So many things going on plus the end of the semester that I forgot about the good news in my nightly post. It’s very exciting!
Last night, I apparently left the windows of my car down in the carpark next to the house- I don’t know what else to call it- it’s attached to the house but open on the sides and has a roof, but it isn’t a garage, and it’s part of the driveway. I’m just settling on carpark.
At any rate, I left the windows down, and Joelle was the first one out the door this morning as I was taking her to work, and she said “Looks like you had a visitor.” And we did! There were cat tracks all over the hood of my car, on the seats, and a trail across the dashboard. So that means my neighborhood has a free range kitty I get to look for. Tempted to put out a little bowl of food.
And yes, I am a hillbilly, it was not a possum or other critter, it was a cat, because I know what cat paw prints look like and trust me they look nothing like a raccoons or possums.
Exciting, right? Especially because the only thing I really miss about West Virginia are the abundance of critters roaming around and the birds.
Elizabelle
Welcome, little cat overlord.
laura
That is a “carport” and it’s exciting that you have a mystery gato.
SiubhanDuinne
We call that kind of structure a “carport.”
A neighbourhood kitty! Fun!
Jay
Third on the carport.
We call them that even when they are attached to the house.
Anonymous At Work
From the windows down, I could only guess cat vs. dog and how many. Congrats on the growing zoo.
karen marie
One of the nice things about the apartment complex where I live in Mesa is an abundance of birds. During breeding season, we get a tree full of love birds. We have at least one owl, a bunch of woodpeckers, and various and sundry other birds. There are a fair number of a variety of trees and grass throughout, so that is an attraction.
H.E.Wolf
Cats know. Of course one found you! Congratulations and please keep us posted.
PS: Best to Joelle for her surgery and recuperation.
Citizen Alan
@SiubhanDuinne: We had a carport when I was growing up. My parents had it walled in and turned into a great room.
Betsy
“Carport,” you goofball.
Congrats on the encounter with the Cat Distro System.
NotMax
The field with the Subaru was a carpark.
Echoing others, the thing with the roof is a carport.
ssdd
Cat distribution system has been alerted. Known target identified by relocation division. Sending new feline overlords now…
sab
We get cats wandering through every night. ( See our ADT) . I wish them all well. Go home little kitties.
NotMax
It’s all fun and games until it decides to mark the new territory.
p.a
Chupacabra 😱
Poe Larity
Oh you hillbilly transplants are precious. Actually, it was a young mountain lion.
Librarian
How are you managing the end of the semester from Arizona?
Jackie
@NotMax:
Beat me to it, but that was my immediate thought! Crack windows only a couple of inches to prevent cats or other territorial animals getting inside and leaving their calling card!
SpaceUnit
I wish I had a pet opossum. They’re illegal to keep in CO.
OCD
You already put food out, didn’t you?
@mistermix.bsky.social
Don’t you have javelinas up there? Lots of them down around Tucson.
Martin
@SpaceUnit: I kind of have one. There’s one who lives under my potting table and has gotten so accustomed to me that it’ll just walk under my chair now. In the spring we’ll get baby possums running around which is fun.
Martin
@Poe Larity: A very young mountain lion. I have had a bobcat in my yard (an angry one as I stupidly am pointing a flashlight into the tree it’s in, not realizing there’s a bobcat in there) and I think a young bobcat is more likely for a Cole surprise [read in French accent].
dc
It’s a carport.
Here kitty kitty :)
SpaceUnit
@Martin:
I’m jealous. They’re such cool animals.
Eric S.
I missed the Joelle news. If someone wants to share the public detes, I’m all ears. And even if not, all the best to her and Mr. Cole, and speedy and full recovery to all.
H.E.Wolf
@Eric S.: All will be well. See previous post for deets.
Suzanne
Carport.
Frank Lloyd Wright preferred them to garages, because he knew that garages become crap collectors for Americans.
mrmoshpotato
Have you told Thurston? What about Steve and Maxwell?
devore
lots of stray cats in Tempe. Probably looking for food and most know that cars are nice and warm in the winter. They especially like big trucks, since they’re plenty of nice high warm parts – like an axle – they can climb onto and sleep.
