What kind of blog is catobear.com?

Well. It’s kind of a 50/50 mix of my personal vintage postcard collection and a lifestyle blog:

• My postcard collection is mostly mid-century modern chrome postcards of motels. On the postcard posts, I also do a bit of research to see what has become of the motel or building in question. Sometimes, I’m able to track down either the postcard sender or recipient and update the reader about them, too.
• What is a lifestyle blog? This website notes that lifestyle blogs “focus largely on traditionally feminine topics such as fashion, home decor, crafts, food, and family.” In my case, it’s mostly about cats, gardening, crochet, sewing and my life living in a small Michigan city. Also complaining about the weather. And sometimes, photos of the trips we take and the food I am about to eat. Also chatter about working in an animal shelter.

The History

Catobear.com started as a Project 365 in January of 2007, with the new year’s resolutions. In September of 2009, I started the Postcard Vacation blog. Postcard Vacation featured vintage postcards of vacation locations, along with the description from the postcard itself describing the property. In January of 2011, I combined the old Project 365 photo blog with its outdated technology (hello, front page extensions!) with Postcard Vacation to form this one blog, all housed on catobear.com. Total, I’ve been blogging about my daily life and my hobby more than 13 years. Crazy!

Who is Cato the Bear (aka Catobear)?

Cato was born sometime in September of 2001 on the Bosserd farm in Marshall, Michigan. Bob and Iris took me out there to pick her out, and she came home with us, a tiny little ball of fluff. When she was very little, she looked just like a tiny bear cub.

Likes: eating, napping, fresh catnip, drinking water from the bathtub, milk or ice cream.

Dislikes: Maxy Cat, being brushed/petted too long, being told to go to bed, going to the vet, the arrival of company.

Sadly, Cato passed away in October 2019. She is greatly missed.

Is Cato an only cat?

No! Cato lives in (somewhat…not really) harmony with Maxy the Cat. Maxy was adopted from the Eaton County Humane Society when they had a small office in Potterville. He just turned ten years old in March 2013 and has lived with us since he was about 12 weeks old.

Likes: pretzels, cuddling, playing, taking walks outside on the leash, catnip, tormenting Cato.

Dislikes: car rides, visiting the vet, being told to come inside from the back porch, being told it’s time for bed.

You post a lot of photos of other cats on catobear.com. Why?

I am employed at a Humane Society. We have an open-range cattery, which provides non-stop possibilities for cat photography. They’re all so cute, how could you not take their photo?

If you enjoy catobear.com…

• Follow/like/whatever me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
• Add me to your Bloglovin list.
• Send me an email at jessicaleegilbert (at) gmail with your home address and I will mail you a vintage postcard of your very own to start your collection!