Random Saturday - Three million balls

We have three million knobbly balls in this house. Believe me, I know. This kind of balls has been around here since 2011 when we first got some as an extra with cat food. How I know? I looked it up because I don't have a life.
What I don't know, however, is where they are. I never threw one of them away, but I kept getting new ones because they are an essential part of cat life here.
This was Esme in the middle of a night in 2012.

This was Gundel in 2017. Look familiar?

I even complained about the typical thunk thunk sound of a ball dropped on the floor in one of Ponder's blog posts before.
Meffi and the boys liked to play with them as well, but Meffi was too dignified to fetch and Ponder was too quick for me to a better picture than this. Greebo played ball, but he only fetched his very special extra big household rubber band.

Esme preferred the yellow balls, Gundel doesn't make a difference. I sometimes think she can't see the yellow ball that well, but often I can't myself on the wooden floors or the floor in the hallway. Esme used to drop her ball on my desk when she wanted to play or brought it to my bed. How often had I wondered at night why Esme was sitting so patiently next to me telling her she should bring me a ball, and then I would find one of them tucked into my blankets the next morning. It made me feel bad every time until I finally learned to check for those balls if the Silent Black Cat was sitting next to me.
Ponder brought them to bed, but he dropped them right on me because he knew what a fool I was and had zero trust in my ever being able to learn.
Gundel brings them to bed sometimes, but mostly to my computer chair if I sit there. She also loves to dribble them through the flat when I'm in bed.

I'm great with knobbly balls. I try to throw them exclusively up or down the hallway because chances are better I'll be able to find them again. The point of them being knobbly, though, is that you don't know which way there are going to bounce which is more fun for a cat. Over time I taught myself some great trick shots.
Okay. It's all a lie. I suck at throwing balls. My trick shots are accidents. The balls end up in pockets of jackets on my wardrobe, they get stuck between jackets or even in folds, they hit water and food bowls. I throw them in a way that come back to me landing before my feet. A while ago the guy who worked on the heating found some behind the washing machine. They are under the bed, under sideboards, behind doors, under the wardrobe and I don't know where else.
Almost nine years of balls, balls, balls, and even though I did the big round today and crawled around on the floor like an idiot (Ponder would have loved that) while Gundel waited for me in the hallway wondering when I was finally going to turn up for play hour, these were the only ones I could find. Only two days ago I still had four of the blue ones, how ... where .... why?? And where is the ball hiding that bounced into the bathroom today? Neither Gundel nor I could find it!
For now I hid them and left just one out for Gundel, so we can really have fun again tomorrow!

By the way, if you noticed the difference of the balls within the same color - matte and shiny -  that is because the company had to change the rubber mix. Luckily none of my cats ever did it, but there were cats who chewed on those balls and managed to bite little pieces off and even swallow them. Now the rubber isn't as soft anymore to avoid that, but that also means the balls don't jump as high anymore. Hmmm ... now I wonder if I should maybe check higher areas for those old specimens ...

Greebo the Destroyer

Dear Greebo,

why didn't you tell me? Why did you feel you needed to destroy the pattern to make me see? And why don't you like it?
You are white and black yourself. I would have thought this pattern to be appealing to you. If there's a cat here that's in balance, it is definitely you. The perfect mix of innocence with your baby face and cute looks and of ruthlessness if things stand between you and your thirty-five snacks a day, like me sleeping for more than four hours.

Instead of helping me staying motivated, however, you jumped this harmless pattern printout when I wasn't there. I can see you before my inner eye and it makes me whimper to think of it. I bet it never saw you coming, was completely taken by surprise when you ripped it up with fangs and claws spitting little pieces of paper on it.
It was still so young.

Why this pattern? Why not kitchen towels? Why not notepaper? Why not a bill??

We need to talk.

Disappointed and sad,
Mom



Hiya Mom,

you know this is not about the pattern. Leave a piece of paper next to me and it's mine to kill. You are welcome to leave bills in my cat beds and I'll take care of them, too. Every time I do it with a pattern, you freak out.

For Heaven's sake, get a grip, lady!
Sheesh.

Greebo



Oh. Okay then, Greeb. No hard feelings, eh? See you for your next snack in ten minutes then.

Mom

Jacqueline isn't bald anymore

Good for Jacqueline, don't you think? You might remember she's my second doll head, and now she finally got her own hair. It was about time. I'm almost a bit jealous of her curls ;-)

What else has happened in the Cat's Wire universum? Let me check my desk. Ah, a cat. Keep sleeping, Greebo. What can I find beside him?

When I look at my latest pieces, it seems I feel a need for bling and color. None of these are listed yet, but you know if you are interested in something, you can always contact me. At least the pictures are taken already.
There's the Confetti Loops bracelet for example. I'm having way too much fun with those galvanized beads.

Then there's a knit cuff with gorgeous Miyuki cubes. At first all you see is the black wire and maybe a shimmer of gold. Then you turn it and bang! Pure bling. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's really the contrast that makes this piece.

It has a button hole and is closed with a lovely black matte agate lentil, by the way.

