You win some and you lose some

You win some and you lose some. It's so true! Here we are after the last of the guest have left and we are not busy anymore trying to get to the office and welcome everyone who comes through the door. Yet we have more work to do now because with the down-season André and Sue seem to get into a totally different rhythm. It's the same every year. They wind down, Sue sleeps in in the morning (well, actually she does that year round) and then dresses kind of funny and leaves the house for a few hours almost every afternoon. She says she's going hunting but we don't know whether to believe her or not. She's got no fangs or claws - how on earth does she expect to ever catch anything? What is she trying for anyway? People don't like mice and she sure isn't going to catch a bird.

So how does that make for more work for us? Well, it's harder to get her to give us treats leave alone type our blog for us. You may have been wondering about that already. How are those two doing it? Good question. After the problems we described to you at the beginning, we figured that she would never let us use that keyboard thing again and so we had to find another way to post our thoughts. You know what they say. Revenge is sweet! And since she was the one getting us into this, we decided to pay her back by making her do at least some of the work: the typing. It's the small part really and we do the heavy lifting - the thinking. So far it worked pretty good until she started to slip. She missed a deadline last week and today we really had to keep at her to sit down and write this week's news. We sure hope this is just a temporary problem or we will have to look around for an alternative. Any volounteers out there?

Lets hope for the best and see how it's going in the next few weeks. The good news is that Sue doesn't like the cold too much and so her erratic behavior (that going out every day) may stop soon again all by itself.


See you around

hunter and trapper

PS: Can you believe it? This is our 20st posting. And to think that at the beginning we didn't even know if we wanted to go along with this cyberspace stuff. Twenty posts - wow! This calls for a celebration. Lets go bug Sue for some well deserved treats!

New follower

Hey Hunter, come quick and see: we have our first cat-follower!

Where? Oh, yeah. That's great! Welcome to our blog, Mutzu

Oooooops

Yeah ooooops: we missed our deadline for yesterday. Sorry about that, fans. In our defense we have to say it was not our fault. It was Sue's (she doesn't mind at all to be blamed for this ;-) ). How come? Well as we said in our last posting, fall has arrived here at our house and with that a whole bunch of activities. André and Sue have been busy getting the place ready for winter and that includes collecting all the bird feeders, cleaning them and then putting them up in just four locations: at the walkway to the house, in front of the living room window and at the playground. This way, Sue says, she doesn't have to go all over the place through the (sometimes deep) snow to refill them. Makes sense in a way, although a bit of exercise would do her good. Anyway. She also put a couple of feeders up for us again on the window. Remember the picture in the blog from two weeks ago? Those are the ones. Stick to the window and so the birds will be right before our noses. André and Sue call it "the cats' own entertainment system". Funny: they have TV year round and we have our own for a few months lol

So, how does that explain the delay of this posting: well you know, as soon as those feeders were up we had to check if the birds were coming. So we spent a busy afternoon sitting at the window and only leaving to have a snack, go to the bathroom or tell Sue that no birds had shown up yet and ask if she was sure the feeders were in the right place instead of writing a blog. I mean one has to set ones priorities right!

It was a bit boring watching the feeders with no action and so Trapper dosed off on the window sill and I decided to go lay down on André and Sue's bed. Sue had changed the linens in the morning and I had to make sure they were ok as Trapper and I always do when there is any kind of freshly washed laundry around. When I went out to check on the bird feeders again an hour or so later, I couldn't believe what I was seeing: Trapper was sleeping through his watch! There was a chickadee in one of the feeders and he didn't even notice it. Of course when I jumped onto the freezer, the bird took off and Trapper, totally startled, almost fell off the window sill.

Now WE know the birds are coming to the feeders and YOU know why this blog is a day late.

See you all next week.

hunter and trapper

Fall is here

Fall has come at our house and we both love this time of year: it is not busy at the camp anymore and every so often Sue will take us out for a walk. This is the time to chase after squirrels or a leaf blowing in the wind. We are indoors cats but we love to look out the window and observe what's going on so Sue decided to give us a treat in form of a walk once in a while during the off-season. So she bought harnesses for us. When she puts them on, we know what's coming and can hardly wait to get out the door. Once outside we have completely different ideas of fun though: Hunter likes to walk a few steps then lay down and listen, watch and sniff the air for any interesting smells. After a while he will get up and walk some other place to do the same thing over. Rarely does he go really far which is a good thing should he ever manage to get out on his own. He actually did that once when he was living here only a short time. André and Sue had not noticed and gone to town. When they returned, Hunter was waiting for them underneath the bench on the front porch and he was happy to get back inside.

That's true but Trapper didn't mention that I, too like to chase after birds, squirrels and leafs. Not that I ever caught one but it's fun never the less. So the laying down and observing is only for times when there is nothing to chase close by.

Trapper has never caught anything either but he came close on butterflys, bumble bees and a couple of chip munks. He loves to explore and as soon as he's out the door Sue will have to try and keep up with him so not to constantly hold him back with the leash. He usually runs around the house and down to the beach where he loves to trow himself into the sand and wiggle around until one can't tell the colour of his coat anymore. Then it's off to the neighbour's place and up to the cottages and the big barn. It's funny to watch how he is running and Sue following. It looks as if he is dragging her behind.

One spring I went down to the beach and the lake was still frozen so I decided to go over to our neighbour over the ice rather than on land. Boy, that was cold and a completely new experience! I had to shake my paws after each step the whole way.

