Missy the dog’s favorite blue ball rolled too close to the cat. She brought him the red ball as a negotiation tactic. Thor the cat was unsure of the offer and was unwilling to throw the blue ball. Eventually Missy was able to obtain her blue ball through stealth and bravery.
Good-bye 2023. May 2024 bring you all successful negotiations.
Thor the technical kitten (seven months old) and Missy the dog still play on the living room rug. Here is the most recent video. Here is one where Thor was much smaller. He has grown a bit.
As long as Thor maintains a healthy weight, he shouldn’t ever outweigh Missy who weighs 20 pounds, but visually he is getting closer in size.
I’ve periodically been sending cards to my eldest in college so there is mail in the mail box. We all signed a card, and I thought it would be nice if the pets “signed” it too. There are products that have ink on one side of a thin sheet of plastic, so prints of baby’s feet, or dog feet, can be made without getting ink on the foot. I love when people are clever. I made the paw prints on the card stock provided, the animals were mostly cooperative, then I cut out around the prints so I could arrange them the way I wanted. What I didn’t read closely, though, is that the ink doesn’t dry, so is intended to be framed behind glass where the print can’t be smudged. Oops. Thermal laminate sheets to the rescue. Running a lamination sheet through the heat roller without paper makes a nice clear, cuttable sheet of plastic. I trimmed this to my card size, attached the prints with glue dots, then used washi tape for the frame and to hold it all in place.
Can we talk about the size of Thor’s feet? Wowza. Griffin’s is understandably the largest print, he is the largest dog at about 50 pounds. Missy’s doggy print is next largest (she is 20 pounds). Thor’s print is near Missy’s in size; I haven’t weighed him lately, but he is an almost seven-month-old kitten. Izzy the cat’s print is definitely smaller than Thor’s and at last weigh she was 11.9 pounds. Sophie the cat has the most petite print, and was the most trouble to get a print, and of course is the print I wanted to send most. I was able to trim away most of the unwanted ink drag.
Griffin the dog loves to run and bark in the backyard, and fill his face with burrs. Each time I think that surely he has gathered all the burrs in the yard, but the next day, he comes back with more.
The best way we’ve found to remove the burrs is to use a small wire pet brush. The burrs stick to the brush and come easily away from the dog fur.
He knows what to expect when I grab the brush, and he sits and waits for me to brush out the hitchhikers. These particular seed pods are also known as “sock destroyers” because they easily attach to fabric and are devilishly difficult to remove.
Scrat the squirrel it rather enjoying his “place” near the house. There is a water dish, occasional peanuts, and cool concrete to stretch out on. It also happens to be at a window where the animals inside can watch him.
Critters and Craft 