Saturday, June 30, 2007
It's about the crunchies: Whenever I vacuum the kitchen, I stack up their many bowls on top of the big tupperware crunchie storage thing. It never fails that as soon as the vacuum is turned off, someone shows up to sit pointedly in the middle of the floor, looking concerned. When the bowls go back into place, that cat or "kitten" may or may not crunch down a bead or two... The other day when I didn't get reminded and didn't put the bowls back immediately, shortly thereafter I found little Cloud on her tippy toes, eating out of the top of the stack and looking quite pitiful. When I quickly put that bowl down in front of her, she wandered off... And there's always someone sitting sadly beside a half empty (or quarter empty) bowl - often with full bowls all around - waiting for a top off - which is then pretty much ignored..... So, here's the pattern: when the bowls are really not empty, there's all this faux anxiety and manipulation of their human. This morning, when said human slept in late and got up to really almost empty bowls, they're all like Blase, blase. I've been up an hour at least, and they're all doing all kinds of stuff, but nobody seems to have noticed the crunchies levels enough to bother to nag me......
Friday, June 29, 2007
Must've Been Some Rumpus!
How did the longish, somewhat stiff and fairly heavy hallway runner wind up 100 percent inside the bedroom?
ISGTILM
Inspite of an embarassment of toys, and active discouragement on the part of his human, Angel insists on playing with the bedroom blinds' cords. Last week the human found the back window's cord bitten right through. This morning it was the window by the bed. IAGTHC! And it's a good thing I love him! (Angel says, Whaaat??)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Need Infrared Web-Cams
In the middle of the night the human had to get up and clap at a commotion. Because it was dark and she didn't have her contacts in, she couldn't identify the commoters. Only Petunnia had an alibi, being still on the pillow when the human got back into bed. ('Toonya says, Hey, I could commote if I wanted to!)
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Intolerance
The human is at the computer, with one arm dangling down so Cloud can lick and nibble fingertips - it's her idea of quality time. In comes Angel - does nothing - and without missing a lick she bops him. So the human holds her on her lap for a while. Is she protecting Cloud? Or Angel...
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tolerance
Lucy's on the bed. She's not snoozing, but she's not wide awake either, meditating, maybe... Up comes AreToo, who settles onto the pillow right above Lucy. He curls up, intent apon snoozing, with one paw stretched out off the pillow coming to rest on Lucy's fur. He gives her a pat. He actually flexes his paw into her fur. And Lucy just lays there, meditating. If it has been Petunnia, or, God forbid, Cloud, we would have had a far different outcome....
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Guilty Conscience Or Clever Move?
This morning when the human heard splashing coming from the kitchen, she poked her head in to look at Angel. Now, mind you, she has never said, Angel, don't do that! Or used the "n" word or anything!! None-the-less, Angel jumped away from the water and immediately began to wash his paws. Was it a when-in-doubt-wash move, or was he preempting my drying his paws for him?
Friday, June 22, 2007
Our Morning
Human here: Early this morning (8:00ish) I left for a doctor appointment only to meet Brandon - who cuts my grass - there to trim my hedges... I can't find your outdoor socket, says Brandon. (That would be because I don't have one.) Ok, Brandon - We can run the power cord out through the front door, but you have to be very careful about the cats! No problem, says Brandon, who - it turns out - has 12 dogs, 2 cats and a parrot... So the human goes off to her appt with a strange mixture of trust and concern. An hour and a half later - closer to work than to home - the human gives in to the need to go home and count... Brandon is gone, the bushes are neatly (if boringly) trimmed, and the human goes inside: No cats. Zero. Zip. Nothin'.... And then, as she stands in the utterly empty living room, a little face appears from behind the door to the attic. Pretty soon there is Buddy, Angel, AreToo, Cloud, and Cyrrie... Good enough, human thinks, since the senior babes are the least likely to have gone for a stroll without permission. (And when the human got home from work, there they were. Of course.)
Those Gorgeous Paws
Human came to consciousness this am with Angel enthusiastically kneading her tummy - fortunately there were layers of stuff between her and his claws so it was actually quite a sweet way to wake up. A little later in the kitchen she found him merrily and enthusiastically splashing the water out of the new bowl. She picked him up, dried him off, and he... purred.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
From The Dollar Store
It's a tiny little fan, bright purple, maybe 4 inches high, runs on AA batteries, more than likely made by slave labor in China, horrible for the environment, with soft blades so you don't accidentally cut off your nose, and it's noisy. When I turn it on, the guys, well, the "kittens" anyway, come running. They stare and stare and stare - do you think they think I'm purring?