And if there are beads left over on the wire, then you have to make a ring. I'm sure it's a law that's written down somewhere. If not, I might have to write it down.
Just a little fun piece which would be great for a young girl (not just because I happened to make it pretty small ....).

Bauble ring

Not a Monday collection ...

Let's make it short and crisp. I left ArtFire. It doesn't matter when, why, where, who, what ... I left and that's that.

Most of my items are moved to my Zibbet shop already. That's all that is changing, promise.

Well, there's one more thing. I don't make the Monday collections anymore now. Instead the Monday will be reserved to either artist features or my finds of the week. Unfortunately my decision came rather sudden which means I was totally unprepared for today (and also means that I neglected to send all kinds of Christmas greetings, shame on me).

I'll do my best to distract you with a picture instead. Look, it's a cat with a box!

Shhh ... did it work?

Saturday evening

I have been so determined. I started on my housework early this morning and things went well. I even cleaned up my infamous nightstand drawer a bit. Don't tell anybody I did that because I was desperate looking for one of my knitting spools which later proved to be where it should be, ON the nightstand, buried by wire spools however. Do you think knitting and wire spools can breed and I'll find little knitting spools with the wire already on them? Oops, sorry. Digressing.

Then things went downhill fast, and loyal as I am, I went down with them. To be precise, I let myself hit by a vicious nap. I am talking one of those two and a half hour, "where am I?", "who am I?" and "why am I holding on to a crochet hook as if I am trying to fend off a monster with it?", off-to-a-parallel-dimension naps.

(For Deb, in case she'll read this, I do NOT blame Otto of Habsburg.)

I am happy to announce, however, that I am determined again now. Not only did I list a piece, but I also successfully charged the batteries to the motion sensors along the stairs. Tonight my walk downstairs will be a lot safer than it has been for the last two weeks. It's pure luck that Greebo and I didn't make the earth move when I tripped over him that one night. And no, of course it wasn't a cold-blooded attempt to kill me ... was it?

Nah, look at this sweet face, how could he?

Oh, and for the piece I listed - this is my favorite shot of the focal part. I know I have pushed it on about anybody I know, but it's so hypnotizing!

Wire crochet and needle lace necklace with lampwork beads "Metallica"

I love them

Sometimes I say I'll sell them to the circus or I threaten to eat them with French fries. They can be so annoying when they practice their new tapdancing steps on my ribs at night or when they start a fight to get me up early for their breakfast. They can be so clumsy knocking over stuff that they usually wind through like snakes, just to get your attention. They can hurt you so much, either by turning their backs on you when you need them most (yes, it was a traumatic moment when I came home from hospital and Merlin hissed at me and hid under the bed for three hours, even if I know I had been away for weeks and probably smelled really funny) or by digging their claws into most tender spots on your body.

And then they are on the bed, on the couch or on the desk, and knowing you are close by, they'll just roll around and trust you to catch and hold them. I have watched them and they rarely do the extreme stunts when there's no one is in reach. (Sometimes they fall off the furniture, but rarely when I'm around to witness it.)

No matter if Greebo is getting ready for his training units with some light stretching .....

.... or if Ponder is rolling over on the desk just to land on my arm and leg. Hadn't I been there to hold him, he would have taken a dive right down to the floor.

Sometimes I'm easy to please, these are special little moments to me.

Wondering ...

What it is wrong about this picture? After I almost tripped over this box for the fifth time today, I felt something was not quite right. Then suddenly I knew. There is no cat in there!!

As in all households ruled by feline emperors new boxes don't stay empty for long here. I have enough examples to prove it.

Esme often prefers her boxes not empty as in this case. I'm not sure if she ever read those books, but she camped out with them for weeks until she chose a new place to chill.

There had been another box resident before her. Gandalf still had a towel in it then that you could also use as a roof when he demanded absolute peace. Doesn't it look cosy?

I am not sure what Greebo had in mind here. At any case he looks highly concentrated. Maybe he tried to make the box take off by sheer willpower?

There are lots of pictures of Ponder in various boxes. My favorite one is this although he scared me a little with that determined look of his.

Meffi looks as if she was ready to get packed up in this picture. This is an unusual picture, the little diva prefers baskets usually in which being carried around she loves.

I have no doubt that Merlin slept in this box very comfortably. Not. You know how cats are. They never cease to amaze us.

So now back to my question.

What is wrong with that big and new and lovely box that none of our cats wants to try it out .....?

Any theories?

Mode of annoying the human - on!

In my jewelry forum, Starving Jewelry Artists, there's always a daily topic that does not necessarily have to do with jewelry, just to get to know each other better. Yesterday the topic was pets and how they annoy you sometimes. First I was afraid to answer because I thought I might never be able to stop again. Oh yes, as much as I love the furry beasts, I regularly threaten to sell them. I'm not sure if I interpret their looks right, but to me it looks like "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". I shouldn't quote movies that much around them, they only use it against me.

But what do they do to annoy me most? Let's see.

- Meffi and Greebo are "lickers". One of this days I'll post a picture of me, but I won't have a nose and I won't have arms, only bones sticking out because they licked all flesh off me. Oh, I forgot, I also won't have hair as Greebo does his best to eat it whenever he gets a chance. Don't worry about them, it's not a sign of malnutrition, I had that checked. They are just weird.


