When we go outside with the cats, I do try to get Angel to come outside, too. But the last time we went out, Angel was happily ensconced on one of the chairs on the balcony. So, I let her be.
That didn’t stop her from joining us in her own way.
What was really adorable, though, was that Dashiell noticed her sitting on the railing watching us.
He was like, “Hey! Angel!”
Not sure if Angel is Juliet, Rapunzel, or Roxanne in this scenario.
Dash was the only cat who really noticed her. Alfred only saw her because he wanted to know what Dash was so interested in.
“Wait! No! Angel, come back!”
This is part of the backlog of photos I have; these were taken 27 June 2017. This was before we had fixed up the balcony; Alfred had been with us three weeks and Logan had been with us just over two weeks. Already the “brothers from another mother” were fast friends.
Freddy grew up with a bigger version of the IKEA tube with his littermates, so this was especially fun for him.
Logan loved it, too.
He pretty much loved anything Freddy did.
That tube was a lot of fun, but they eventually outgrew it. Maybe when we get more kittens, it’ll come out again.
I also took a little movie of them playing. It’s so cute.
I have been taking photos of cats for over 50 years, ever since my dad gave me a Brownie Starflash camera when I was four years old.
I mean, even the manual said it was meant to take photos of cats!
In the old film days, I could take a photo of a cat at 1/8 of a second, which is a really slow shutter speed. I could hold that still. So I know I can seem to make taking photos of cats look easy.
Just remember…no matter how long you’ve been taking photos, you can still end up with photos like this. At least I don’t have to pay for film and processing any more!
Here we have a photo of all five cats outside.
Izaak, Dashiell, Angel, Alfred and Lorelai, all enjoying the great outdoors.
Okay, so…Angel chose to enjoy outside from the balcony, but still…
Whilst Alfred was busy recording yesterday’s post, everyone else was busy outside, too…even if Freddy didn’t capture any of it.
In the shady areas of our område, right now there are a lot of house flies in the shady areas. And Lorelai was hunting them.
She is an excellent fly-hunter inside, as well.
Probably better than outside, since there are no birds to distract her in the house.
Angel was watching everything from the balcony…lately, she’s been happy to join us via the balcony instead of going outside with the rest of us. But hey, she’s participating; who am I to complain?
Meanwhile, Izaak was busy in the front of the building.
He found a crane fly and had a lot of fun hunting it.
Speaking of hunting, here’s a video of Rory and Zak hunting flies, with some additional footage of Freddy with the GoPro.
On one of our forays outside, Angel was on the balcony, and, as I knew she was happy there, I didn’t bring her out with us.
And I was right. She joined us, in her way.
She perched on the balcony and watched the other cats below.
She was perfectly happy to be with us, but by herself.
I love this photo of Dashiell looking back up at her.
This morning, Facebook reminded me of the creation of the Frankentree that we keep on the balcony.
Angel loves sunning herself on there.
But then, she liked it before it was upgraded.
Alfred and Jacoby were also ond of the Frankentree…
…although it was a bit awkward when Freddy tried to nap in the cubby.
Logan loved the Frankentree.
But Angel and Lorelai continue to be the biggest fans of the Frankentree.
Although Angel doesn’t seem to enjoy sharing it with anyone.
This afternoon we had a freak hailstorm.
Alfred was fascinated – he leapt to the top of the balcony door to watch it! I don’t think he’s ever seen hail before.
It built up quite quickly on the balcony windowsill and railings.
Lorelai also wanted to see the hail from the top of the door.
I scooped up some of the hail so Freddy could look at it close up.
“That…that’s what was falling from the sky? Little ice balls?”
I am not sure why he was so puzzled by the hail. He’s seen snow plenty of time.
Rory hopped down from the door to look at the hailstones.
“Check this stuff out…it’s awesome!”
Freddy still seemed amazed at the fact the hail came from the sky.
Meanwhile, Rory examined the tiny ice balls.
“What is this magical ice, Mom?”
The other day, I noticed Lorelai had lost her collar somewhere in the apartment.
This happens from time to time…the collars I have been using for almost ten years, made by Etsy seller Hi Tide Creations, are wonderful, light and…just one piece.
Most people would recommend against a non-breakaway collar for a cat, but I have always had collars on my cats. The Tag Collars are the best because they are lightweight…and escapable.
I finally found Rory’s collar…caught in the cat-proof netting on our balcony. And that’s why these collars are so wonderful. Rory got her collar caught in something, but she was able to get out of it. Collars don’t need to be breakaway…they just need to be escapable in case of emergency.
I have often commented on this blog that cats go through fads. Suddenly they’ll start doing something they never did before, or haven’t done for ages, and carry on with it for weeks or months…and then, just as suddenly, stop.