Poor Lucy
She stepped into the hallway just as a thundering herd of "kittens" - all of them - were racing up and down in pursuit of a little red spot. (The human suspended the laser game until Lucy made it to safety.)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Baffled
I posted last night and the new post failed to appear; this morning it shows up in the list of posts - I can click view and see it, but it won't show up on the blog no matter how many times I click publish... Way weird.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Blame Angel
A while ago the human bought a very handsome, large and heavy, green and black (matched the kitchen) bowl that she thought would be perfectly unspillable. Tonight she came home, and it - quite full this morning - was nearly empty. Could they really have drunk up that much? (Remember, there's also the fountain and the for-drinking-and-spilling water in the bathtub.) Thinking it over, she inclined towards the spilling theory, even though there was no water on the kitchen floor at that moment. And even though there are at least 5 known water-spillers in this household, who is it most often caught with sopping wet paws? Well, there you have it.
Monday, June 18, 2007
It Was A Good Thing, Really
In the middle of the night, a loud barking sound woke up the human, who instantly went looking for Banshee. When it turned out to be Angel, evidently having a hairball attack, she was initially relieved. Then, typically paranoid, she started to worry that Angel, too, might become asthmatic. When Angel stopped barking and seemed fine, she went back to bed. Come morning, she found the fresh hairball - found it, of course, in the worst possible way - but was glad all the same...
Sunday, June 17, 2007
The Bed Cycle
At the end of the cycle there is chaos, utter and absolute: heaps of pillows and sheets, mounds of blankets and quilts, plus newspapers, magazines and many many books, hardcover and paperback, current reads and old favs... And over and around and under everything else are the cat toys! At the beginning of the cycle there is nothing, which freaks them out at first, but they quickly seem to appreciate the space and snoozily stretch themselves out to their hearts' content. Then the sheets and pillows come back (slowly, of course, because of all the help). And for a little while the human and the cats - and the kittens - enjoy the tidy spaciousness, but almost immediately chaos starts to creep back - first a book, then one toy, then another....
New Toys
Down from the attic? Sea Kelp Vegetable Protein Pack Totally Unique Treatment for Damaged Hair... Up from the basement? Gardener's Delight Magic Peat Pot 12 Pots.... Also: an antique dime bank.....
Saturday, June 16, 2007
And While I'm Complaining
I.
AreToo got into the vestibule again and chomped through a new bag of crunchies - way (OK, 2-3 days) before the old bag will be finished...II.
Lucy has another mat (matt?) (on her neck, no problem, really)....
III.
They all took ugly pills again.....
Sandy, Don't Listen
Err, read, whatever...
Petunnia's eye problem has come back, and she and the human are tussling over the drops again, and Cyrrie is no help whatsoever, since he, again, thinks maybe there's food involved somehow....
Petunnia's eye problem has come back, and she and the human are tussling over the drops again, and Cyrrie is no help whatsoever, since he, again, thinks maybe there's food involved somehow....
Friday, June 15, 2007
Once A Chompster
AreToo watched Cyrrie gobbling his human's fingertips, and clearly wanted to try. Cyrrie's gobbles, however enthusiastic, are kisses - AreToo just chomped, and then couldn't understand why the human wouldn't play anymore. (Time to invest in one of those glove-things?)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Karma
Thinking to make up for the dereliction of yesterday with a few cute (or at least semi-cute) pics, what happens but the camera batteries need recharging...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Noisy Morning
As AreToo and Angel race all over the house, pausing only for bouts of extreme wrastling, the human decides that AreToo really is fully recovered...
Monday, June 11, 2007
First Of All, AreToo's Fine
This morning, sitting at the computer with Aretoo sprawlled out on the floor to her right, the human's concentration was utterly exploded by AreToo's screaming because he was being rocked on. (The poor human has always been so paranoid about kittens - and cats - and the rocking chairs.) AreToo ran into the dining room and got up under the tablecloth, so the human got under the table to pet him and talk to him. Eventually she picked him up and carried him to the couch for cuddling. When he finally got down he seemed to be walking ok. He's had nip and treats since, while the human anxiously kept an eye on him until she had to to work. So, Aretoo seems to have recovered from his horrible ordeal, but the human remains a total nervous wreck.
Cyrrie's Morning
I.
In the computer room, he had to agitate for attention - Notice me, pet me, let me gobble your fingers, pick me up, let me go, start all over (and over and over and over...). (And over and over and....)II.
In the kitchen, the human turned away from the sink looking for a dish towel. Not knowing Cyrrie was right at her feet (she was in the kitchen, after all), she inadvertently driped a drop of water on him. He ran into the dining room, twitching, washing and looking back toward the kitchen in the most poignantly reproachful way...
III.
It got worse - human had peaches for breakfast. (Without cream...)