The Cat-trium

2012, the year of change for the nation and paradise ranch.

We all know people who have either added onto their home or hope to.  Kitchen expansions, sunrooms, porches, mother-in-law flats, extra storage rooms.  In my case, my home expansion is a bit out of the ordinary. I am adding onto the indoor/outdoor space for my cats.  I am creating a Cat-trium.

Why, you may ask, is this such a priority for me in this new year?  My eleven cats have indicated they need more space.  Can this be true?  After all, cats sleep 23 hours a day, right?  Well, not my cats, who seem to have an extraordinary sense of adventure and need for freedom.

Let me back up a bit to November and December 2011, when a few of my younger cats escaped to the outdoors and ran around like wild cougars.  My cats sleep very little.  They are too busy watching, listening, and studying the traffic patterns of two-leggeds and four-leggeds as they approach doors  leading to the outside.  My cats would sit patiently for hours, waiting and most certainly strategizing, as to how they could best escape in the few short seconds a door was opened.   After several  totally stressed out weeks with frequent cat escapes, I found myself contemplative.  Then one day my all black kitty Midnight,  who I call My Escape Artist, escaped.  It took two humans and four dogs to corral him back inside. How could I give the cats more sense of the outdoor life while still keeping them safe from the coyotes that roam the local terrain?

Another indication that the cats gave me in their need for more space was the unpleasant surprise of several of them urinating in front of me to get my attention.  And no, it was not in their litter boxes.  All indications were that the cats were not going to give up until some negotiations were made.  After cleaning up cat urine more than a few times, I was definitely ready to negotiate.

An outdoor expansion to the cats' present space would provide more area to run, more room for adventure, and a greater taste of nature.  I would include a few branches to climb upon, and nature would provide countless bird species to watch.  While initially I believed that my partially filled three-car garage and the cats' present 200 square feet of protected outdoor space was enough for them, they were clearly telling me otherwise.

I put the word out for help, and a contractor friend of a friend just happened to have free time before beginning his next job.  And lucky for me, he was an animal lover.  His talents quickly revealed themselves.   His initial observations were, " Let's add 200 more square feet and take very large branches from your overgrown ficus trees and bolt them onto the sides for the cats to climb.  I will add wooden boxes for the cats to hide in and high shelves for climbing and sleeping.  And since we are expanding out into the yard significantly, let's put three feet of translucent plastic boards around all sides of the structure, so coyotes can't see them."

I think what we are building may the best of both worlds!  Plenty of outdoor adventure for the cats while also keeping them safe from predators.   We are in the first stages of this Cat-trium,  Stay tuned!

All visitors must pass the sniff test

 As I continue to write my blog, I am finding so many qualities to admire about my wonderful four legged creatures.  It is hard to choose which aspect I enjoy the most!  Perhaps my favorite thing about my dogs is their adept ability as people readers.  I must admit, oftentimes my dogs are far better than I at discerning two leggeds and their true nature.

Now of course I realize that all animals, not just my own, know and understand energy.  They have a great sense of people's energy, and seem to sense immediately whether a person is safe and worth getting to know.  I trust this in my dogs.  In fact, I have a sign outside my front door that says "All guests must be approved by the dogs".  Funny, but also true.

Recently I had a computer expert come to my home to work on my computer.  I had never met this guy, but a friend had seen his car with his advertisement and phone number painted on his car door and suggested I call him.  She gave me his number and I made an appointment with him.

He came to my house the following week.  The dogs, of course, barked ferociously and as he got out of his car.  I looked out to assess the situation and saw a mixture of an old military man (grey crew cut) and red neck (one hanging cross earring, tattoos and strange clothing).

I felt a bit nervous as I opened the front door, but the dogs liked him immediately.  They were wagging their tails before he even greeted them.  What did they know about this man that I didn’t?

