Thoroughly Poetic Thankful Thimble Thursday

Whew. We've made it to Thursday. This is a fantastic day of the week, one reason being that it means we get to participate in Angel Sammy and Teddy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge.

Each week, our hosts give us a photo prompt to guide us on or poetic journey. This week's photo is such a lovely, nostalgic image. See?

Unsurprisingly, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that there image were all sorts of childhood games that involved playing in the mud. Of course, those rainy day activities often included making some mud pies. And can you all guess a certain kitty who came to my mind at that thought? None other than a certain tortie named Mudpie, of course! One thing led to another, and this poem was scribbled up:

Rainy Skies and Mud Pies

Rain, rain, won't you please just go away?
Soggy grass is certainly no fun place to play.
Mimi, for one, wished to go outside and have fun,
If only the rain clouds would depart and make room for the sun.

To the outdoors Mimi was growing more and more eager to go,
But she preferred not to play in the rain or the snow.
But, indeed, that day it was raining cats and dogs.
It was certainly no day to be wearing your clogs.

After a tad bit of moaning and complaining went on,
Mimi was given a bit of advice from her mom.
"Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass," her mother did say.
"Instead, little Mimi, life is all about learning to dance in the rain."

At that, Mimi's mother urged and shooed her outside.
Perhaps she had grown tired of her daughter's whines and cries?
Mimi was, at least, excited to wear her new rain boots of pink,

Even if the gloomy weather outside did stink.

When Mimi complained that the rain left her nothing to do,
Her mother suggested she make a mud pie or two.
Mimi knew she quite enjoyed apple pie and pumpkin pie,
But she wasn't sure about pie made of dirt mixed with rain from the sky.

With nothing else to occupy her time, though,
Mimi headed out in her pink rain boots and looked to and fro.
Finally, she caught sight of her target,
A giant puddle of mud not far from the garden.

At first, Mimi simply walked and waded through the mud puddle.
It was still raining so much that the puddle would soon double.
Admitting defeat on that wet, dreary day,
Mimi knelt down to do what her mother did say.

She grabbed handfuls of mud and tried to mold it,
But through her small fingers it would only slide and slip.
Finally, Mimi managed to form something like a pie,
But something about it just seemed quite awry.
Her mother once made a chocolate pie for a party she did host,
But it certainly hadn't looked this, well, muddy and gross.

Giving up on the notion of making pie out of wet dirt,
Mimi figured going for a muddy something else couldn't hurt.
And so, she piled up more mud, and then some more,
But this new messy creation seemed even more of a chore.
What Mimi tried to build was a big muddy castle,
But it quickly collapsed despite all of the hassle.

Frustrated and quite unhappily covered in mud,
Mimi threw a pile of said mud so far it went thud.
Oh, but would you look at that!
The thrown pile of mud looked like the head of a cat!

She very well may have failed at making a mud pie and castle,
But Mimi was determined to complete that cat without getting frazzled.
And so she placed and molded mud with the utmost of care.
Mimi gave the muddy cat paws, ears, and even muddy whiskers and hair.

When all was said and done and the cat was complete,
Mimi rose and stood on her pink-booted feet.
She gazed down at her creation with a critical eye,
Unhappy that it was already being distorted by the rain from the sky.

Sad to think that her work could be so quickly undone,
Mimi didn't know if she could even now find joy in the sun.
Just as Mimi was about to turn and walk away,
Something stopped her and made her stay.

Mimi most certainly did not know how,
But her muddy little friend stood up and said, "Meow!"
The cat was black, brown, and all shades of mud.
This messy kitty creation was certainly no dud!

Mimi smiled and laughed as the cat now rolled in the mud.
The kitty certainly didn't mind that the sky was sending them a flood.
In fact, the mud cat seemed eager to play in the rain all day.
And so, out there the kitty and Mimi together did play and play.
In fact, that's exactly what they did thereafter each and every day.

***

Do any of you friends of ours know what's up next? It happens every Thursday. If you guessed Thimble, as well Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop, you guessed right!

Thimble doesn't necessarily appreciate that her photographer can't seem to manage getting her ears in the shot. Like, ever. Nevertheless, Thimble is very grateful for sun puddles, which she is also grateful to enjoy from the comfort of her air conditioned home.

Indeed, all of us here are so very thankful for sunshine as well as our air conditioning, which has come in very handy during these recent 90°F days. We are also thankful for this wonderful blogging community. We know we say this often, but you all really do make us feel so very happy. Friends like all of you are a true blessing.

***

Last but not least, we have for you tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins. The first two came from the mind of Ellen of 15andmeowing, and I came up with the second two.

1. I have faith in _________.

2. Yesterday, I _________.

3. My favorite place to be is _________.

4. If I was granted one wish, it would be _________.

We'll see your tomorrow, friends!

***

Our Tip of the Day:

We're still in the midst of our series of tips all about decorating your home around your furbabies. Today's tip on that topic involves protecting your furniture from kitty claw. After all, cats have claws. That's simply part of who they are. That being said, that doesn't mean there aren't safe, humane ways of protecting your furniture from those claws.

To begin, of course place cat scratchers throughout your house in order to give your cat appropriate places to use their claws. Cats often like to scratch as a more or less territorial display, so make sure that at least some of their scratchers are somewhere visible and in the open. You can also place a scratcher near any furniture to which your furbaby's claws gravitate. This way, your kitty can have an appropriate scratching location where you can immediately redirect them should they begin to use the furniture instead.

We recently mentioned this next idea in another tip, but we'll say it again. To protect your furniture from cat claws while also giving your cat a proper place to scratch, you can wrap sisal rope around furniture legs, rails of staircases, and other similar locations. Again, this not only protects those home features from cat claws, but also simultaneously gives your cat another appropriate place to use their claws. Another potential form of protection against cat claws for your furniture is a heavy-duty couch or chair cover.

As we said above, cats indeed have claws. Those claws are simply part of who they are. While those claws can sometimes find their way to furniture, there are proper ways to combat this. Simply research types of scratchers for your kitty to use, create your own scratchers using sisal rope, or find another way to protect the furniture while also treating your kitty and their claws in a humane way. When your kitty scratches furniture, calmly redirect them to a proper cat scratcher, so that they can learn where they should and should not sharpen those claws of theirs. Of course, also don't forget to regularly trim your kitty's nails!