cats – Walking Chester

The Fortune Cookie

Right after the new year, we ordered take out Chinese food. As usual, we received two fortune cookies. I anticipated a message that reflected the hope and promise of a new year. My husband opened his first, reading an encouraging, insightful saying as expected. I opened mine.

Seriously? Is this what 2026 will look like? Now it’s true that picking up dog poo is a routine part of my day, or at least every other day. Today is my day to walk the beast and we are in the middle of a blizzard. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the poo in the snow. This is what our poor bushes look like.

Chester loves the snow and could walk forever. I, on the other hand, usually have to cut him off because I am cold. I will say that I love my YakTrax, chains that go over my boots. Chester plays a game where he tries to pull me into the icy part of the street or into deep snowdrifts. I think he wants me to imitate the Olympic ice skaters on a bad day. I dig in my chains and hang on.

I am making peace with 2026. Our final cat, Zeus, crossed the rainbow bridge the day after New Years Day. He was 16 and a half and had kidney disease. Kidney disease is fairly common in cats, and tough. He got to visit his favorite people (our kids) over Christmas, then took a turn for the worse. There just comes a point where you realize that it’s time. So, for the first time in about 30 years, we are catless. It’s really weird. Chester keeps looking around for something to chase. I have a daily urge to clean a litter box. Not really. But I do feel like I do in the dreams where you enter a class and realize it’s the end of the year and you haven’t been there at all, and it’s exam day. I feel like there has to be a big pile of litter that I forgot about somewhere. I truly hope there isn’t.

Zeus was determined to walk across the keyboard in younger days! He had cattitude!

Chester still has Bunny and now added Bear to the family. He tore Bear’s heart out but carries Bear around. Here’s the quiz for the day…a music quiz. I predict Midwest Mark will get it first, but who knows! The lyric is “you ain’t ever gonna burn my heart out.” What is the song? And Artist? No looking it up!

Well, I will try to write at least a little drivel more often. We are fine and I enjoy reading your blogs, I just haven’t felt the urge to write. But that fortune cookie spurred a WTF feeling again, so maybe that was just what I needed! Take care and stay warm!

Overcoming bad kittie habits

I have been waging war with our tuxedo cat who has two not-so- endearing habits which I have been trying to modify. This is Zeus..

Zeus will turn 16 years old in May. When our daughter was in high school, her friend’s cat had kittens. Our older cat had just passed away and our son had written a story/poem about our second cat sitting at the front door watching for his friend. (I know, my heart sank) At about the same time (they may have conspired) our daughter asked to adopt one of Missy’s kittens. Inspired or guilted by the son’s writing, I said yes. They were all grey except for one black and white tuxedo cat with an attitude. She chose him and named him Zeus because the cat they thought was his daddy was this huge feral cat. Mom cat didn’t have access to DNA tests but if she could talk…Anyway, we brought this adorable kitten home, and the second cat loved him. Shoot, everybody loved him.

I had never had a kitten before. We bought short litter boxes and kitten food. One day I ran home from work because I was afraid he would fall into the sump pump. He didn’t. He loved to play with string toys and our son taught him to open the front door. One day our neighbor called because the door was open and nobody was home. . We all knew what happened. He was an escape artist, darting out the door if given half a chance. He used up several lives that way but thank goodness he always came back. He knew where the Greenies were. From day one, he was loud. The vet surmised he may have Siamese genes because he made such a racket in the vet’s office.

Zeus now has kidney disease. He is stable, but he has decided that I have to waken at 7:00am give or take 10 minutes, no ifs ands or buts. He sticks his face right in front of mine and begins to yowl. Honestly it’s comparable to a fire alarm.

This morning he tried to get me up at 5:30 so I gave him a bunch of Greenies and shut the door. Usually I don’t mind getting up but I was tired and ended up sleeping until 8:30. It was loverly.

my husband celebrated baseball with this photo of our major league cat team a few years ago. Go Guardians!