This man and my dogs were ecstatic in meeting one another.  It was clear that he was a genuine dog lover, and he had such a warm smile.  I relaxed the minute I saw the dogs’ interactions with him.  I knew to trust their instinct.  Indeed, he turned out to be not only a fine computer expert, but a kind and pleasant man to have in my home.

While I write this, I can't help but wonder;  what if instead of searching for dates on "match.com" we instead consulted "sniff & sense.com"?  Imagine the possibilities.  You could meet your prospective date in a park with your dog.  If your dog doesn't like the date, find a reason to end the first date early and do not so much as consider a second date.  And if there is a second date,  ask your date to bring his/her own dog along to see how everyone gets along and also to witness how the date treats his/her own animal.  A special note of caution for those of you owning a ball-loving/ball-chasing Lab or Golden Retriever.  These dogs will likely love anyone (even a jerk) if the date shows any potential for a ball throwing opportunity.  Hmmmmm......

Just don't take my word for it, it is a scientific fact that animals sense energy fields of all beings.  The famous British Scientist Rupert Sheldrake has stated that animals can sense the morphogenetic field, or  huge energy field, around all living things.   His book Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home explains dogs' natural and adept ability to sense human arrivals before they actually happen.  Often before we pull into our driveways, or just turn the corner to head home, our dogs sense we are coming home and get excited about our arrival.

I recently met a woman whose poodle always knew when her husband was just about to arrive home.  When her husband was a block away from the house, the dog would go to the front door and wait for him.  Night after night the wife witnessed this,  and finally mentioned it to her husband.  Much to her surprise, her husband also confirmed for her that he had witnessed the same actions from their dog.  When she was away from the house, her husband would  know she was close to home when  the dog would go to the front door to wait and wag his tail.  According to Sheldrake, this was possible due to the dog's sensing their master's morphogenetic field.

Getting back to dating, if you have cats, and your date is allergic to cats, stop right there!   Do not pass go!  Do not collect $200!  Simply look for another date.  Oddly, I tend to attract houseguests that are allergic to cats.  With eleven cats in my home, I end up doing a lot of cleaning and a lot of peacemaking with the cats, who are typically quarantined in the garage and in their indoor/outdoor fenced-in "kitty condo".   It's a good thing my houseguests who are allergic to cats have been in my life for many years, otherwise I would be giving them the number to the local Holiday Inn!

Our animal friends truly have a special gift, one from which we can all learn.  Looking for "the one" in 2012?  Listen to your animal friends!

Down Comes The Giving Tree

My tree decorator and dismantler has disappeared.  Actually he has a bad case of the flu bug, and I decided that catching the flu from him would be far worse than taking my tree down by myself.  Or at least a toss-up.  So yesterday I found a couple of young guys to climb my 25 foot ladder and take down the giant parasol, numerous sea creatures, glittered seaweed, and other paraphernalia hanging from my ceiling. I decided to keep all the birds and owls hanging on their branches for the pure whimsical quality that they add to my living room.  You can't help but smile when you look up at these magical, glorious winged ones.  I am convinced that these are the only birds that could ever co-exist in my home with eleven cats.

Taking the tree down was somewhat anti-climatic, most likely because my friend and his entourage weren't here to add more than a little chaos to the household.  Life at Paradise Ranch seems relatively tame with no crowds, late nights, or red dye number one food.

One thing that slowed the process of dismantling my tree is that many of the oversized plastic bins that housed my Christmas supplies have disappeared.  It is tough to put decorations away when you have no containers for storage.  Perhaps these have disappeared into the same abyss where my socks, gloves, underwear and other sundries have gone.  Who knows?

Except for the flying leap that I took from the hallway to the living room, landing on my knee and shoulder and ending up at the chiropractor's office, no other casualties have occurred.  My animals are bored with the tree and are hoping for another event that might call for tissue paper, ribbon, food, and moving parts with which to play.

