Cats In, On, Or Under Containers

These are some of my favorite cat photos . Not all of them are recent but as I have been trying to put organize all the cat photos I have run across my favorites! Tuca is the most playful one when it comes to curling up in odd places. I keep foam peanuts for inside plant pots that are large and require too much soil. It keeps the pots lighter. When the peanuts aren't in the pots Tuca uses them like a bouncy ball room! She will find her way into the closet to get to them. Here she is again hiding under the cat pillows. These were comical pillows that had a cat head and tail and scared the crap out of the cats at first! 

We call this the "caboose." It was supposed to stand upright but the cats liked to sit in the compartments and pretend drive (yah, I've got an imagination alright). Another favorite spot is this mango wood bowl. All the cats except Dakota have spent time in the supposed-to-be-for-frruit bowl!

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We went out one night and Blanco was curled up in a plastic pot that had some dirt in it. I still don't know how he fit! 

Jackie is kind of comical and creepy at the same time. She is the most normal except for here, where she looks somewhat crazed. I think her eyes are kind of human looking.

Pollo's turn in the box. Blanco sleeping on newly planted seeds in the cat pot. Even an umbrella is too good to resist! Rip is a monster, what can I say? He had attitude when he was small and still has it. He's a gangster!

Rip has got Chicken rights where he wants him. Now all he's got to do is roll the pot somewhere. Chicken had no intention of letting Rip get his way and he stayed put for hours. We love our cats. We didn't pick them, and don't know how long they will live, but already they have gone past the lifespan of a usual Puerto Rico cat. We know we have saved them and we have gotten LOTS of love and enjoyment from them!

The Cats

It has been a year at the new house and the cats have adjusted really well. They are enjoying the front garden. This area used to be just grass and now has flowers and ferns they like to lounge under. They know they are safe inside the wall. Being cats, they still sneak over the wall and across the road and we are happy no one has been smushed. The average lifespan for a Puerto Rico cat is 4 years so they are all doing well and hopefully have some more years ahead of them.  Tuca and Chicken like sitting on the hot gravel on the edge of the garden. Jackie is the youngest (only a year or so) and she has stolen Pollo's favorite sleeping spot - the mango fruit bowl. Yes, I am a smack and have taken fruit out of it so it is comfortable for them! For xmas they got a brand new fun cat tower. Rip is on top, Tuca mid level, Chicken pole dancing, Pollo feeling excluded, Blanco watching from the table and Dakota headed for a tent.

In the yard Chicken is hanging out in the avocado tree on a cat platform built especially for the cats. Jackie likes to hide under flowers in Tuca's spot. I must have something delicious I am making in the kitchen - Blanco, Pollo, Tuca and Chicken are interested. Tuca loves to sleep on warm towels and clothes or anything soft.

Rip and Dakota are waiting for food. Dakota is from Washington and must be at least 15 by now. While I was painting the house I'd start climbing down the ladder and find one of the cats just sitting and watching me. Chicken seems to be enjoying the sunset and looking over the wall from above.

Cats In Containers (and playthings)

It's kitty time! Like when isn't it kitty time? Our little furry buddies have gotten accustomed to the house and have new routines. I like them to sleep inside (so I know where they are) but don't appreciate the 5 am "I want to go out" call so we have have made a "magic window." We made a new screen that we cut a flap out of so the cats can come and go without waking us up. During the day they have a normal cat door but at night the window. Everyone but Blanco travels in and out, and Blanco prefers to sleep in this bowl outside the front door. Every morning I would go out and my pineapple top and dirt would be all around. Then, one evening I peeked out the window and caught him curled up on the pineapple! I put a towel in it for him but he removed it. Then he moved on to the cat pot I have started catnip in. The cat nip has only 2 leaves and Blanco I guess wants it! Tuca like this telescoping leopard print nest. Sometimes, even when it is hot she buries herself head first in it. Everyone loves the cat cubes but Jackie has the most style.

Cat Playtime

Cats don't like change, so when we moved we had some disappointing happenings. Three cats (Mars, Stripes, and Mini) took off after we moved 8 others and could not be retrieved despite us leaving beds, food and some of their things around and spending multiple hours of calling and waiting around for them. Of the 8 we moved ... Bepo (who was always inside the other house) ran away after 3 nights in the new house never to be seen again. Princess was around for about 4 weeks and then started taking 2 or 3 day walkabouts. She then took off and we have not seen her again. I have spent many hours wandering and looking for buzzards and bodies to no avail. So that leaves us with 7 happy cats! The oldest one, Dakota, lives in the downstairs room and doesn't like to socialize. He is around 14 years old? Something like that and moved from Washington with us. He believes things are after him and will jump up from his bed and run under the couch to escape whatever it is he is seeing. He doesn't have too many years left. Chicken is the mellowest and most normal cat we've got. He takes it all in stride and had no problem coming into the house. Here he is having some king of conversation with himself. Pollo has been a pleasant surprise! She used to only stay around Mars and we couldn't touch her. Now she sleeps on the bed, rubs against us and is really nice. We still can't take her to the vet, pick her up, or pill her or anything but she has mellowed out considerably. We feel bad that Mars is at the other house but the new owner is trying to befriend her so we can collect her in the future and reunite her with Pollo!

Pollo likes to hang out on the carport cover. She can see everything that goes on and sometimes has company up there. Jackie was reduced from the middle of highway 2 and is a terror! She has weak little arms and is kind of a runt but we love her. She is the most normal and socialized of them all. Here she is attempting to climb from the carport up on to the roof. I don't know what the cats all do up there but it is a regular party place.