Zeus’ second habit has been to walk back and forth on my keyboard. I pet him which is probably reinforcing, but it’s OK, I love him and take advantage of pet time while I still can. The thing is, I have been doing some song arranging and when he steps on something it is harder to fix. I bought this shoe rest from Ikea for the handbells, and I had the bright notion to put it over my keyboard.

It worked! It dissuaded him until he gave up and went to sleep on the cat tree. Then I moved it because the only issue is not being able to see the screen with metal squares in front of it. I think we have a winner here. He still can walk behind it, just not on the keyboard.

I gave Zeus some extra greenies today since it’s Fat Tuesday. I suppose I shouldn’t use the word fat, but since I am fat I think I’ve earned it. This is how I earned it…

Here in Cleveland we have a strong Paczki community. People line up for miles. Just like they line up for corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas Ale in October, or is it September? Probably August. I don’t even like jelly donuts, but similar to egg nog, peeps, and roasted pumpkin seeds, I will force myself to eat one for the holiday (I’m just kidding, I love all of these except for peeps, but I still choke down one peep on Easter.)

Have a good week, spring is on the way! Here are a couple pictures from Chester’s last walk. It was really nice. Too bad it’s supposed to rain today and tomorrow (or snow, who knows?)

You never know what you’re going to find when the snow melts!

Catching up

I have a lot to catch up with! I have been immersed in Decibells; we had our first concert June 3.

Decibells handbell ensemble ready to ring!

It went well! We had close to 200 people and played well. Thanks so much to our founding donors, it was truly a blast! Now I’m into Christmas music…directors of musical ensembles have their seasons mixed up.

Now I’d like to get started with this blog but I can’t. Milo decides I should give him treats whenever I sit down. Here is the begging progression…I like to think he just loves me, not the treats.

Now that I put away the treats, he bit my shirt a few times, wiped his nose on my face, and finally fell asleep. Unfortunately the neighbor decided to belt out some Pink Floyd and woke him up.

Honest to God, he sang so loud another neighbor’s dog barked. Or howled. Milo is not getting out of his bed though so I’m safe. Let’s get started.

This morning, Chester was down in the dumps. My husband is camping and apparently he is the favored person because Chester has been moping around, lying on the tile by the front door, looking out the window and not eating as much as usual. My husband is the one who gives him treats (he’s a pushover) so one could expect that Chester would miss him but sheesh, what am I chopped liver? Anyway he was lying on the couch looking sad when he heard another dog bark. His head popped up. Lo and behold his friend Benson was visiting in the yard behind us. Benson was standing at the fence looking at our house and barking! He was calling Chester! Chester ran out, they did the pee dance (pee, smell, run back and forth, repeat) and chased each other up and down the fence. They had a good visit and Chester was visibly peppier.

My friend and I went to hear another friend’s band last night and had a great time. She saw a friend who she had not seen in years and her reaction, minus the pee dance, was the same. They were obviously very happy to see each other. I guess friendship is universal!

Last week we went to Holden Arboretum to see the rhododendrons. Unfortunately they weren’t as plentiful as we had hoped, because we were a little late in visiting, but what was there was beautiful. Also beautiful were the peonies. And Chester’s tail of course.

There was a special exhibit of Lego art. Here are some pictures. Some took 30-60 thousand Legos to create. The praying mantis for example took 34,000 Legos. Very cool!

We thought this was a real person. We were wondering why he/she wasn’t moving.

Chester has become a water loving dog. He bites the waves. Since school is out I have watched the grandkids a couple days and this one is also a water lover. He asked me if we could go to the beach every day. Fine by me!

The neighbor just yelled “holey moley.” I’m scared to look. I’ve been taking decaf iced coffee with hazelnut creamer out on the deck. Our deck is right next to a lilac bush. It smells so good.

The butterflies have been visiting and this one seems to want to stay.

