Winter warming

It's good to be back. The Assistant always seems to be busy although I have no idea what she does as nothing much seems to come of it. As long as she remembers to get our food in, that's the main thing.

I spent a very pleasant few hours yesterday with Anna-next-door. 

She wasn't feeling well, she has a cold, so I accepted some Dreamies & curled up in her special chair to keep her company & have a good sleep

Last time I called on her Dog Monster was there & he got shirty about me using "his" chair. Anyway Anna says it's my chair now so ha ha DM!

He gets plenty of attention so it's nice for me to be the only one sometimes

DM was given a bone for part of his Xmas. I got a big mouse

I do tend to prefer real mice, they move about more!

Thomas was given treats. People know how much he likes his food although he did have a tooth out recently so is saving the crunchy stuff for later. 

He likes this new bed.The Assistant bought it for Dog Monster but we have a joint policy of taking over all of DM's beds at some point & Thomas didn't waste any time.

Me & Thomas still get on but I think Dog Monster can get jealous. He & Thomas get on really well as they are both a bit dull & like to be quiet unless they are outside

I have learnt about eating crisps

And helped with the ironing.....

and best of all......

I discovered cheesecake!

Happy New Year everyone

A Special Post from The Assistant

This post is dedicated to The Bear, Tom Cox's Sad Cat who has recently died.

http://www.tom-cox.com/2016/12/goodbye-kind-friend-rip-bear-1995-2016
(sorry I can't get this link to go live....)

This is one of the most moving accounts of the loss of a companion animal that I have ever read.

Indirectly, The Bear was responsible for my adoption earlier this year of Jason (Othello/OJ) & his friend from the KCC rescue, Thomas.

I was following The Bear's Twitter postings as @MySadCat & had got to know members of #TheBearsArmy on there. Anna is one of them & she began to retweet @KeighleyCatCare's appeals for adopters for Othello, who had been in Rescue for far too long. His story was that he is a black & white cat, which is a colour people tend to overlook, & that he has one eye smaller than the other, so was perhaps being ignored because of that as well. He had been given his own Twitter account so I asked if he was OK with dogs & KCC were quick to respond.

I had had cats most of my adult life but since 2013 found myself with just Danny the Dog Monster, as OJ insists on calling him, & I began longing for another cat. Danny is pretty spoilt & was used to having my full attention so I worried that he might react badly to sharing. Of course I now know that he is really quite scared of felines & the two cats now in residence dominate him!

Anna encouraged me online to take the leap into the unknown & I brought Othello home in April this year. Once he was fairly well settled I went back for Thomas two months later. Funnily enough Danny & Thomas get on pretty well, despite Thomas's misgivings at first, as they have similar temperaments & tend to leave each other alone. OJ is a real character & makes a nuisance of himself with both of them!

I am so happy to have these two felines as well as my lovely canine. It feels like the best possible outcome for me, despite all the extra work the cats create! Several of #TheBearsArmy correspond about any cat difficulties & share their own cat stories online. None of this would happen if it hadn't been for The Bear &, of course, Tom Cox who wrote about him.

If you haven't read the books I do recommend them. They contain swearing & they are definitely not cosy, twee cat stories. They make you cry at times as well as laugh & they are beautifully written.

The books are available on Amazon although Tom does encourage the use of independent bookshops if you can

Some more escapades!

Both Thomas & myself have been getting extra kisses & cuddles recently. Thomas because he wasn't eating much for two days & the Assistant was worried about him. Me because she thought she'd lost me. She says there's nothing like a companion being poorly or missing to make you realise how much they mean to you.

Thomas started to eat again just as the Assistant had decided she would take him to the Vet for a look at his teeth.

The Assistant was very worried about me because yesterday I stayed out for eleven hours at a stretch. Normally I check back in for a snack & bit of a rest after 3 or 4 hours.This time I had vanished & she was getting very concerned by the time I reappeared. She had dragged Dog Monster all over the place looking for me, she said. I was wet & extremely hungry when I got back & very pleased to be home. She thought perhaps I'd been shut in someone's garage & just been let out, then got soaked on my way home. Or perhaps I had got lost -  but then I don't get lost. She knows this because of my other escapade!

The Assistant was being taken for a walk by the Dog Monster a couple of weeks back. Apparently they have regular routes around the village. On this one they had crossed the big main road & gone through the railway bridge & down a side street. Sitting in a field over the wall the Assistant saw what she thought was "a very pretty black & white cat". A closer look showed this cat had a green bell on a red collar, at which point the Assistant realised it was me!

When I saw her I ran to her, jumped up onto the wall & started to walk with them. She likes it when I walk with them around the block at night. She seemed a bit edgy this time though & tried to lose me by turning back quite soon. I went back through the culvert where the beck goes from the field & under the road. I was ready to go back up on to the railway line which eventually leads to home when I saw the Assistant & the Dog Monster walking along the main road on the other side. I immediately ran back across the big road to greet them. She reacted a bit strangely to this! She has since explained that it's a very busy road with wagons, coaches & lots of cars & not at all safe for a cat to be running across. She had actually been very frightened for me. She hid her panic until it was all over, she says.

