Happy Halloween from Slocombe the Cat

Yep, back in the US

Behind this road (where I'm on the sidewalk), there are two highways in the background. Then again, I should be grateful for sidewalks, as much of middle America doesn't have them.

I did get some odd looks this AM when I went out of the hotel at 07.15. I knew there were stores, restaurants and such around a mile away, so I waited until it was clearly light outside and off I went. On the entire trip (with sidewalks), 1.1 mile out and then 1.1 back, I passed one other person on the sidewalk, and he was on a bicycle but avoiding the busy roads.

Because it's America though, there are plenty of Halloween decorations already out as well as for sale. I am pleased to give you an advance preview of Slocombe's Halloween costume this year:
I imagine she'll be as unimpressed with this one as she was with last year's. Currently, she's enjoying her vacation at the House of Treats in the UK where she gets freshly roasted chicken every night, while missing me immensely, of course.

Slocombe's fan club

The garden is a flurry of activity these days and I'm selling plants via multiple channels. All the way in the back of the photo, in front of the frosted wall, is Slocombe the cat, on the chair. On the other side of the wall is my lovely and sweet Italian neighbor, A.

Essex has been having hot summer weather, so I've been leaving the front terrace door open. The back is a little more dangerous, as it's larger and there are some 'escape routes' so SC only goes on the back on the lead.

Today, as I was watering the plants, I noticed that something caught her eye and she went immediately into attack mode--bottom to the ground, and focused while she crept over to the frosted glass wall and then was chin to the ground in front of it. As she is an inside cat except for the balkon, her mighty huntress routine can be rather amusing....although that being said, she takes care of any fly or mosquito that gets trapped in the flat quite handily.

I figured out by being near it, that A's British boyfriend was on the other side of the wall on the balkon, reading a book. This was very exciting to SC, to sit next to the wall and watch him, like she's stalking a giant mouse.

He must have pointed her out to A, because then I heard, 'Awww...the kit-ty!', and SC realized she was the center of attention and immediately took off to back inside her flat. A and her 'loud Italian-ness' are a little bit scary to SC, although it is all meant with love...

Later today as I was coming home, I ran into A.

A: I saw your kit-ty!

H: Oh, sorry about that, I hope she did not bother you?

A: OH no! My boyfriend loves cats! He was happy to see her!

So sweet. Maybe I need to unblock the exits on the front balkon, so she can pop over for a visit at some point.

Slocombe's revenge

Dear Internet humans!

Slocombe the cat here. I've taken it upon myself to update you, because 'someone' has been going to work this week and leaving me all alone. That is not a very wise move, because then I get up to no good...

Even though I'm a retired ancient cat, I'm pretty sharp mentally, if I do say so myself! Someone noticed her avocado plant (raised from the compost heap) hasn't been looking so good in the past few days. She brought it in when the frosts came in the fall, and it's been fine, until the past week or two...

Here is a photo of it from a few months back:

What she finally figured out tonight, was that due to her office visits the past weeks, I've been lacking in 'structured outside time' on my lead! I like nature and smelling the fresh Essex air and getting a little dirt under my paws. To make up for it, I figured out how to balance myself on the plant pot, and, uh, water it.

Yes, I have a perfectly fine and functioning litter box.

Why must I do this then?

-->Because I'm terribly bored since someone leaves me here alone all day, and I don't have a balcony cat flap!

So now, she's finally figured out the mystery of why her avocado is suddenly keeling over and damp...because she caught me in the act. Drat! Curses! Foiled again!

Well, it's only Tuesday, and she's at the office through Friday this week. I can think up some new mischief in the meantime...

A mid-December tale

And the stocking was hung
from the bookcase with care,
In hopes that the fat man
soon would be there!

Until it was felled
with one mighty jump!
Someone can be quite active
when they get off their rump.


And what do we have here,
is it catnip I smell?
Can anything in life
be quite as swell...?


All these toys and balls too
oh what the joy!
Except that I'm retired and semi-active
so I probably don't need another toy.



Moving on to new challenges,
my conquering today is done.
Someone repacked the stocking,
to relive again at Xmas the fun.

And with that I'm on the road for work and then back to the US for some time off. Slocombe has a jam-packed holiday schedule of visits here in the UK, and some well deserved catnaps as well. Posting will be sporadic for the rest of the year (as if it can be any more sporadic than it currently is?)

One more while I'm away - Slocombe in the window

The photo is a little tough to see, but that's Slocombe the cat on this side of the window while she is on vacation. On the other side is some other cat who is pretending to be interested in something to its left.

After another few seconds the other cat turned tail and ran. SC was mighty confused, as she was more curious than anything else about another furry being. She spent the rest of the day periodically sneaking on the counter to get to this window to peek out, wondering if the other cat came back.

Such a fierce and mighty cat she is!

