Hello Everyone,
Alberto here. I’m blogging today’s letter, which is “P” and that stands for “PUZZLE”.
The humans had a relative staying with them this winter and this relative, completely uninitiated in the ways of living with a feline, foolishly attempted to put together two puzzles. Oh you silly humans, some of you never learn.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Hi There,
Oliver here. Today I’m blogging the letter “O” which stands for “Opine”. The name of our blog is “Feline Opines” and some folks have asked us what “opine” means. The official definition is to “hold and state, as one’s opinions”. Opining is more than speaking, opining is The Tribe of Five letting you know exactly how we see the word and what we think of what we see.
Oh good grief, ,can you believe the Humans said that?!
So, I hope that has cleared up a few questions.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Hi Folks,
Tucker here. I’m blogging to day’s letter “N” and that stands for ‘NOSES”
Hello All,
The Tribe of Five is taking turns answering this Friday’s Friendly Fill in Questions, hope you enjoy our answers! Remember that our good furiends at 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader host this fun blog hop. You can join in or, if you purrfer, leave your fill in answers in our “opining” section.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
1.___________________keeps me _____________________.
2. _____________________is the secret to _______________________.
3. A friend .
1._Having a new box keeps me happy. (By “me” we mean every member of the tribe. Boxes are the BEST!)
2. Sitting in weird positions on the sofa is the secret to making my Humans laugh. (Alberto)
3. A friend means always having a cuddle buddy. (Oliver)
4. Right now, I am thankful that the Female Human bought some “Scaredy Cat” solution for Jasmine so that maybe we can be friends again! (Lily)
Jasmine
Hello Everyone,
Alberto here. Today’s letter is “K” and that stands for “Kayaking”. Why is a cat blogging about kayaking you may ask. Well, I am a feline that fancies himself as a bit of an outdoor adventurer (as long as the Male and Female Human are close at hand). As you may note from my expression in one of these photos, I do purrfer summer over winter when I’m having my adventures. My Female human loves kayaking and since I love adventure and water (I like to get in the shower with the Male Human) our summer project is for the Female Human and I to go kayaking. I have a halter, leash, two life jackets to make sure I get the best fit and a lot of hope. This summer will be interesting!
Hi Folks,
Alberto here. It’s my weekly wander through the web to find you the best of feline stories.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Felines (and I guess other animals too) rejoice because today is National Pet Day! Those clever humans at Airbnb are featuring places that have feline hosts. The photo above is of host Kooky with his human Sue (they are in London). But you don’t have to fly across the pond for a feline flavored stay. Chica and her human share a nice bungalow in Portland. But there are many other feline hosts in other countries as well. I’m thinkin’ our Humans should check this out when they travel, a nice room and all the purrs & head bonks they want!
This story hits all the right buttons, the Female Human loves bookstores (that’s because she’s a writer) and I love stories about working cats. There have always been felines at the Twice Sold Tales book store. The author of this article says in their visits over the years there have been as many as seven felines and as few as two working in the store.
The current cats are Buster, Hardy, Lily and Eleanore. What I didn’t know is that bookstore cats come from a very old tradition. Bookstore cats, simply put, exist to keep the threat of bookstore rats at bay and the practice has been in use since 1745 when Empress Elizabeth of Russia issued an edict that there be a search conducted for the “best and biggest cats, capable of catching mice” and ordered them sent to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg to protect the treasures there. Ever since then bookstores have welcomed working felines into their midst.
The article is delightful and I really enjoyed the descriptions of each feline. Does your local bookstore have a cat? I must send the Female Human out to ours to check!
Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset
My furiends, if your humans are planning a vacation, please make sure they know about this place. it’s a popular tourist town called Houtong and it has over 100 feline residents.
Houtong means “monkey cave” and is in northern Taiwan. It was first famous for it’s caves filled with monkeys. No one can say exactly what happened to the monkeys, but the town is not without furry citizens. As soon as you step off the train, you are met by felines of varying varieties. You find your way through the station by following the cat paw prints. As you can imagine, since felines rule, most everything in the town is cat-themed. Bakeries offer cat-shaped cookies, there are cat souvenirs and of course plenty of felines to snap a selfie with. And of course, there are houses built for the cats, and decorated to please the most finicky feline. Meowza this sounds like a purrrfect vacation spot. Book your human’s tickets posthaste!
First, allow me to say that this title has me a bit nervous. You see all of the Tribe are rescues so we aren’t officially a “breed” but the Female Human said that all cats are some sort of breed and humans often gravitate to one type of breed, even when they’re adopting. For our Humans, it’s Siamese. All of the Tribe have some bit of Siamese in us and The Female Human says it’s because we are so smart, we talk a lot and they just love the way we look. Even though my brother Oliver doesn’t look anything like a Siamese, he still has the purrsonality traits. You can image my surprise and dismay when Siamese was never mentioned in this article! Elite, I hiss in your general direction!
