Month: September 2020

It’s Zaturday – Weather Forecasters!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. Mommy found out something interesting this week. Cats can sometimes predict earthquakes. I’m not sure what earthquakes are, because Ziggy and I have never been in one. Mommy says when earthquakes happen, everything starts shaking and things fall down. Aunt Kim told us about one that happened in North Carolina recently. Ziggy and I weren’t there, but she said she didn’t feel it anyway.

I’m glad earthquakes don’t happen in Florida, because that would be really scary. If everything started shaking, I would look for somewhere to hide, like the closet. Do you think the towels would protect me?

I don’t know about earthquakes, but Mommy and Daddy used to have two dogs that could predict thunderstorms. They were sisters named Bailey and Morgan. Bailey was especially good at it. She would start shaking and drooling before the sky even got cloudy. Mommy used to call them her little barometers.

Ziggy and I aren’t afraid of thunderstorms. We have a bunch of them in Florida. Mommy says it’s the lightning capital of the United States. But our cousin Blackie is terrified of them. When it’s storming, Blackie finds places to hide. Aunt Kim says one of his favorite spots is behind the toilet. But he likes to hide behind the couch and under the bed, too. This is Blackie:

He looks a lot like Ziggy except fatter. It’s a good thing Aunt Kim lives in North Carolina, because it doesn’t thunder much there. At least not anything like it does in Florida.

Ziggy and I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on outside, because we feel nice and safe in the house. We even feel safe in our catio, because it’s way high up off the ground.

I don’t know about predicting earthquakes or thunderstorms, but there’s one thing we can always predict. When we hear Mommy washing our food bowls and the pop of the catfood can being opened, we know what’s going to happen next: Mealtime!

It’s Zaturday – Cats on Leashes!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Zorro and I have harnesses and leashes. Don’t we look sharp?

Our leashes aren’t for being taken on walks, though. Mommy makes us wear them when we travel. She buckles the loop on the leash into the seat belt so we can’t escape when she gets in and out of the car. Zorro wouldn’t even try, because he doesn’t like it outside. He even gets nervous when Mommy carries him to the car. In fact, when Mommy gets the leashes and harnesses out of the closet, he usually hides. But once he’s in the car, he’s fine. He curls up on Mommy’s lap and goes to sleep.

Mommy has to really watch me, though. I’ve jumped out of the car a couple of times. (Zorro says I’m a rebel.) I wasn’t going to run away. I just wanted to check things out. But the leash was too short for me to go far, and Mommy picked me up and put me back inside right away. Not too long ago, I figured out how to get out of my harness. Mommy looked in the back of the car, and guess what she saw. Yep, the harness was lying on top of Mommy and Daddy’s stuff, and there was no cat in it!

Now I have a new harness. It’s the same kind as Zorro’s, just a different color. I haven’t figured out how to get out of it yet.

Mommy read a story this week in a book about cats that said the Army tried to use cats on leashes to lead them into the jungle at night during the Vietnam War. We can see really good in the dark, much better than people, so it would make sense. But according to the book, it didn’t work, because the cats played with the soldiers’ pack straps and clawed at their boots. Mommy’s not sure if the story is true, though, because she checked with Mr. Google and couldn’t find anything about it. (I think if it really happened, Mr. Google would know about it, because Mr. Google knows everything.)

Mommy and Daddy used to have a cat that liked to walk on a leash. His name was Smudge, and he used to start purring when Mommy would get his leash and harness out, because he knew Mommy was going to take him for a walk. Zorro and I never met Smudge, because Mommy and Daddy had him a long time ago.

Mommy has just finished writing a book called Flee the Darkness, and Smudge is in that book. She hasn’t put Zorro and me in a book yet. I’m not sure what to think about that.

It’s Zaturday – Author Helpers!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Zorro here. People say that dogs are man’s best friend, but lots of people love cats, too. Mommy says that almost half of people who own cats have more than one. I’m glad Mommy and Daddy decided to have more than one cat, because it would be really lonely without Ziggy.

Mommy said that one man who loved cats was Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote books, like Mommy’ does (except he’s a lot more famous than Mommy). One of his cats, Catterina, used to sit on his shoulder to watch him write.

I like to watch Mommy write, but if I tried to sit on her shoulder, I’m afraid I would fall off; Mommy’s shoulders aren’t that big. Instead, I like to sit on her lap, because she regularly stops typing to scratch my neck.

Ziggy likes to watch Mommy write, too, but he usually lies on the table. Mommy used to scold him for getting up there and make him get down, but she finally gave up. Ziggy is pretty hard-headed.

When we went to North Carolina last month, Daddy went with us. So Mommy got to write while Daddy was driving. Ziggy and I were both in her lap then.

Mommy says that having kitties close by makes her feel more relaxed and creative. Ziggy and I are happy to help her out this way, because she gives us lots of love and feeds us really good kitty food.

It’s Zaturday – The Great Cat Race!

Posted on by Carol J. Post

It’s Zaturday, the day we (Ziggy and Zorro) take over Mommy’s blog.

Ziggy here. Zorro and I have a lot of fun chasing each other around the house. Sometimes I chase Zorro and sometimes he chases me. We sort of take turns. I think Zorro gets tired faster than me, though, because sometimes he wants to stop, and I’m still raring to go. Then if I bug him too much, he hisses at me and Mommy tells me to leave him alone. Eventually we both wear out. Then we find a comfy place to curl up and recharge.

Okay, I know I’m not supposed to be on the table. But it’s my favorite spot in the whole house. Not Zorro. He’s too much of a goody-two-paws. Here’s one of his favorite spots:

When Zorro surprises me by pouncing on me, I have a hard time getting going. Our house in Florida has tile on the floor, and my claws can’t grab hold, so I spin out. It’s a lot easier when there’s carpet.

Sometimes when Zorro and I are chasing each other, we get carried away and knock things over. Mommy scolds us then and tells us to take it easy. Zorro always tries to look innocent so Mommy thinks I did it. Just because I’m the one with my paw on the chocolate…

But we don’t let that slow us down any. We still run really fast. In fact, we run so fast that Mommy can’t even get pictures of us, because they turn out all blurry.  Mommy was curious just how fast we can run, so she asked Mr. Google. She found out that we can run up to 30 miles an hour, faster than elephants, pigs and squirrels. If we raced those animals, we would win. We could beat Mommy and Daddy, too.

Zorro and I have heard of people races and dog races and horse races, so we were wondering if there were ever any cat races. So Mommy asked Mr. Google that question too. (Mr. Google knows everything.) Mommy couldn’t find any cat races. Not official ones, anyway.

But she did find a video of a cat race that was held to raise money for Stamp Out Hunger. They made the walls of the drag strip out of cans of catfood and called it the Catnip Raceway. I watched the video with Mommy and thought it was pretty funny. If you want to watch it too and see Simba and Gizmo fly…I mean saunter down the track, you can click here.

Zorro and I are thinking about starting our own race. We could raise money for Toys for Cats or Smitten with Kittens. What do you think? I think it would fun, especially if they coax us with treats. Tuna would work too.