Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Sneaky is chipped and registered with Fort Wayne Animal Control as my pet. Most of the neighborhood knows he is mine.
He is definitely manipulative, lol.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Sneaky had just come inside after several hours outside on a rainy day. He often stays out in the rain and comes home soaked! I keep telling him that he wouldn't be so wet if he came home sooner. He waits on the counter or on his 'feed me' stool for me to dry him with paper towels after he comes in soaked. This time, he beelined straight to the food bowl. After seeing that it needed more food, he began pacing around complaining loudly!
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
A few days ago, I went outside to photograph this sheet of snow that had slid halfway off the awning over my house's back door. Sneaky followed me out so he could supervise, as he often does when I photograph things in my yard. He sat in front of the door while I worked, then ran back in with me when I was done. It was COLD out there!
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
Humans, being such primitive creatures, simply cannot be trusted to do a job properly without feline supervision.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Very true. He has to watch everything. He watches me work, he watches me pee and poop, he watches me shower, he watches me do laundry and dishes.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
This is the rundown trailer that Sneaky's former owners lived in before I took him in. For those who haven't seen the story at the beginning of the thread, here's how I got Sneaky:
This rundown old mobile home was sitting vacant when I photographed it in 2016. It is in the Cozy Acres Trailer Park, an old and very small trailer park on the southeast corner of Sandpoint Road and Arbor Avenue in my neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In 2018, a couple years after I made this photograph, a young couple moved into this trailer. They drove a $50,000 Cadillac CTS, but lived in a broken-down old trailer! In November of that year, I was out in my front yard late one night when a longhaired tabby cat with white paws walked in to my yard and began rubbing my ankles and purring loudly.
I reached down to pet him, and discovered that under his thick fur, he was skin and bones starved! I gave him some left over steak I had been saving to take to my parents' dog. After that, he began coming back every day, so I began buying cat food for him. His fur was matted, he was not gaining weight despite me feeding him a lot, he had fleas, and an eye looked infected. I took him to a veterinarian, who discovered that the cat also had tapeworms.
The doctor treated the cat for fleas, tapeworms, and his eye infection. He told me to keep the cat outside my house for a period of time to ensure all the fleas were dead. The cat kept trying to slip inside, and usually succeeded despite my best efforts to keep him out. I named him Sneaky because he was so good at sneaking in! After the waiting period was over, he moved in and quickly established himself as the ruler of the house, as cats usually do. He has grown to be a large, healthy cat.
One day, Sneaky was outside and I saw him in the trailer park sitting on the porch behind the manager's house right across the road from my house. Thinking that he might be her cat, I went and talked to her. She told me that he belonged to the people in this trailer, and that they were on drugs and didn't take care of him. She puts out food for stray cats, and he had been a regular visitor; but he would not let her pick him up (he let me do so the second time I fed him. Must have been the steak!). She told me to keep him. I did go and talk to the people in the trailer, and the guy who answered the door was stoned. A huge cloud of marijuana smoke came out when he opened the door. He acted like it was no big deal that his cat had been ill, and I doubt he remembers talking to me.
I feared that they would move someday and take Sneaky, since he still went outside a lot. The Fort Wayne Police Department erased that fear. One night in 2021, a huge swarm of police cars descended upon the trailer park around 3am. They surrounded the trailer where Sneaky's former owners lived, and I never saw those people again. Hope they enjoyed jail! I hate people who mistreat cats. The trailer has been vacant since then.
I made this photo on April 6, 2016.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Chris, you are the best.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Last night Sneaky was running around the house, attacking toy mice. Then he jumped in this package of paper towels and attacked it before deciding that it would make a nice chair to sit on!
I didn't realize it had been so long since I added any new photos. I've taken a lot of them in the last couple months but haven't had time to edit them. I am not feeling well and I spent the last couple weeks doing some commercial work to make some money so I could buy Mack something for his birthday, which was last week. He's 26 now!
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Sneaky sitting outside in the morning soon after sunrise, watching the birds. He went after one low-flying robin, but it was too fast for him!
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
"I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr. Crawford!"
CMur12
Veteran
He looks pretty well fed, Chris (though it's hard to really tell through all the fluff). Is that slowing him down?