So now you know why we love springs and falls. It's for the walks and the fun they offer.

See you around

hunter and trapper

Trapper the monkey

Thank you, Trapper, for all the nice things you said about me in our last post. I completely agree with you: cat's personalities are as distinct as people's.

My friend Trapper here is a little monkey. I've never met a cat that likes to climb and be up on things as much as he does. The higher, the better. As I have mentioned in the past, he can get just about anyplace he wants to and he takes advantage of this ability. Sometimes he finds a new place to take a nap and André and Sue are looking for him all over while he is snoozing away.

Trapper is very lively and sometimes runs around for no obvious reason. He loves to chase toys as much as he does a fly. He also loves watching birds and one of his all time favourite places is the windowsill. Of course he gets all excited when there is a bird especially if it is right in front of his nose. Sue has placed a couple of special bird feeders with suction cups on a window just for him (I like to go there myself for some fun). The birds soon found out that we can't do them any harm and so they come back to eat just centimeters from us. You can see that in the picture.

Trapper is totally André's buddy. He loves Sue too but when André is around, that's were you will find Trapper. When André and Sue watch TV, Trapper likes to jump up on the couch and, with a somersault, trow himself belly up right next to André. He also loves to stand on André's lap and lick his beard with a patience you wouldn't believe. For his own grooming he loves to come to me. André and Sue call it his day-spa. He lays down in front of me and then nudges me as a sign that he wants me to clean his face and neck. Those are the spots cats can't groom themselves very well. Of course I do that and sometimes he returns the favour. You see, cats are very social creatures.

There is one thing Trapper is afraid of: thunderstorms. Ever since we had an electric storm (which threw both of us in a panic) he goes hide someplace as soon as there is thunder. It must be the atmosphere more than the thunder itself because he doesn't mind it at all if it comes from the TV. Sue was watching "Twister" the other night and Trapper was right there with her - no problem. I sure hope he will overcome his fear one day because it must be bad to feel like this. André and Sue try to help him with that and it's gotten a bit better lately.

So you see: Trapper is as good and loving and compassionate a buddy as I am and I gladly return that compliment.

hunter

All cats are the same?

Whoever said this must have referred to the character of cats as it is very clear this statement could not have been made with regards to looks. I mean there are short hair, semi-long hair and long hair cats. We come in all kinds of colours and our coat can be anything from plain to striped to spotted to marked in endless variations.

But is it true that all cats are the same? No, absolutely not! Take us for example. Although we share looks (and pretty darn georgous ones we might add) we still are so different in character. Let's start with Hunter. He is one big fluffy, cuddly guy, very gentle with kids yet scary when he gets angry. It's the wildcat in him which also shows in his size and strength. He is totally focused on Sue and 150 % loyal to her.

Hunter does not like to lay on peoples laps but when he does it anyways, it's always with Sue. He seldom plays when someone is watching him - as if he was embarrassed of showing this side of himself. But when he thinks he is alone, he can chase a toy-mouse, trowing it high into the air or chase me, play hide and seek or simply chase his own shadow or some imaginary prey. His favourite toy is a small white pompom Sue made for him years ago and he looks so funny walking around carrying it in his mouth.

Hunter likes to lay on Sue's spot on the couch but when she comes and asks him to leave, an ever so slight touch will make him get up and leave the place to her. He also likes to lay on his back, all four paws stretched out and expose his belly. But careful there: you might scratch him a few times and then he decides he's had enough and bite you. Hunter goes and jumps on André's and Sue's bed every night when they go to bed. He will lay there for a few minutes and get pet then leave again. It's his way of saying good night to them.

All in all he is a great companion and very loving and devoted.

trapper

Heahlty gourmet cats

André and Sue really take their responsibility for us serious. So when Sue saw a new cat food in the store which advertised as health food, she took the time to do some research. You see, they both want the best for us and the choice of the right food is not only important but with the two of us has some background history, too.

When I came to live here, André and Sue decided to feed me dry food and to stick with the brand the Human Society feeds. They would fill my bowl and I could (and still can) go snack whenever I feel hungry. Since I was only approximately 3 months old and still growing, I got kitten food which is extra rich and contains everything a kitten needs to grow healthy and strong. Some time later they changed to adult food and when I started to develop a weight challenge to a diet version.

Things changed when I arrived (what's new?) and they tried to give Hunter his diet food while at the same time feeding me the extra rich kitten food. Yeah right, as if we let anybody tell us what to eat. Since variety is the spice of life - and this certainly holds true when there is food involved - Hunter indulged in my food while I just loved his. This lead to Sue asking the vet for advise and ending up feeding us both the same, just regular adult food. But the damage had been done: Hunter had gained some more weight and I was just skin and bones. So Sue changed our food once again. There was a product which is supposed to help overweight cats with that issue while at the same time help underweight ones to build some muscle mass. It didn't really change anything for the two of us but at least it was tasty.

When Sue saw this new food we mentioned at the beginning, she put in several hours of research. She compared about 3 dozens dry cat foods for nutrients, protein, source of protein, healthy and unhealthy ingredients. Not just what was in there but how much and quality of ingredients, too. Then she narrowed it down to about six products and went to the store to compare prices. Based on all that she found that the healthiest food she could find for us cost just slightly more than what she was feeding us at the time. So now we get this new stuff and we love it - it's tasty and good for us. Honestly, who wouldn't want that if it means a longer life and fewer trips to the vet at the same time?

Boy, writing sure makes one hungry! Come on, lets go have a snack.

hunter and trapper