In retrospect, as crazy as the process was, I loved my tree!  And the best part of dismantling it was giving away all the dog and cat paraphernalia that decorated it.  In the dismantling, my holiday tree became "the giving tree".  I originally put my own dogs' leashes, collars, and toys on the tree, but that was a mistake.  My three dogs cried when they could see their leashes hanging from tree branches but weren't being taken for walks.  What were their walking accoutrements doing on a tree and not on them?  Would they ever go for a walk again?  They freaked seeing untouchable toys, leashes, and dog biscuits hanging in their living room.  So I put plan B into action, and headed to discount stores to buy new leashes, fancy doggie bag containers, collars, and halters.  The ones I found must have come from Dallas, Memphis, or locations where Dolly Parton shops;  they were total glitter and rhinestones!  Now my animals and friends' animals are all wearing bling!

(click on photos to enlarge)

Here is a picture of my friend holding Miss Daisy, the proud recipient of a new Zebra leash and matching poop bag container. The second photo is of Mr. Bodhi Kenny wearing his new red leather collar from the Christmas tree.

Of course I didn't forget the cats.  For them I had balls of yarn weaving through the tree like garland.  There were also many cat toys,  glittery paper balls, and a few leashes.  My cats weren't as moved by the display because they have no concept of a cat leash.  And to them, any Christmas tree with hanging ornaments and tinsel is exciting and worthy of curiosity.

In dismantling the tree, I couldn't help but think ahead to next year.  I am envisioning no particular theme, but an eclectic Christmas with my favorite decorations throughout the years.   One thing is for sure, and you can hold me to this.  No matter what my A.D.D decorator friend promises, there will be no entourage at my home into the wee hours of the night.  In fact, if he offers to decorate my living room and tree again, I will politely decline and quickly change the subject!!!!

Happy 2012 to all of my two-legged and four-legged friends!

Holiday Tree, Day 7

My holiday tree is looking quite grand.  Several hundred crystals resembling rain drops hang on fishing line from my ceiling.   L.E.D lights hang from numerous branches suspended from my ceiling so the birds perched upon them will sparkle.  Eight plush cats and dogs are stapled to the parasol above the tree so that it can actually be raining cats and dogs.  And for safety reasons and because I am not so fond of heights, more plush cats and dogs have been stapled to a smaller umbrella that I hold in a photo for this blog.

So that the outside of my home could be as hugely festive as the inside, my friend installed a ten foot wreath with flashing lights, garlands, flowers, glitter (and gosh knows what else if I look closely) on the gate at the end of my driveway.  Check out the photo in this blog. I am definitely the local utility company's favorite customer this month!  If there are any neighbors who didn't notice my home before, they certainly have noticed it by now.  You can't pass my gate without the "WOW!" factor kicking in.

I am convinced that the only reason this crazy process was ever completed is because I was leaving for New York City and would not allow the crew to work in my home in my absence.  Thank God I had a deadline, I couldn't function on one hour sleep per night much longer!

The holiday came and went, and my tree was lovely.  Was the crazy process worth my resources?  I am not sure!  Last year when he and I did the Goddess tree I had a huge Christmas party for many friends, and the tree filled the house with warmth and beauty. And this year the tree was for me and for this blog.   Hmmm.....

Now that the new year has arrived, I have to convince my friend and his crew to help me dismantle everything.  The wreath alone must weigh as much as I do.  In order to get them here before Easter, I will most likely have to promise an abundance of paper-wrapped food items and plenty of red desserts.

 

My Christmas tree

Well I thought I had the most amazing idea.... why not create a Christmas tree that reflected my blog?  Raining Cats and Dogs.....easy!  I don't think so!

I mentioned my idea to a friend who helped me last year with my holiday tree.  How quickly my mind forgot what a fiasco my Goddess Christmas tree, also a good idea at the time, had been last year.