I showed you one such fad yesterday. Out of a clear blue sky, Angel started sleeping on our bed, nestled in the pillows and plushies. She hasn’t done that since we were in Boston.
Izaak has, of late, decided he wants to eat his breakfast on the balcony.
He eats his dinner in our bedroom, and his chicken neck in his Sturdi house…but he demands to have breakfast on the balcony.
I don’t mind. As long as it’s a place I can close off (because he eats only raw, it’s for his own protection), and he’s eating (he’s a slow eater and tends to be a bit fussy), I’m happy.
In typical stubborn Singapura fashion, he demanded his food out there. When I was preparing everyone else’s food, he wasn’t a part of the pack milling about my feet.
He parked himself on one of the chairs and refused to budge when I called him.
When I came looking for him, bowl in hand, he just looked at me without moving a muscle.
The weather’s been quite lovely lately, and, compared to our dark bedroom (blackout curtains are de rigueur in Sweden), can you blame him for wanting to eat in the sunshine?
Every morning for about a week now, he’s demanded this routine.
Hey, if it makes him happy…why not?
As the cat food commercial says, “Resistance is futile.”
When we were outside with the Kittens a while back, they found a bumblebee.
Izaak seemed more interested in it than Lorelai was, at first.
They were adorable, studying the little insect. Zak went so far as to pat it with his paw, but luckily neither cat got stung.
When it didn’t move, Zak got a little bored, but Rory knew it had potential and studied it intently.
Finally: the big payoff! The bee started to fly!
Rory is incredibly agile and athletic when she is chasing a bug. She actually catches flies (and eats them) in the apartment without knocking over anything.
Here’s a video of Zak, Rory and the Bee.
Later that day, Rory went to the area behind our apartment…I could tell because the birds were going crazy with their “Cat!” warning cries. It was really loud…I took video, but I don’t know if you can hear them. I worry about the bigger birds dive-bombing her; when I was a kid we had outdoor cats (not my idea), and one got a massive abscess on his head from either a scrub jay or a mockingbird. Rory’s only 2½ kg, our smallest cat, and your average crow weighs around half a kilo…but they have force and gravity on their side. One peck from a crow or jackdaw’s bill could do some serious damage.
That being said…Rory really wants to catch a bird someday.
We’re trying to teach Alfred to go outside with us offleash…but in the meantime, sometimes he joins us via the balcony. Here he is complaining about being left out.
Continuing from yesterday’s post…after the kittens run down the hill in front of our building, they run back up to the hill to the back of our apartment.
Lorelai hurries to cat up to Izaak…
…who is already under our balcony, with Alfred above on the ledge.
I know, Freddy, but you can’t be trusted off leash, and we have an actual chore to get done.
Oh! Look who it is! Angel’s come to join us!
In the past few months, she’s actually been not only friendly with the younger cats, but she’s actually started to play chasing games with them!
As you may recall, the kittens really love the sandy area around the swingset.
Especially Rory.
She loves to dig holes in it, roll in it, play with it…she just loves sand.
Zak tries digging a hole…but he doesn’t really see the appeal in it that Rory does.
Oops! Time for a bit of chase!
Finally we get to our destination: the garbage bin.
Or, well…we went to the garbage bin to take out the trash…the kittens just ran around the adjacent lawn like mad things.
Rory, as always, especially. She really loves to run free outside.
These are photos from the backlog, from May 2017.
Angel loves the balcony and always has. She loves to sit in the sunshine out there.
And I know Angel doesn’t get as much attention on this blog as the more outgoing Jacoby, the sillier Alfred, the stout Izaak, and the wild free spirited Lorelai…but she’s the oldest member of our cat family, and whilst she may not seek out the spotlight the way the others do…she’s important.
We love you, Angel!
“Great. Now can I enjoy my sunshine in peace?”
Last weekend we enjoyed gorgeous weather, so I took Izaak and Lorelai out for some “being offleash” practice.
The main reason was, I wanted to check what that flash of red I could see out our window.
Turns out, someone had dumped their windowbox geraniums out onto the hill, and they were managing to survive on the dirt they were planted in.
They’re actually really pretty out there, and I hope they can survive, but I have a feeling that they won’t live past the first snow.
Rory especially loves to explore the outside world…to the point that it’s really hard for us to get out of our front door.
Rory also has to check out the rugbeater. Every. Single. Time. We go outside. She loves that thing.
After the rugbeater, we visited the sandbox/swings area that we visited before. But whilst we were there, we heard plaintive meowing.
Turns out, it was Alfred. He wanted to be out there, too…but after the last time we tried to let Freddy out off-leash, that was pretty much a non-starter.
Jacoby was just out there because he heard my voice.
Rory and Zak knew Jake and Freddy were up there…but I don’t think they cared, because they were running around outside.
Alfred is an evil genius, an avid hunter…and a klutz. Not a good combination.
