Saturday, December 30, 2017

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution this year is to get my Thunder Blog going.  I am going to try to do a cat blog a week--even more if I get inspired.  Actually, I am always inspired about writing about cats--particularly Thunder--I just have to sit down and do it.

Thunder is a delight.  All cats are, to me, but Thunder is my heart's delight.  Some would say that he is the reason I retired.  As with so many things, a lot of reasons form a big decision, but I confess, the thought of spending more time with Thunder was one of them.


So, if you want to hear all about what makes Thunder the Wonder Cat so wonderful, stay tuned.


Thursday, December 14, 2017

Thunder the Delightful

Thunder the Delightful

I came home, today, and Thunder greeted me, of course.  He wanted all my attention.  I wanted supper.  I stuck my meal in the microwave, and he still wanted attention.  I tried to get him to eat his supper, but that isn't what he wanted.

I had 3 minutes until my meal was ready, so I followed him around and told him how beautiful he is.  I tried to get him to eat, and he still refused.  I followed him around some more while he purred and showed me his scratching post, his other scratching post, his pad, his pedestal, his other pad...

This is how it always is with him.  After a while, he was ready to eat, and I was able to get my supper, too.  He is one of those cats who is truly, truly happy to see me--and isn't just happy that I am home to feed him.  He makes me feel very loved.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Who is the Cutest?







I have a t-shirt that I have been wearing for years.  It says" Owner of the world's cutest cat."  Of course, I think Thunder is as cute as can be.  Every cat mother thinks they have the cutest cat, but I  have to be honest.  Ellen's cat, Stormy, is cuter.  Thunder is the handsome, elegant one.  Storm is just 100 percent cute.  Here are some pictures of both.  What do you think?











Friday, July 14, 2017

Red Blanket



Red Blanket

A couple of years ago, Ellen got me the neatest gift for Christmas.  It is a small electric blanket--about 6x6.  It is just perfect for a chilly house like mine.  I like to keep it in our TV room.  Thunder, over time, has become very attached to it.  One of his favorite activities has turned into watching TV.  Actually, I don’t watch much TV at all--it has been months.  I sign out TV series from the library, instead.

Thunder has become obsessed with Red Blanket.  I usually don’t have it on, but he still keeps bringing me to it.  I walk up to him, and he trots away, with his tail up in the air--his signal to follow him.  He brings me to Red Blanket so I will sit and pet him, or give him pieces of dry cat food, one at a time.  

He rolls, stretches and purrs.  He begs for pets.

This happens many times a day.

He likes it so much that he is more tolerant of me grooming or brushing his teeth on Red Blanket than anywhere else.

I have taken to sitting on red blanket--instead of my favorite chair to read in the quiet part of the afternoon.  I turn it on low, and he gets so content.  Anything that makes Thunder happy, makes me happy, too.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

10 Years!

Today is our 10 year anniversary.  Ten years ago, my life got brighter and happier, and he has continued to be the brightest light in my life.  I dote on Thunder, constantly.  Good thing he is a cat who likes to be the center of my attention all the time.  He never complains of me helicoptering.  He wants me to!  

In honor of our anniversary, tomorrow evening we are having a cat party.  I will get some fresh nip, and we will cuddle or play.  Maybe we will do both.  Whatever he feels like, that is what we will do.  That’s how cat parties work.  

I can’t wait

Thursday, May 11, 2017

My Book

My publisher is downsizing their warehouse.  Consequently, I now have several cartons of books at my house that I want to sell.  

“Trail Training for the Horse and Rider” is a highly readable, how-to book for trail riding.  I cover training the green horse, retraining the spoiled horse, negotiating difficult obstacles and terrain, conditioning, dealing with difficult weather and more.

It costs $20.00 plus $4.00 to ship.  If you are a local person, we could arrange to meet to save shipping costs.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Thunder Drama - Hairball

Thunder had a hairball this morning.  At least it wasn't a big one.  Most cats just vomit it up, and they are done with it.  That's not the way of Thunder.

First he wants attention-lots of it.  That isn't all that unusual, so it doesn't guarantee that a hairball is brewing, but there is no hairball that he doesn't go through this stage.