(As far as inside, 12 year old lap cats go) ;-)

Slocombe the cat in the rooftop garden

Slocombe has her own special corner in the rooftop garden near the door, with two pots of grass at an appropriate cat height:

The grass had planted itself into a corner of a pot and she started to nibble on it, so I gave it a dedicated area and it has flourished. However, I have no idea how grass managed to plant itself, four flights up...but it makes SC happy, so ok, it is a productive member of the garden.

Not one to limit herself, she decided to investigate and give the 'volunteer' garlic greens a little taste as well:

Tappity tap - January updates

Dear Internet readers,
Slocombe the cat here. The lazy human who owns this blog hasn't been writing here, so I've taken it into my own paws to catch you up on things...

December was an exciting month, I spent most of it with Uncle Dean at the 'House of Treats'. In January I returned to the 'House of Stress'. Someone had her fall semester law exam on Monday. Then, in big news, she passed her practical (on the road) driving test on Wednesday. I heard her mutter....one less piece of Germany as she put her German license away.

In addition, January is the month where she gives up alcohol (her and the Irish). Personally, I enjoy when we sit here with a glass of wine and surf the internet, so I think this alcohol abstinence is for the birds, but who am I to complain...alcohol is more expensive in the UK than in Germany, so maybe this means she can save spend her alcohol savings on more catfood for me!

Speaking of Germany, she'll be back there next month for a week. I shall again be a week away on vacation, this time to New Friend Ian's. Such a busy cat life I lead!

Regards from Essex,
Slocombe the cat

To the House of Treats!

Everyone's favorite cat has her bags packed and ready by the door. In less than 24 hours she will be deposited at her home away from home where she will spend the next few weeks being spoiled, including her own portion of freshly cooked meat each evening of whatever is being served. She's not so choosy there, but she does seem to favor poultry...

Countdown to flight time: 4 days

While I'm sitting in class tonight

Slocombe is sitting at home napping I suspect. A brief pre-post while I'm out. Here she was as I was packing up for Portugal a little over a week ago. Yes, that's the Kermit-colored backpack which I carry everywhere, the one with the passport, camera, wallet, etc. She's mighty smart.

While I was away, she stayed with Uncle Dean on the other side of town in my corner of Essex. This was an exciting adventure as he lives on the ground floor with children playing in the courtyard at window level.

She spent the week being spoiled ridiculously, including getting chopped up roast chicken on two nights, getting to sleep in the bedroom at night and discovering lots of new hiding places in a flat bigger than mine.

The cat in action

*don't worry, this won't become a cat blog!
however I took the cat out on a leash on the roof terrace tonight...since we're four floors up and she's only been an inside cat, we're working only on the halter leash at this at this point.

I'm not sure which part of this video is most fascinating:
-where she bops her head against the glass wall (and really, they're not clean enough to justify that one away!)
-or where she steps on her own leash
-or where she blatantly stares through the fence at the neighbors
Slocombe at her finest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnnyPNsPLG0

the catching up: the cat

now that the internet is back, here's what's been shaking around here this past month. introducing Slocombe:

-->Yes, the name comes from where you think it comes. Looking back, this probably wasn't appropriate for American Public Broadcasting, where I grew up watching it on Channel 12 WHYY in the Phillyland area.

She's 11, she came from here. (11 in cat years is around 60 person years.)

So far, she's adjusting fairly well. She's a mighty huntress of fake mice and live moths. I'm not quite sure what she does during the day while I'm at the office, but I suspect she sleeps on the sofa and gets on the kitchen counter. Otherwise she's quite a spendid cat, very clever. Or perhaps even more clever, to save those forbidden activities for when I am not present. ;-)

Texas-sized

Everything in Europe is smaller than in America, and my flat in my corner of Essex is smaller than my flat was in Germany. When recently purchasing a litter box for the cat at a big-box pet retailer, there were four options: small, medium, large, and jumbo.

I had a moment of confusion, because small was about the size of a 9 inch cakepan, and medium didn't look much bigger. Jumbo was on par with a litterbox one would find in America, but it was labelled for two or more cats.

As I mentioned this out loud and that this wasn't much space for the cat to use, my UK shopping partner politely pointed out that of course the boxes would be smaller here--everything is bigger in America, and that the cat would be accustomed to this small size.

Duh, of course. I've gotten used to the smaller housing, cars, and McDonald's portions--I never considered it would apply to the cat too.

So I went with the medium sized version and she's getting along fine for aiming and use, excluding the issue that she sometimes in trying to cover the output she whacks the top edge of the box repeatedly with her paw instead of the inside litter. Not sure what that is about...

On the agenda for today...

A home visit from the cat rescue people, now that I own my own place, I think I'd like to have a cat. I'm thinking about an older one which sleeps a lot and won't mind me being at the office for 7.5 hours each day. Stay tuned...

The newest visitor

This one only arrived in the past week. Most interesting is that he/she (but it looks like a 'she' to me) comes up to the doors and stares in. If the doors are open, she almost wants to come in and raises a foot to do so, but then sees one of us and backs off. If the doors are shut, she'll bat at a finger which is run along the glass...she seems most curious as to what we're up to and will stand outside and stare in...

