Cheers

Dessy’s Between Holidays Keen Observations

Shelley

Between holidays is a busy time of year here in our house in a town south of the North Pole. The Postal Delivery service has brought a couple of damaged packages for the humans to investigate.

This most recent one smelled like laundry detergent. Thankfully, it was just external package damage and not the item in the package damage (the postal delivery person must’ve known that as they carefully placed it in a plastic bag, and dropped it on the doorstep, before dashing away). The previously damaged package will be revealed after Christmas. We’ve been enjoying the moving around of the boxes it came in.

Just not this stinky one – it went right in the outside garbage can after capturing proof in case it was needed.

But, I digress, this post isn’t about a delivery person or a stinky package, it’s more the tale of keen observations between holidays by a clever cat, aka, Me, Dessy.

There is a flurry of papers, boxes, and stuff to investigate. Score me!

I love to nap on the papers.

And Tizzie prefers to nap in the boxes.

Thank goodness Mrs. leaves much of it out so that we get to play in our town (aka, home sweet home) while she’s out on the town visiting a dear friend. She braved the slippery winter storm on her birthday to do just that. She was so stinking happy after she returned, it’s quite heart-warming, to say the least. A rekindled childhood friendship is so special.

She apparently went shopping afterward as she returned with a few bags of stuff to wrap. Then she got busy online shopping, so there was more to play with as the week carried on.

Mrs. and Mr. (not the real Claus couple mind you, they’re just wannabes for this year since everyone will be together again) have been quite busy.

Mr. fixed a blocked drain, then a leaking sink. The extra company and water usage at Thanksgiving put a burden on the slowly building clog 15 feet down the pipe. So all Mrs. wanted for her birthday was a working drain. Mr. came through with the help of the main line cleaner, snakes, and Flow Easy.

The next day after the snow storm, when deliveries could resume, Mrs. received a birthday bouquet from her co-workers at work. She took photos and then put the bouquet up on the fridge for safekeeping from us cats. Oh, well, at least she’s enjoying them.

We thought all was well, but, then again yesterday a slow leak under the sink was discovered. We weren’t allowed to join in the investigation and clean-up. Those feats require keen observations by Mr. to identify the location of the leak and then tighten things to stop it.

Another under-sink cabinet mess was cleaned up by Mrs. and a new drawer for the garbage can was built by Mr. They acted like busy little elves. Thank goodness we’re back in their water dish-filling business. It’s thirsty work being a cat.

In between those projects this week, Mrs. and Mr. noticed paw and claw prints in the yard and on the front doorstep. Guess more critters wanted to see the lovely decoration of rocks to block the mouse’s house entry placed there by Mrs.

There are new trails of what we all thought of as voles or mice. It’s something new that has arrived since the raccoon the week before.

Something new walks like a bird strolling, but more like a tiny cat. Or an elf? Mr. pointed the tracks out to Mrs. so she could capture the potential crime scene. Weasels eat mice. Hmm…that’s not such a bad thing if you remember how nasty the mice nest was that was discovered earlier in the year in the garage.

Upon closer inspection from the window and looking down, Mrs. noticed after the snow storm there was a lot of activity in our town called the yard. There are rabbits, birds, mice, and now weasel tunnels in the snow.

Is it any wonder why we cats love to look out multiple windows and see all the activity, especially the bird activity?

Each sunrise, more things to look at keep appearing. The icicle lights will illuminate the front doorstep for late-night package deliveries or weasel visits. Isn’t that nice of Mr.?

Where was I? Hmm…

Oh, yeah, waiting for Mrs. to play catch the orange string on the crinkle paper with me and Tizzie.

Tizzie’s not entirely my twin even though we were born on the same day. You can see the resemblances right? Plus as sisters, we compete for the string often.

Meanwhile, the elves, aka, Mr. worked on the leak and the rebuild of the drawer, and Mrs. wrapped presents.

She neglected to let me play with the ribbon. She was so busy wrapping and carrying the presents to the other room, walking right past me. The trips were so many that she walked the soles right off of her must-be vintage by now Keen shoes. How keen is that?

