Aby-a-Day – 10 Maj: Lorelai’s love-hate leash relationship (Movie Monday)

With Lorelai going in and out of heat, sometimes she needs to be on her leash when we go out.

Today was one of those days.

It was a really nice, summerlike day today: 20°C (70°F). Even though we still aren’t 100%, we couldn’t let this day pass without taking the cats out. So we took out some recycling.

Strangely, Izaak did not want to go with us today. So it was just Alfred and Rory.

But she is so good on her leash! I made a little video to show how fast she walks alongside me – I can actually walk at a normal pace most of the time. Keep an eye out for Freddy’s cameo!

Aby-a-Day – 18 Januari: “I climbed a tree to see the world” (Movie Monday)

When we were outside yesterday, I noticed that Izaak’s tree was looking pretty darn picturesque with all the snow and everything. Zak loves to pose in that tree, so I thought we’d have a little photo session.

I was right.

Since I lost Jacoby, Zak is pretty much my best poser. I can put him in his tree, and he’ll stay there and let me snap photos.

He really likes this tree. It’s just the right height, and it has a little spot between the branches that he feels quite comfortable in.

People were sledding down the hill, and Zak watched them from his vantage point.

For being an engineered purebred cat, he looks really natural in a snowy tree. I love the snow flakes frosting his fur.

I also love that I am reflected in his eyes.

After he got down from his tree. I made a little video of him walking back to our front door.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Juni 2020: More Magpies (Movie Monday)

I know I posted about magpies just yesterday, but by sheer coincidence we had another magpie encounter this afternoon.

Björn and I were outside with the cats, when the magpies started yelling. We looked over, and sure enough, they were yelling at Alfred.

Freddy noped out, but Izaak was very interested in what was going on up in the branches.

The magpies yelled at Zak, and Zak yelled right back at them.

Lorelai, of course, was also interested in the screeching birds.

She looked like she wanted to go up after them, but she didn’t go any higher in the tree.

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Zak, on the other hand…

…I think even Rory was impressed with how high Zak was willing to climb.

Zak is a deceptively good climber.

Here is a video of the entire encounter with the magpies. It’s sometimes hard to see them in the leaves, but you can certainly hear them!

Aby-a-Day – 27 Januari 2020: A kitchen mystery (Mischievious Movie Monday Mystery)

So the other day I walked into the kitchen, and the cabinet above the refrigerator, where we store the dry food we give Angel as a treat, was open. And the bag was…somehow…on the kitchen counter. Pretty sure it was Alfred, but he tried to frame Dashiell for the crime. For some reason, most of the photos I took were “Live Photos,” so here they are as a short YouTube video:

Aby-a-Day – 13 Januari 2020: Never skip a dose (Medical Mishap Monday Movie)

As you may recall, Lorelai is on birth control pills. I give her her pills every Wednesday.

But…I messed up. As you may also recall…Christmas was on a Wednesday.

Björn’s brother, Örjan, came for Jul and stayed overnight til Christmas. I forgot it was Wednesday…because it was Christmas.

I remembered to give her her pill the following Wednesday, New Years Day…but it was too late. I woke up on 2nd January to Rory trilling and Izaak yelling at Rory.

Apparently, she was nagging and pestering Zak, since he’s the only whole male in the house. Not that she didn’t flirt with Dashiell and Alfred…but Zak was her main target.

As you can see, he “assumed the position,” but his bits were nowhere near her bits. He was simply trying to get her to shut up and leave him alone! It’s all set now; I had the advice of my friend Anne, and got her to go out of heat, and all is well again. We do have a prospective suitor lined up for her later this year. All in all, my mistake was actually a good thing. I now know that it only takes a week for her pills to wear off and to get her into heat. I know that she knows what to do. And she doesn’t spray or yell her head off…she just trills. All of which is very useful information.

Here’s a little video of the little hussy.

Aby-a-Day – 1 Juli: Another Bee Movie (Movie Monday)

When I made the video of Izaak and Lorelai playing with the bumblebee, Björn was making one, too.

It’s kind of interesting, to see someone’s photos and videos taken at the same time you were taking photos and videos…it’s just from a slightly different perspective.

It’s actually kind of fascinating. The exact same scene playing out, the same events…but, different.

Compare the two videos and you’ll see what I mean.

Aby-a-Day – 17 Juni: The nose knows (Medical Movie Monday)

This happened two summers ago. Jacoby was acting like he had something stuck in his nose or throat. I checked his mouth to make sure a string or something hadn’t gotten caught under his tongue, but there was nothing there. The way he was acting reminded me of when I’ve gotten a grain of rice stuck in the back of my throat in my nose; Jake was coughing and snorting in the same way.

