New paintings and regular art updates.
Brr it’s cold tonight, the wind is blowing and we might have some snow. The cats can open doors but don’t want to close them! That let’s the draughts through from the back door area. Our cat flap is old and loose through wear and tear. I’ll get up and shut the door, then a cat comes in and pushes the inner floor open and whoosh, cold air. The cats have warm fur so they aren’t bothered, but I’m shivering, brrrr
Late last night, as I was sleeping in my armchair, there was a curious clattering noise. I woke up to see my big cat walking into the living room with the door of the cat flap and the surrounding plastic bit stuck round his belly!
A few years ago I had to replace the flap and the bit around it because he had battered the original flap trying to get through it. It was before he was our cat and he used to sneak in and pinch the other cats food. The replacement is a bit small so it can fall out if it’s treated roughly.
It was very amusing seeing him wearing the door as a skirt! He was soaking wet from the rain. Looking like a black and white otter! I released him from his trap. He fell asleep on the chair next to me.
I think Hooley is a phrase meaning a gale or stormy. It’s a more picturesque word, probably quite old.
Despite our double glazing I can hear the wind soughing around the house, the vuuumming noise through the gap around the kitchen window. The cat flap opening and closing as if a fat, invisible cat was coming in and going out of the door. The overgrown bushes by the side of the house sometimes scrape along the wall. I’m used to it now but it used to be quite creepy when I first heard it. And of course it’s dark outside, dead leaves scatter and blow about on the wind, and litter scurries along the gutter on the road, picked up by the wind and dumped damply in heaps.
In amongst all these noises the cats use the cat flap, coming in and purring at me, purr-miaow? Where’s my tea? It’s not the wind this time, it’s me
No, just the way he’s sitting! He is such a big cat and he looks so strong. He’s so big he can barely get through our car flap. He battered at the flap when I tried to shut him in at night and split the actual flap part into three. I bought a new cat flap. But because it’s a different shape and would need new holes drilling, I took the old bit out. Then I sanded bits off the new flap and managed to get the new bit fitted. The trouble is it’s very slightly smaller so it’s a bit drafty, and if this cat goes through it roughly he knocks the flap loose. But no – he is fully legged!
Cat next to a box of my minature paintings that I did a few years ago. He’s come in from the cold. He knocked the cat flap door off again (his tummy is too big for it sometimes). He’s not exactly fat, just big, huge, massive! You can see he’s at least as big as the box. He takes up most of a seat on our three seater settee. He is a handsome cat, with golden, yellow eyes. Such a cool character.
Oh dear! When I got up this morning I found the clear flap part of the cat flap and it’s surround on the floor inside the back door. Clearly our big cat had come through and must have got it stuck round his belly. Luckily I fixed the flap last week so I know which bits to press on to open it up and re-fit the flappy part…. I tried to adjust it… He’s just come back in. Seems OK at the moment, but I don’t want to have to keep putting it back together again!
Golden eyes through the catflap.
Staring through a cat window
Looking for warmth
On a cold bright day.
Staying outside
Because another cat
Is staring out
Looking at the sunshine!
Hmmm
What am I thinking
What am I doing?
Staying up late again.
NOISE OUTSIDE?!
What is that?
The cat fighting the cat flap!
She’s allowed out
But she can’t always get back in
A bit to small and thin!
The stray cat smashed
The cat flap
Now it’s held together with
glue and tape.
We need a new one.
Late night thoughts…
Some ideas for a college three square narrative. I had to put a portfolio together a few weeks ago. I decided to draw a cat trying to overcome a cat flap. This was based on one of my cats actually breaking the plastic flap because he’s too big and strong! (not the cat that’s gone missing). The big cat is very determined. He wouldn’t be deterred by a closed cat flap. He couldn’t get out by pushing it forward so I saw him pull the flap towards him with a claw, then pull it upwards till he could get his nose underneath and get out that way!
Sigh, it happened. Our intrepid outdoor cat has led my two indoor cats out into the great big green world of our garden. He is a bit of a cat burglar. Strong claws had forced the cat flap mechanism round so that the flap opened both ways. He must have come in for food overnight then forced it to get out. His Foster brother and sister were both ‘not in the house’ when I got up. That deafening silence that indicates ‘absence of cat’.
All I could do was call and whistle. Five minutes later, outdoor cat and Foster sister came in through the open door. Five minutes after that, Foster brother saunter up. You’ve been out I say, who me? He stares in innocence. I open the cat flap for him. No he wants the door opening. Finally they breakfast…. Now they are sitting tapping the cat flap again! Argh… Inevitable!
Mallaband-Brown