Happy New Year!

Long time no posting!  I have photos and maybe a video to upload and will hopefully do so very soon!  In the mean time, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Sketchbook Project 2011 - update

It's been a while since I posted anything.  Life has been too FULL for blogging.  Below are a couple of bad scans of the sketchbook pages on which Freddie makes an appearance. 

Since my last post, the weather has gotten cooler and Frederica has gone NUTS!  In the morning after she's eaten, she races around the house and tries (sometimes successfully) to get Cupcake riled up & running around, too.  We have to watch the back door carefully after the dogs come in from doing their business outside - Freddie has slipped out a couple of times to explore the smells in the backyard.  She never ventures very far from the door and always comes immediately back inside with minimal provocation, but it's just a matter of time before she gets more adventurous.  She must not be the only Maine Coon going crazy with the weather.  There are signs up in our neighborhood for a missing Maine Coon who looks a lot like Frederica - same coloring, but younger.

Link is warming up to Frederica.  The two of them have been playing a bit here and there.  Unfortunately, one morning this past weekend they decided to play on the kitchen table and Link knocked Brianna's bottle of black nail polish on the floor.  I was NOT happy to clean up nail polish off of the tile before I'd even had my coffee!

Freddie desperately needs a bath and I'm hoping she'll have one this coming weekend.  We've been trying to brush & snip out all of the mats she's developed on her stomach near her legs before giving her a bath, lest the mats get worse.  Maybe if I get inspired, the bath will happen before the weekend!

Bath time and an adventure

Frederica had a bath on Sunday.  I've had to spend a lot of time since then brushing mattes out of her fur.  It's been a while since I gave her a detailed once-over, so there are still areas that need to be dealt with.

Link climbed into the crate again while Freddie was being bathed.  Turning on the hair dryer (again) worked like a charm.  She bolted and I could put Freddie in for drying.

Yesterday, the weather changed and the animals went a little crazy.  I think we're all relieved to have some cooler weather, but the animals race around the house and hang out near the open, screened windows.  After the dogs came in from the back yard, the door hadn't shut the whole way.  As I approached the door to close it, I saw Frederica standing in the backyard near the old kid-sized picnic table.  She seemed a little spooked, so I calmly walked out and scooped her up.  I've been extra careful about closely the back door tightly since then.  Frederica may look like a full-grown cat, but she's really an immature, inexperienced kitten... who's NOT ALLOWED to go outside.

After this morning's adventure, I started thinking about what Christmas will be like... we'll have to tie the tree in place and not put any breakable ornaments on it!

Photos by Molly

I talked with Molly last night about the compositional rule of 3 and let her use my camera to take some photos of Freddie.  Below are her photos.  She shot 6 or so photos and ended up with 2 perfect pictures... not too bad for someone her age!

I weighed Freddie this morning and I think she's around 12.5 pounds.  It looks like she's grown but apparently her frame has grown and she hasn't gained weight.  She's still the BEST CAT EVER!!

Bath day again!

Frederica had a bath this morning.  I've stayed on top of brushing her so her fur has stayed reasonably clean, however she smelled like kitty spit.  It's been 3 weeks, so it was past time.  Molly helped me bathe Freddie, as usual.  Christine was doing other things, so Dean filled in as photographer.

Molly blew a bubble with the shampoo bottle (above.)  :-)

Below is Freddie engaging in her favorite post-bath activity... cleaning herself.  I even got some video with the new camera.

Fluffy tail

I got a nice shot of Freddie this weekend.  Her tail is so fluffy that it looks like it's as thick as her body.

Freddie on high

Frederica is enjoying the new kitty tower.  It provides her access to the  new kitty napping spot on top of the entertainment center.  It also provides a new perch on top of the bookshelves adjacent to the entertainment center.

Freddie doesn't have to jump from the perch to the entertainment center (or vice versa).  She's big enough to step across.

Apparently the feathers easily come off the dangling toys.  At the moment, one of the toys has completely fallen off.  The other is looking a little bald.

Weigh In

Last evening Frederica was hanging around while I was getting ready for bed.  She's been eating A LOT lately and seems like she's in the midst of a growth spurt... so I scooped her up and confirmed the growth spurt: my 7 month old kitten weighs 12 pounds!  Freddie will potentially continue to grow for another 5 months.  More to love!!

The tower of Freddie... and friends!

Below is Freddie in one of the cat tower's we picked up today.  (The other one is going upstairs, but we haven't taken it up, yet, so there aren't any photos... yet.)  Frederica had a bath this morning, so she's wonderfully soft & fluffy... and worthy of close-ups.

After dinner, Link joined Frederica on the tower.  I put Link on one of the top shelves and Molly put Frederica on the lower one... I'm sure they'll eventually approach the things themselves.  We're wondering how long it will take them to step over to the top of the entertainment center that's immediately to the left, just outside the frame of the photo below.  Dean figures that Link will first venture over onto the mantle, which means I should probably clear all of the breakables off as soon as possible.

Move your feet, lose your seat

I went out to get the mail and I came back to a kitten in my seat!  Payback = taking photos of her sitting in my seat.  The great news of the day is that my moleskine sketchbook arrived today for the Art House Co-Op's 2011 Sketchbook Project.

That's my sketchbook in its envelope.  Freddie was unimpressed with the package.  There will surely be drawing of her in it soon.  :-)

Frederica eventually moved because she spotted her blanket at the other end of the couch.  She snuggled into the corner and kneaded herself into a nap.

Check out how gorgeous her tail is!  It's super thick and fluffy.

Bathing Freddie

We waited until late afternoon to give Frederica a bath today... not on purpose or anything, we just had errands to run and lots of other things to do around the house.  Molly helped me bathe the cat and Christine documented the event.  I had Christine attempt some video footage of the bath... 'not sure if we'll try that again in the future.

Here are some of Christine's photos:

Christine moved on to other things, so Molly took a photo of Freddie having her post-bath treats:

After her bath, Freddie C spent A LOT of time cleaning herself... didn't I just do that?!  She was on the big chair with Puddin' and I had to keep an eye on Puddin' so that she wouldn't join in on the post-bath cleansing.  I took the photos below.