No tree this year

We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Victor Martinez wrote:
We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we
are not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with
the many ornaments we've accumulated over the years.
(snip)

Victor,

Fez is just being a kitten! Persia isn't a kitten but she reached up and
snagged a burger I'd grilled last Spring. I'm sure roasted chicken would be
far too tempting for her to resist!

I haven't put up a tree in at least 10 years. I thought seriously about it
this year, because, like you, I love the decorations. But Persia would
either try to climb the tree (she has no front claws, so she'd be bad at
this) or knock it over battling with the dangling ornaments. Or she would
drink all the water in the pan at the base. So I've decided, no tree. At
least, that's my decision for now. I may change my mind and say "de'il tak
the hindmost!"

Jill

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
.. .
We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Ah, Victor, here's thought, maybe decorate with non-breakables like candy
canes -- our tree-decorating has changed over time to accomodate kitties,
although come to think of it, I have no idea what Robin and Tucker are going
to do to our tree this year...but since we went to an artificial tree a few
years ago (which I truly dislike) I'm sorta secretly cheering the kitties
on... And for those of you who want to see what Oreo thinks of the
Christmas tree, see
12-14 of http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/cfbureltoo
Christine

LOL, I have a Mickey like that, he's 7 now, and not much has
changed...........

--
Nanny

Don't take life too seriously . . . no one gets out alive.

"Victor Martinez" schreef in bericht
.. .
We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 14:40:40 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

For some years I put a small tree (potted) in a window and put a wood
framed wire fence around it - covered the inside with cloth similar to
the curtains so it didn't look so bad from the inside. Of course I
only got to enjoy it when I was outside, mostly when coming home from
work.

Now I use an outdoor tree
(http://gearbox.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/misc.pictures/xmas.tree.html).

OT - I hate it when a cat goes outside in the rain for a few minutes -
just long enough to get really wet - then comes in and rubs against my
legs. Mudpie just did that - now it looks ... he did - he jumped on
the table and is rubbing his wet head against my hands as I type.
Good thing my lap is occupied by Ozy. Oh, no, that didn't stop him.
Tail across face - I'm getting up and leaving.





T.E.D. - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
.. .
We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.



He really might surprise you - and the sooner he gets used to the
idea of WinterFest trees the better.

I was worried about Dakota and the tree first year we got him, but
despite being such an nosey little sod, he was fine - hid among
the lower branches but that was it. George RB used to play with
the ornaments and try to chew the tinsel, so we got into the habit
of only tinselling the upper branches and putting unbreakable
ornaments on the lower ones.


--
Jette
"Work for Peace and remain Fiercely Loving" - Jim Byrnes

http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

"Christine Burel" wrote
Ah, Victor, here's thought, maybe decorate with non-breakables like candy
canes -- our tree-decorating has changed over time to accomodate kitties,
although come to think of it, I have no idea what Robin and Tucker are
going
to do to our tree this year...but since we went to an artificial tree a
few
years ago (which I truly dislike) I'm sorta secretly cheering the kitties
on... And for those of you who want to see what Oreo thinks of the
Christmas tree, see
12-14 of http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/cfbureltoo

LOL, Christine! I've never had a christmas tree, but now I've been thinking
I might get one and put it on the balcony. The cats will probably be baffled
by it, but I'm trusting that they are old and staid enough to leave it
alone. Victor, maybe if you anchored the tree to the ceiling or a wall, and
don't hang breakable ornaments in it, Fez won't manage to do any harm even
if he does climb it? LOL about the chicken.

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 14:40:40 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

Keep spray bottle handy..This is pretty good training method. Of
course you could have served hm first just to keep him busy.

One of my fondest memories that I will take to my grave - and recall every
holiday season - is of our beloved brown-striper, Toopy, glaring out from
atop an upper branch on *each* and *every one* of the huge decorated trees
we had when my oldest boy was pre-teen, all the way to when his younger
brother was under 10 (Toopy lived almost 14 years), for all the world
looking just like the "Cheshire" cat in Alice In Wonderland, but without the
grin! She would get up there without breaking one ornament or disturbing any
tinsel by using her claws to barrel right up the trunk and exit at the
branch of her choice, close to the trunk, where she'd park for hours. Years
after she was called to the RB, we still had cats, but no one ever
duplicated Toop's amazing feats of tree-climbing. We, too, put the fragile,
family-heirloom-type handblown glass ornaments near the top, and
"unbreakables" of wood or plastic near the bottom for the cats to bat at and
knock off. All our cats, including Toopy, would drink the tree water from
the always-required large stand but it never seemed to hurt them in any way.
Never had a tree skirt as I always liked to sweep dead needles out now and
then, replacing the presents after doing so. Toopy weighed about 14# (!)
sitting on those branches; a kitten wouldn't even have bowed a branch on our
huge trees. Victor, won't you and Tom reconsider?



"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...
: On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 14:40:40 GMT, Victor Martinez
: wrote:
:
: We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
: tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
: not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
: many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
: of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
: one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
: tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
: Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
: frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
: Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
: carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
: to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
: Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
: reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
: the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
: me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
: Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
: So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
: he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.
:
: Keep spray bottle handy..This is pretty good training method. Of
: course you could have served hm first just to keep him busy.

in article , Ted Davis at
wrote on 11/23/03 11:17 AM:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 14:40:40 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

We drove by the lot selling x-mas tree yesterday. We usually get our
tree after thankgiving or the first week of december. Even though we are
not christians, we love putting up a tree and decorating it with the
many ornaments we've accumulated over the years. Given the pagan origins
of the tree tradition, I think it's ok for us non-christians to have
one. I mentioned casually, "Fez is going to be at the top of that
tree ten seconds after we bring it into the house". That got us thinking.
Perhaps not this year. We've talked about it and we think Fez is too
frisky to be trusted with a tree. The boy is crazy! And he gives Feline
Stuborness a whole new dimension. Here's a typical Fez moment: I'm
carving a roasted chicken on the kitchen counter. Fez jumps up and tries
to get close to the action. I reprimand him and put him on the floor.
Half a second later, he's back on the counter, smelling the chicken. I
reprimand him again and put him on the floor. By the time I turn to face
the chicken, he's about to take a bite of it. I call to Tom to come help
me with the little beast, so he comes and grabs him and takes him away.
Five seconds later he's back at it. Did I mention he's stubborn? Sigh.
So, we're going to skip the tree this year, hoping that by next year
he'll have stopped being such a stubborn kitten.

For some years I put a small tree (potted) in a window and put a wood
framed wire fence around it - covered the inside with cloth similar to
the curtains so it didn't look so bad from the inside. Of course I
only got to enjoy it when I was outside, mostly when coming home from
work.

Now I use an outdoor tree
(http://gearbox.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/misc.pictures/xmas.tree.html).

OT - I hate it when a cat goes outside in the rain for a few minutes -
just long enough to get really wet - then comes in and rubs against my
legs. Mudpie just did that - now it looks ... he did - he jumped on
the table and is rubbing his wet head against my hands as I type.
Good thing my lap is occupied by Ozy. Oh, no, that didn't stop him.
Tail across face - I'm getting up and leaving.





T.E.D. - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig
in the body)

I'm considering a tree on my deck for the same reasons. Since that window is
basically the whole wall, I figure it might be a good idea and elimate all
cat AND messy needle problems.

Karen