- Murray
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
No, he only weighs 10lb. He's not fat, just very floofy. The slowdown in hunting is more a symptom of feline laziness than anything. Once he was comfortable here and had us fully enslaved, he no longer needed to impress us, so the hunting went from one kill a week on average to one every two or three months. He still works hard spraying everything he can in the neighborhood to let his outdoor enemies know that this is HIS territory.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
That is one regal-looking creature!
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Can't believe its been almost 2 months since I updated this. I have a lot of new Sneaky pics to edit from that time, just haven't felt up to doing much work. These photos are from last night.
My son is in Seattle all this week, and Sneaky has been especially cuddly. He misses Mack.
Sneaky was sleeping next to me on the sofa for a long time last night, until I kicked off my shoes. Then, he moved to the floor and fell asleep cuddling my shoes!
Sneaky has been well; he got steak and a grilled chicken tender for dinner last night.
CMur12
Veteran
Chris, thanks for the update on Sneaky! My cat, Joey, also likes to rub against my shoes while they're still warm with my scent.
Your first paragraph suggests that you haven't been feeling well. I hope that's not the case, or at least that you are feeling better now.
The best to Mack in Seattle! (Washington is truly a wonderful state, though west of the mountains and east of the mountains are like two different countries! I might note that this is Washington and that the federal capital is Washington DC, or "DC." It is most offensibly incorrect to refer to Washington DC as "Washington.")
Be well, Chris.
- Murray
Your first paragraph suggests that you haven't been feeling well. I hope that's not the case, or at least that you are feeling better now.
The best to Mack in Seattle! (Washington is truly a wonderful state, though west of the mountains and east of the mountains are like two different countries! I might note that this is Washington and that the federal capital is Washington DC, or "DC." It is most offensibly incorrect to refer to Washington DC as "Washington.")
Be well, Chris.
- Murray
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I don't feel well most of the time. I had a stroke in 2013 and a couple years after that a bad lung infection that nearly killed me. My lungs were left damaged by it and I can't do a lot of vigorous activity without having trouble breathing. I'm tired all the time and sometimes will sleep all day. On top of that my allergies have been bad, really bad, this year. This is why I live with my son and don't work anymore. Fortunately, he makes good money and is willing to feed me and let me live in his house. On days I feel well, I go out and photograph. When I sell prints or get donations for my tutorials, I am free to use the money to buy things I need for my work since I don't have to worry about paying the bills.
Mack was in Seattle to visit friends he got to know from doing his illustration work for aerospace companies. They took him on tours of Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos's space company) and a couple other aerospace companies he's worked for up there. Exciting stuff! Mack is more successful as an artist than I ever was; and I'm very proud of all he's done.
Sneaky Content:
A while back, I bought some catnip plants and put them in a couple of flower pots next to my back door. Sneaky likes to rub on them and eat the leaves! I made this video late in the evening tonight, shortly before sunset. Sorry about the noise, I live by a railroad track and a train came through halfway through the video.
CMur12
Veteran
Hi Chris -
I remember about the stroke, but I must have forgotten about the lung infection and the allergies. All of that will definitely slow you down! I guess I just keep hoping that things will get better for you.
You raised a good son in Mack! I'm always glad to hear of his professional success and his dedication to his old man.
- Murray
I remember about the stroke, but I must have forgotten about the lung infection and the allergies. All of that will definitely slow you down! I guess I just keep hoping that things will get better for you.
You raised a good son in Mack! I'm always glad to hear of his professional success and his dedication to his old man.
- Murray
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Mack told me a couple days ago (He's back home now), about Sneaky: "That cat acts like a spoiled child, and it is entirely YOUR FAULT."
He's right, of course.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Sneaky was being really cuddly last night. I was sitting on the sofa and he slept with his head on my arm for a long time. I snapped a couple of photos and made a short video. He finally woke up to ask for food.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Sneaky has suddenly gotten very possessive and territorial about the catnip plants I'm growing in flower pots outside my back door.
Last night, I was watering them, and he ran over and jumped on one of the pots and glared at me. After that, I touched a leaf on one of the plants and he scratched me! A few minutes later, I walked over to the flowerpots and touched another leaf and Sneaky ran over and took another swipe at me!
Never get between a junkie and his drugs, lol.