Now the neighbor is singing random parts of songs. He sang “come on people now”. Then “everybody.” I’m waiting to hear the next part. It’s going to be a long window-open season. But he’s happy, so whatever. Live and let live.

I hope your world is revolving smoothly. I’m also hoping my husband and kids stop off at Grandpa’s Cheese Barn and pick up some cheese curds and other cheesy goodness. If they don’t I’m going to whine about it for a month. I don’t think the grandkids will let it slide! Have a good week!

Geneva on the Lake and Zeus the cat

Is this a cute kittie or what? The picture of goodness I would say. This is Zeus, our tuxedo cat. Just like kids, no two cats are the same. In fact, much of child raising can be compared to cat and dog raising, but rather than open that can of worms (worms cannot be compared to child raising, at least most of the time) I want to continue my informal tour of the Cleveland area.

But first, Zeus. Zeus needed a nail trimmed. I went into it singlehandedly (my first mistake) and armed with a nice little clipper/scissor. I petted Zeus awhile to lull him into a sense of false security…this feels so nice, you’re such a good cat, just relax. You are getting sleepy…you are getting sleepy.

Alas, the moment I clipped one nail he turned into the Tasmanian Devil. I struggled, bravely facing claws, a hiss or two, and what seemed like a cat with all elbows. I got one more done then turned him loose. I can admit defeat when I am bested. Being bested by a 10 pound cat isn’t something I’m proud of, but I have no ego.

This is mid-meow. He is very loud. I don’t want to know what he’s saying.

Actually, Zeus is our oldest cat, over 10 years old, but he still tries to attack the cord for the blinds. He’s the only cat we have had since kittenhood, most are strays or older when we adopt. He’s really a sweetheart…most of the time.

About a week ago, I wandered out to Geneva-on-the-Lake, about a half hour east of us. Geneva-on-the-Lake is a little resort strip on Lake Erie. It has a long history having been around in the early 1900s.

When we first moved to Cleveland, back in the 1980s, it was more of a biker area, and we would go on a Friday night, get Madsen’s donuts or ice cream, and watch the motorcycles. There used to be a little “carnival” area with the rides you would think of if you were asleep and having a nightmare. Did we go on them? Of course! There was a Ferris wheel, a “fun house” (think of the fun wandering around and smacking yourself in the face with mirrors or trying to walk through what looked like a huge cement sewer pipe that spins around slowly as you walk…great fun). There was a teacup sort of ride that just spun around and around and around and…I didn’t go on that one. My husband decided that our kids would just love this ride, so he and the two boys went on it. It was a slow night, and once the carny starts the ride, I guess he gets bored. I typically talk to everyone so we began chatting away. The ride spun around and around and around and…OK, you get the drift. We were having a good old chuckle fest and I guess he got a little loose with the time. I happened to look at the three victims and noticed a strange hue to our youngest son. He was turning a pea green, literally turning green. I told the operator to turn it off and he smiled, saying “it’s OK, they can have extra time.” What a guy! I explained that extra time now will mean extra work for him in a few minutes and he saw the light. They got off the ride just in time, staggering to the gate and eyeballing the nearest trash can. Everyone was fine, but we took our Madsen’s Donuts home instead of eating them there.

Anyway, about a week ago I returned to Geneva-on-the-Lake after many years away. Since then, they have built a state park and lodge, a huge outdoor game area, and have a winery called “Firehouse Winery.” There are still shops and other fun places but it’s pretty nice now. I went because my cousin-in-law is a founding member of a Celtic band. He plays the bagpipes. The band is called “Plaid Sabbath.” I enjoy their music and a chance to visit with my cousin in a beautiful setting at the winery. I didn’t order alot of food but what I did was good, and Plaid Sabbath is fun to watch. Irish dancers were there too, and the weather was perfect.

