Thursday, September 21, 2017

Claws Update

How about a little update on this wild cat that the kids are trying to turn into a pet.  

They really wanted him to have a collar so that others would know he was taken.  So they made him a pipe cleaner collar.  They continued to feed him Maggie's (our dog) left over dog food and milk.  Max was hauling our gallon jug of milk outside to pour into this little makeshift dish for this cat!!  Do you know me at all??  I. do. not. like. cats.  And my own son is hauling our milk outside to feed it to a stray cat.

Well a few days in and this cat has discovered if he meows outside this window the kids will stop their school work immediately and come out and pet and fed him MORE!!


Well he wouldn't eat or drink unless we watched him.  He was becoming a huge distraction to my students and very high maintenance in a quick hurry!!


It had been a good week with the cat around so they took their allowance money to Walmart and stocked up on cat supplies.  Wet and dry food... we have no clue.  Little dishes.  Flea Collar.  And a little cat lid for those wet food containers that were sitting in my fridge!!  (Eww!!)  Max and Mallory split up these items and each paid with their own money.  There were into this cat!!  


One night the kids and I headed out to Awana and got home late.  Jesse was home that night and was so excited to tell us about what Claws had did.  He caught and killed a bunny.  Jesse was so proud he took videos and pictures.  The kids were not proud.  Jesse tells them that he is sleeping out on the patio bench right now and we could go see him.  Oh, he has a little blood on him because he ate the bunny.  Max is grossed out done with this cat.  He refuses to go see him.  Melanie is yelling, "I don't like bunnies."  Mallory runs to see her cat!  Sure enough there is this cat with blood on his face sleeping on our patio bench!!  (Remember me and cats?!!!)  Now to put the kids to bed!!  Melanie comes into our room about 3 times that night crying because of "bad dreams" and we ask her what the dreams are and she keeps repeating, "don't like bunnies!"  By the third time Jesse puts her in bed with Mallory and she falls right to sleep.

Another few nights go by and we start to notice that Claws doesn't react to noise.  We can clap our hands and whistle while he sleeps and he doesn't move at all.  We are thinking he is deaf.  When he is awake and walking around if we call him, he never turns around.  The kids always have to go and get him.  

Now we have to bring our dog back home for a few days.  The kids are NOT happy about this.  But we don't have a choice.  Well the dog and cat meeting did not go well.  Maggie, the dog, did not listen to our commands and chased the cat.  Claws ran.  And didn't come back!!  For a good while!!  Like a few days went by.  Claws was to the point where he was spending his nights on our patio bench and now we don't know where he sleeps.  

It is still that way.  Claws comes and goes.  The kids feed him whenever he comes by and they have to stay there and watch him eat.  Now we realize why he does that because he can't hear and he must use the kids as his safety.  Sometimes we come home and he is laying in our driveway or on our front steps.  
Oh and they took off his pipe cleaner collar because he is such a climber we didn't want him to get hurt by having that collar on.  They put the breakaway flea collar on him and he lost it in a day!!  He came by this past weekend and he appears to have a broken tail.  He lives a rough life and the kids are trying so hard, still, to get him to stick around and stay with us.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Field Trip - Zoo & Ice Cream

The first field trip of the season was an ice cream social at a tiny zoo.  
All the local RVA kids showed up... ate ice cream... ran at the playground.  Then we grabbed our friends and walked around the zoo.

Er.  They ran around the zoo.


We walked with these two girls!  Melanie and Jojo!!  They are best friends.  


They have a side kick little brother... Roman!


We met up with the girls at the wolf pen.  The kids were actually getting the wolves to howl back at them.  It was kind of freaky.  


Watching a turtle in the river.  Trying real hard to get closer but the moms just won't let them!!


There are other boys in the RVA.  They just didn't make it to this event!  Max actually does amazing with all these girls!!


The oldest!!  Mallory is on the right.


This ham right here!!!  He wears all of Max's hand-me-downs and I just can't stand it!!   


They were trying to convince us they saw the most gigantic fish ever.


Or they are stalling because it was time to go and they weren't ready to leave just yet.


Wednesday, September 06, 2017

Claws the Tomcat

We had just got home from camping and we are unloading the truck and I see the neighbor running in her garden waving her hands.  I thought she had a bunny.  She told me it was a cat and we could have it.  Oh and it is headed for your yard.  

My kids love cats!!!  They want a cat so bad.  I do not have the same cat love that they do.  Plus I am super allergic to them.  Well Max ran to the slide and meowed and the cat stopped in his tracks turned around and ran up the slide.  Max got a bit scared and slid down and now this cat is sitting at the top of the slide.  

The kids got close to it and they were able to pet him.  He looked super skinny.  They ran to get him some dog food and water.  Well it wouldn't eat the dog food or drink the water so Max dumped the water and brought out the gallon milk and poured him some milk.  Well the cat loved the milk and the kids quickly attached to him.  

They named him Claws because he was clawing at the grass when they played with him.  They literally sat outside with the cat for 3-4 hours!!  They came in and ate lunch and the cat went into the ditch behind our house and when lunch was over Max went out there and got the cat back.

This cat has such a personality!!


The kids are really into American Ninja Warrior.  So when Claws walked across the swingset... he was now a Ninja Warrior in their eyes!


Watching Mallory swing.


Playing with Max.


Then it laid on top of the slide.



Before the night was over the cat had a blanket on the deck.  The kids are smitten by this cat.  It has a funny personality and loves the kids.  He lets the kids haul him around and pet him.  Jesse even likes the cat.  

Stay tuned to see if Claws sticks around to be the kids outdoor cat!!