Maggie's stroller adventure

Maggie had a very exciting stroller adventure last night. Mom and Dad were going on a late walk last night when they saw their neighbor out with a flashlight. It seemed the neighbor had company and someone let the cats out. The cats were in the back yard, fenced in, but two of the three cats are spry enough to leap the fence even without claws. They wrangled two, but the third was wandering around. So Maggie stayed in her stroller, keeping an eye out, while Mom and Dad helped search. The little stinker came back on his own after about five minutes of searching, but it helped reinforce why we stay inside, and get locked up when we have company. I'll still complain about not being able to socialize with everyone, but I'd rather be safely inside than worrying Mom and Dad (and myself) by exploring the outside in the dark.

Warming up the stroller

If Maggie gets the stroller all warmed up then just maybe Mom and Dad will take her for a walk this weekend.


She'll nap in the stroller to make sure they know she's ready.


She even sits in the stroller and watches out the window. I think she's daydreaming about her walk.

PhotoHunt: Wild

Today's PhotoHunt theme is wild. Well, Huggy Bear had a wild adventure Friday afternoon -- his first stroller ride. He did very good in the stroller. Sure, he fussed a little bit, but I think everyone fusses a little bit on their first ride (I couldn't say since I haven't been out in the stroller yet). Mom and Dad were very proud of him. We're very proud of Mom and Dad for sticking to this walking thing (and taking us along).


Huggy Bear was a little nervous about his wild ride in the stroller at first. He was licking his lips nervously, like when Charlie Brown concentrates.


Huggy Bear asked Dad "Are we home yet?" toward the end of the ride. I think he enjoyed himself, but I think he liked coming back inside where it was air conditioned, too.


Despite being a little nervous, and being out with the wild outside smells and noises (barking dogs, chirping birds, cars...), Huggy Bear still managed to relax a little and enjoy his ride. Having the Kitty Kozy in there with him surely helped.

Thursday Thirteen #34 -- Stroller ride

I really can't believe it's been over a month since my last Thursday Thirteen. Thursdays have turned into a bit of a catch-all day for awards and updates and giving thanks lately. But I'm back on track with the Thursday Thirteens, I think.

Maggie and Josie have been alternating going for walks with Mom and Dad. This really helps Mom and Dad stay motivated in their goal to walk more.


Here are thirteen things that Maggie and Josie have experienced during their recent walks.

1. Mom and Dad went for a walk Friday afternoon with Josie. A neighbor's dog had gotten out from the fence and came to visit Dad.
2. The dog wanted to visit Josie but Mom wouldn't let her.
3. But Josie did meet a nice neighbor lady and her two boys.
4. Then a light rain started and Josie scooted into the back of the stroller to stay dry.
5. Josie's walk was cut a little short because of the rain, but she got extra treats when she got home for getting misted on.
6. Tuesday night is the night before trash day, so Maggie got to sniff all kinds of stinky trash cans.
7. Her walk was a little longer than Josie's and she got to sniff the air on the street where a lot of dogs live.
8. Maggie hasn't seen any dogs on her walks recently.
9. She did get to see a big dummy driving way to fast up the street.
10. For walks when it gets a little dark Mom and Dad have a headlamp attached to the stroller so Maggie has some extra light.
11. Maggie likes to sniff the air on her walks and she also likes to curl up on her Kitty Kozy during her rides.
12. At first she freaked out when she was reintroduced to going for walks and Mom and Dad had to cut the walk short.
13. Maggie likes to nap in the stroller when it is in the house, and sometimes she will sleep on the top of the canopy.

PhotoHunt: Messy

I missed the PhotoHunt last week because Mom and Dad left the computer off when they went out of town, but we're back. Today's theme is messy and I think Maggie is going to take the lead in these photos...

Most of you probably remember this picture of Maggie making a big ol' mess of the toilet paper in the guest bathroom (now stored in the cabinet), but I think this picture fits the theme best.

But Maggie isn't always messy, either. She takes a lot of pride in her cat stroller.


Here she is doing some maintenance on her cat stroller so that it doesn't get messy and break down on us during a walk. She's checking the tires, looking for pebbles that may have gotten stuck in the tread that may make the ride rough, which can make a mess of a good stroll.

Maggie's stroller adventure

Maggie has now been on two strolls, a shorter initial stroll with Mom and Dad, then a longer stroll with Mom, Dad and Aunt Tiff.

Mom and Dad made sure to put in a Kitty Kozy for Maggie so she felt more secure on her trip out of the house. Here, she's checking things out as they head down the street. I think there was a baby in a stroller walking a dog on the other side of the street.


Maggie likes to look up through the sun roof to check on Mom as she pushed the stroller. She just likes knowing she's there.

After Maggie's big adventure, we all came down and inspected the stroller. It smelled a little different than before, more like the open windows smell, and after some detailed sniffing we OK'd it.

Since her last stroll the temperatures have been hitting the 100s, which is just way too hot to take her out. Hopefully we'll get some cool air blown in from the storms in the Gulf and cool things down so Maggie (and maybe Josie) can go on a few more strolls.

Maggie's close encounters

Maggie is getting all the fun close encounters lately. We had some little sticky people come visit and we were all a big hit. Their mom kept saying "they're so big" about Huggy Bear and I -- she even said HB looked like a bear before she knew his name was "Bear." But the funniest encounter was between Maggie and the littlest one,around eight months old. He was getting his diaper changed on the floor and Maggie was investigating when suddenly he reached out to investigate her. She jumped back, then darted for the open coat closet door and safety. She also had an exciting encounter on her second stroller ride. She saw a fire truck go roaring by, and she also saw some sprinklers running. (She didn't really trust the sprinklers, even though they were on the opposite side of the street.) Mom and Dad (and Maggie, too) are really enjoying their evening walks.