I’ve got lots of crap and threats over the years for feeding strays. But I just ignore them, since there is some protection for strays in Maricopa county.
eemom
A little bird got into my house somehow yesterday and scared the shit out of me flying across the kitchen while I was putting away groceries. After a very stressed out hour or so I managed to get him out a window essentially by accident. He wouldn’t listen to directions.
Total mystery as to how he got in since it is cold as shit and there were no windows open before he got here.
The doggies were oblivious to the entire episode.
The Pale Scot
I read that, thought W.V.? ….. BEAR!
Tim C
I really really hope you like it there John. A lifetime ago, I spent a year in Tucson and there’s something wonderful about Arizona in a lot of places. Likewise, it’s a true purple state and I think you can make a difference there.
prostratedragon
Ann Arbor ain’t exactly Manhattan (NY), but it still might surprise that many residents could easily distinguish cat, raccoon, and possum tracks. The latter two are abundant in residential neighborhoods, with possum easy to see near the center of the Diag.
@Suzanne: Looks like he was the first to call the thing “carport.” It had existed under other names for horse coaches.
Doc Sardonic
I prefer the more elegant term Porte Cochere
frosty
@Suzanne: A carport is a crap collector that lets everyone driving by see all your crap.
Jay
@Doc Sardonic:
not to be too much of a pendant, but a Porte Cochere, is an open, covered structure, attached to the main entrance of a house or building, as a space for guests to disembark and enter the space, protected from weather, not a place to park a vehicle. They are almost always placed over a section of a semicircular driveway.
As such, they are often “fancy’ mirroring the architectural style of the building, rather than being a utilitarian structure meant to keep a vehicle out of some of the weather.
Jay
@frosty:
The Elgin St house had a carport, underneath the master bedroom and the balcony, (because it doesn’t count as sq footage on property taxes).
Only things in it were my Ex’s Civic and a small stack of firewood for the large open fireplace in the living room.
I parked my truck on the street, as close as I could get to the ditch.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon:
I hope they all get together to spin the cube at night.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Wasn’t a great leap in language to transmogrify porte cochere into carport.
;)
West of the Rockies
I don’t know, JC, you’re in chupacabra country now. Occam’s Razor suggests a crypto zoological explanation…
toine
I once found out that my soulmate cat had several homes. He was my cat, having adopted him as a kitten. He would often disappear for a couple of days and just as I would start getting worried he would come back. One time he was gone so long I went knocking on doors to see if any of my neighbours had seen him. That is when I found out about his first alternate home. My neighbour thought he was a stray and would feed him, and then he started going into her house to sleep. Funny thing is that she was a psychologist with a home office and the little bastard would walk into her sessions and be all lovey-dovey with her patients. Her daughter loved him so much that she demanded I provide proof in the form of kitten pictures for her to believe that he was my cat. I guess the story of that incident made it’s way around the neighbourhood. Several other people came up to me to ask if I was really his owner and to tell me how sweet he was and how much they loved him! Despite his cheating ways, I will always miss him… a cat with character and an adventurous spirit! And he really was a sweet little bastard when he felt like it!
NotMax
@toine
For a doggy version see the I Won’t Go episode of Car 54, Where Are You?.
:)
John Revolta
@toine: Thurber had a Scottish terrier who used to do that. He wrote a story about her-
https://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2011/02/thurber-tonight-look-homeward-jeannie.html
rikyrah
Sounds sweet,Cole 🤗
Martin
Since we were just talking about heart attacks… When my dad needed his pacemaker upgraded, I took the train up to care of him, and on the side of his house is a 40′ carport that had blown down in storm while he was traveling the month before. So toward the end of my visit I had worked out a plan to repair and rebuild the damn thing, and spent 3 days in 30-35 degree rain and snow rebuilding all but about 5 feet of it which I needed to harvest for parts. Presumably it’s still standing (he’s traveling again).
Carports are fine, unless you have hurricane force winds, at which point they become sails.
Baud
“Hello, 911. There’s a bearded old white dude in raggedy overalls looking for something in our yard. I’m not sure but he looks like he could be high on something. Could you send a patrol car?”
Dangerman
On this day (I guess THAT day is more appropriate now) Friday the 13th, 2024, I heard “Last Christmas” for the first time. Not the original so maybe it doesn’t count (how many covers are there? Many).
