Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Nicknames for Nattie

This blog post is a little different and might be too cute to handle.

We have two cats, Nattie (she's 15 right now) and Hobbes (he's 13). Both travel real well and have both their own distinct personalities (as you cats owners know about cat personalities).

Nattie was named Natalie by our son, Philip. He and Kim were at Safeway when they saw her being given away in a cardboard box. They weren't sure what I would think of them bringing home a cat but I love cats so this was okay with me.


This is Hobbes. We got him at a pet store being sold by a sweet old lady who rescued cats, got them all cleaned up and their shots given, then sold them for $20. Kim immediately fell in love with him...and he to her. We call him Hobbes because he is just like the cat in the Calvin and Hobbes books.

Now....on to the purpose of this post....

We have given Nattie many nicknames over the years and, one day, we thought it would be fun to start listing them so....here they are.

Lazy butt
You can see from the many photos Nattie likes to sleep.


Her favorite position... in the warm sun in the front window of the coach.



This is where she likes to be when we travel down the road....in the front window.


Squished duck
Nattie makes a sound like a squished duck when she's being groomed.

Stinkbutt
Oh gawd...after she poops....."open the windows and turn on the fans!"  We will be sitting at our computers minding our own business when, all of a sudden...."ACCCCKKKKK". But, we have got her on new food so this is not a problem anymore.

El Destructo
Nattie doesn't seem to mind if she steps on keyboards, dishes, cell phones, etc. totally oblivious to the path of destruction in her wake. Hobbes, on the other hand, avoids all of this.

The Royal We
Because she was a cardboard kitty, we think she thinks of herself above her station and likes to think of herself as royalty.

"Staff....I'm waiting".


The White Bengal Tiger
She likes to think of herself as a ferocious tiger when she's outside. Riiiight.

Sheena (of the jungle)
Another outside name when she's stalking a bird. Of course, she'll never catch one...she takes too long and is waaaay to slow.
The Boat Anchor
When she sleeps with us at night, it's impossible to move her.

What? I left you LOTS of room !


The Barfer
This one ought to be obvious. We feed her every 30 minutes because she has a sensitive stomach. This doesn't always work. (No photos for this one!)

Pisseroo
She loves her space and, when Hobbes gets too close, she'll bat at him and snarl.




Billy Goat
When I scratch her, I hold out a clenched fist and she billy goats it while she plays the Squished Duck sounds.



Magellan
Nattie LOVES to explore. When we open a new drawer in the coach, she's right there to poke around.



She doesn't do so good on the leash as Hobbes so we take her for walks in her Royal Coach. She likes to wave at her many admirers as we explore together.



Wild Thing
Sometimes when she's being frisky she'll tear around the house at breakneck speed....well, for her it's fast. More like a racing turtle.

Poor Starving Kitty
Eat, sleep, more eating and more sleeping....that's our Nattie.

Feed me ! I'm STARVING.


Puleeeeeze, just a few crumbs....I promise I won't barf.


Camel
Boy does she like to drink the water. We thought it might be a problem but nooooo, she just likes to lap it up and then become The Barfer.

Fuzzball
She can be oh so cute.



The Vacuum
Whenever there's food put down for her she gulps it down like it's her last meal no matter how much she's eaten before.

Scritch Puss
When we head off to bed at night she's right there next to me wanting to be scritched. "Me, me, me, me", she says.

Nap Bud
The darnest thing....whenever any of us lay down, she's right there. We don't know how she knows but within minutes, she's curling up next to one of us becoming the Scritch Puss, then the Squished Duck, then the Billy Goat and finally - The Boat Anchor.

Even my snoring doesn't wake her.

Well, she a doll and we love having her with us....provides us lots of entertainment.

FINALLY, you're home....I'm hungry !

Sunday, June 17, 2012

FLORIDA - Part TWO

After the Florida Keys, we headed north and then west across the Everglades Park. LOTS of construction and one-way guided vehicles.

This is the start of the road going west...before construction.

All of us going west got escorted with a pilot vehicle at many times during the 50 miles.

This is pretty much the view looking north or south as we travelled across the Everglades.

...and a bunch of these places.

They held more than just a couple of people. We did not stop.




We passed quite a few visitor centers and, once we got to the last visitor's center, we thought, "Well, we ought to stop to visit at least one". We walked up to the building and, over nearby was a walkway with a guard rail so....I said, "Kim, let me go over to see what's over there"....and here's what we found...






We counted over 25 of these guys in the side lagoon area we overlooked! This was the best we've seen in our travels of the gators. They're amazingly fascinating to watch....even though they hardly move.
After all of that excitement, we pulled into Ft. Myers for a couple of days. This is our spot...right next to the inland islands.

...one of our neighbors had a visitor on top !

Heading over the bridge to Ft Myers Beach. That's the Gulf of Mexico in the distance. It was spring break and the beaches were mobbed. We ate inside and just watched.

Local street views...typical of this beach tourist town.

Some of the local scenery

Local street views...typical of this beach tourist town.

They have these HUGE outdoor linai-type rooms that enclose the entire backyard and pool....

...to keep out the bugs, gators, etc. Nice little "cottage" huh?

The Fish Monger restaurant....great food !

We stayed at Ft. Myers so that we could go to one of our favorite shell beaches - Sanibel Island. We've been twice before and collected quite a number of shells which Kim put in frames that we hung in our hallway at home.


She even put some out so people could pick them up and handle them.

These are from our home in Dixon....they're all in storage now.

Anyway....here are some photos from Sanibel Beach....

The bridge heading west over the Sanibel Island.

This is why we came....check out all the shells.

Kim LOVES looking for sea shells.

Here's a find....no, not me...the sea shell.


These pelicans became our favorite birds.
They look so gangly in the water but when they are so graceful when they are flying.

This is a disease many people get when collecting...it's called The Sanibel Stoop.

Of course, FrogMan had to go looking out further....notice the convergence of man, bird and water craft all at once.

One happy hubby

Well, we are off to Nokomis....about 100 miles north for a couple of months. We'll post those next time.

Kim and Steve

Kayaking again...finally!

Finally, we got back on the water. This time at Meacham Lake in upper state New York, just on the north edge of the Adirondack Mountains (yo...