No more squeaky keen noises for me, as that ended her loud shoe flapping in the wind sounds that disturbed my nap. She put on soft-sounding slippers just in time for dinner. I love dinner, breakfast, and snacks. But, you know that about me already.

I guess my tale ends there for now.

Cheers to the holidays and the in-between festivities. We cats are keen on those days. From our hometown to yours, we hope you’re delighting in them as well.

Post Inspiration: Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “twin/tween.” Use, “twin” or “tween” any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use both. Enjoy! And Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Still’s In Your Town.

PS – What are your traditions that you do in-between holidays? Do you have a favorite song you play to get you in the mood for those traditions? If you have pets, do they enjoy or dread the holidays? Have you ever seen a weasel chase a mouse? Did you enjoy the cameo appearance of the cats?

Published by Shelley

Letting my quirk out one post at a time.

24 thoughts on “Dessy’s Between Holidays Keen Observations”

  1. Hi Dessy, your holiday observations are quite keen indeed! Do you love your town? I bet you have lots of friends, but your sister looks fun! Enjoy the wrappings of the season and hope those packages weren’t damaged!

    1. Thanks, Terri – yes, I love our town, it’s all I’ve ever known, so it’s precious to me and my sister.

      Happy Birthday to you!!! Eat cake, celebrate, and enjoy every moment of your day!!

      ~We’re sending you meows and hugs from our home to yours!!

  3. Sometimes those projects just keep piling up, don’t they? Fortunately, as the rulers of the home (AKA: the cats), you only have to observe… or look out the window… or just nap… while your staff (AKA: the Mr. and Mrs.) handles the work. 🙂

    1. Hi Janis – thank you for the encouragement. It is quite amazing how human to-do lists ebb and flow.
      Oh, yes, we rule the place. Our 4 am and 4 pm feeding and napping schedule allows for much downtime to observe the activities inside and outside. This time of year is especially interesting. 😸😻🐈🐱

  4. Hi tizzie and Dessy! That package looks nasty! Yikes. Mr. Is a great handyman, wow! Did the glue work on your shoes? They seem to be in great shape sans the bottoms falling off. I’m in Michigan tonight, heading home tomorrow. ☺️😎🌴

    1. Hi John! The package was nasty – I wondered what happened to the container that leaked, did the delivery person deliver it and leave the responsibility to the person receiving it to get a refund or replacement? That’s what happened with my other package that I have to wait to tell a story about.
      So far the glue is working. We’re going to let it solidify for at least 48 hours before I try wearing them again. If it works, $6 is way cheaper than buying a new pair!!
      Yay – glad you had time in Michigan, I hope you have safe travels back to Vegas!!!

  5. I enjoyed hearing from Dessy and Tizzie, your “stinky packages.” (Don’t tell them I said that.)

    The song that always gets me in the holiday spirit, such as it is for us, is yesterday’s Song of the Day, Andy Williams’s “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.” Since we don’t make a big deal out of the holidays, Molly doesn’t, nor did any of our furry angels. It sounds kind of “bah, humbug!” but we don’t have kids (ergo no grandchildren either) and we don’t live close to any family that does. At times I miss it, but I think that’s more missing my Mom, for whom Christmas was a huge deal…

    I’ve never seen a weasel in real life, so I’ve never seen one chase a mouse. Of course, I have seen cats play with a mouse (Grandma’s landlady had a cat with kittens and one day I saw her training her young’uns to catch and ultimately kill mice). I was thinking those tracks looked like raccoon tracks.

    1. Ah, you’re a fellow cat lover, we appreciate the encouragement.

      That’s a great song, the Mrs. was singing it yesterday as she decorated the tree. The thing about decorating for an occasion is confusing for cats to understand, but then, there’s SO much to sniff, it’s quite a work-out. We all hope you and Mary have a wonderfully peaceful season filled with fond memories of your Mom.