This is what he was doing (click the photo to watch the video in Flickr). We were growing cat grass on the balcony that summer, so I suspected that Jake might have inhaled a blade of grass and gotten it stuck in his pharynx or nasal passages.

So we went to the vet, and they flushed out his nose and checked him out. They noticed some irritation, but didn’t find any grass or plant matter. They prescribed antibiotics, just in case.

After we got home, however, I found what looked like some dried, clear cat barf on the floor in the room Jake ate in. But it wasn’t like a regular hairball or food barf…it was a tiny leaf! I had been right – Jake did have something stuck in his nose! He just managed to get it out by himself before the vet appointment.

So, I did a little research and discovered that it was a small leaf of Yarrow! I only know Yarrow from the Warriors books (the medicine cats use it, and there’s a cat named Yarrowleaf in the more recent books, but I had no idea it was growing in our lawn! Because they mow once a week, it never gets a chance to grow tall or flower.

This Yarrow plant is entwined with a bicycle rack, so it misses getting mowed. This is what it looks like when it’s allowed to grow. Jake must have accidentally inhaled the little leaf when we went outside – he loved chewing on the grass, and the yarrow is mixed into the lawn. It was an interesting mystery, and I’m glad I was able to solve it.

Aby-a-Day – 20 Maj: It’s not as easy to make a 29 second video of a cat running down a hill as it looks…(Movie Monday)

So I am pretty proud of my Little House on the Prairie spoof with Izaak running down the hill that I posted yesterday. Mainly because it looks so perfect…but it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Someone on Facebook asked me why I put Zak in Slo-Mo. Well…the reason is…he runs too fast when he gets going. This is the first part of what I ended up using…a whopping five seconds.

Here’s the ending bit. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. So yeah, you can see why it was slowed down.

But it really took a lot more work than it looked. We had Lorelai and Alfred out there, too…my original thought was to have Rory and Zak running together down the hill. That just didn’t work out. Here are all the takes we did…with the original sound.

Aby-a-Day – 29 April: Lorelai and Markis (Movie Monday)

Lorelai has never met an enemy. She likes dogs, people, and other cats.

She’s always happy to encounter our upstairs neighbour, Markis.

Markis, as you can see in this video, isn’t really interested in playing with her.

Later on, she tried again.

This time, Markis started to run away from her instead of holding his ground again.

Oh, well…

…At least Rory got a game of chase out of the deal.

Aby-a-Day – 18 Mars: Finally, a fun gym! (Movie Monday)

You may have noticed, in the background of yesterday’s post, a pretty cool looking kitty gym. We won it in a raffle at a cat show last summer, but we had other cat toys set up in the living room, so I’ve only just set it up.

Even though it seems more like a toy for kittens, everyone but Jacoby has played with it. I actually caught Angel examining the tunnel this morning (sadly, I couldn’t grab a camera without her fleeing)!

The gym came as a set, with the actual gym and a smaller-than-usual crinkly tunnel. Here is Izaak adorably posing inside the tunnel.

The tunnel is fun…

…but the kitty gym is funner!

Zak was having so much fun with the gym…

…he didn’t even notice that Lorelai was watching him.

At first, she seemed a little perplexed at Zak’s fascination with the gym.

But eventually Rory became almost mesmerised waatching Zak playing with the kitty gym.

Here is a short movie so you can see what fascinated her so much.

Aby-a-Day – 14 Januari: Lorelai vs the Thing (Movie Monday)

When Lorelai was a tiny kitten, she was fascinated with the television. These photos are from 22 May, when Rory had been with us for about two weeks.

She really got into trying to interact with the people on the screen! She’s since outgrown her interest in the TV, but it was awfully cute (and not a little bit annoying) while it lasted. Also, if you look closely at the second photo, you might notice some previous Miniature Monday post subjects.

Aby-a-Day – 8 October: The final countdown (Movie Monday)

Izaak’s judge on Sunday was Daria Lukasik, from Poland. When judges in FIFe get cats’ information, they only know the age, sex and colour. Nothing more.

Despite knowing nothing else about Zak, Judge Daria loved him. It’s almost like she knew he came from Poland, without actually knowing it.

Like, threatened to take him home with her in her bag. More than once.

In FIFe, judges write up a sheet on each cat with their assessments. It’s actually pretty great, because you get a copy of it for your show book, so you have in writing what each judge though of your cat.

Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Zak helped while Daria wrote up her observations on him. She also put heart stickers on his sheet, which she said he helped select.

Because Singapuras are at the end of the Category 3 judging, instead of going back to our benching cage while waiting for the NOM selection, we just sat nearby and waited. This is where Zak and Lorelai are better at FIFe shows than Jacoby is…Jake just doesn’t do sitting around waiting well.

In the end, Zak was up for the NOM against a white Kurilian Bobtail and a Bengal.

(Click to play video) It was very close…but in the end the Bengal won the NOM.