I Got Mail!

We got home from the latest boaty adventure yesterday, and as Dad opened the door, he said " the cat's got a letter" in an astonished voice.  I don't know why he sounded so surprised - cats do get fan mail, you know!!  Anyway, I was very excited, as I don't get much post.  Here's the letter, addressed to the Ginger Boating Cat.

Turns out its from my Grandma, who has heard about my boating exploits. Grandma lives in Devon, where it always rains, and she has a cat also, although this little cat doesn't like my Mum and doesn't have a blog as yet. I opened the card quickly to see what was inside.

It's a Christmas Card!!  Grandma says she knows its not Christmas, and she hasn't gone completely loopy, but wanted to show me that there are other cats who like boats.  This cat even looks a bit like me.

Here's a close up. I might ask Mum to see if she can make it into a special big fat boat cat award.

Inside, it reads

"Greetings from Sunny Devon (although, as usual it is persisting down again).  Having heard about your riparian adventures from your Mum, I am sending you this card so you can see that other rather large ginger cats do boating things too, but with the correct equipment.  So persevere with your harness as it will keep you safe.  Anyway, I think nautical accessories look rather cool.

(you may have to get your Mum to read this to you as I am not sure if I can read)"

You can see I was listening intently as Mum was reading it to me.  I am not sure what riparian means - does it mean I'm a big fat ginger ripe cat?  I'm not sure I like the sound of that.  Mum says it's to do with water, but I'm not so sure.

Once I'd had a good look at the card, I thought I'd inspect the envelope, see if there was anything else inside.

I'll just put my paw in here, and if that doesn't work, I'll try my nose.

I've decided I like getting mail, it doesn't matter that Grandma thinks it's Christmas, and that I like being riparian!!

I'm a big fat ginger riparian cat.

Softie Treats with Salmon & Trout

In an attempt to make up for the Kitty harness fiasco, Dad bought me a packet of these - Tesco Softies Treats with Salmon & Trout.  There's even a picture of a cute kitty on the packet.

The are 95% fat free, good for fat kitties like me, and even look like little fishes... (apologies for the fuzzy photo).

However, then Mum took a look at the list of ingredients on the back of the packet, which are listed as:

Meat & Animal Derivatives, Cereals and Derivatives of Vegetable Origin - not sure I like the sound of any of that.

Fish & Fish Derivatives - minimum of 4% Salmon and 4% Trout - I'll bet my kitty harness that there's not much more than 4% of either

and some other stuff that doesn't sound very nice.  They even contain 5% Ash.  What's that all about.

They don't taste too bad though, so I will eat them, under protest of course.

Dad's just picked some strawberries from the garden, but even fat kitties like me don't eat strawberries.

I'm a big fat ginger cat who's disappointed with the fish content of his Softies.

The Kitty Harness - continued

So, I got to go to the boat, and do some real boating, although I did spend most of the time under the chair!

Mum decided it was time to give the kitty harness a try, so I was duly strapped up.  Then, she opened the door and I peered out into the big wide world.  There were some ducks, they were a bit scary and I wasn't sure what to do.  Then, I jumped with both paws onto the grass.  I tried to get into the bushes, but hadn't realised that Mum had attached the lead, so I couldn't, so I went into stealth mode and crouched down in the grass.

Mum picked me up then, and took me down to the pointy end, where Dad was sitting in the front fishing, and she sat on the side.  I sat in the grass for a bit, just looking round.  Then, someone came walking along, so I hot-pawed it back into the boat.  Mum then passed the lead to Dad, which he put under his foot, in case I wanted to come back out again.  Unfortunately, he forgot it was there, and stood up, which startled me, and I made a quick dash for the back, and was chased by the lead handle thingy until it got stuck under the bathroom door.  I hissed big time at it, until Mum came and took it away and unstrapped me.  I'm not sure the kitty harness is working out at all.

Mum says she's sorry, but she forgot to take the camera.  She did take a couple of pictures on her phone, but not of me though.  Dad caught this

It's a fish, apparently, but it was a bit wriggly.  Here's a better one.

I'm a big fat ginger not very happy with his kitty harness cat.

This Can't be Right!

Look at me, just look at me!!!  They took your advice and got me a harness thingy.  It's not very mancatly at all!!  I hope they don't expect me to wear this all the time.

You can tell I'm not impressed, can't you?  At least they didn't get me the pink one.

I'm a big fat ginger harnessed up cat.

The Great Potato Harvest

Big excitement in our house yesterday, as we had the Great Potato Harvest.   Mum planted 5 seed potatoes ages ago, and this is what we got back.  She thinks we left them in the ground a bit too long, but its still an impressive haul.

