Calvin's Capers

Calvin posing - 12 Feb 2012

2012-02-12T15:29:00.001-08:00

2011-10-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Calvin's new playhouse

2011-06-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

We screened in our patio and Calvin is sure we did it just for him. He loves to spend time out there.

Moo

2011-05-21T13:50:00.003-07:00

A few months ago we got another cat to keep Calvin company. Her name is Moo.

2011-05-21T13:50:00.001-07:00

New pictures of Calvin

2011-04-23T18:51:00.001-07:00

Precious and Calvin - 23 Dec 10

2010-12-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

A rare moment of togetherness as they watch the late news with me. Not as clear as I would have liked, but as good as I could get with my cell phone camera without causing them to move.

Calvin under the Christmas tree

2010-12-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Calvin sitting under the Christmas tree, beside a stuffed buffalo.

Feeling Himself Again

2010-11-14T04:03:00.000-08:00

Calvin is feeling good again. He slept on the foot of the bed with me last night instead of sulking in the rocking chair. Now he has been walking back and forth between me and the computer monitor, wanting petted and in general acting like himself again.

Calvin after being declawed

2010-11-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Calvin is not a happy camper right now. He has been clawing us and the furniture and we had to have him "declawed". He spent a night at the veterinary clinic and is home again. Well, he is at least happy to be home. He is strictly an indoor cat and has been ever since we got him 4 years ago, so he doesn't need claws to protect himself.

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Calvin - taken 6 May 2010 at 8:45 p.m.

2010-05-06T18:40:00.001-07:00

Taken 5 May 10

2010-05-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Fri, Apr 23, 2010

2010-04-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Calvin - relaxing on top of the computer.

2010-03-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2010

2010-03-24T03:59:00.001-07:00

Calvin went on a rampage during the night...perhaps an hour after I had gone to bed. I heard a lot of commotion in the living room and went to investigate. Calvin was tearing back and forth through the house at top speed. He was really wound up and kept it up for several minutes. I finally sat down in the recliner with a blanket and drifted off to sleep. When I awoke a couple of hours later, he had calmed down. He had gotten rid of all that excess energy. So I went back to bed and all was quiet the rest of the night.

Just Hanging Out

2010-03-20T14:26:00.001-07:00

Taken 20 Mar 10
Just trying out the new webcam.

Calvin's "Caper"

2010-03-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Calvin had a real caper yesterday. Phoebe was doing laundry in the garage and somehow he either pushed open the screen door from the kitchen or came out without her realizing it when she was carrying laundry out. She closed the garage door.

Sometime later she opened the garage door and Calvin was waiting outside. He rushed back inside, ears laid back and into the house like lightning. He is not an outdoor cat and evidently didn't like the experience. She was shocked to see him outside and doesn't know how long he had been outside before she opened the door.

I'm glad he didn't decide to explore the neighborhood and get lost.

2010-03-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

We use a dry pet food container that holds about a gallon and the food is supposed to drop down to refill the feeding tray as needed. It doesn’t always do that and the other day, Calvin got behind it, scooted it out and bumped it with his head to make the food fall down. Then he looked at us as if to say, “See what I did.”

Calvin's companion, a 19-year-old female cat, Digger, died a couple of weeks ago and he has been mourning. He is starting to act more like himself again but is quieter than he had been.

Calvin goes to the vet

2009-12-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Both Digger and Calvin visited the vet this evening. Digger has been chewing her hair out again and it was time for Calvin's annual shots. Most of Digger's problems are related to her age and kidney problems. The doctor gave her some antibiotics and a shot. She didn't mind the shot. However, she hates the antibiotics and has to have them twice a day until they are all gone. It takes two of us to give them to her. I hold her firmly while Sis gets it into her mouth. They helped a lot the last time she had this problem though.

Calvin, on the other hand, was very offended when the doctor took some "poo" for a sample, and was even more upset when he got his shot. He howled and yowled and really gave the vet a piece of his mind.

After he got home, he laid around and slept a lot. But now he is up to his usual mischevious ways.

2009-10-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Calvin was so funny this morning. Precious was in my bed, curled up totally under the blanket, asleep. Calvin went in, jumped on the bed, sniffed around the blanket, and when he sniffed close to Precious, she poked her nose out and he jumped back so quick. They get along great and it's funny to watch them together.

New pictures of Calvin

2009-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Calvin's favorite spot for a nap is on a towel in our swivel rocker. Here are two pictures of him in a very relaxed mood. When he is trying to tell me it is time for a meal and I am ignoring him, he will sometimes jump on the back of the rocker really hard and make it tip over backward. It is close enough to the wall that it doesn't fall completely over backward but bounces and then remains tipped back until I set it back up.