Also, since fucking when was having the FDIC controversial? Or the Polio vaccine? The world needs an idiot enema.
ETA: SNL did colon blow, right?
ETA2: Can’t link but colon blow was Phil Hartman with technical expertise from Grant Imahara. Shit. Literally.
MagdaInBlack
Good morning from Chicago-land, where it was 10 degrees yesterday morning, ice coming this morning (maybe) and rain and 40 (maybe) tonight and tomorrow.
Pretty cool about that cat visitor, John.
p.a
@Baud:
“Hello, 911. There’s a bearded old white dude in raggedy overalls looking for something in our yard. I’m not sure but he looks like he could be high on something. Could you send a patrol car?”
Jeffg166
@eemom:
I had that happen several times. Finally figured it out. They were coming down the heater’s chimney. The access cap for the chimney in the basement had fallen off. That where they landed. I put chicken wire around the cap on the top of the chimney to stop them from going under it.
If you have a fireplace they may be coming down that chimney.
p.a
That’s best-case scenario for tresspasser in open-carry Arizona.
TBone
Good morning from PA, it’s 12 degrees here. I need some good thoughts for Josey Wales of the Nicked Ear, he appears to be starving to death while surrounded by food – his little tummy is sunken in so much that his bony rib cage sticks out too far and I’m scared for him. He looks like a cat skeleton. Have been giving appetite stimulant medication for the past several days but to no avail. He eats a only a few bites of some of the many different small plates of warmed Gerber or Fancy Feast or kitty treats I hold under his nose every couple of hours all day and evening. He’s going back to the vet this afternoon.
Ugh, I truly believe we’re losing him. Since we don’t know how old he is, it may simply be his time…but I’ll not give up on him without a fight.
Leto
@Dangerman: Colon Blow – SNL
TBone
@frosty: haha, I have had and won that battle with hubby who liked to leave assorted stuff under the carport. Nope! It goes either in the shed or the unfinished section of the basement now, he knows the carport ain’t his junkyard!
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: My other Siamese went like that, he was 18. It may well be time, and I’m sorry.
TBone
@toine: my calico Einstein would make the rounds to my neighbors when I lived in a large community of condos – she had several friends who’d leave food out for her every day despite the fact that she appeared well fed and groomed. In this way she made many more friends and so many people loved her that I dubbed her my Public Relations Expert. She also helped raise (only a bit disdainfully) the two teeny tiny kittens I rescued, my Noah and Katrina, and taught them all of her people skills. I was lucky to have had her assistance.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: thank you my friend. It is supremely hard to watch this unfold and feel so helpless! My hope is now that the vet will give me some ok way to force feed him. I don’t know anything about force feeding if that’s even possible, but when Einstein got old and developed feline senile dementia, I had to give water and kitty broth/slurry with a plastic syringe at the end.
I will do what I can and try to let go gracefully if I must…
Thank you, it helps to know that I am not alone.
sab
It’s 18° outside and our brand new boiler decided to stop working, so it’s 50° inside with the temperature falling. The cats are not happy, and a couple of them are complaining out loud.
TBone
@sab: ugh!! Do you have any electric heaters you could use? We keep a good one on hand for just such contingencies, it looks like an end table but is actually a heater that will heat a very large space with a built in thermostat so you can leave it on all night set to a certain temp. It was about $120 seven years ago. Of course, it is best to make such purchases during a heat wave…
ETA maybe a nearby rental center would rent one?
Leto
15F here, I’m up and reading. Should look into making some coffee. Today we are going to the theater to watch the new animated movie, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.” Should be a fun time.
Sab: that sucks! Hopefully you can get that sorted asap.
sab
@TBone: I think we will have to go buy one. We left ours behind with the kid in the old house. They are having their own problems there. It was a proper Friday the 13th all around.
TBone
@sab: also too an electric blanket is a more affordable, temporary fix until the boiler is repaired.
sab
@TBone: It’s a brand new boiler. Two months old.
