5 posts tagged “seamus”

As promised, here are the African Queen Irises.  They bloomed this past week:

Imag0659

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Imag0670

Imag0676

Well, it's been pretty nice being up here in the mountains all the time.  Rich thinks I'm more relaxed already.  We have more time together, even without our commute time.  On Tuesday through Thursday, we can sleep in late, make coffee and have breakfast together, and hang out for a couple hours before he leaves for the studio.

On Saturday, we got home in the afternoon, and I noticed Seamus watching a corner of the room very intently.  Cats can be strange this way, but it occured to me he might have a mouse trapped in that corner.  Sure enough, he did, but not a mouse, it was a tiny ground squirrel!  We moved a bookcase and the chase was on again.  A couple of times, we were sure the poor thing had expired.  After a couple minutes, we were able to catch it with a towel and release it outside.  It was the cutest thing you can imagine -- looked like this:

Bebe sqwerls

Last spring, we had some "African Queen" irises come up. I'm thrilled to report that more are on the way again this year.  Two stalks have popped up so far.  It will be a while longer before they bloom. I'll post pix when they do. Here's what they looked like last year:

Africanqueen_irises2

Being a squirmy worm on the couch:

Squirmy wormy

Wedged into couch

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You can see his kitty door (which leads into the vestibule) from the inside:

Dead cat by kitty door

Another shot of the vestibule all opened up:

Vestibule-open1

And random shots of him wandering Altamira:

Amongst mtn lilac

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By lil oak tree

In tree2

On stone steps5

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On wishing well2

On wishing well

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Here's a few new pix of Seamus on our property and climbing trees:

Seamus by treestump

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Seamus mid-climb

Seamus in tree

Here's the "vestibule" Rich built for him.  He goes in and out through his kitty door to access it.  His litterbox is inside, with a outward-opening door to facilitate its removal and cleaning.  The little metal trashcan holds any contents to be disposed of.  The smaller door is inward-opening, and we can open that for Seamus to access the outdoors (only during the day).  Rich designed it so we can open it for him from inside the house.  He climbs down the steps and if it's muddy or snowy, he has that little walkway to prevent delicate pawpads from getting icky.  There's tarpaper on the roof, and it stays quite dry during a rain.  Took an entire weekend to build - he really did a great job on it.

Vestibule-closed

Vestibule-open

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Rich & I adopted Shamus (re-named "Seamus", same pronunciation) on Friday, March 13th from Friends of Cats, a no-kill shelter in Lakeside, just outside of San Diego.  We are so happy with him in our lives.  He is just the sweetest, prettiest, most good-natured and even-tempered cat we've ever met. 

Seamus in blanket (Large)

He's around 3 years old.  He readily gives up his belly for rubs, accepts kisses on his nose, and even lets me play with his feet!  He settled in and made himself at home almost immediately.  Went all around the house, looking out the windows, purring to himself.  We can't believe this dollface had to wait nearly 8 months at the shelter before someone took him home!  He must have been waiting for us.... 

Seamus in blanket-closeup (Large)

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Saturday and Sunday went smoothly, getting used to routine...  Saturday morning, he saw a group of deer outside - probably the biggest critters he ever saw in his life!  My mother came to visit on Sunday, and he was totally nonplussed with the stranger in the house. 

Seamus on desk (Large)

Rich took him outside for a few minutes, and he was ecstatic.  On Tuesday, he caught his first mouse - in the house!  Killed it by the next day.  We praised and petted and praised him up and down for it.  He was VERY pleased with himself.  Last weekend we let him go outside (with one of us chaperoning him) and explore his new territory.  Anytime he wandered close to the edge of the property, we'd call him back, and he'd trot back.  He's very smart.  Today, he climbed a tree.  We're not going to let him go out at night, ever.  And not during the day unless we're there - at least for the first few weeks.  He's also a good cat to sleep with - curls up quite unobtrusively next to you, not like Kabuki who'd sleep on your face if you let him.

Seamus on desk1 (Large)