Tag Archives: Nimbus the Mount Washington Observatory Cat

Walk Through The Web Wednesday

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Hello Furiends!

I hope everything is great in our neck of the woods but I know many of you are suffering with bad weather and we’re also purraying for our furiends in Turkey and Syria after the devastating earthquakes.. I’ve reported on the cat-friendly folks in Turkey and we are devastated by the loss of so many lives in those countries.

The beginning of a new month is always exciting as we look at all the monthly, weekly and daily holidays are celebrated. Here are a few we like and we hope you’ll enjoy them tool

It’s National Hot Breakfast Month. I urge you to celebrate every morning and don’t forget the bacon!

It’s National Pet Dental Health Month and this kitty is here to tell you, your humans need to keep an eye on your teeth! The Human took us for teeth cleaning and I had to have a tooth extracted (Oliver had three taken out)! It wasn’t fun but we feel so much better. Take care of your fangs!!

Oh my whiskers, this is a holiday I love to celebrate! National Pizza Day is coming up tomorrow (Feb. 9) so make sure your humans are celebrating (and sharing)! And get this, some places will even give you free or big discounts on pizza.

What better holiday for elegant, graceful felines to celebrate? World Ballet Day is February 7.
““Elegance wanted body and life, which is why it turned into a cat.”
– William IX, Duque of Aquitaine.

We hope you enjoyed our holiday celebrations and now, on to the news!

Sometimes you have to take initiative to get the job

You humans who are seeking employment could take a page from Buster’s book. Be bold, be persistant and be adorable! Follow Buster and all his adventures on Instagram: http://thedo.do/buster_and_brothers, and TikTok: http://thedo.do/Buster_and_brothers.

Cat’s job has him living in the worst weather but he isn’t bothered

This one is for all my fireplace loving, heat seeking furry furiends. This working cat Nimbus lives 6,288 feet above sea level at Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. This is one of the coldest places in the United States, with a historic storm raging last week that had winds whipping up to 120 mph and the thermometer dropping far below -32 Fahrenheit. Fortunately, the job of the feline in residence, Nimbus,  is indoor morale booster for the human scientists who live with him and who have to deal with the brutal weather outside.

Meteorologist Francis Tarasiewciz said Nimbus slept through most of the storm unlike Tarasiewciz who had to get hourly readings in the extreme cold. Tarasiewcz and the other observers, spend a week at a time at the 91-year-old mountaintop observatory that, in 1934, recorded a wind gust of 231 mph, which as a world record for decades.

Cats have been a part of the observatory family since its founding in 1932. Marty,  the observatory cat passed in late 2020. A search for a new observatory cat was launched with the help of the Conway Area Humane Society (CAHS). The summit cat is a special part of the living environment on the summit, and the feline presence makes the place feel more like a home during the week-long shifts.     

Nimbus sailed through the job interview, competing with three other cats from CAHS.  The gray coated feline’s name was inspired by the large gray clouds that bring precipitation. Nimbus was officially installed in  his job at the Observatory on April 14, 2021. He is described as a friendly, chatty cat.

Fancy Feast Creates ‘Cuddle Collection’ for People Spending Valentine’s Day with Their Cats

I don’t know about your humans, but ours does not have what she refers to as a “significant other” in her life at the moment (human that is). She will be enjoying some time with Oliver, Lily and I and she knows a number of people who will also be celebrating with their felines.

Purina recently did a survey that showed that 1 in 5 cat parents prefer to spend Valentine’s Day with their felines over their significant others. This is why the good folks at Purina created the Cuddle Collection as it gives all those humans who share their hearts and homes with felines something special designed to “celebrate the special bond between cats and their owners and give cat lovers a way to show their cats just how much they mean to them.

This feline says get your Cuddle Collection, available now at FancyFeast.com/cuddle, right meow!

Nissan’s “Knock,Knock” campaign designed to save felines

Once again, those wonderful, feline loving folks in Japan are looking out for cats. Japan’s recent spate of snow and freezing temperatures has forced the nation’s feline inhabitants to seek shelter. Unfortunately, some folks find cats hiding under the hoods and the tires of their cars, sometimes after it’s too late.