- Esme and her "five minutes". Besides the fact that she can't stand me whistling - which earned her a blog post already if you remember - she thinks she's allowed to annoy me with her squeaking. If stupid human Mom doesn't understand right away, she can get so mad that she starts jumping up, aiming for my arm. She doesn't bite, it's more like "Listen to meeeeee". Which I gladly would if I had any idea what she wants. It's usually not food, not playing, not snuggling. What else is there??


- Esme and her behavior when I try to take a photo on the chest of drawers in the tall guy's playroom. LOUD squeaking, jumping me, the chair, the table, the chest. Up, down, up, down, getting louder by the minute. If I take a picture anywhere else, no problem. One opinion about this is: The chest is haunted and she wants to warn me. Ungh.

- Ponder and Esme think my keyboard belongs to them. Have I ever told you that once I thought my monitor was broken because it suddenly was black when I looked up? My only excuse, it was dark and the cat in question that blocked the view is black. And big. And silly. Ponder, who else. I almost got a heart attack when the "black monitor" suddenly moved. They are usually so loud, but also they can materialize in half a second and without the smallest sound.
The other day Ponder had parked his big head on my ctrl-key which I hadn't noticed. I had to use the + and the writing on the screen became bigger and bigger. After being confused for a bit I saw Ponder moving. On the key. He was not amused that I dared to move him then!


- Bedtime. Why is it that Meffi and Ponder always have to use me as a trampoline?? Why does Greebo think my side of the bed belongs to him? I have woken up before with one leg in the bed and the other foot firmly on the floor outside the bed while my cat stretches as if he's going for an entry in the Guinness book as the world's biggest cat.

- T-shirts have to have holes, don't they? The boys love to cling to me with everything they've got. Everything meaning some very sharp claws. They don't want to hurt me, I'm sure, they just want to hold on to me. Greebo is so afraid of losing me that once my dermatologist asked me if I had a bad itch. I said no, why and he pointed out the heavy scratches on my shoulders. His look when I said it was my cat told me everything. I don't even want to know what exactly he thinks I'm into. I have thought about bringing Greebo as proof the next time.


You know I could go on, but just now the big, black, silly cat landed in the hammock. The purring and the adoring look (what actors they all are!) makes me forget all the annoying things for now. I'll just enjoy cuddling with one of the four best cats in my world ;-)

Relaxed Sunday and cat sleeping gas

Actually I had a quite relaxed Saturday as well. Going shopping and disposing of cans early, some light blogging, plurking, emailing later. Sounds like a weird kind of fitness training. Then I fell asleep in my chair in the afternoon and visited Morpheus, my old pal, for quite a while. In the evening I woke up all cranky and tired and foggy in the brain.
I know who or what is to blame for that.
Cat sleeping gas. You won't find it on Wikipedia, you won't find it on a list of dangerous substances, but it's there. At first I had thought it was a matter of touch and sound. A cat snuggled into your arm and purring makes you go to sleep pretty fast, doesn't it? After years of thorough research, though, with the help of my trusted furry assistants (even if they think I am the assistant or even less than that) without who my work would not have been possible, I found out that it's a gas. It enters your body and you won't know it. I am sure it finds its way not only through the nose, but through all skin pores and that way controls your body and your brain.
It works best if you are already in a horizontal position or at least half horizontal. That way you won't have to move to fall asleep. You won't fall if you are standing. You think that is nice? I think it was designed that way to keep the furry masters' slaves from hurting themselves. After all they need us. Well, they need our opposable thumbs. Still. Who knows for how long.
So why do I think it's a gas? Because it also works when there are cats sleeping in the same room. The more, the faster you are gone.

A master of this cruel game is Greebo, the innocent-looking one. He swears by all methods, the purring, the snuggling, the shedding hairs - ah, sorry, that one is wrong in here - the licking and the gas. He was the one that got me yesterday. I was just sitting in my armchair, crochet hook in hand, wanting to pick up my wire and there he was, snuggling into my armpit, smiling at me innocently and then working his spells. I think it took about 10 seconds for me to drop like a fly.

Now he is here in my lap, relaxed as can be. Sorry, his head is cut off a bit in the second pic, but my arms were not long enough to catch all of him like that and holding the camera above my head I also couldn't check the display.
Oh-oh, I feel a tiredness coming on .....................

New kitty line!

Ok, the line itself is not so new as you know from a former post. The line surfacing in my shops is new and I can't seem to stop making those little kitties, probably because they are all as different as my own fur monsters are.



Speaking of fur monsters, Greebo's eye is starting to close up. I hope it is "just" a little cold and not another allergy attack like a few years ago when his asthma started. That was so terrible, my poor baby hardly able to breathe, only when he was standing up. I so do not want to hear these whistle sounds again! What worries me is that it came so sudden. Tomorrow we are off to the vet's. I can't go tonight because I have a doctor's appointment myself. I would rather go to the vet's!

Back to the kitty line. The little fellows have no closed eyes and are immune against colds and allergies. If it always were that easy ;-)