Maggie's stroller adventure

Maggie went on her first full successful walk last night with Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad had returned from the grocery store and there was still some daylight, so they put most of the groceries away quickly (a little too quickly -- Dad left the milk sitting out in the garage all night) then loaded Maggie into the stroller with one of the Kitty Kozies from Timmy Grammie and a toy and some treats and they were off. Mom and Dad took her around the block and halfway up another street before they got close to a yard with a barking Bassett Hound and decided it was about time to turn around. Maggie saw four dogs on her walk, including two big pit bulls. When the guy came jogging by with the pits, Maggie raised up in her stroller and watched them carefully as they jogged past. Mom and Dad were very proud of how she carried herself. Most of the stroll she was lying flat with her paws in front of her in her Sphinx pose, sniffing the air and looking around. Dad took a few pictures of her, but they're still on the camera. Mom and Dad are hopeful to start taking us on more walks after seeing how well Maggie did. (I don't know if I'll go ... I'm still leary of the thing, but Josie and Maggie probably will, maybe even together.)

The stroller

I've talked about our stroller several times, but I realized I haven't posted any pictures of us with the stroller. I am still cautious about the whole thing. Dad tried to show off and put me in it, but I was a Jasper in the Box and sprung right back out of it.


Maggie really has taken to the stroller and will nap in it and play in it. Here, I think she got a little confused and climbed on top of it instead!


Huggy Bear tried out the stroller once. He's almost as cautious as I am about it. Mom and Dad are trying to leave it sitting out so we can get used to it. HB did stay in for a little while, until Josie came and took his spot.


You can see little Josie here, napping in the stroller (just on the edge of the frame is Maggie, wondering what Josie is doing). There is a front, back and top entrance to the stroller compartment, with netting almost all the way around so we can see. There's a sun roof for Mom and Dad to look in on us and even a place for treats. Once it cools down again, I think Mom and Dad will try another short walk with us.

Maggie's upside-down attack

(Mom wanted me to go ahead and post something because she was getting sad seeing our note to Buzzerbee, so here's a funny little Maggie moment...)

Mom and Dad really wish we had cameras on us all the time, because sometimes we do things that they just don't get to capture except in their mind's eye. Last night, Mom and Dad were making treats for Dad's patients (a fun little theme on Fridays this June) and Maggie and Huggy Bear were "helping". At one point, Huggy Bear was under the tall table in the kitchen that has the bar stools with it. Maggie decided to go into attack mode. She rolled onto her back partway under the stool, placed her rear feet on the cross-bar of one of the stools, then pushed with her legs to launch herself on her back, sliding across the floor at Huggy Bear about a foot away. It was quite a sneak attack method, probably not altogether effective in all cases, but was enough to goose HB and claim his spot.

BTW, HB explored the cat stroller last night. Mom and Dad placed it in the living room for us to get comfortable with (and by us, I mean Josie, Maggie and Huggy Bear -- I don't acknowledge it's existence). So last night HB climbed in all on his own. Mom thought it was Josie at first, but then she saw how big he was, and Dad walked over and saw it was HB instead. Then later Maggie climbed on top of the outside of the stroller and took a short nap. Slowly but surely, I guess. We did get pictures of the stroller adventure, but they're still on the camera, so I'll post them soon.

Everyone have a safe Fourth of July weekend (weird, since the Fourth is on a Wednesday, as far away from any weekend as it can get...) and watch out for all those loud booms (fireworks are legal in SC so we get impromptu celebrations from the neighbors ... ugh).

Maggie's stroller adventure

Well Mom and Dad took Maggie out in the stroller last night. Overall, there were mixed results. The key lesson learned: Don't exit through the garage because Maggie will freak out when you open the loud garage door. Dad doesn't want us to relate the front door to an exit to the outside world. Oddly, we'll rush the garage door, but we show minimal interest in the front door, and Mom and Dad want to keep it that way. So they thought they'd use the garage door instead. So maybe it'll be a back door exit for the stroller. When Maggie was first outside in the stroller Mom and Dad stayed in the driveway and Maggie seemed pretty comfortable with the idea. She actually seemed to like things. Once Mom and Dad started to stroll down the street to show Maggie off to a neighbor, Maggie got a little less comfortable (probably in part of the world she's not seem nor smelled) and curled up in the more sheltered part of the stroller. Mom and Dad called it quits at that point, brought her back into the garage (recall lesson learned) and preceded to freak Maggie out shutting the garage door. She calmed down after about 30 minutes. I think the garage door traumatized her more than the stroller. Maybe Josie will get a ride this evening. HB and I have yet to pay much attention to the stroller at all.

Cat stroller

We got our cat stroller this weekend and Mom and Dad assembled it last night while watching the season premiere of the Dead Zone. Maggie explored it real good and even went for a ride around the living room. Then Dad parked it so we can sniff it and get comfortable with it and Josie took a nap inside the stroller. Mom and Dad were pleased with our initial response to the cat stroller. We'll see once we're in the driveway, but we're all staying optimistic.

Cat stroller

Mom was so excited when she saw Finnegan and Buddy's cat stroller that she went and looked at PetSmart. Then Buddy said they got theirs on eBay, so Mom checked it out and found a really cool orange on that matches me! And we won it for half the sale price at PetSmart. Mom said it has a tracking number, which I guess means it should be here soon. For an inside cat, this is very exciting. It's like having a window to sit in that moves with me.