To cut a long story short, she ended up carrying me along the underpass where there were people & dogs, across the big road & part way up the short cut where there aren't many cars. When she finally let go of me - & I had struggled & wriggled to get free - I walked back home with them as usual. She had held me so tight I thought she was going to 'do a Michael Heseltine' on me! She praised Dog Monster for being very good on his lead crossing the road, as if he knew there was an urgent problem - that problem was me wriggling around trying to get down!

All back to normal again now!

See you next time - thanks for reading about me

Lots of Love

Othello / OJ / Jason

Hello Everyone

My Assistant has let me down again. She says she has a new computer & that she can't always work out where the photographs are that she's saved of me. Something about a Cloud but we can't find it.

So I have to give her apologies if we show some photos you may have already seen. 

Funny but she seems to find ones of Thomas easily!

The clocks changed this week. She thinks it's good because me & Thomas come in early for the night. 

Well, it's cold & dark now so of course we do. I don't like the cold. And we need our sleep. Don't care about her clocks do we? 

I often sleep downstairs by myself. I also use the igloo next to Thomas' bed so I am near the bedroom door to wake her up when necessary. 
She rarely fools me by getting up without me hearing her before she opens her door. 

She tried letting us in the bedroom again for two nights but has given up again. Dog Monster gets very shirty if I trample around near him, he growls & that wakes The Assistant up. I keep on trying though.

 This might sound as if I do nothing but sleep & eat Dreamies. I do watch a bit of telly. Dateline London has been a favourite. Not as keen on Marr.

  

You know I have to include a picture of Dog Monster out on his excursions

Here he is the other day - he has a cushy life

And here's Thomas in yesterday's sunshine

And here's Me. I'm very handsome aren't I?

That's all for now. 

Don't forget it's that time of year again 

Lots of Love from

Othello / OJ / Jason

XXX

Life goes on.....

Since I got out of Prison things have settled down very satisfactorily. It's as if the whole business made The Assistant more contented with our lifestyle & she doesn't complain as much as she used to do.

I have also found another way to make her smile. I wait outside until she comes out with Dog Monster for his Last Walk of the Night. It's always after a radio programme in the evening - 'dumtedum' or something like that. Dog Monster usually barks as they set off. 

I then appear from a nearby garden & accompany them all the way round the block

She loves it, especially if I run alongside the Dog Monster so we're walking together

We've also got a new pod to sit in outside if she isn't around when we want to come in. It's here in a picture with the other two. It's pretty cool, don't you think?

Things can be quite harmonious although me & Thomas still have sparring matches. Shirley-who-lives-opposite laughs at us & says we're like wrestlers. 

I've been perfecting my Loaf posture. What do you think? Should I win a prize?

So, life goes on & the household is pretty happy. So long as she remembers I need lots of Dreamies & Thomas gets his chicken we co-operate. We don't wake her up early every day now as it's dark in the mornings. But we do chase up & down stairs when we think it's time for our breakfasts.

Lots of Love from
Othello / OJ / Jason
XXX

PRISON!

The Assistant is very ashamed of herself but I am going to tell you what she did. She took me to a strange place and left me there for four whole nights on my own. I was bemused to say the least.

She has apologised many times and swears she will never, ever do it again. 

I am turning it to my advantage though.

She can't do enough for me now

I have had loads of kisses and cuddles. She feels bad about it and so she should!

The Assistant and the Dog Monster went to Scotland. I don't know where that is but it's far away apparently. She thought I would be safe in the Prison and that I would be "too much trouble" for anyone else to look after. Would you believe that??

I have had the last laugh though because Thomas the Traitor, as I'm now calling him, went to stay next door with Anna and showed himself up! They thought he would be easy to look after......

You see, he looks cute doesn't he?

There were various difficulties, mainly because T the T is very stubborn and very determined and he snores!!

But the Best Bit is 

he was seen playing with, and killing, a mouse!

 Right there in the front street!! 

So now it leaves some doubt as to who has brought all the dead bodies. I was getting blamed for all of them, but not any more. 

Ha Ha Ha!

We won't be sleeping together like this again in a hurry! 

Thomas has been hissing at me since I returned. I am reminded that I was mean to him for the first day he moved here. 

I think he thought I'd gone for good and he was well and truly in with both the Assistant and Anna-next-door.

Anyway, the Assistant has learned her lesson from this. 

She didn't really enjoy her holiday and Dog Monster was very unsettled apparently. 

In some ways I have come off best but don't tell her that.

Harmony will be restored but not before I've milked it for all it's worth!

See you next time

Lots of Love

Othello /OJ/ Jason

Late Nights

Greetings once again

I thought you would like to see some photos of me looking rather good

I have to apologise for the Assistant. She says she's been rather busy recently so has failed to help with my post.

She has finally decided to do her job.....

I have been busy myself. I have a task to perform every day. 

I observe Jim & Shirley's bird feeders each morning

Jim tuts a bit at me 

They get some interesting birds on there. They seem to like watching them, as do I.

I also monitor the back fences but here I'm checking for mice.

As you can see I have a large area to cover.

I have called this post 'Late Nights' as I need to stay out late to complete all my tasks.

The Assistant saw a dead mouse in the next road recently. 

She blamed me!! 

Well, it could have been me but I'm not telling her that!

She wants me to put this photo in as she says it makes her happy

This one made her laugh when she came back & saw us waiting

This makes her happy too. Dog Monster always has to be in doesn't he

Bye for now!
Love from Othello
(OJ / Jason)