Laugh. Learn. Love cats.
Ashton: What is it, Newt?
Newton: I don’t know. It has a tail like a mouse, but it smells like treats.
Ashton: It doesn’t squeak like a mouse.
Newton: When is the last time you caught a mouse?
Newton: Stand back, Ash, I’ve got this.
Newton: If I can’t get the treat goodness out of it, I’ll just eat the whole thing.
Ashton: Wait! Save some for me if you’re going to eat the mouse whole!
Newton: Finders keepers. Besides, this mouse is only snack sized.
We visited the nearby big box pet supply store over the weekend. They were having an event to promote their cat products, and of course, Cupcake got some of the “cat cash.” She was the only cat attending the event, unless you count the cats in the adoption center, so she thought she should get more cat cash. Enough to buy the cat tree of her dreams.
Unfortunately for her, the “cat cash” was really just a coupon and couldn’t be used to buy her cat tree. You can tell she’s a little bummed about that, but she didn’t let it get her down for long.
While Cupcake was the only cat on hand for the cat event, there were quite a few dogs in the store, as usual. A trainer had some of the dogs doing obedience exercises around the store, and one of them came right up to the cat tree where Cupcake was hanging out.
The dog was too busy looking at his human to pay attention to her, so Cupcake was able to look all she wanted from her safe perch.
This time of year, when you live in Florida, it’s important to keep an eye on the hurricane map and be prepared. And there has been a lot going on there on the map!
We live in the center of Florida, which is where the people from the coast evacuate to during big storms, so our chances of having to evacuate for a hurricane aren’t high. We are more likely to need to be prepared for brush fire season in the winter. Either way, it’s important to be prepared.
I recently repacked all of the travel/evacuation necessities into a big, plastic bin, and that got me to thinking: can I fit this, all the cats, and two humans in my car? I have a small car because I don’t like driving a big one, but this is one time it could be more of a liability. I needed to do a drill to be sure the bin and carriers would all fit in my car.
The carriers we use most often for vet trips are the Sleepypod mobile pet beds, which are bulky. I can’t put three of them in the back seat. I’m not sure you could fit them in a larger car or SUV that way, either. But the cats treat them as beds around the house, so they would be the fastest thing to grab in an evacuation. I had to figure out how to fit them in the car.
Cupcake usually rides on her outings in a smaller, more traditionally-shaped carrier, so I needed to include one of those in the packing plans, too. Without a passenger, I could fit one Sleepypod in the front seat and secure two secure in the back seat with Cupcake’s carrier nestled between them. But I needed to keep the passenger space clear for this simulation.
With that in mind, I put down all the seats in the catmobile, which reminded me that my tiny car has more space than it looks like inside. This might just work, I thought.
I started putting the bin and empty carriers into the car.
The front carrier is partially sticking off the end of the cargo area in the photo above, but there was enough space to shuffle them around and get it safely supported.
Behind the carriers, I was able to easily fit the bin of cat evacuation necessities, a small cooler, and a piece of luggage. In an actual evacuation, we would be taking a lot more than a small piece of luggage, and I mentally reserved space for important things like computers I wasn’t going to bring out into the driveway during this drill.
The exercise successfully proved I would have plenty of space without needing to bring the old, plastic carriers down out of my attic.
If you have never taken all of your cats in the car at once, it’s worth taking a few minutes to ensure that you can fit them all in somehow in case of emergency. I’ll sleep better knowing I don’t have to rely on someone with a bigger vehicle help me evacuate in case of emergency.
I rarely cook, so Cupcake can’t figure out what he big deal is if she gets caught on the counters.
Cupcake: It’s not like you are making food up here. See? No food.
That means when I do cook, it’s a strange and fascinating process. I make sure to boil water on the stove eye farthest from the counter so she isn’t tempted to look in and see what’s cooking.
I recently started cooking with one of those Instant Pot gadgets, and she is even more fascinated by the gurgling noises that makes as it comes up to pressure.
Cupcake: I don’t know what’s making that noise, but I don’t trust it.
As you can see, Cupcake is a really big help in the kitchen.
Cupcake: There’s art of me up here. Why do the humans keep telling me I don’t belong up on the counter?