The bigger the hairball, the more demanding he is.  This morning's hairball was small.  He just wanted me to pet him and cried when I left.  The big ones seem to come at night.  That is when he will wake me up with purring, ramming my face, biting my nose.  When he purrs, he trembles.  Those days, I know for sure the hairball is coming.  This could go on for an hour.  It was a problem when I still worked.

With a bad hairball, he starts to cry, emphatically--and then, it is done.  Today's hairball was mild, so he didn't cry.  I am so glad.  It tears my heart to pieces when I hear that cry.

After he expels the unwelcome pile for fur, it isn't over, yet.  Next, he need comforting.  I have to pet him and console him.  He is relentless in his demands.  The bad hairballs usually end up with him trembling in my arms, purring and purring.  After about a half hour, he gets hungry, and it is over.

I always feel bad when one occurs, and I'm not home for him.  That is one more reason that I had to retire.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Thunder--High Maintenance Cat


This week, Kevin has been away babysitting.  Though it means that I have to spend extra time taking care of his horse, it also means I'm not spending time with Kevin.  Consequently, I am spending a lot more time at home with Thunder.

I thought he would start taking me for granted and not be as demanding, but I was wrong.  Aside from his time during deep naps--a necessity for all cats--he is more demanding.  He wants to spend all his waking hours with me--and prefers to spend his sleeping hours with me, too.  He is simply attached to me most of the time.  If he is sunning himself, he wants me to sun with him.  He wants to play, he wants to watch DVDs on his electric afghan with me, (Maggie likes that, too,) he wants to cuddle and on and on and on...

He wants me to sit with him when he eats.  He wants me to feed him pieces of dry cat food--one piece at a time.  He doesn't want me to clean, cook, eat my meals and he hates the computer.

He is sleeping with me nearly all night instead of just part of the night.  He is waking me up at night because he wants pets.  He is chasing Maggie away from me.

Of course, I just love all this.  I can't get enough of Thunder time.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised this happened.  He has always been such a dependant cat--not independent like most other cats.

I hope he can adjust back when Kevin is back in my life.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Thunder's Name for Me

Thunder can't say my name.  It is even doubtful that he knows it. After all, we were never formally introduced.  Besides, when I got him, I changed his name.  He may have done the same for me.

He calls me Me-OW.  The second syllable is much higher and louder than the first.  He uses my name whenever he wants me.  He is not the kind of cat to follow me around if he wants to be with me.  He wants me to come to him.  I am supposed to be following him around.  He will just sit in the dining room and call me.  "Me-OW!"

I come running.  I seldom get through a meal without him calling me.  It was worse when I used to work.  I would come home and he expected me to talk to him--not eat my dinner.  "Me-OW!"

My name is so specific, that either he thinks that is my name or that meow translates to, "I want."  I am not sure.  It may be that they now mean the same thing.

He has many other meows, but this is the one he uses to call me.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Follow Me


Thunder absolutely loves when I follow him around the house and pet him.  We play this game multiple times a day.  He brings me to his scratching post and shows me how strong he is.  Then maybe we will go to his black box, and I will pet him and tell him how pretty he is.  The next stop might be the TV room where he wants me to pet him even more.  Then, he may chase the dog out of the room and we repeat it all over, again.

He throws in stretches and rolls, too.

Of course, he is purring throughout.

He has different routes that he goes, but once he starts one, he tends to repeat it.  All along, his tail is high up in the air in the "follow me" position.

I can't tell you how much time I do this with him each day.  It is a wonder I can get anything done at all.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Blacksta Update

Little Blacksta, the tomcat with the torn eyelid is nearly healed.  I can't believe the difference in just the last few days.  His eye went from barely able to be open with swelling and pus all over it to a fairly normal looking eye.  He had his last antibiotic today.  He was a great patient.  It was so bad, that I thought it could kill him by spreading into his eye.  He may have survived, but he could have lost his eye.  Instead, with the help of my friend, Joyce, who gave me the pills, he is well on his way to being a fully sighted cat, again.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Barn Cats - Don't Get Attached

I adore cats, but I truly try not to get attached to barn cats.  They don't belong to me; they don't belong to anybody.  They are their own cats, and they will just break your heart.  They come, they go, they disappear and they even die.  

