Return to the Index for 2019

On this page, I'm going to put those pictures that involve our cats, which, at the beginning of the year, were Lucky, Zack, Bob, and Cole. (You may remember that last year, after Tyger developed cancer, we had to put him to sleep.) If the pet picture is related to a particular trip or event, it'll usually be on the page for that trip or event. But most pet pictures will be here.

January 10: The Ruling of the Chair

On our New Year's trip to Florida, we took Bob and Cole with us, and enjoyed having them around.

Usually, when Fred and I are sitting at the high table doing stuff on our laptops, either Bob or Cole will be in the third chair. Today, however, they were sharing the prime perch, and we both thought it unusual enough that it deserved being recorded.

We like having them with us, and it's worth the small hassle of driving them down here. And it's good to have two of them, as they do quite a lot of playing with each other.

January 21: Band of Brothers

Today I have an interesting pair of pictures. Bob has been sleeping in one of the chairs in the study, and during the time he was there, he was joined first by Cole and then, when Cole'd had his fill of napping, Lucky took his place.

February 2: Curl vs. Sprawl

Today, all four of the cats are keeping me company in the study. Lucky is sprawled out on the desk near the computer, and Bob is on the floor at the base of the cat tower. Zack and Cole are each occupying a chair, and I thought I would take a picture to contrast the posture each of them has when hanging out. Of all the cats, Zack is the one who usually curls up "like a cat" when he is resting or sleeping. All the other cats, most particularly Lucky and Cole, tend to just sprawl.

Zack

Cole

February 17: Here and There

It's Sunday the 17th, and so Fred is here. I am in the study working on this photo album, with Cole and Bob again sharing a chair nearby. Zack, who usually sits atop the cat tower, turned out to be upstairs with Fred; both are taking a nap.

Bob and Cole

Fred and Zack

March 2: Still Brothers

Of course, Bob and Cole (Coal) aren't actual brothers, but they are related. Bob is actually Cole's Uncle, as it was Bob's sister who was Cole's mother. Cats are nothing if not extended families- particularly when they are country cats.

But the two get along famously, and recently they have become the two cats that we take back and forth to Florida.

March 23-24: Weekends at the Cat Ranch

Usually it is on weekends when Fred is here that I think to take pictures of the cats, and this weekend it was everyone but Zack. The tricky part is when Lucky, being white and black, and Cole, being all black, get up next to each other. It can be hard to tell where one cat end and another one begins. Here are some more pictures from this weekend.

Feeling Secure?

Tuck Position

Uncle and Nephew

July 20: The Shadow Nose

One of the odd/endearing things the cats do is seek out clothes we have worn (preferably exercise clothes just out of the dryer) and stretch out on them. I can lay out three articles on the bed- separated from each other- and return after a while to find a cat asleep directly on top of each of them. Today, I put some clothes from the dryer in one of the chairs in the study, intending to take them upstairs after I did something on the computer for ten minutes. When I turned around to pick up the clothes, I found them to be already occupied.

August 3-4: Cats, Cats, Cats

This weekend I did another spate of photographing the cats, as they were rarely not in whatever room Fred and I were occupying.

For example, take this picture from the study this morning. Can you find all the cats? Right- there are four of them. I know that the fourth one, Lucky, is hard to spot. He is underneath the chair occupied by Bob and Cole!

We are constantly amused by the various contorted sleeping positions of our cats, but have found numerous videos on YouTube that explain why a cat might choose one over another or, rather, what meaning you can suss out of the particular position in which a cat sleeps. Here's a selection of pictures from this weekend:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

August 12: Common Scents

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

Here's an example of what I was talking about earlier about the cats being attracted so much by smells. I had left on the bed the towel that I use when on the recumbent bike, and when I came to retrieve it, I found Lucky tossing it around as if it was made of catnip.

Then he just started burrowing into it, and I made a movie as Fred pulled and tugged at the towel. Lucky seemed unconcerned, so long as, in the end, he got to snuggle up to it for a cat nap.

October 13-15: Some Final Pictures

The pictures in this group were taken over the space of a few days. These pictures will round out the pet pictures for this year. From left to right, we first have a nice portrait of Bob- our partial Manx. He always looks as if he is dressed up to go out to a morning wedding or something similar. In the next picture, we have another picture that illustrates the attraction that my clothes from the dryer have for all the cats (except not so much for Cole). If I put them down anywhere, I can count on at least one cat finding them and stretching out on top of them.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Kind of the same thing applies to chairs in which either Fred or I have been sitting for a while. Perhaps it's that the chair is somewhat warm, or perhaps it is again the scent that we leave behind us, but if one of us gets up for more than a few minutes, we can pretty much assume our chair will be occupied when we return- as in the third picture Bob has jumped up into my chair, vacated when I went to get some coffee. A few minutes later, when I declined to reclaim my chair for a while, Bob had stretched out into one of his favorite sleeping positions (see the fourth picture).

Finally, in the last picture, we see an example of one thing that was mentioned in the YouTube video about what your cat's sleeping position says about the way he is feeling. It seems that anytime a cat exposes its belly, it indicates that it is very, very comfortable with where it is, and very trusting in the other animals and people that may be close by. Lucky, particularly, sleeps this way frequently, wedged securely up against the back of the chair, with paws extending out over the arms of the chair. It's always a very endearing pose.

You can use the link below to return to the index page for 2019.

Return to the Index for 2019