Spot's New Collar and Third Cross Stitch

Little Spot

Is not so little anymore.  In fact he grew to big for his collar.   I kept finding his grey break away collar around the house and when I went to put it back on him I realized it was a bit tight on his neck, so he was rubbing against thing's to get it off.  (Of course we only use break away collars on our cat's for safety.)  All our cat's are strictly indoor only, but Spot is the only one of the four to show any curiosity about the outside world.   He has gone out the door a few times and of course we always bring him back immediately, but I still feel he must wear a collar in case he escapes.  

15 years ago our now 16 year old cat Baby opened a screen in our Brooklyn basement apartment and was missing a week.  We papered Bay Ridge in fliers and miraculously found her but the experience has made me a maniac about preventing cat escapes.  (Interestingly it has also made Baby terrified of the outside world and she never even goes near the door.)   I never open windows, even with screen's, and I'm very careful about the door.  If a delivery person is coming the cat's get locked in a room.   I'm constantly checking on the cats, particularly, Spot, to make sure they are inside.  So the second I realized Spot's collar wasn't working I knew he needed another one.

Luckily I found a cute larger collar in the adorable etsy shop Furocious Kitty  and bonus!  It's a Star Trek collar, Spot is named after Commander Data's cat on Star Trek The Next Generation:

so this collar is perfect.   Spot and I both love this collar.  He has been wearing it three week's and hasn't tried to get it off yet.  

I love how the retro Star Trek fabric look's against his white fur and the live long and prosper tag is too cute.

I really recommend Furocious Kitty if you are in the market for a cat collar.  They have ton's of collar's with adorable charms in lot's of different themes Holidays, animals, food, etc.  I can already see myself purchasing some Holiday collars.  It's also nice that the shop caters exclusively to cats.  I think that's partly why the collar fits so well.   The collars are very reasonably prices, between $10 and $12, Spot's collar was $10 and the seller was very nice about answering my questions.  

In other news I finished my third geeky cross stitch.  This one is Fry and Leela from Futurama and I'm really happy with how it came out.   

I'm working on Twin Peak's themed cross stitch next.  

Back to School Cinema Spotlight-William Castle's 13 Frightened Girls

About two years ago I discovered he ouevre of shock director William Castle:

 I have no idea what took me so long because Castle's films are right up my alley, I wasn't even all the way through one film before I decided that Castle was, in my opinion at least, the greatest director who ever lived.  

 Castle's stock in trade was low budge kitschy horror with a hefty dose of humor.   He was a master showman and each of his films had a clever gimmick to hook audiences: ghost viewing glasses, dangling glowing skeletons, cardboard axes, the list goes on.

 13 Frightened Girls 

 is actually not the typical Castle film in that is not a horror comedy, but a spy spoof about the teenage daughters of diplomats.  For the films gimmick Castle pretended to recruit the prettiest girls from 13 countries to play the leads. 

 (As usual Castle stretched the truth, the 13 girls in the film were not all from the represented countries and he forgot to count because there are 15 girls in all.)

 The girl's all attend Miss Pittford's Academy 

and have charming blue early 60s jumper uniforms with cute hats and a P aplique on the collar.

I was drooling  over the uniforms, but they are just the tip of the style iceberg in this film.  As the girls get caught up in the "candy web"  

Castle's term for their teeny-bopper spying tactics that are lead by the American diplomat's daughter, Candy Hull, they sport some of the cutest early 60s outfits and hair styles I've ever seen (I particularly love Candy's hair bows.)

 The interiors in the film are also mid century perfection:

And as a bonus there is an adorable white kitten , the inspiration for Candy's code name, who reminded me of my own sweet Spot.

 

 13 Frightened Girls is an absolutely charming film for any fan of mid century cinema and can be rented from Netflix or purchased on Amazon as part of the William Castle 5 movie pack for the bargain price of $8.99, which is how I viewed it.

Happy Gotcha Day Spot!

Last year on father's day we got a little surprise.

My husband, the world's best cat and dog father, found a little white kitten up a tree in our yard.  After a few days walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors and calling the local shelters and vets offices with no results we decided to keep him.   

Thus Spot, named after Lt. Comander Data's cat on Star Trek the next generation, became our 4th cat.   (It's good he was named after Data's spot and not the spots on his head because those faded to white over time.)

Of course all our pets are equally special but I think Spot has the best "gotcha" story, after all he found us!   I'm so glad he did because Spot is a wonderful cat.  He's very comfortable hanging out with our dogs, as the video below demonstrates:

and he even gets on OK with our older, crankier cats, Baby, Scooter and Ernie who are 15, 14, and 12.  They all spend alot of time on the dining room table, which is not a table for eating on but rather an area where we keep cat toys and food and water so the felines have a dog free space.  

Scooter isn't in this picture so here he is below:

  (To be entirely truthful there are occasional cat spats but then that has always been the case)

We celebrated Spot's one year anniversary with us with a tuna fish cake:

Spot had a typical finicky feline reaction to the cake, he could have cared less!  Despite the fact that in the past he has seemed to like Tuna.  Luckily his older brother Scooter seemed to like it.

For his gift Spot got a Catit wellness grooming center, we have a lot of catit toys and I really like them, 

I think his favorite part was the box it came in:

  Ernie however seems to love the grooming center:

At least Spot enjoyed his other toy, his catnip Little Red Riding Hood 

Happy Gotcha day Spot!

Cookies with a Cat

I made the NY times recipe for perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies on Sunday and I  had a feline helper in Spot.  Don't worry I kept cat hair out of the dough.

Wordless Wednesday-Checking Out the Neighbors

Product Review-Ruggit Collars

With Spot officially joining our family he has now, to paraphrase a line from Lady and The Tramp a member of the collar set. With cats and collars safety is of paramount importance and a breakaway collar is essential.  A climbing cat could easily hang themselves on a non breakaway collar.  I'm a firm believer that pet cats, particularly urban cats, have no business going outdoors.  With my 3 older cats I'm confident they have no interest in trying to go outside,  but Spot is a curious kitten , and even though we are vigilant about shutting doors and windows a collar with our number on it seemed an important safety precaution.

  I found the perfect collar in the  online shop Ruggit collars. They sell dog and cat collars and the collars come in a wide variety of collars with engraved name plates, there are plenty of fonts to choose from.  I thought a simple great suede would compliment Spot's coloring. 

I think I was right 

He really looks handsome. Another thing I love about the collar, is what it lacks, a bell! Bells on cat collars are cute but I know from experience they quickly become annoying.  I'd definitely recommend Ruggit Collars! 

Fathers Day Suprise

We had a bit of a surprise here. We found this stuck in our huckleberry tree and rescued it with a ladder.

Yes it's a kitten. About 12 weeks old and we aren't sure if it is a boy or girl.   Not everyone knows this but we have 3 cats. Baby Scooter and Ernie ages 15 13 and 12. They are very hard to photograph so I never post pictures.    We brought the kitten inside and put him or her in Bobs crate.  

Our dogs are curious 

Our cats seem pretty  pissed, that's Baby below. Clearly thinking not another one!!!!

Scooter hid upstairs 

Ernie was hissing but enjoyed the cat treats we gave him. 

The kitten has a good appetite 

Tomorrow we go to the vet. We haven't quite decided what to do yet, but it definitely won't be gong to a shelter. 

Kitten has one blue and one green eye which is pretty neat. 

Hopefully he or she is healthy and finds a good home either with us or someone else.