I decided to allow myself to enjoy Princess.  She is the tyrant barn cat that is actually owned by one of the boarders, so I know that she will not leave and if something happened to her, at least she would get the best of care.  I call Princess and she comes running like a dog.  All was well until Blackster, the formally feral barn cat decided Princess was his name, too.

I have mentioned Blackster before.  The little guy follows me all over, and is tormented by Princess because she thinks I should pay attention to her.  I tried not to get too attached to him, and I thought I was successful...

On Monday, he came up to me and showed me his eye.  He must have gotten into a fight, and his eyelid was slashed and infected.  I just cried when I saw him.  He sat on my lap, followed me around and I saw him eating and drinking, so I knew the infection was currently just in his eyelid.  It was so swollen, a piece of it looked like it was barely attached and there was pus all over it.  Every time he shook his head, (and he shook it a lot,) pus would go flying!

What to do?  What to do?

There is a woman who used to have a horse at our barn.  She works as a vet tech, and she would help with the barn cats.  Her horse died a couple years ago, and we have been on our own, since.

I called her that evening and told her all about Blackster.  She remembered him, and seemed surprised that he is now such a friendly cat--at least with Ellen and me.  She said she would leave some drops on my stall early in the morning, and see if she could get some antibiotic pills.

Ellen was at the barn in the morning and was horrified to see his eye.  She put the stuff on it.

The next day, I found the antibiotics on my stall.  I put it into a hunk of  canned food, and that wonderful little cat vacuumed it right up--never having a clue there was a pill in it.  I put the drops on the wound, too.  It didn't appear quite as infected,  but it still looked horrible.

The following day, (today,) I got to the barn in the early afternoon--not my normal time.  He was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't surprise me since he usually is only around in the morning and evening.  Kevin and I went for our ride, and he was still missing when we got back.  I did the stalls, and waited and waited.  I was afraid that I would have to wait until his usual time, or worse, he was feeling so poorly that he didn't feel like coming out.

I went from barn to barn, calling for Princess.  Silly guy thinks that is his name because he has learned to come to me when I call for Princess.  No luck.  I started Ranger on his walk, and then a woman in the barn called me.  He had heard me calling and was looking for me.

I was able to feed him his pill in canned food, again, and I put the drop on when he was sitting on my lap.  It upset him, but I held him gently until he calmed down and we sat together for a while.

I am glad to report that his eye is starting to improve.  It is nearly swollen shut, but there was very little pus.  Things are looking up.

I wasn't supposed to get attached...

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Thunder's New Favorite Box

Ellen gave me this box that she got over Christmas.  She thought Thunder might like it.  I showed it to Thunder, and he wasn't that impressed,  He isn't a box obsessive cat like most other cats.

I thought maybe he didn't give it enough of a chance.  It was time to bring out clicker.  Thunder and I only do clicker training sporadically these days because Maggie always seems to get in the way.  Since I do clicker with her, she knows the game and wants to join in,  I usually end up giving her a treat whenever I click Thunder to reward her for just staying out of the game.  The problem is he gets distracted, which is always a problem with cats.  Consequently, we never get to do advanced tricks.

All I wanted him to do was just sit on the box.  That was easy, so I had him sit up and do some spins.  Thunder's style is slow and careful. After about 10 clicks, he was no longer interested.

The next morning, he went and sat on the box by himself.  I thought he might want to play clicker, so we repeated the lesson from the day before.  After that, he wanted more breakfast.

The next day, he sat on the box, again.  I got out the clicker, but after a few treats, he didn't want to play anymore, so I just pet him and told him how wonderful he was.

After that, I thought maybe it wasn't that he wanted to play clicker, but that he wanted attention.  I decided to just pet him and talk to him when I saw him on the box.

Well, that opened up the Pandora's box of box sitting.  Now, he must sit on that box 10 times a day--waiting for me to pet him.  Thunder loves love more than food--as long as his stomach is full.  And, I love giving it to him.