Recovering From Football Sunday

Darn! Watching the Redskins can be pretty frustrating - especially when they play Dallas!

 My face says it all.  Yep – there I was, watching the Washington Redskins playing the Dallas Cowboys……the Redskins went ahead (YAY), then the Cowboys caught back up (BOO), then the game went into overtime (EEEEEK), then the Redskins missed a field goal (BOO), and last but not least Dallas MADE their field goal and won the game.

I love watching football and baseball on TV.  Yesterday though it was a little – well – loud in my living room.  There was some screaming and yelling and a few words that I’m NOT sure what they mean but it can’t be good.   My Mom gets a little carried away sometimes.  She says she got that from her Dad.  Apparently when her Dad and Mom’s brother would be watching a football game together there was so much yelling nobody could stand to be in the same room with them!   I believe there was a fair amount of beer being passed around too :).  Well, Mom can get a bit “emotional” too when she’s watching the Redskins play – even WITHOUT the beer.   Yesterday was one of those days.

I watched from my “TV box” on the floor – made the face you see in my picture above more than the usual number of times – and when the game was over, Mom went upstairs to her studio and I came along.  We tried to forget that the Redskins ALMOST won a game.  I lay down on an afghan on Mom’s studio couch and she did some sketching and we calmed down.  A bit. 

Today’s another day…….and “football Sunday” is a distant memory.  At least until Sunday rolls around again.  I think this time I’ll wear my ear muffs and maybe take a tranquilizer 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Sammy, One Disappointed Redskins Fan

Time Change? Humbug!

I’ll just hide under the dining room table and pout……

This time change thing that humans do is – I suppose – just one of those things I’ll NEVER understand!  It throws my schedule off!  

I didn’t go upstairs (although I was tempted) to wake Mom up at what I considered the RIGHT time for her to get up and come downstairs to give me my breakfast…..oh no…..I just got under the dining room table in my usual “pout” place and waited…..patiently……sort of.

Sure enough, when HER clock said it was time, down she came.  I let her find me under the table – she said “message received Sam!” because she knew why I was pouting.  Even though she reminded me last night when she and Dad went to bed that she’d be sleeping an extra hour because of the time change, my TUMMY didn’t get the message!!

After I got my breakfast and she’d gone down to the bottom of the driveway to get the Sunday paper, she got in her recliner, put my favorite blanket over her legs, I hopped up and snuggled in while she read the paper and at last………………ALL WAS RIGHT IN MY WORLD AGAIN!

However, I still think that time change thing is silly.  So there!

Sammy, One Semi-Grumpy But Getting Over It Cat

 

Sam’s UFO Sighting

OK...this is for "mood" purposes for my story - it's actually a sunset not a sunrise and it was DARK when Mom and I had our "sighting" anyway!!!!

This morning Mom and I were outside in the DARK (yes I said DARK) which is something we used to do every morning.  I kind of got out of the habit of asking to go out around a year ago but this morning – well – I was in the mood!  Mom turned all the outside lights on, snapped on my harness and out the basement door we went.  It was very quiet and overcast……I nibbled on a bit of grass (what a treat) and around the back yard we cruised.  We were standing on the driveway when I suddenly got a whiff of something………what?  An animal of some undetermined type – at least to MY nose it was undetermined.  I squatted down on my haunches and Mom could tell I was in “wait and see” mode. 

In the light from the basement we could just barely see an animal……it was smaller than me……it was tan in color……it had ears…..it had longish legs…..it was definitely NOT a groundhog…..it was definitely NOT a cat…..what the heck was it????  It was near our firewood pile by the edge of the woods and if it weren’t for this one beam of light shining on it, we’d never have seen it.  It looked like it was kind of snuffling along eating either grass or bugs or whatever it could find.   Mom and I were real quiet while we watched  ….. trying to figure out WHAT ON EARTH IT WAS!  

Mom moved a bit and the “thing” heard her I guess because its head came up as it stopped foraging and it stood still…..I guess it saw us because it turned around and ran back into the woods really fast but as it did, it gave us a chance to see it better………..what was it?

It was a TEENY, TINY, baby fox!  Where was it’s Mom?  It was way too little to be on its own we think….probably the Mom was keeping an eye on it from the dark edge of the woods – and that’s where the baby headed when we scared it.  I’ve seen baby foxes before – but this was really a wee one.  Maybe even out on its very first pre-dawn foray.  I kind of feel bad that we scared the poor little thing.

