smooth - even tho it was a tiny jet. Coming back was not so nice. Still a tiny jet - but we were being buffeted all over the place. Glad to be back on solid ground…

As I mentioned, it’s almost a week. I actually got home a week ago today, at 2pm. Of course I’ve been up since 2am this morning - couldn’t sleep very well and there is a good reason.

A little background - we have 2 cats, Wilbur who is 2 1/2 and Orville who is 7 months old. We love them so much!

Every once in awhile, Wilbur will want to go outside. He usually sits on the front stoop, checks a few things out, and then scratches at the door to come back in. He’s timid and doesn’t like unfamiliar people or things. He always hides under the bed when ever we have company.

Yesterday, my DH got ready to go outside - this was after lunch and he’d been in and out all morning - doing his farming thing

Wilbur dashed out the door when my DH opened it. I didn’t know this - as I was sewing in my workroom. So if Wilbur went outside and then wanted to come back in, I wouldn’t have heard his scratching at the door. My DH thought he would be back shortly and let Wilbur in the house. Then he forgot that Wilbur was outside.

Well, as of this morning - Wilbur is still no where to be found. When we finally realized that he wasn’t in the house - we went driving around the neighborhood looking for him.

So my sleep last nite was disjointed - in that I kept waking up to see if I heard him at the door. He has never gone away from the house - we are very concerned. We live in a wooded area and he could get lost since he’s not used to being outside. Also there are wild animals - stray dogs, raccoons, foxes, etc and Wilbur would have a hard time escaping from an animal tracking him down - since Wilbur leads a sedentary life!

I don’t think he’ll starve as he’s kind of on the heavy side - not really large, but not lean either. Even now, I keep going to the door, to see if I can see him. It got down to the low 30’s last nite - so hopefully his fur kept him warm. I wonder if, when he comes home, his roaming days will be over. Or will this adventure give him a taste of the wild side?

More later.

Sandi

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I haven’t uploaded any pictures of our ‘new’ kitten since we got him. Did I tell you his name is Orville. Of course our other cat is Wilbur.

Well, here is the photo I took the other day. The rocking chair is a favorite spot for both of them. Orville seems to love to upper bunk.

Sandi

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You should have seen us last night - we think our new kitten - Orville is a dog, or at least he thinks he is.

We bought one of those toys - a stick with a string and a bird or mouse at the end. Wilbur - our older cat loved it when he was a kitten, and he now and then will attack it whenever Orville isn’t playing with it.

Whenever we play with Orville using this toy - he grabs the toy at the end of the string and then drags it all over the living room and kitchen. Well now he’s starting to bring it back to my DH, who then throws it across the room. Orville then runs to get it, and comes back to the couch. Is this fetch? Where did this kitten pick this up? Wilbur never did that…

We were laughing so hard last night that tears were in our eyes. What a sight! Wish I could have taken a video of it - would be great on those video shows. :o)

Sandi

New Kitten - Orville

Our cat, Wilbur is now 2 years old. Still as cantankerous as ever, likes to scratch and bite and is just not a lap cat!

Well, we decided to try and find a kitten, that would be more loving. Answered an ad in the paper recently, and have gotten a delightful kitten. His name is Orville - yep Orville and Wilbur.

He’s playful, can amuse himself for minutes at a time (has to sleep sometimes). Very loving, and sits in my lap whenever I sit down.

Of course, he’s also an instigator - has to swat at Wilbur whenever he goes by. It’s so much fun to watch.

Sandi

Well, Wilbur, our inside cat has proved that he cannot keep quiet when we are trying to go to sleep - (see some of our previous posts).

So we are once again, keeping the bedroom door closed at night so he doesn’t keep us awake. Of course, it’s just me - since my dh falls asleep even before his head hits the pillow.

I asked my daughters about where our pet cats slept - when my daughters were growing up. And both of them said with them, on their beds, actually on their pillows!

Glad I have some of the younger generation I can ask - since I can’t remember that far back. And that would have been only…. 15-20 years ago

Sandi

One of our family members is an indoor cat. His name is Wilbur (named by my dh), is about 1 1/2 years old, and he’s a terror! Of course in the below picture he doesn’t look like it - looks can be deceiving…

We have a number of feral cats on our farm, and one day my dh heard a pitiful cry back behind our house. He went to see what it was, and it seemed that a mother cat was moving her babies, and either forgot this one, or just hadn’t gotten to him yet. So my dh brought him in the house for us to have. This from a man who had mentioned many times that he - a. didn’t want any animals in the house, and b. didn’t like cats!

Wilbur is a grey striped guy, loves to play, loves to pretend bite - though sometimes he forgets, loves to mess with things on my dh’s dresser and his bathroom sink - always throwing things on the floor to play with. Like his toys are not enough :). Reminds me of a small child who would rather play with the boxes than the toys.

My dh teases him all the time - sigh - but I guess that’s a guy thing!

Wilbur is not a lap cat. He doesn’t like being fawned over, and barely tolerates being petted. But one thing in his favor is the fact that where ever I am in the house, he’s there too - sharing the room, and sometimes even the chair with me. But certainly not on my lap!

Up to now, we have kept our bedroom door closed at night when we go to sleep, to keep Wilber out. My dh doesn’t like animals sleeping on the bed - lol.

Well, because we have a furnace that’s not working (see previous posts) - we wanted to keep the bedroom door open to allow the heat from the oil heaters to go throughout the house. So we decided to allow Wilbur in.

The first night, I woke up constantly, waiting for him to jump up on the bed. Finally got some sleep and found him sleeping at the end of the bed by my feet. So ok, maybe this would work. The next few nites worked well, I woke up in the middle of the nite, found him there and I promptly went back to sleep.

Well…. last nite it didn’t work - he must have slept all day, because for the first couple of hours he was constantly moving around, jumping up on the dresser, knocking stuff off, and just making a pest of himself - so the door got closed! We’ll try again tonite - hope we don’t have a repeat performance….

While I was having a hard time getting to sleep, I thought back to when my children were growing up. We had 2 indoor cats, and I tried to remember where they slept at night. For the life of me, and this might be why I couldn’t get to sleep, I couldn’t remember. Maybe my daughters will read this post and let me know :). Young minds are much clearer!

Sandi