TBone
@sab: you are an excellent parent. Your heart, at least, is warm. Friday the 13th and the (almost) full moon changed the weeklong string of almost comedic-level bad luck (I call it The Challenge, my luck is so frequently bad) we’ve had this whole week that seems like a month. Yesterday, hubby finally fixed the toilet that the plumber didn’t fix despite two separate attempts, and several other pains in the ass were mysteriously reversed yesterday. Like being in Opposite World. I am sending those vibes to you!
TBone
@sab: aaaarrrggghh!
Maxim
Kitty!
Quinerly
You are very lucky, Cole. Where I live in NM, a pack rat family would move in if there is a cracked window. I have to keep the engine of my Ford that isn’t garaged sprayed regularly with peppermint oil.
My coyotes were very active and brazen before I left. A curious one keeps coming to my lower yard where the koi pond is. She hasn’t jumped over into the actual walled in yard but has been running up along the fake adobe wall (translation…stucco ) that is about 5ft high.. Was driving JoJo las Orejas nuts. He is convinced she is in love with him. This time of year when they are active, I can’t leave him alone on that side for fear she might hop over. He has his side with a high latilla fencing that have “coyote rollers” so that side is pretty secure for him.
I also inherited a bobcat couple when I bought. Apparently, they came every year with their cubs to visit. After I closed on tge house, owner called and told me about them since she knew I would be moving in with a dog. Owner sent incredible pictures of them hanging out in the middle of the day on one of the patios by the outdoor fireplace. I only saw the male once a few days after closing. Pretty sure he got the dog scent and has never returned to the back area. I have had bobcat paw prints in the snow out front, though. An on my car.
Another story I can put in the column of, “boy, when my life changed it really changed.”
Inner city living to the wild West.
TBone
@Quinerly: I adore bobcats, have seen only one here in the wilds of PA on a mountain top. I made him or her my totem ever after. Thanks for sharing! Wishing you continued successful separation of domestic and wild beloveds.
I too went from living in civilization to the PA wilds here in the blink of an eye (formerly a weekender but it’s a whole new ball of wax when you reside full time in a wild area).
sab
I think at 8 oclock I will crawl out from under my quilt and make some hot chocolate for us. My mom had a Melitta coffee pitcher with an aluminum thermal sleeve that I have been meaning to donate to the Himane Society thrift store. Mom loved it so I have been hanging on to it. And now we can use it. Yay.
What do you call those old coffee things? Coffee pot sounds too round and it is tall. But functionally pretty much the same as a teapot, but for cofee or cocoa.
TBone
@sab: carafe?
TBone
Off to shove appetite pill down Josey’s throat. He gets so disappointed in me when I have to do this. Today is his first day without steroids, so at least that awful yucky tasting liquid won’t be a problem. He now gets the steroid every other day for a bit, to wean off. He will trust me again in a couple hours from now but in the meantime he glares like his namesake.
Raven
@sab: French press?
WereBear
Correction: it is a cat port.
Maxim
@TBone: A friend had a similar situation recently and the kitty turned out to be constipated. It might be worth giving that a try. The vet should be able to help. Crossing my fingers for him.
Torrey
@TBone:
I’m so very sorry to hear about your cat. I hope you’ll forgive a bit of input. I’ve always adopted older animals, so I’ve said good-bye to the with some frequency. A useful phrase someone one told me is “from the animal’s perspective, a week too early is better than a day too late.”
It’s natural for us as humans to err on the “day too late” side and the “heroic measures” side. I find in retrospect, those are the instances I regret. That having been said, you’re right to get the vet’s advice. And if it is time, I’m very sorry. Recognize that you did the best you could for your pet, and he knows it.
Spanky
@TBone: Get him to the vet and have his thyroid checked. If that’s the problem, a simple regimen of pretty cheap pills will maintain him.
brantl
@prostratedragon: you’re an AA, I’m in Dexter!.
Quinerly
Head west today to Tubac, AZ for the day. Then north making my way to be in Tucson until Christmas Eve.
