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stormybailey.bsky.social
The CatWirks
@stormybailey.bsky.social
200 followers 58 following 200 posts
Dedicated to Snow, my beautiful Snowshoe rescue. Current home of feralish cats Foxx and Tabouli. This is also where I nap, write, bend wire, string beads, paint, draw, drink coffee and occasionally wash dishes. All photos mine unless indicated.
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stormybailey.bsky.social
Tabouli came in last night after being out all the night before. Foxx played with her until she was exhausted. Stella came in to eat and wanted back outside immediately. So I guess I have a pet, a stray and a feral. And nothing is the same from day to day. #SnowPlaceFerals
Tabouli extends a tired paw to say thank you. Foxx just beams at me and winks, happy for the reunion.
December 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Temps were 20 F last night. I had 3 overnight guests. All behaved beautifully and retired early, Tabouli and Stella under a chair and Foxx in a sweatshirt-lined box. They are no longer ferals. They are pets now, out doing their usual morning things. We'll see if they come back inside tonight.
Foxx is solid black with no distinguishing marks that I can find. He does have a very high-pitched meow and became friendly from the first time I picked him up to set him near his food. He is the ruling intact male for now. He has an appointment with the Humane Society next month for TNR but already the R part has become negotiable. Stella is probably from a different litter than Foxx although she is almost his size. She is the most recent to visit us and isn't a regular although she got swept up last call for the night. Stella is the first of several colony voids to carry a white star on her throat. Tabouli is a gray tabby with a white chin and throat. She is very small for her age and the most anxious. It took a long time for her to approach her food when I was present. But she was the first one to claim a spot on my legs last night. She and Foxx are almost always together. He is very protective of her.
December 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Day 21 Kate Bush's This Woman's Work was featured in "She's Having a Baby" with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Soundtrack also included "Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke, covered here a capella by Laurence Fishburne, Charlie Sheen et al in "Cadence." #DavidsMonthOfMusic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl65...
Screenshot from movie "Cadence" (1990), with Laurence Fishburne leading a group of stockade prisoners including Charlie Sheen, bringing up the rear.
November 21, 2025 at 4:01 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
feral boi wants to be my boi. Tonight Foxx walked away from his food to come love on me. Plans to TNR him but he soooo wants inside. He would be someone's wonderful pet. But I want someone to love him as I do and be kind to this sweet, gentle, loving void. #SnowPlaceFerals #CatsOfBluesky #aww
Foxx is a young cat/older kitten about 9 months old. Solid black with tiny patches of white hair not visible in this image. Beseeching golden eyes say be my hooman.
November 16, 2025 at 12:49 AM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Tabouli has stolen my heart (don't tell Snow). She was so happy to see me, she purred and did a little dance, making biscuits on the concrete porch. She and Denzel are tolerating my picking them up, if squirmily. Here is Denzel, master of all he surveys. #CatsOfBluesky #SnowPlaceFerals #Cats
November 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
if you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it. Chain game.
cover art for The Cars' second album, Candy-O, by famous pinup illustrator, Alberto Vargas
November 9, 2025 at 5:27 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Spike is a girl.

She finally trusts me to check her for identifying traits. She has a white star on her throat and a white merkin. Google it. She has a most attractive blep. She also has no boy parts.

Now I cannot stop calling her Stella even tho Spike is a perfectly good name for a molly.
young black cat taking time out from lunch to blep for the camera. Look at those wide paws. She is too dark to count toes from this angle. Maybe one of these days she will flip over and show her belly. And her beans.
November 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
everything about this photo is perfect. Def frameworthy. Something about downspouts. Here's one I did a few years back:
Looking up past a downspout to the bright full moon, moving slowly behind a screen of clouds. Flamingo Road, Memphis, TN, USA, 2022.
November 6, 2025 at 5:26 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Tabouli & Denzel finally trust me. Tabs' tail serves as a chastity belt but she rolled belly up last week. Def a little femme. Yesterday was 1st time she did not flinch when I stroked her back. Denzel has a long battle scar on left rear leg. First feral to let me pet him. Healing for us all 💕
young gray tabby girl and deep silky black boi eating from their own individual paper bowls, one can of food each with a third can ready if they ask for it.
November 4, 2025 at 4:08 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
My first year in 5 to welcome trick-or-treaters, 3 little ones and 3 big ones (16, I think). I had 4 cats (Denzel loved them), 1 Care Bear and 1 princess who thought the whole thing was suspicious. I couldn't remember where I put the candy so I gave out snack size Fritos. They were a hit.
vintage illustration of three black cats summoning spirits with a Ouija board.
November 1, 2025 at 1:17 AM
stormybailey.bsky.social
your guide to Halloween baking.
a dozen individually baked chocolate chip cookies with issues identified by caption: control, baked too long, too much baking soda, melted butter, ionized plasma butter, live scorpions, haunted, too much chanting, not enough chanting, sentient oven, too much flour
October 31, 2025 at 4:02 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
After a summer of doctors/vet visits, Snow and I are glad for autumn! After a year of socializing my ferals, I am able to actually pet them! Beautiful voids Spike, Denzel and Jimi show up for meals with sweet, shy gray tabby, Tabs. Bonding with her has been slow but no one can resist me for long.
young black cat named Spike, waiting patiently while I prepare his dinner. He likes to sit on the edge of this planter where the oxalis is thriving. He knows he is photogenic and is proud to have his picture taken.
October 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
I spent several days wondering if we have two gray tabbies or just one. This is Diva. If she is the only one, then she is a shape shifter.