Now, I know kitties don't eat potatoes, but there's now lots of nice soft earth, perfect for kitty business!

I'm a big fat ginger cat with loads of room for kitty business in the garden.

Fat Eric

I just read the sad news that Fat Eric has gone to the Rainbow Bridge, and our purrs are with his family.  His was one of the first blogs that my Mum read, and he was a legend.

Purr in Peace, Fat Eric.

More Next Door Kitties

Someone asked me if this cute kitty from next door was my girlfriend.  She's not, but I'm working on it.

She's got a sister though - anyone want to double date?

I'm a big fat ginger cat who lives next door to two cute kitties.

A Boating Weekend

This weekend, we've been to stay on the boat, which has meant two trips in the Evil Cat Carrier.  I am getting a bit more used to the boat now, although I'm not sure it's real boating as we didn't go anywhere.  I couldn't hide under the chair when Dad started the engine, as they had visitors, so I had to hide under the duvet.  I did come out after a while and play the cute kitty, so they did make a big fuss of me.  Now, I'm not scared of the engine at all.

The bad news is that I didn't get let out this weekend.  Last weekend, Mum decided I could go out for a bit, so after a bit of looking round and air sniffing, I headed for the bushes and employed my "end of the world" howl", and refused to come out again.  A lady walking down the towpath was convinced something terrible was happening, and was about to call the RSPCA, until Mum pointed me out amongst the foliage.  I played catch the kitty with Dad for nearly an hour and a half before I let him pick me up, and he got stung by stinging nettles, so I wasn't a popular kitty.

Unfortunately, as much as it was all good fun, it's all back fired a bit, as this weekend the most I could manage was to press my little nose up against the windows.

This is the most exercise I got.

First one leg, then the other.

I'm a big fat ginger not allowed out of the boat cat.

Visiting Kitty

My kitty friend from next door came to visit.  Here she is.

She's a bit nervous, and wasn't too keen on having her picture taken.  She likes to climb up on the conservatory roof and sneak in through the bedroom window.

As for me, I'm guarding the doorway, just in case.

I'm a big fat ginger doorway guarding cat.

Dad's still busy

He's made this.

Actually, he's making two,  I not know what this is, but I heard him say "it's for stopping the cat from getting out of the boat".   I not like the sound of that.

I'm a big fat ginger worried cat!

Dad's been busy.

He made me this, a new scratch post for the boat thing.  It's to stop them having to shut me in the bedroom in case I scratch the new furniture.  As if I would - well, I would, given half a chance.

Notice how it matches my Kitty Condo.

I'm being very nonchalant about the whole thing.

I'm a big fat ginger cat with two scratch posts.

Sunflowers

Look at the lovely sunflower Mum grew in the garden.  It brings in lots of bees.  I not like bees!

I'm a big fat ginger cat who likes sunflowers but doesn't like bees!

Mum's found the Camera

So, now that Mum's remembered where she put the camera, here's a picture of the boat thing, in something called a lock.  I'm not sure what a lock is, but there was a lot of water, which is not a good thing for a kitty.

Fortunately, I wasn't there at the time, so haven't been through a lock myself, but I don't think I'd like it much.

I'm a big fat ginger lock avoiding cat.

My Evil Kitty Carrier

I tried to post this last week from my phone, but it didn't work cos I think the picture was too big.  This is me, in the car in the evil kitty carrier.

I'm a big fat ginger trapped in my carrier cat.

Puss is Back!!

Hellooo...

Finally, I is back from the Kitty Spa, and some form of normality has returned.  Actually, the Kitty Spa wasn't so bad.  There was a nice man who looked after me and made lots of fuss of me, and I got fed several times a day, more than I get at home.  I also had two beds to sleep in, and made some kitty friends in the pen next door.  However, they didn't let me out, and I didn't get to sleep on the bed at night, which wasn't good, so I was very pleased when Mum came to get me.   Well, not straight away, as I sulked a bit for effect, and howled mightily all the way back in the car.

You're probably all wondering what the reason was for my visit to the Kitty Spa.   Well, seems Mum and Dad have been to pick up the boat thing and have driven it back from wherever it was to here, or near here.  Mum thought I would be safer (and happier???) in the Kitty Spa, as there would be lots of engine noise, it would be all new for me and I wouldn't be able to go out cos I wouldn't know where I was, as every day they were somewhere different.

I have been to the boat - more on that later.

I'm a big fat ginger back from the Spa cat.