Have had a blast here in Hereford area. Two early afternoons of great live music at “The Hitching Post,” “Genes Place,” and “St. Elmo’s,” all in Bisbee, the latter 2 in “The Gulch.” Lots of dancing, Hamm’s and PBR. Long morning hikes with JoJo. Lots of exploring. Great food…everything from chicken fried steak to gizzards and white gravy to Mexican style seafood to wonderful craft pizza in Sonoita ….Spanish chorizo, smokey paprika, cheese, tomatoes, and POTATOES. Very impressive combo. Met a lot of wonderful people in this area. Fun connections to keep up with. One extraordinary couple….retired teachers with motorcycles. Been together 52 years and never married. No children. She did 2 stints in the Peace Corps in here early 20’s. They winter here and summer in Cripple Creek, CO. Will be staying with me in Santa Fe in June on their way back to Colorado. And, I may even come back in February if I don’t pull off this always planned Death Valley excursion.
Arizona Wine Country around Patagonia, Elgin, and Sonoita is gorgeous. And if ever in Patagonia, AZ “The Velvet Elvis” is a must….where “Frida meets Elvis.”
Have a great day, BJers!
Quinerly
@TBone:
Sorry about your kitty. Could be kidney disease. Hang in there. Hugs.
sab
Husband just helpfully ( ///) yelled at our furnace and other stuff contractor. That should improve service. (//). I know from my accounting work that the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease. It gets put on the back shelf. Can’t tell hubby that.
sab
@TBone: Fancy foreign word but that might be it.
sab
@Raven: I don’t think so. It’s just a tall pot that people put coffee or cocoa in. Sort of a 19th century vessal. My grandmother’s silver service had a round teapot and a tall coffee thing. Coffee pot?
I never knew what its name was. My other grandmother (the not rich one) and my mother had similar tall ceramic pots.
Quinerly
@Raven:
I bought a fantastic double walled, well insulated, large sized, stainless French press on Amazon a few months back. I love it with Costco’s strong, dark beans that I grind. I had a glass one from the 1980’s but it didn’t keep the coffee hot. This one is wonderful. And I’m not really a coffee drinker since retirement. Great for just one or two cups or with my friend who stops over in the mornings sometime.
Hope you have a great weekend!
Currants
@Poe Larity: that was exactly my first thought!!
TBone
A huge Thank You to everyone who has chimed in about Josey! He’s taken his appetite pill like a trooper this morning, is over it, and has eaten a bit of Gerber beef as well as some Fancy Feast. Not enough, but something.
He was at the vet on Dec. 3 and they tested his blood and urine for all the things. He had a full body scan that showed lung damage and air in his digestive tract from struggling to breathe. Also, his liver is not sitting where it should be. The only thing vet found to be abnormal on his labs was inflammation (just like me). I believe that Covid wrecked his lungs (he’s been coughing since he came to us, and I’d intervene with a special kitty Albuterol inhaler when it was really bad).
Thank you for all advice and well wishes! We shall persevere! He goes back to vet at 3pm and is resting comfortably in the meantime (except when I put the plates of kitty tapas under his nose periodically).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@eemom: Birds are freaky once they get into the house.
sab
@TBone: I keep forgetting that cats get Covid as bad as people, and there are no feline Covid vaccines. Another reason to keep on masking.
Wishing the best for your little friend.
sab
Asked freezing husband ” Why are you wearing your winter coat inside?”
” I’m cold. ”
“Didn’t I get you a nice woolly Irish sweater a few years ago?”
“Yes.”
” Where is it?”
” In my clothes pile.”
” If I bring it to you will you put it on?”
” Yes. Can I keep my coat too?”
” Yes.
ETA This guy is 73 years old, without dementia, acting like a toddler.
Kednedub
Fancy it up, it’s a “porte cochere”
The Pale Scot
@Dangerman:
Colon Blow
The Pale Scot
@TBone:
Try raw tuna chopped up in cream, sister’s kitty had cancer, it worked for a while
CaseyL
@TBone:
Yay! Josey ate some food! That’s the real indicator, to me: If they’re eating, keep soldiering on.
My Oscar, who may have dislocated discs in his back, has given me more than one heart-ache attack per day since his injury manifested. He has pain meds, and then I wonder if it’s the drug making him inert or he’s lost interest in life. Then – like just now, in fact – he manages to get to his (wobbly) feet, reel his way to the food dish, and eat with gusto. He goes in for a neuro workup on Tuesday, and between now and then I’m going to have eleventy-six episodes of “Is he drugged, or is he dying?”
Sister Golden Bear
When the
studentservant is ready, the master will appear.