Snow looks for her all day. Snow lets me know when porch food needs replenishing. Diva is family, whether she likes it or not. But I suspect that she does. <3
closeup of young female gray tabby cat with distinct white markings and gorgeous black "eyeliner"
April 23, 2025 at 6:54 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
George was out back by the old shed.
I stepped out to say hi.
He got ready to bolt but didn't.

Then at the front door,
George was waiting!
How could he run that fast?

Back to the kitchen for cat food.

OMG, there are two Georges!

I have another black kitten!
Young adult with older kitten, both solid black. George is on the left. They are looking at a car that just parked across the street. Driver is exiting the car with a dog on a leash. George stood his ground but his mini-me was too scared to stick around.
April 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
March 25, 2025 at 6:03 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
I am breaching my own policy for a minute. I am so embarrassed. On so many levels. About so many things. But most of them about what passes for government in my country.

Rant ends here.

This has been a Public Service Announcement. Or not.
A 1989 quote by Pete Hamill, former editor in chief of the New York Daily News. Subtext reads, "The above quote by Pete Hamill was written in 1989 after then citizen Trump took out full-page ads calling for New York State to adopt the death penalty following the arrest of black and Latino teenagers in the Central Park Five rape case. "The boy showed us his cards then. But we were too busy counting our chips."
March 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
the area sirens just sounded. Thunderstorm coming in like a bomb. Head for shelter. Half a banana for scale. #weirdweather
#bringyourpetsin #MemphisWeather
March 23, 2025 at 10:23 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
@igor-yankov.bsky.social This is the one daffodil in bloom right now. #spring #flower #hope #steadfast
a pale yellow daffodil, fully open, blooming in a scrubby area near the faded back fence
March 23, 2025 at 7:23 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Snow came to me crying. Something was amiss.

What? Kitty chores were done. But she insisted.

I said, "Show me."

She led me to the door.

George had spilled his food.

For the first time ever, he didn't scurry when I stepped outside. Here's proof. <3 #SnowshoeCat #CatsOfBluesky #FeralLove
Solid black feral male cat enjoying fresh bowl of food on the doormat. His coat is so shiny it is like a mirror in the sun. This is George. It's the first time he has let me get this close to him. Major success!
March 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
Snow's tail does not want to be washed and puts up a spirited fight for freedom. Snow is puzzled at my laughter. Surely this is serious business.
#SnowDays #SnowshoeCat #CatsOfBluesky
#BlueskyCats #Cats
March 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
March 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
I'm unfollowing some folks today. Not personal; believe me, I enjoy being in community again. But my job is covering world events and politics and I am tired of that man getting every headline in the news.

When I joined, my news feed was full of art. I'm working my way back to that. Best to all.
colorful cartoon meme, cat holding two signs. One says "Grateful to be here." The other says "But, respectfully ... WTF" Art is signed @katieabey
March 19, 2025 at 5:49 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
I was somewhere yesterday and this popped up. My first thought was, "Sardonicus." Alas, it wasn't yours. Hopperstad Church, Norway.
hopperstad church, norway
March 7, 2025 at 5:58 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
funniest thing I have seen today.
meme of a cartoon witch with this text, "Just a heads up that I'll have sex with you this Halloween if you go as the Canadian Prime Minister."
March 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
stormybailey.bsky.social
It's my day off and I'm in boycott. But it's gorgeous outside. Snow's feral friends ignored breakfast, maybe to hunt their own food. So she cries all morning with a need I cannot satisfy: peer companionship.

My solution: Nap-inducing bird videos with sound. #SnowDays #SnowshoeCat #CatsOfBluesky
Snowshoe cat dozing on a flannel baby blanket, in a room full of ambient light. A sunbeam from the window warms her tummy.
February 28, 2025 at 8:43 PM