Japanese carmaker Nissan hopes its new campaign will save those lives. Tokyo officials say there are as many as 60,000 stray cats in the city, and cats hiding in and around cars is not a new problem. The Japan Automobile Federation launched a similar campaign a few years ago encouraging drivers to knock on the hoods of their cars, but the trend never caught on.

Now Nissan is ramping up the message in order to save cats.  “There are lives that can be saved with a bit of consideration,” is the message on the campaign website. Nissan’s new campaign encourages drivers to share information about the campaign on social media and to place a campaign bumper sticker on their car.  Two paws up Nissan!

When life gives you cats, make a Cat Camp

More than 50 cats have been dumped at an outdoor park in Texas. These cats wouldn’t have been able to survive on their own but Wesley Felts have taken on the cause of these felines and visits the outdoor Texas Park on a daily basis to feed and bring housing.

Felts says, “If I had my choice, I’d want each and every one of them to have a good home,” adding that very few animal shelters in the area will take in cats.

Since he’s started caring for the now 55 cats in the encampment, he’s taken three home with him.

During the arctic blast that hit parts of Texas in late December, residents in the area expressed concern over the cats’ wellbeing. “Feeling concerned for all the cats at Bailey’s this weekend,” one person wrote in a local Facebook group called “Let’s Make Bailey’s Great Again!”

Felts reassured her in the comments the cats were safe with shelters, blankets and hay, later adding that all the cats survived the freezing weather.

These cats have been dumped by people at the park and local experts are suggesting to anyone who finds a stray cat take it to a shelter. If that’s not possible, people should contact local animal control. Laying out some type of shelter and cat food is also okay. There are also trap-neuter-release programs that can be notified, which take cats from the wild, give them basic medical care, and stop future generations from growing up wild.

The recreational area where the cat camps are located is in Orange County near Beaumont. We hope Mr. Felts will find some shelters to take the cats and that local TNR people will help too.      

Walk Through The Web Wednesday 5/12

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siamese cat on a leash walking through a garden

Happy Wednesday Furiends,
We are happy as we again have our Purrsonal Assistant under control and my Wednesday feature is happening on…..Wednesday!

We are still suffering through the dreaded D-I-E-T. Frankly, I don’t think Oliver has lost an ounce.

‘Excuse me Human. I am in dire need of kibble. Not only can you see the bottom of my bowl, there is not even ONE single piece of kibble there. Please put down your book and assist a dying feline!”
“What are you thinking about Al”
“Chasing birds from the Cat TV show. What are you thinking about Oliver/’
“Kibble, big piles of fresh kibble.”
“If Oliver doesn’t shut up about kibble I’m going to walk over there and give him a big whacky paw!”

Now you may think that the D-I-E-T was the only topic of conversation this week but you would be wrong. We received a nice email from a human named Jayne who told us we’d been featured on the “top 18 list of most underrated cat bloggers” on the Cat Informer blog. You can read about us and the other 17 meowvelous cat blogs here. Thank you Cat Informer!

And now, let’s get to this weeks findings for best feline news on the web.

Tennessee Woman teaches your cat to hike

Laura Partain says the #1 essential in packing for a hike is her cat. After spending four to five months working with the formerly timid feline, she now has a trail blazer. Partain has two cats who hike with her and needless to say, they attract a lot of attention when they are hiking. They also sparked an idea.. She said, “I really want to help people see their cats in a different way and to get out of the mindset of ‘Oh, my cat would never do that.’ She wants people to look at their cat and say, ‘How can I help this cat to have a better life. How can I help enrich this cat’s life and train them?’ They’re actually really fun to train,” said Partain, who grew up training show goats. To that end, Partain created the  Tennessee Cat Adventure Club, and so far she’s trained 14 new adventure cats.