Oct 9, 2009

2009-10-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

When I got back from a week's vacation, Calvin was so happy to see me that instead of sleeping on the foot of the bed as he usually did, he spent the night cuddled up against me. Everywhere I went in the house, he followed. He stayed here at the house and a friend came in a couple times a day to feed and care for him and Digger.

Picture of Calvin taken in Jan 2007

2009-09-24T19:46:00.001-07:00

I was leaving to go back to work after lunch and saw Calvin sitting in the window watching me, so I grabbed my cell phone and took his picture.

A couple more pictures I found.

2009-09-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Calvin knew the female cat, Digger was in the other room and he was running his paw under the door. She was on the other side scolding him.

Digger - our female cat. She is about 18 years old.

Waiting for His Bath?

2009-08-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in January 2007.

What is that tail doing back there?

2009-08-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

Calvin sometimes thinks that his long tail doesn't belong to him. He was sitting on the floor in the living room this evening and he kept jerking his head and looking around behind him. He would catch sight of his tail and spin around and try to grab it. It was like he was thinking, "Hey, what are you doing back there?" It was so funny.

When we first got him, as a small kitten, his tail was so long for the rest of him. It looked like it was already its full size. He finally grew into it. Sometimes when he is lying on the ironing board, like in the picture below, he will reach down and try to grab his tail which is hanging down on the other side.

Calvin - one of his favorite spots to relax

2009-08-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

Calvin loves to lie on the pull-down ironing board. Here he is, taken at 5:30 this morning.

Calvin was camera-shy last night

2009-08-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

I tried to take a new picture of Calvin last night with my cell phone camera, but he wouldn’t stay still long enough. He stood up in the wooden rocking chair and stretched and looked over the top. I thought, “Oh that would be a cute picture”. But as soon as I raised my camera phone, down he came and went somewhere else in the room. Maybe another time.

How Calvin Came to Stay

2009-08-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

To backtrack a bit, on a chilly day, November 30, 2006, my sister and a couple of friends took a morning walk. As they were walking down the street, this little kitten came running up to them, meowing frantically. My sister picked it up and put it under her jacket and they continued walking. When they came back, she set it down near where she had found it, but the kitten wasn't having any of that. He followed them all the way back, meowing. When she came inside, he stayed outside the door, meowing, until she finally brought him in.

She took him to the vet that afternoon and found that other than having a bad case of fleas and parasites, he was healthy, so she had him treated and kept him. She has taken him back ever since for his checkups and shots and he has responded by bossing us around. Ha! The vet estimated him to be 8 weeks old, so we counted back 8 weeks and estimated his birthday to be September 8th.

When I get home from work and sit down in the recliner, Calvin will come and walk across my lap back and forth three times, then sit down and I will give him a shoulder massage. Is he spoiled or what?

He is so disappointed when we go to bed at night. It's like he thinks we should stay up and entertain him. At 4:15 to 4:30 a.m., he thinks I have had enough sleep and he stands in my doorway and meows loudly and continuously until I either get up or go shut the door.

2009-08-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

I have told so many people about the personality and antics of our cat, Calvin that I decided to start a blog for him and write them down. So unless he suddenly turns off the charm - and that's not likely - I expect to write about more of his escapades here.

Right now he is stretched out on the ironing board watching me.

Calvin's Capers

2009-08-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

Calvin pulled another good one this morning. I usually feed him at night. He eats one pouch of food at 7 pm and another at 9 pm. Then he's good until the next evening. But our old cat, Digger, has a different schedule. She eats a little can of food in the morning and another in the evening..in Sis's room.

This morning when I fed Digger, Calvin decided he was hungry too. So when I went back to my computer, he went and banged his food dish. I ignored him and pretty soon he banged it again. So I got the message and went and fixed him one of his pouches and he ate it all. He definitely has ways of getting his message across.

This evening he wanted his food a little before 7. When I didn't get up and get it for him right away, he jumped up on the desk and started pulling the mini-blinds back and forth noisily. Now it is 8:50 p.m. and he is starting in again. Here are pictures of him taken in his growing-up stages.

Reading the morning paper
Sitting between the window guard and the window

21 Oct 2008 - Checking out the fountain with a turtle in it
25 July 2007

24 June 2007
24 June 2007
31 May 2007
17 Mar 07 - visiting through the screen door with a neighbor cat, Sunny.
Calvin stretched out on the printer

Dec 27, 2006
Christmas Day 2006Calvin was playing in the clothes hamper. It was hard to get him to stay still long enough to snap this picture as he was running around playing and rolling the hamper over and over.
Dec 18, 2006
Precious and Calvin together on my bed. Taken on 3 Dec 2006.

Nov 28, 2006Nov 22 2006

Nov 22, 2006

11 weeks old
11 Nov 2006
9 weeks old

Calvin - 6 Nov 2006

Calvin - 8 weeks old