      We’ve yet to see the weasel in action. It’s tiny paw prints indicate determination and cunning. It used the same prints coming and going. Unless it’s moved into the same place with the mice. Supposedly, even though they are bigger than mice, they can fit into the same space as mice. 🙄🤔 We like to chase the mice that make it into the house, we’re good at sniffing them out, but our lack of claws only give us the batting option which exhausts us both. 😹🐈😸
      Yes, that raccoon was looking for mice too. I think they might eat weasels? I should verify that though!

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts, much appreciated!!

  6. Dessy and Tizzie [which my spellcheck insists should be Lizzie] are beautiful. As for the source of your problem, definitely an elf! No presents for me to wrap, we don’t exchange them with anyone anymore. I enjoyed wrapping them, but I don’t think I’ll wrap empty boxes just for the heck of it.

    1. Hi Ally, our cats appreciate the compliments. Lizzie for Tizzie, interesting. They can be quite charming when they look innocent. Our girls named the kittens when we first adopted them when the girls were in high school. They were supposed to take their cat with them when they got their own homes. As you can see, that plan didn’t work. It’s okay, we really can’t see them not together after all these years.

      I agree, it’s definitely an elf! Who cleverly walks in it’s own footprints coming and going. That’s amazing to me.

      I think the wrapping is my favorite part of the activity of gift-giving. I’ve never done the wrapping of empty boxes. Now that you mention that, it might be a good idea so that I can place them under the tree to keep the cats from getting to it to eat the tinsel. Hmm…I shall ponder that idea for next year.

  7. Hi Dessy, my what a busy household, you must be exhausted. I hope Mrs is wrapping a few secret surprises to put under the tree for you, maybe less stinky I hope.
    Have a great December Shelley 🙂 🙂

    1. Hi Brian! I hope she is too, but it’s looking like the neighbor cats are getting a treat and not us from the inspections I’ve conducted so far. I must tell you that I gave the tree crashing attempts a go again this year. I almost succeeded and then Mrs. blocked my access to the tree. I’ll keep plotting…one of these years, I shall succeed!
      We all hope you have a great December too!

  8. Good to see things are under control and well in paw. I love seeing footprints in the snow. I always wonder about the circuitous paths they take around the yard. I love the way cats play in boxes and with the packing material. The best toys!

    1. Yes, Dan, all is well until we cats can get closer to the tree. We’ve been eyeing it up nightly.
      The critter footprints indicate we’re definitely not alone in the nightly roaming.
      Yay for boxes and tissue paper! They are a year-round toy for us to enjoy.
      PS – Congrats on your 3rd book release announcement. Mrs. order books 2 & 3 so for her 2023 reading list!! Yay, we’ll get to cozy up next to her while she reads the books.

  9. Dessy, you are not only observant, but a beautiful kitty and you’re right … you may be sisters, but Tizzie and you do not look alike. I would think it would be fascinating to look out the window by the light of the moon and/or the pretty icicle lights and check out the wildlife out there … and I don’t mean deer. Those tunnels under the snow fascinated me. Your mom and I were just discussing going out in the yard after a snow to see what tracks we could ID. Since my neighbor came home one night and found Mama Raccoon and her two babies had flipped his big garbage can lid up and were rummaging around inside it, I’m sure I’ll find some raccoon tracks. Someone kept hiding his/her pieces of pumpkin in my yard for safekeeping. At least they trust me I won’t eat it. 🙂

    1. Aw, thank you, Linda, the Mrs. said you’d be impressed by this post. And you’re absolutely right, it is fun to look out by the light of the moon, especially the full moon we have now!!
      The weasels and the voles make the tunnels under the snow, probably the mice might use them too. They tend to hop on top of the snow since they’re so small and don’t fall through it.
      I’m sure you’ll find some raccoon tracks if you look for them. That’s mighty nice of you to leave the pumpkin scraps for the critters. Your kindness warms my purring heart!

      1. I was impressed Dessy and I believe you should hijack the Mrs.’s blog more often. I know you like watching those critters but don’t bring in any now that the others have bitten the dust. You remember the last time what happened with a mouse in the house. Glad to warm your purring heart dear Dessy.

Comments are closed.