I know how much you humans love to play games and you humans know how much we felines like to get right in the middle (and often on top of the board) of any game you’re playing. Well here’s a game that’s purrfect for feline and human!
In the game, you can buy your favorite cats (not to self, have the Human check and make sure the Siamese are represented!). Roll the dice and you may land on catnip which means everything in the middle of the board is yours. Collect litter boxes and trade them for fish bones (instead of hotels). There are some dangers though. If you run into the neighborhood bully you may be forced to pay the dog tax (hiss!) and, if you fall in the water you lose three turns. Meowza this sounds like fun!
Hello Folks,
Alberto here. Todays letter is “I” and that stands for “Indulge”. This is a word that all felines are quite furmaliar with because felines are known to indulge themselves, frequently and with gusto.
I am including some photos of The Tribe of Five and our furiends indulging themselves in the hopes that your humans will be inspired to indulge the felines in their home in new ways.
Oliver: If you live in a cold place (as we do) be sure your humans indulge you by purchasing you a down sofa throw (make sure it’s the real thing, do not accept cheap imitations.)
Alberto: When I was a little guy I really enjoyed the Human’s electronics. They indulged me and pretty much let me take over the iPad mini. This is me with my iPad enjoying Jitterbug. The Female Human downloaded this for me from Friskies.
Jasmine: My favorite blog post was about our furiend Navi and the amazing tea party her human treated her to. Meowza, this is indulgence to the max. (Please pass the catnip tea)
Alberto: There’s no better place on a warm summer day than the kitchen sink. If you observe the photo closely, the water is running so that I can stick my head under it for an extra dose of cooling off.
Lily: When indulging yourself by taking up a large portion of the sofa, do a little kitty yoga. It’s important to stretch out those paws!
Tucker, Alpha of The Tribe of Five
Tucker: When appropriating any of the human’s furniture, be sure that you settle yourself in the most comfortable way. If there is a soft throw on the piece, so much the better, confiscate that and the comfy pillow as well.
Hello Friends,
Alberto here. Boy have we been busy with the April Blogging A to Z Challenge. My little feline noggin is getting tired looking for new ideas to write about every day. You know we felines are not overly excited about working under pressure but we committed to do the thing and The Tribe of Five believes in following through with our commitments. The Female Human is a bit cranky about all the typing though.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Let me just say that this is one of the nightmares The Tribe of Five has every time the Humans go away. Humans, PLEASE make sure that the cat feeder has keys before you leave town. Evidently, someone from work was going to drop the keys through the mail slot of the neighbor’s door so they could feed the cat. Except it was the wrong door and the neighbor had no key. What did the neighbor do? Their solution was quite innovative but let this be a lesson to all you humans!
We felines will never understand why you humans bully. Granted, we felines will mix it up a bit now and then but it’s only for play. The little boy’s parents were shown a photo from a rescue in Minnesota. Now mind you any cat photo is worth another look but this cat was extra special! The kitty had a cleft lip and heterochromia iridum (different colored eyes) just like the little boy Madden. The boy’s parents knew that cat was destined to be a part of their family. Some kind friends helped the family fund the road trip from Oklahoma to Minnesota. If there ever was a match made in heaven, this one is it. We give this story a 2-paws up and wish Madden and his feline friend many happy years!
We felines are curious things. I mean, look at me and my brother Oliver. One of us looks like a pure-bred Siamese and the other, hmmm, is a stocky black and white feline with a heart over his eye. Our Humans often say they’d love to know the story of every Tribe of Five member but because we were all rescues they have no history about us. And then there’s our strange behaviors like why do we all run and hide when a human sneezes, why do some of us love beef and the others turn their noses up at it, and there are lots more questions the Humans would like to have answered.
Now not all of your questions about your fabulous felines can be answered but you can get more information about them from Basepaws, a company that says through a DNA kit, you can learn about your feline’s ancestry and their habits.
Our humans were intrigued by this article because the human who wrote it said that the kit covers several areas such as health, ancestry, predicting traits, physical traits and more. Can you imagine what our Humans could learn about us? Now that I think about it, I’m not so sure I want them to know all our secrets!
I’ve reported on catios before but they are becoming more of a “thing” and, as felines who enjoy the out of doors safely at our house, I thought this article was great, offering many options for you humans to choose from. Our Humans didn’t want a permanent structure built on the house (and during times when we have 6 months of winter I can understand) so they got us a “pop-up” catio that can be moved from the upstairs deck to downstairs by the waterfall or on the front porch. We blogged about it if you want to see what our catio is like. So my feline friends, tell your humans to get you a catio posthaste!
When The Female Human read this article she said, “Hah, I knew it! There are crazy cat guys too!” Now I am confused as to why The Female Human found this surprising, after all, she’s married to a crazy cat guy…but I digress.