Here is the deal.  My friend the holiday tree expert is visionary, artistic, and creative, but a perfectionist that must certainly have A.D.D.  He is  scattered, always running late, an over committer who has no problem arriving at your house four hours later than promised and staying with the friends he brought in tow until 4:00 A.M.  Now that may work for some of you, but I am a morning person who rises around 5:30 A.M. and thus, I am typically early to bed as well.  Staying up until 4 am completely throws off my sleeping schedule to say the least. My friend and his entourage would arrive hungry each night, so I felt compelled to feed them.   But nothing in my pantry would do.  They could have been stoned, for all I know.  I am a bit of a health food nut, and they prefer red dye number one in their food.  So off to a cheap drive thru I would go, returning with plenty of food in paper wrappers and red artificially-colored desserts from the grocery.

As you can see by some of my photos, the resulting holiday tree is way over the top, not to mention the many other wild structures hanging from my ceiling!  This was nothing new for my friend, who used to decorate trees for department stores.  He had a certain procedure to follow, many different layers that had to be done before we could hang the decorations on the end of the branches like the rest of America does.  The tree had four layers of trimmings;  first the ribbon around the trunk, then the lights. then smaller decorative balls and glitter, then other ornaments.  Oh, and because we didn't have our hands full enough already, on the third night one of my cats knocked the tree over.  The partly decorated tree was sitting on a glass table to give it extra height in my cathedral ceiling living room.  The kitty was of course curious and jumped on the table, managing to knock the tree over and smash the glass table into a million tiny pieces in the process.  So after three nights of work, no sleep, and a very big mess to clean up, we began again with the tree on day four.  I was not nearly as excited or motivated at this point, but I did have the presence of mind to use a wood table to hold the tree in the event my curious cat (or any of my others) decided to go for an encore.

After the many layers of the tree were complete, next came netting on top of the tree to represent clouds in the sky.  And then of course we needed a giant parasol hanging from the ceiling from which to hang ornamental dogs and cats.  And with clouds and a parasol must come rain, so countless transparent threads were hung from the ceiling dangling crystal raindrops to complete the process, or so I thought.....

What happened for the following several days is still a blur, but after a revolving door of my friend and his helpers, my house was beginning to look like a cross between Sea World, Disneyland, and a French Cafe in Paris.

Sea creatures hung from one end of my living room ceiling, birds were perched on a branch on another side.  Two heavily decorated hanging branches of white owls were suspended from the other two corners of the ceiling.  My friend's thinking was..... because I had such great Christmas tree decorations from previous years, why not use them all and have them admire  the Raining Cats and Dogs tree?

His work is extraordinary and so very creative, but next year if he asks to help I will suggest he go to Macy's and decorate their tree instead.

3 Divine Dogs

Some days my animals reign over my kingdom. All my life I have done things a bit differently than others.  I guess in many ways I have led my life according to my own drum beat.  Perhaps that is how at this point in my life I am living with 14 animals;  three divine dogs and eleven curious cats!

Not quite sure how I got here from there, but the end result is that my life has much more fun, love, and laughter because of my adopting these totally spontaneous creatures!   They remind me on a daily basis to be "in the moment". 

Living with fourteen animals, I have had no choice but to fully experience the entire gamut of emotions..... frustration, sadness, joy, laughter, anger, worry, fear, and most importantly, unconditional love.  My animal friends are not only great teachers, but exceptional listeners.  

I believe 4-leggeds connect us to all humanity and are bridges to all cultures. They help us with our own connection to Spirit and the earth. Our creatures teach through example how to love being in our bodies and the freedom it gives us.

Through observing their innocence, my own innocence has re-emerged.  I have found myself reconnecting with my own sense of wonder and child- like qualities, previously suppressed in adult life.  I have learned to wag more and bark less at friends and strangers.

I am reminded on a continual basis that humor and patience are absolutely essential to survival.  If something (which it always does) gets ruined, chewed, scratched, broken or lost, I am quick to accept and forgive, knowing that animals, like humans, make mistakes.  The pros far out-weigh the cons in this household.  

Now when people ask me if I have lost my mind by adopting so many creatures, I very happily reply “Yes!...I lost my mind and found my heart!