Of course I’m ASSUMING that it was indeed a baby fox……because if it wasn’t one we have no idea WHAT it was……. it would then be an official UFO…… Unidentified Foraging Object!

Never a dull moment around here……………..

Happy Tuesday from Sammy, The Baby Fox Observer

Some Days Are UnBEARable….

"The Great Escape"....Napping

Sometimes my days are so busy, I just have to “shut down” for a while and take a VERY long snooze.  Yesterday was one of those days. 

It started out with Mr. Lawn Guy stopping by and doing the fall lawn treatment thing – I know THAT means noisy machinery.  He was here for about 45 minutes and finally he was gone.  Just about when I came back upstairs from my hidey hole in the basement, the doorbell rang AGAIN.  Back to the basement.  Mom talked to some guy who’d stopped by to see if we needed firewood then he left so back upstairs I came.  Whew.  Just as Mom and I settled in on her recliner with me comfortably snuggled on a throw across her legs, the phone rang!  Mom had to “dump” me on the foot of the recliner while she answered the phone.  It was my Auntie Carol and they chatted for 20 minutes then Mom came back, pulled the throw (with me wrapped in it) back onto her legs and I slept a little bit while she read a book.

Later in the afternoon I happened to be downstairs in the basement.  I have a cool spot I like to nap in down there – Mom set up a chair right in front of the french doors out to the backyard and there’s a nice old blanket on it for me to curl up on.  It’s right AT the door so I can see everything in the backyard like squirrels, birds, deer and other cats!  Mom and Dad were watching TV upstairs.  All of a sudden there was a BIG noise (so says Mom) and that noise was ME, leaping out of my chair in the basement – knocking it over in the process – running as fast as possible UP the stairs to tell my parents that there was a BIG BLACK BEAR in our yard!  We’d heard reports of bears around here – saw photos in the newspaper of bears around here – knew a bear had been in our backyard raiding the birdfeeders during the night – but hadn’t SEEN a bear in our yard……….that is until yesterday. 

Mom and Dad mostly were worried about me – I was all bushed up like a raccoon – tail, body, everything was “on end” – and Mom said my eyes were HUGE like two big golden saucers!  I was truly scared and had no idea what that big black thing was.  By that time, Mom and Dad were looking out the front window by the door and saw the bear in our front yard.  It was about ten feet away from MY front porch!!!   It was a big bear and was slowly moving down the front yard towards the woods at the bottom by the street. 

That was of course the subject of much discussion all afternoon and evening and Dad was popping up out of his chair every 15 minutes to look out in the front and back yard to see if the bear was there.  He was looooooooooooooooong gone by then (we hope).

See what I mean?  A guy has a tough time around here in the nap department some days.  Yesterday was definitely ONE OF THOSE DAYS.  Hopefully today will be – – – more BEARable! 🙂

Never a dull moment…………

Sammy, One Spoiled Cat (who’s not too crazy about big black bears)

 

Ouch! Acorns Hurt!

Thanks Miss Penny for my acorn helmet photo - I'm using the helmet EVERY day now!

Happy Wednesday Folks!  Not long ago I was complaining on my blog about how HUGE the acorns are this year – and since we have big, high oak trees in our yard those things fall from a long distance and really pack a wallop when they hit…..unfortunately, they sometimes hit ME or my Mom and Dad.  Yikes.  I don’t know why they are extra big this year but they sure are.  Anyway, when I complained, our friend Penny Maxson (who also has a cat named Sam!) sent us this funny card showing ME in an acorn helmet!  How cool is this?  If only I really had one of these it would save me a lot of headaches.  🙂 

The deer are eating all the acorns that the squirrels aren’t gathering, but still walking through our backyard is a hazard – at least for humans.  Walking across a patch of fallen acorns is like walking through a field of marbles Mom says.  They roll and make you slip…..now for ME, it’s not like that – I’m little enough I can pick my way through but Mom and Dad aren’t that lucky.  SO, today Mom plans to rake them up into a big pile…..I’m sure she will wish she had an acorn helmet like mine while she’s out there working. 

Know what I think?  I think the squirrels sit up in the trees and WAIT for me or my Mom to come by then heave those acorns at us on purpose!  Yep – it’s a game to them….kind of like being at a shooting gallery….I swear I can hear them talking up there…..”Hey, I got another one!”……”Wow!  Direct hit!”……”Did you hear that hollow sound when it hit her head???”…..

Well, anyway, that’s my thought for today…..watch out for falling acorns.  They HURT.

Sammy, One Spoiled Cat (with an acorn helmet on!)

p.s.  special thanks to Miss Penny for my helmet