On the way out, I decided to try to pick up some Madsen’s Donuts. Unfortunately they were closed. The oldest continuous play mini-golf course was open, though. We used to play there. Also open and running was the Karaoke place. Make of that what you will. I was saddened when nobody was ~~caterwauling~~ singing at that particular time.

I like little treasures like Geneva-on-the-Lake. They seem to grow organically. I like places that are unpretentious and Geneva-on-the-Lake fits that to a tee. I’ll have to go back and play putt-putt. For now though, Zeus has reappeared on my computer so I’m going to try for another nail.

Chester will be back in the next post. Today was just Zeus’ turn. Have a good week!

Odds and ends on a rainy Friday

We are at status quo here, so other than one quick rant about the rain, this will be a post of happy odds and ends.

In our relatively small town lies a huge treasure. This pipe organ sits majestically in the Painesville Methodist Church.

I am told they have great organists in the church. This time, a nationally known organist, Tom Trenney, performed a concert last Friday evening. He grew up in the church, then moved on to great success. The concert was wonderful. It occurred to me that while the organ remains silent for most of its life, it can roar to life when someone is brave enough to ask it to perform. It was hard to believe that a little man sitting at a keyboard could command that power. Kind of like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, except no fakery. I was lucky to hear something like this—extraordinary things can be found in small places.

Another extraordinary thing I noticed was the beauty of tulips this spring.

This is at Perry Methodist Church, where our bell choir plays. Someone went to a lot of work in the fall, and voila, it came to fruition. My husband has a soft spot for tulips, and while we planted a lot, many got displaced or eaten.

I’m not sure how the church ones escaped being digested by neer-to-do-well critters. There’s a certain bit of faith involved in planting bulbs I guess. The people planted them not knowing what would happen or if they would even see the result. In this case they bloomed into beautiful flowers.

While walking Chester I saw the biggest dandelion pod ever.

I admire dandelions and other wildflowers. I think they are pretty but many don’t like them. Yet just like squirrels and bird feeders, you can wage war but you will likely lose. Their tenacity causes me to respect the lowly dandelion. Remember putting it by your chin to see if you like butter? Maybe that was an Ohio thing…

I raked out my corner garden, leaving leaves in the grass before my husband mulched them with the lawn mower. Chester decided that he must roll on the grass where they were. Of course, being a true pet parent, my husband pulled out his camera.

I cringe when thinking of what Chester must smell and be rolling in. He’s a hound. But a happy hound! He was especially happy because our grandson bought him a toy. Or rather, since he is only 4 years old, he told me “I want to buy Chester a toy” and I bought it.

Chester loved it for all of about 10 minutes until he dissected it, removed the squeaker, and pulled out all the stuffing. I did not take a picture of the mess because I was afraid the grandson would see it and be traumatized. Needless to say, Chester was a very happy boy.

This weekend is Mother’s Day. I am OK with Mother’s Day. Motherhood is messy, as is fatherhood. I enjoyed having children—the child years were the best of my life. I am loving being a grandma too. Part of me enjoys the independence of not having children rely on me. Another part gets mad when they don’t answer my calls. Another part sees how hard my daughter in law works and manages the boys; she deserves a day of recognition. (lots of energy in those boys!! ditto for Father’s Day) Another part doesn’t want them to go to any trouble for me. So you see, I am full of parts! I usually just go with the flow because any time they call or we get together I enjoy it. I know my husband is making me eggs because he asked me if I would eat a poached egg. I said no. I’m sure it would be delicious, he’s a good cook. But…still no.

Truth be told, I have pets relying on me and that’s almost like children. People call them “fur babies.” That’s pushing my saccharine level a little high. I cringe but I do get it. This morning Milo ate some treats then hopped on my lap. He rubbed his treat-smelly face on my chin so I rubbed my chin back on his head. If you have kids, did you ever have one wipe his/her nose on your pants? Even if it wasn’t your kid? Yeah….now it’s a cat. I tried to take a selfie of this expression of cat love but he wouldn’t do it with the camera watching. Instead he looks all handsome. He’s a hound too. Ignore the messy hair, I’m trying to see if it will curl if I don’t blow it dry. Looks promising.

