Friday, April 06, 2007

The Cat Whisperer and The Cat In The Window

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As I previously posted, we have been keeping Karen's cat, Amber.

Amber is the nicest and sweetest cat you can imagine. However she was very old and very set in her ways. [I didn't say spoiled, did I?] At our house that doesn't work.

Mrs. Jim and I have behavior expected of everyone, guests, family, visiting family and friends, and lastly, pets.

I was joking yesterday about being a strict disciplinarian but Amber has adapted to Jim's house rules very nicely. Mostly by kindness, never harshness of hollering or swatting.**

Here are few behavior changes already.

1. Amber would always wake Karen and/or Billy up at 5:00 am for her breakfast.
-->Here, without even telling her, she figured on her own, that this is retirement living here. Breakfast is after Jim's meds around eight in the morning.

2. Amber always slept in bed with Karen and Billy. They couldn't keep her out.
-->We fixed that. I put her a bed besides Adi's, both beside our bed in the bedroom. Amber sleeps there. Period.***

3. You had to rattle a can by opening it noisely to attrack Amber's attention. Then maybe she would come eat. Generally, though, she came because she was hungry.
-->Now I have trained her to come when I call her. No fooling around, just get up and come.

4. At bedtime the kids really didn't know where Amber would start out, they just knew she ended up in bed with them.
-->Now, at bedtime, I call Amber to the bedroom and tell her to get into her bed. No fuss, she just goes.

5. At home, Amber would waste a lot of her food. She would get a can in the morning, what was left in the evening would be thrown out and she got a new can.
-->Here, I give her most of a can, call her, she comes, and eats. She eats all of it. Once in a while not, so I mix that in with fresh food. I told her about all the poor kids who were starving in China and that our house is helping them.

6. Again, Amber was used to going where she wanted. Even on the table or cupboard. Once Karen found her on the refrigerator.
-->Amber is a fast learner. She very quickly learned that we don't get up on the table at Jim's house. Not on the cupboards or stove either.

7. That window is open in the daylight hours for Amber to see out. Billy and Karen had a window to see out their window into their back yard also.
-->But Amber has another bed in the kitchen on a chair right next to the window. That bed has turned out to be her home away from home. We just about always know where she is at.

Those are enough for now. She has conquerred the major rules at our house. A little refinement may still be coming, but again I say she adapted very nicely.

All the pet discipline here is done in a loving, but very firm manner. Just like we raised the kids.

The notes:
** On raising the grandkids, I always requested my kiddos to stop for ice cream when the kids got cranky in public. None of that making a scene and the like. Ice cream calms.
The key here is to do it before the kid realizes it is his/her cranky behavior that triggers the treat. If that doesn't happen he/she would be throwing tantrums just to get ice cream.

*** The first night she did try our bed but I reminded her that she had her own bed. First I crowded her out of our bed. Then I told her to get in her own bed while I was gently placing her there. From then on she has minded like a Marine recruit.
Karen and Billy let Adi in bed with them too. Good thing they have a kingsize bed, for sure ours wouldn't hold all four of us.

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# posted by Jim : 4/06/2007 12:12:00 AM  13 comments

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Excerpts from Terry, and her request granted this evening

I am in the process of writing about the trials and tribulations Amber experienced when she was going through adapting to the strict disciplinarian (me)(link to strict disciplinarian info) at Jim's house. In the meantime, this little blog may be interesting to you.
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Previously I wrote:


"Her name is Amber, she is Adi's little sister who lives with Karen and Billy. Amber will be a long term guest with Adi, Mrs. Jim, and me. "

Well, early this morning Terry (link to Terry's blog) wrote. She loves kitties and has a warm place for Amber. Back in February she claimed to have kept Adi (link) [see her picture below]

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and Amber (link) when they sneaked into Canada! [The excerpt of what she wrote in the comment is posted below.]

Terry requested I place the cat flushing the toilet YouTube on again. I believe she wants it for Amber to watch while she is at our computer checking my blogs. [see it below]


Here's Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat:
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Isn't this nice. If you can't hear it then go here:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM


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Note: Excerpt of Terry's comment on my blog--(link to March 28 blog)


Terry said...
Hey Amber!! So nice to see you again.
I sure hope you didn't get jet lag when Adi flew you and your buddies home.
I trust that you will lose a little of that weight that you put on here..I never saw such a thing.
The way you were stuffing yourself with that food, it looked like your mama never fed you a day in your life! [Jim here: now Terry, that Amber eats four time a day at our house or Karen's']
Although we sorely miss you, we sure do appreciate that we don't have to get up so early every morning now!
Five AM is NOT the Canadian way.
I really think that it was annoying your sister Adi too.
Her Grampa usually lets her sleep in until ten every morning.

I slipped an extra pack of kitty treats into Adi's hat, and I hoped that they wouldn't arrest her at the border for smuggling, but by the looks of your grampa Jim's blog, I guess you all made it home!

Well it is getting pretty late so I will have to say goodbye for now and hope you won't be missing your mama, Karen too much..

If things get a little boring Amber, just tell your grampa Jim that you want to see that video he has of a piano playing cat.....Love from your Canadian hostess, Terry

PS Shopper's nose is finally in joint again.
I never knew that a cat could get so jealous!!Hi Jim and Adi!!

Tue Apr 03, 01:13:09 AM CDT

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# posted by Jim : 4/04/2007 12:12:00 AM  4 comments

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour today, April 1, for April Fools Day!

# posted by Jim : 4/01/2007 01:15:00 AM  4 comments

Even the winds and the waves obey Him!

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Now this is something no human being can do!

There are several lessons here, that one is the major one. Jesus is God, only God can calm the winds and the waves.*

A side lesson is that Jesus was also human while on earth. He was sleeping, in the little fishing boat, God never sleeps. **

This little boat is a pirogue.(link to description) We found it outside Tunk's Cypress Inn restaurant (link) on Kincaid Lake just outside Alexandria, Louisiana.

Tunk's has about the best seafood outside the coastal areas and Baton Rouge. They even have fried and baked alligator.

And now for an aside here. I did eat Peter fish (link-then scroll halfway down), a little flat fish that populated the Sea of Galilee (link). Mrs. Jim, Mema, and I were at a little restaurant in Tiberias (link), Israel, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee in 1980.


Notes:
* Matthew 8:23-27 (New International Version)(link):
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"


** Psalm 121: (link)
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

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# posted by Jim : 4/01/2007 01:12:00 AM  2 comments

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