She says it’s best if people train their cats themselves but she does offer training assistance as cat’s require some specialized training techniques. Dogs will learn things because they want to please you. Cats (and goats) are more transactional. (Who knew we fabulous felines had that in common with goats?)  In other words, felines want to know what’s in it for them and what the pay offs (treats) are. This means food is always required for training sessions. Her two most important tips are, have treats handy and make sure you have a harness that fits your cat well.

Recently Partain has partnered with Tennessee State Parks to encourage pet owners to use a leash on the trail. She said leashes allow all animals, including cats, to get out and enjoy the beauty of Tennessee. 

Meowza that hiking thing sounds like it might be fun!

Meet the cats fighting Chicago’s rat problem

If you’re a regular reader of my Wednesday web wanderings you know I love to feature stories about working cats. This story is a bit different than most as it’s not about a brewery, bookstore or bodega “hiring” a feline but about feral cats placed on the Chicago streets to deal with the problem this city, known as “the rattiest city in America” has had for years.

Since 2012, the Tree House Humane Society has placed over 1,000 feral cats onto Chicago streets.

The mere presence of the cats and their pheromones, are enough to keep the rats away.

I was a bit concerned about these felines being “tossed into the streets” but this isn’t the case at all. Cats are spayed or neutered “pre-employment” and “employers” are screened and required to provide food, water, shelter, and wellness to the cats who work for them. In most cases, these cats become beloved members of the family or team and some even have their own Instagram pages! If you live in Chicago and want to hire a feline, you can apply at Tree House’s website.

Couple builds mini-bedroom for their cat, complete with a TV for watching birds on YouTube

I only have one thing to say…..”Human, you need to step up your game!”

Twitter user @CinnamonBear9 shared photos of her meowvelous kitty bedroom with bed, bedspread that matches mom’s and dad’s, pictures on the walls, a rug, a miniature chair, some tiny yarn balls, and a mini scratching post. And the pièce de résistance? A wooden wall frame that holds a tablet (or “big screen TV to a cat) for endless hours of cat video watching on YouTube.

And how has the feline reacted to this pawsome bedroom? He naps in there and watches bird TV. Paws up for these creative humans for going above and beyond for their kitty!

Why cats may have more to teach us about living the good life than Socrates

Socrates is credited with saying “the unexamined life is not worth living.” For centuries, you humans have looked to philosophy as a way to contemplate and answer many of life’s biggest, toughest questions.

British philosopher John Gray opines that cats can often teach us much more about living the good life than philosophy ever could.

In his book, Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life, Gray examines the nature of our philosophical pursuits, and finds them wanting.

“In humans, discontent with their nature seems to be natural,” he writes. “With predictably tragic and farcical results, the human animal never ceases striving to be something that it is not.” He says cats make no such effort. Cats exist to serve their most immediate needs and keep themselves safe from danger.

Although this feline would argue that Gray makes us sound a bit shallow, I do have to agree.

Gray points out that cats aren’t philosophical about death. Cats refuse to quietly surrender to death from a predator. They’ll fight to the very, very end to protect themselves or their kittens if they’re female cats. So they have a strong love of life when they’re healthy, and when they’re sickening, they tend to crawl to some quiet, shadowy place where they, in a sense, they aim to die.

Gray says you humans shouldn’t try to be cats but maybe you should overthink a little less. I think that’s good advice!

Mount Washington Observatory welcomes new summit cat, Nimbus

Here’s another great working cat story. This Onway, N.H. cat, named for a type of cloud is taking his place above the clouds in his new home at the Mount Washington Observatory.

Nimbus was chosen from four candidates at the Conway Area Humane Society. His sociable attitude as well as his large repertoire or meows, chatters and purrs won him the job.  

Nimbus’ predecessor, Marty crossed the Rainbow Bridge in late 2020. The observatory employees said it was a long search as the new hire would have big paws to fill.

MWO Summit Operations Manager Rebecca Scholand said. “The summit cat is such a special part of our living environment on the summit, making it feel much more like a home on our weeklong shifts.”

Nimbus, we say “concatulations” on your new home and new career!