Blanco is as gorgeous as ever. He is the only one that won't sleep inside. He does however sleep on the porch at the front of the house every night and comes in for meals and looking around. We have even caught him playing! He is the one who was stuck in the log. Rip is a strange one. He seems slightly retarded. He doesn't see too well and always looks like he has just woken up. His favorite thing in the universe is to play in this cube. We have three cubes ($4 each) and he dives into them, rolls around, and pops out like a jack-in-the-box. He gives a little cry so Jackie will play with him and the two of them tumble around for hours. Tuca is a bitch and stalks Jackie. At the same time though she can be sweet and affectionate.

Rip getting ready to do his butt helicopter move. He looms over Jackie with his front arms, then swings his rear end over and spins around! Very comical! When Jackie is tired out he plays with himself and some ribbon or dives from cube to cube. Blanco caught in the act of playing with Jackie.

As usual there are cats trying to work their way into the colony. NO MORE! There is a puffy orange one who sleeps in the bed with Blanco at night. He meows and meows and rolls submissively near Chicken. He would be a nice cat. There is a Tuca look-alike and a long-haired black and white one. I chase them off by squirting water at them. We definitely cannot take any more in.  We are currently trying to get them to use a cat door. I had screen doors made to keep flies and mosquitoes out. They don't like the flap and would rather stretch their claws out on the screen. We are shutting the "magic window" (bedroom window we would leave open without the screen so they could come and go) now that they are comfortable in the house and don't need an escape route. Peculiar little sacs of guts they are... Cats anyone?

New Stuff at the New House

The first bit of news is that we FINALLY have internet that works faster than we have ever had and most of the time. It still isn't like in the states, but hey, we aren't in the states! Claro has been pretty decent and is a lot cheaper than the crappy Sprint stick we had that hardly ever worked and had a big monthly price tag. We even have a normal phone that has better reception than the shitty cell phones that are spotty at best. So we are in the new house, with Claro telephone and internet, reliable water (so far) and super short power outages that haven't amounted to even an hour so far. So far so good! Jeff did buy a super quiet, lightweight, inverter-type generator for when the windy times come. We are certain that sitting up here on a ridge is going to mean long outages at some point. Every day we see awesome sunrises, rainbows and sunsets. If the weather is clear we see ocean and Desecheo Island. Do we miss the other house? I don't. I kind of miss having chickens follow me around but I don't miss the crap and constant crowing. No, I don't miss the other house at all.

With the new house come new requirements for organization and limited furniture additions. So I went to the Stool Gallery - is it fine art? or Mr. Hanky's xmas poo on display?

Neither - after having a chuckle for 4 years of driving by this place I was oh so disappointed to find that despite the giant sign with posted hours no one was there. Inside the grimy window I could see a fine collection of what, 6 stools? Maybe it is a poo gallery after all! So the quest for backless stools continues...

Other exciting stuff is that I finally got my Excaliber Dehydrator!!! I have made a couple batches of things already. I made some Chia seed crackers, some vegetable crackers, a banana/peanut butter fruit roll up and some awesome peanut butter/oatmeal/nuts/fruit bars. All are made with only real things and no flour, eggs, etc.

One set of crackers was bell pepper, almond butter, an onion, herbs, raisins (sweetener), tomatoes and a little salt.

Everything was processed in the food processor and spread on a teflex sheet and put in the dehydrator.

Since it is set at 105 degrees all the enzymes remain active in the food so it is easy to digest and full of all the original nutrients that often get cooked out of things. Here they are done with a corn, bean and lobster salad!

I also dehydrated some of our papayas. Papaya is great on cereal, but once you cut and refrigerate it I don't like the gelatinous quality. Papayas are big so the answer is dehydration! Yum.

On the property we have red corozones. We love corozones but didn't have red ones before. These are awesome pinky/red flesh with a slightly different flavor than the others. Very exciting.

No blog entry is complete without a cat update. The cat situation has been difficult. We have done everything we can to take care of the feral monsters but it hasn't worked out for all of them. Despite going back down to San German multiple times and calling out their names, shaking food, leaving food with Amparo, chatting with the new owner and sitting there for hours....Mars, Stripes and Mini are nowhere to be found. Stripes and Mini were never super reliant on us but Mars was Pollo's best friend. These three never made the trip to Moca. Bepo disappeared on day 3 never to be seen again. After 3 weeks of showing up for meals morning and night Princess decided to hit the road. I looked for bodies, smelled and hiked around for bodies and they are nowhere to be found. I just hope they are together (right) or lost (sure) somewhere in the surrounding jungle. The property here has a lot of trees but no flowers or shrubs under them. The cats like to take cover when the nap and feel exposed here. Pollo has turned into a lovely little cat who sleeps on the bed now and the others come and go and hang out as usual. Only Blanco is having trouble. He went on a long walk about and scared me but then reappeared! He won't sleep inside and won't go in the marquesina. I don't know where he goes but we will cover the deck before the rainy season and that will give him a warm space out of the elements! Our friend David literally ran over this cat (as in the car straddled it) on highway 2. He brought it to us and I named it Jack because of the Jack-o-lantern colors.  Now I am pretty sure it is a Jackie. She is a delightful terror. I hear noise and go into the bathroom and find this...

She stands on her hind legs and runs up the toilet paper pulling it all off the roll! Another of her antics is the cat box. If she wants attention (always) she dives into the cat box (usually after I have changed the litter) and makes a dive. I can hear what's going on and pull her out and she makes a squeal and dives back in kicking litter all over. Bad cat. I get over it, roll a ball for her and watch the sunset. Yeah, I love the new house!