The singer, Granger Smith recently wrote a parody of his song, “It Happens Like That” titled, “I happen to like cats” and we think it’s quite a catchy tune. The best part about this song is that he and his crew took over a cat cafe to film the video and this wasn’t some publicity stunt, Granger Smith DOES like cats! Meow!
Hello Folks,
Lily here. Today’s challenge letter is “C” and that stands for CUDDLES. All of the Tribe loves to cuddle and we seem to have our designated cuddle buddy. My cuddle buddy is Tucker, although I have to admit I sometimes get on his nerves.
Oliver and Alberto are cuddle buddies and they really like to cuddle. Jasmine likes to cuddle with the humans. Here is a little Tribe of Five cuddle montage, I hope you enjoy it.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Hello Folks, Alberto here.
We recently had quite a conundrum at our house. For the last three weeks there has been a loud rattling, vibrating sound coming from our fireplace. It has interrupted the morning, afternoon and early evening naps of The Tribe of Five, which is annoying but it’s has caused great stress in The Male and Female Human’s lives.
The Female Human, having been advised by the fireplace people that this was probably a problem with the fireplace fan, shut off all the gas and the electricity that connects to the fireplace. She breathed a sigh of relief, believing this would resolve the situation. Soon the horrible shaking, vibrating and rattling began again. The fireplace people would not be able to come by for another week and a half so the Female Human sought advice elsewhere in the meantime.
When consulting some friends The Female Human was advised that there may be some air or water in the gas lines, causing the loud noises and vibrating. This concerned the female human so she called the gas company who promptly dispatched a gas expert. The gas guy spent a good amount of time checking everything, gas lines, testing for gas leaks, checking the water heater and whatever else he thought important.
Oliver’s favorite spot
None of the Tribe of Five was interested in the gas guy’s activities except Oliver. Oliver has an unnatural love of this fireplace as evidenced in his video, “I love you fire”. Oliver was quite concerned that his access to his beloved fireplace might be blocked (it’s still chilly in our neck of the woods).
After several hours, the gas guy admitted defeat, confirmed that the house was not in danger of blowing up due to leaking gas and bade our Humans farewell.
Still the horrific noise continued so the Female Human, always a logical being, decided she’d video the fireplace so she could play the sound for the fireplace guy when he arrived. Every day, like clockwork, the terrible sound shook the house morning and afternoon and early evening. The Tribe of Five was actually getting used to it and our naps were undisturbed, until yesterday.
Yesterday, the fireplace human came to check the fireplace. He spoke with the female human for a few minutes and then she played the video for him.
After watching the video he chuckled and said one word, “woodpecker”. Evidently this type of bird has pulled stunts like this at other houses (including his), drumming on the metal fireplace pipes on the roof. The fireplace guy told the Female Human that it’s mating season and evidently, the louder the noise, the more attractive the woodpecker. The fireplace guy suggested a shotgun and fortunately due to the Female Human’s behavior later, we were relieved that she didn’t have one.
Although the Female Human was comforted that we were not in imminent danger of being blown off the hillside, there was still a part of her that did not fully accept the fireplace guy’s proclamation, even after he took everything apart, checked the fan and pronounced all was in perfect working order.
What the heck is she doing??!
Sure enough, about two hours after the fireplace guy left, the noise started again. A rather maniacal look came over the Female Human’s face, a look I hoped never to see again. She opened the slider to the upstairs deck and ran outside yelling, “Get out of here you stupid bird, go find a tree to drill on!” while waving her arms like a demented seagull. And, as if by magic, the noise stopped not to return the rest of the day.
Meowza, she’s at it again!
Fast forward to this morning, when the Tribe of Five, having enjoyed our soft food breakfast was stretched out on our respective sofas, enjoying the sun streaming through the windows and preparing for our early morning nap. Suddenly, the sound started again. Before you could say “Meowza”, the Female Human raced past us, flung open the glass doors, ran out on the deck, grabbed the snow shovel resting in the corner and began to bang on the lower part of the roof as she yelled “Get out, get out, leave us alone!”. Did I mention that she was wearing her sleeping attire during this little drama?
Methinks this war between the human and the pecking bird is not over. She has been hunched over her computer researching things like “getting rid of woodpeckers” and “keeping woodpeckers away”. As she is a lover of all of God’s creation she doesn’t want to harm the offending bird, nor does she want to scare away the little birdies and the squirrel that come to the upstairs feeder. She just wants the woodpecker to go far, far away.
The culprit, northwest woodpecker, also called a flicker
The Tribe of Five refuses to join in the Human’s stress and hysteria. The only things we get our whiskers in a twist about is when our soft food meals are late, when you can see the bottom of our food bowls or when the litter boxes are not as pristine as we would like. This battle with the pecking bird is one the Female Human will have to fight on her own. However, The Tribe of Five is praying that the neighbors don’t call someone to take her away as a result of her erratic actions. I mean, who would give us our evening treats?
That’s it for now, I hope your days and your fireplaces are woodpecker free!
Purrs & Head Bonks,
Alberto
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