The univited visitor

I came immediately home from work in order to get moving on my seed planting in the late afternoon sun. As I arrived, I noticed an univited visitor sunning oneself:

After two hours I now have the three house windowsills which get the sun filled with the small seedling pots, along with a few to take to the office. My desk is against a heating radiator, and I have a wide windowsill which gets sun from 13 onward.

I'm also considering to use my personal solar dehydrator/hothouse for the next week or two as we've been having fully sunny days and it would be warmer than the sunny windowsill.

Somebody needs to go on a diet

In case you cannot read the little numbers, it says 13.5 pounds. Before you start suggesting that she's big-boned, keep in mind:

-2 different vets at 2 different points in one year have said she needs to lose 3 lbs

-her pregnancy weight from 18 months ago (with 5 kittens) was 12 lbs.

-as there is a price per pound to fly her to the UK, now is a great time to lose the excess.

Back from the US

J asked what I brought from the US. Instead I'll start with what I didn't bring:

She's going to go directly to the UK instead, hopefully in 6 months or so, after the US in-country quarantine is done. So she gets another 6 months of being spoiled in Philly. :-)

And for the record, I am now of the opinion that it is easier to get work permission for a person for the UK than it is to bring over a cat to the UK. Feel free to quote me on this one.

I'm off to the UK tomorrow for new year's, but I'm leaving you a few postings in advance. I'll still pick up emails over the next few days so I'll see any comments. :-)

Luna the cat

This is the view of my diagnonal downstairs neighbor's patio. On the table is the infamous 'balkon jumping' Luna the cat (who forunately hasn't repeated the feat). Luna likes to rule the kingdom down there, when they are not home. Although officially, she belongs to their daughter, my next door neighbor.

When they are home it seems she's stifled by their 'newly retired, puttering around the house' presence so she's out and about in the immediate area. She gives them plenty to do however, which seems to be a welcome interruption, because their other less adventurous cat just sits in the chair and sleeps and rarely ventures too far out of the yard.

I realized while being away that even a cat follows the German structure and order of things. Each night in the hour before the 7 PM church bells, like clockwork, Luna brings home something she's caught. She deposits it on the ground immediately in front on their patio door. She then proceeds to start yowling, to announce that someone should come look.

Normally the Hausfrau comes and aways congratulates her on her find. 'Oh Luna, you have done very well, good, good kitty' and then pets her. HF then summons her husband to come dispose of the dead snake, rodent, or frog. If the catch is still alive, she carries Luna inside and sends her man out to pick up whatever it is and take it to one of the nearby woody areas which surround us.

As you may imagine, the man of the house isn't as impressed with the cat's activities. The other day the activity was repeated, but the HF wasn't home, so it was up to the man to go through the routine solo. He must not have made a sufficient fuss, because the cat started up again, until I hear an exacerbated 'Luna, I already told you I saw it.' I get the feeling he prefers sleeping cat a litte more these days.

The return of Luna the cat

It's been so long since I've seen the giant warming ball of light in the sky, I think my tolerance for warm weather has gone down. This weekend was hot as heck here, and it has been wreacking havoc on my sad little balkon garden plants who are as equally confused by its presence.

I started a few projects in the past few weeks. I have no storage/shelving at all in my bathroom, except for the surface area on top of the dryer, so all medicine cabinet items not in daily use are stored on a shelf in my hallway closet. With Aunt R staying with me before and after our Lithuania trip, now that it's only a month away, I'm trying to tidy up in advance.

So I have all the bathroom items on the living room/kitchen floor where they're getting separated into little piles so that they can go into a ziploc baggy with their related brethren, with expiring stuff going in the bin, checking if there is anything Aunt R should bring from the US, etc.. The apartment was not as messy as when Luna the cat last came for a visit, but it was not as spic and span as when the boss came to visit two months ago and I kept up the twice weekly swiffering for a few weeks.

So Saturday afternoon, I'm enjoying some ice water and who should reappear on the balkon, but Luna the cat. It wouldn't be a problem except that she carries on with incessant meowing demanding to be removed from there, this very instant. The owner's mother went to fetch the owner to come and pick her up. So again I feel bad that this woman needs to come through a messy apartment again to fetch her cat. She must think Americans live like the biggest slobs around. I have no problems with the fact that her cat is on the balkon, although I have no idea what is driving the cat to do so. It's not like my vegtarian cooking wooes cats in from miles around.

My only consolation is that she seemed equally, if not more embarassed than me about the whole situation, that she was again intruding into my apartment. The first time she seemed sorry to inconvenience me (which really wasn't any inconvenience). The second time she seemed genuinely embarassed that her cat could be so stupid now for a second time, or maybe that her mother demanded that she drop everything to go get the cat--so she's walking through my apartment in a bikini. It was rather funny to me actually, as soon as she picked up the cat it stopped meowing. She then asks it as she's walking out, "So you can figure out how to get up here but not back down. Then you really shouldn't come up here now, should you?" Like the cat was going to listen to her line of reasoning going forward.