I guess that’s all of my odds and ends for the week. I am starting a new project and will tell you about it soon. I was hoping for this week, but not yet. Have a wonderful weekend!

Wordle and poison ivy

When everybody likes something, I typically don’t. I am typically wrong. Everybody from Hoda on the Today Show to Scooby Doo (OK maybe not Scooby Doo) raved about Wordle. My sister told me she played it and I poo-poohed it. Mostly because I had looked at the apps and couldn’t figure out if she played “Wordles” or “Wordle!” or another slightly embellished title. Finally I asked her and she said just to go to the New York Times and it’ll pop up. I acted as if I knew that, but a couple days later I did it.

This devilish little game is addicting. It’s really just guessing 5-letter words but there’s a little strategy. I pretend I’m on “The Price is Right” and can change the incorrect letters with Drew Carey cheering me on. I then share my result with my sister. She shares hers back which is almost always better than mine. As a middle child that must make her feel good, since second kids have to try to keep up with someone older who lords it over them and tries to make them feel inferior because they can’t do what the oldest had extra years to practice. Not that I would ever do that.

This morning I woke up at 4:19am. I reported last week that I had poison ivy on my arms. I was cavalier, stating that it wasn’t bad and I have had worse. LIES!! I started noticing that I scratched my arms in my sleep so I started wearing large Band-Aids that make me look like The Mummy. This worked but left my arms with red, Band-Aid sized, raised hive-like welts. I suspect I am either allergic to the Band-Aid, or my skin reacted to the added indignity of me yanking off the Band-Aid. Either way, I was between a rock and a hard place. The itching has been replaced with pain that even makes me stop eating. The only thing that brings comfort is holding my sad arms under water. I think they are healing now though, they look better today.

Anyway, at 4:19am I awoke with an urge to scratch or cut my arm off. I could not get back to sleep so I went downstairs and did Wordle. The first word I typed in was death. It was all I could think of. Maybe I was being a little dramatic but it wasn’t the worst word to open with. I guessed the Wordle word in three guesses which I thought for sure would crush my sister like the boulder in Indiana Jones. But alas, she also got three. There’s always tomorrow.

At 4:19am there’s not much to do. I hung out with Zeus awhile. He was confused because I wasn’t feeding him.

I watched the news and learned that the Today Show was going to set a world record. For Earth Day (today) they were going to have the most people water a plant at one time. Yes, this is true. There is no current record (really?) so it was pretty much a given. I puttered around, read a few blogs and decided to change the bedroom around, then watched the happy people in the plaza water their plants. There was a group in Cleveland watering plants too. I was not among them obviously but there was a Cleveland Browns mascot or something dancing around. Probably trying to garner some good will since most people here are kind of sour on the Browns.

So what did I learn today? I learned three truths that I will add to my Mom’s List of Advice: 1) coffee is good, 2) don’t dismiss things without trying them (except for the stuff sitting out at the fair, the dips and such. No, No, No.) and 3) …I was going to write wear long sleeves and gloves when gardening but I’ll never do that. So maybe there are only two truths.

Chester is living his best springtime life, tearing around the mud after squirrels and bunnies, both real and imagined.

On Easter, the other Grammie and Pop-Pop gave him a treat. It wasn’t a bunny, but the next best thing.

He loved it. He ate it in about 3 minutes.

We have not been to a park with him lately but this weekend looks very promising. He did make another friend on a walk, a puppy named Toby (I think…the puppy was running around and the owner was calling her but seemed a little out of breath). Milo is bothering me on the computer. This is the look when he is about to sneeze all over me.

I have to hurry and cover my arms so they don’t have cat germs AND poison ivy.

Have an excellent week!

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