Smokey's Cat Climbing Wall

Maybe it is his young age, but Smokey goes where Buddy never even thought of going. He loves to climb, whether it is a ladder, a screen, or jumping from one high place to a higher place. His climbing isn't really the problem though, it is his agility. He's clumsy and he knocks things off the shelves, the very high shelves, when he jumps around.

One night, I heard a loud crash followed by several more crashes. I rushed out to the garage to see if he had been crushed under what sounded like all the shelves in the garage falling off the wall. Smokey was on top of our RV and all around the end of the RV were broken bits of 18 gallon plastic totes and their contents, paint cans (of which only 1 quart broke open), and the screens to all the windows in our barndominium (most of which were bent). This climbing, jumping, and knocking stuff off shelves has got to stop. The ladder hasn't been kept near the shelves since the first time he climbed it, so we thought he might be climbing the ladder on the back of the RV, going out onto the slide and jumping onto the shelves a few feet away. I covered the ladder with cardboard to stop that climbing. Then, we noticed he was jumping onto the chest freezer, then onto the upright freezer, and onto the top of the garage door, where he tightrope walked across to the shelves.

Last week, we (we as in I was in the room too) built a safe climbing wall for him so he wouldn't be tempted to get into those shelves. So far, so good, but it is still new to him.

He thinks we can't see him.

Can you see his toy collection in there?

The idea for the box he is sitting in came from Smokey himself. We ordered a fireplace insert and it was held in the box between two styrofoam pieces. Smokey claimed one the minute it came out of the box. When it broke, he moved over to the other one, and for weeks, this was his favorite place.

When he finally broke this styrofoam piece, he had a really hard time trying to lay in it, so I built a box and glued the pieces back together inside it.

Loud purrs to all.

Sunday Selfie

 A cold front blew through last night so Smokey Joe wasn't stirring much this morning.  But finally, he consented to take a few steps on his new climbing wall (more on that tomorrow) and posed for a selfie.

Sharing on Sunday Selfies at The Cat on My Head.  

Say Hello, Smokey Joe!

 First of all,

Happy New Year!

From Unsplash

A quick update, for anyone wondering.  In August, I had strabismus surgery to correct the placement of the muscles in my eye.  Somehow, the eye had changed position during the first surgery in 2020 and I had been getting more and more cross-eyed which made my double vision even worse.  Now my eyes look almost normal again, but I still have double vision within each eye.  So far, I've been going to one referral after another, with each doctor saying he can't fix it.  Now I'm being referred back to the surgeon who did my strabismus; I'm curious to hear what he will say this time.

This summer, we got a new cat.  He showed up in someone's back yard but they couldn't keep him, so he came home with us.  The vet figured he was about seven months old and he is a ball of energy.  It's been awhile since we had youngsters in the house, feline or human, and like most adolescents, he wants constant attention.

We tried to redirect his energy by building a play tower in the garage, and he loved the hammock, but that was about all.  We let him outside a few times, but he kept going further and further from the house and we have too many wild animals around us, so he is mostly an inside cat.  He is very seldom still and I thought he was enjoying sitting with me until I looked down and saw that he was really chewing on my shoe laces!

Then we built a catio which fits in the garage door opening so he can be outside when we aren't around.  He didn't go out there very often, mostly at  night.  He much preferred being where we are.

He loves climbing up and then hanging upside down.  We have a wood ladder in the garage to access the upper shelves and he loves climbing on it and taking a swipe at us when we walk by. 

He also loves to go up to the upper shelves in the garage and has knocked down numerous items.  So far no major breakage, but that has got to stop.  We've moved the ladder and covered the ladder on the RV so he can't climb up easily and still, he gets up there.  He is a cutie, but there is something to be said for adopting older pets.  He is what my mother calls "a live wire."

I hope to be more active here as adjust to my new life.