This is Freddy in the laundry room. Once upon a time, we stored bags of dry cat food on the shelves of a tall shelf just out of frame, the top of which you can see Freddy speculatively eying.
Now all the bags have been chewed through, re-bagged, and stuffed into sealed, plastic bins.
Not that he never stops trying to get at them. “There was food there before, there will be again” is his motto.
I mean, look at him sizing up the shelving! We have had to put a latch on the door because if it’s not shut properly he can shoulder it open.
Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the house…
…I think he’s chasing flying insects. I have no idea. All I know is things from the top of the bookcases and the liquor cabinet are ending up on the floor. Sometimes they’re repairable things. Sometimes…like the Hagen-Renaker 1950’s California ceramic Siamese cat “Seated Sookie” last night…not so much.
But the most worrisome habit he’s recently picked up is…he has cracked the mystery of the catio netting! He has discovered a loose spot on one side of the netting that he can get through – no one else has discovered it, yet, thank goodness – but we are back to having to keep the balcony locked up the way it was before we had any netting at all until we can work out a way to fix the loophole.
Sometimes, I wish Abys weren’t quite so smart.
(Edit: As I was writing this post, despite our best efforts, Freddy actually got out through the balcony AGAIN! Third time today!)
I have been regaling you with tales of our balcony/catio. It took a while to make sure it was cat-proof…wait, I mean, Aby-proof. Because protecting something from Abyssinians is a huge step up from protecting a thing from a regular cat. Trust me on this. You would think that a pot of plain pasta left on the stove is of no interest to cats, right? And you would be correct. It is of no interest to a cat. But leave that pot of plain pasta on the stove with Abys around? Yeah…have fun cleaning that pasta up off the floor. Oh, and enjoy your broken pot.
So testing the cat-netting from the inside was only a starting point. The real test came a few days later.
We were outside with Lorelai and Izaak. We’re trying to teach them to stick to us outside off leash, so we go out, they run around, but when we call them, they come right to us. It’s the sort of thing I couldn’t teach Jacoby, living in Boston.
But when Jake heard our voices outside, he ran to join us.
And he really tried to join us. But thankfully, the netting and chicken wire held.
Then Angel came to help.
So now we had two adult Abys actively trying to breach the netting.
Oh, sure, they pretend to not get along. But they are totally in cahoots. Don’t let them fool you.
Angel seemed content to simply be near us…Jake, not so much.
He was still testing the netting, searching for a weak spot.
And he was trying really hard to find that weakness.
Angel and Jake tried each end of the cat-netting to see if they could escape.
Seeing Zak just below only made Jake and Angel try to break through the screen even harder.
And then, Alfred decided to join the party.
“Hey, what’re you guys doing?”
“Oh, breaking through the netting? Did you try gnawing on it?
Here’s a side view of the big cats on the balcony. That netting is really doing its job!
When I first moved here in 2016, Björn’s balcony was a rather Spartan affair.
There was only a wooden bench, a makeshift cat tree made from natural tree parts, a basket and…not much else.
It was pretty barren. Once my things came from the States, we put my redwood burl table out there, and my floor-to-ceiling cat tree bumped Björn’s old cat tree out there as well. The balcony was open to the elements, so we couldn’t keep much else out there, but we put a tarp over the table, and it was fine out there. And so were the cats…until Jacoby taught himself to jump off the balcony. After that, we had to keep the balcony door closed until we could get it glassed in.
Finally, May last year, we got the balcony glassed in. Jake was out there in a heartbeat.
So was Pyret. The basket on the bench was her favourite spot…
…which is one reason we kept her body there until we could get her cremated.
For a while after it was glassed in, we used it as storage for the chairs until we could get it organised.
Angel didn’t mind. She had sun and a cushy place to nap. She was good.
Even now, you can usually find her in one of the chairs on the balcony.
Either a chair, or the cubby in the cat tree.
Alfred…well, he tries to fit in there sometimes, too.
Logan also really loved the cubby.
Logan loved the balcony.
He spent a lot of time out there in the sun before he died.
Jake and Freddy love being out there, too…but they’re usually trying to work out a way to escape.
We got the basic layout of the balcony done last summer after the glass was installed, and we hung curtains and icicle and fairy lights, which actually give enough light to read by, but this year we have been focusing on really getting it set up to be a catio. I fell in love with this artificial pine tree at IKEA, and I found a reindeer hide for 125kr (around $14, about 1/10 what they should cost) which I love…but which sheds too much to live in the apartment. It looks great out on the balcony, though!
One of the biggest things we did this year is lay down wooden tiles.
Those tiles made a HUGE difference in the overall feel of the balcony. It feels warmer and more homey – more like a part of the house rather than “outside.” There was just one more thing we needed to do…and you’ll see what we did tomorrow!
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 