Avoiding Mondays

Is it just me, or do everybody's cats hate Mondays?  Starting on Sunday night, my crew seems to go into full "Monday Avoidance" mode.  They seem to think that if they can stop me doing the things I need to do to get ready for the next day, they can stop it from coming, so they do their best to distract me from things like making sure the phone, PDA, and iPod are charged up, getting my shower, setting the alarm, and getting to sleep at a decent hour.  On Monday morning, they take turns settling in on top of my clothes so I can't get dressed and on my bed so I can't make it.  All the while, giving me those big-eyed "but you're supposed to stay home with me!" looks.  It's even worse after a long weekend or a vacation.  When I went back to work after being home for two weeks following foot surgery, every one of them made a point of giving me reproachful, "but we had an agreement" looks.  It would help if I could get them to understand the link between my going to work and their living in the style to which they've become accustomed (roof over their heads, clean litter, regular meals, that sort of thing).  Has anyone ever successfully explained this link to a cat?  I haven't.

Subtle Encroachment

I've noticed through observation that Mittens has a very sneaky way of getting other cats to vacate places she wants to be.  Where Puff or Romana will either complain to me or just go up and start swatting, Mittens simply goes over and claims just a little part (the edge of the Basket or a corner of a bed) then gradually stretches and moves over until she crowds the other cat out.  The other cat has a choice between accepting her company (and having her sprawl on top of him/her) or moving.  Even Finn is not immune.  She managed to crowd him off Di's bed last night.  With Fred, it depends on how determined he is.  The other night, she worked her way into the Basket with him, but he refused to budge.  Last night, she ended up pushing him off the bed as well.  Strangely, it rarely results in an actual fight.

Sibling Rivalry

On top of the tall dresser in the bedroom, we have a large basket with a pillow in it.  It started out life as a gift basket to the office from a vendor, and once all the goodies had been divvied up, I took the basket because it is the perfect size for a cat bed.  The cats think so, too.  There is an intense rivalry for the basket and the top level of the climber between Mittens, Puff, and Romana.  The other night, Puff was being greedy.  Having given Romana the shove from the top level of the climber, she settled in there quite nicely -- until Romana decided she wanted to go in the Basket.  Then Puff jumped up and ran over to get into the basket before Romana could.  I put Romana in the top level of the climber, and Puff ran over there to try and chase her out of that.  I intercepted Puff and explained that she could have either the climber or the basket, but that she couldn't keep both at the same time.  I don't think she understood or accepted that concept, so she decided instead to go settle in on Di's pillow and sulk.  Cats!  Gotta love' em!

Mom's Visit

My mom came to visit over the weekend, and I was a little surprised that the cats (with one exception) came out to meet her all on their own.  Mittens stayed under the daybed, and when I asked her if she wanted to come meet her Grandma Marisue, she gave me that "No, thank you; I'm comfortable right here" look that means she'll come out when she's good and ready and not a millisecond before.  The others all came wandering up to say hello to her -- even Puff, who's normally extremely shy.  Romana not only let mom pet her (another one who usually goes under the bed when anyone comes over), but actually reached out and grabbed her when she turned away.  Unfortunately, she missed Mom's sleeve and put a claw-hole in her hand, but Mom was willing to forgive her.

That evening, Mom and I went to see Riverdance, the final show of the farewell tour.  We both enjoyed it immensely, and I'm glad I got the chance to see it live before it went away completely.

Conspiracy

I did say it doesn't get updated very often!

Auntie Di just called me to tell me she was home, and that Finn was now conspiring with the neighbors (as well as our favorite radio station). When she got in the car to come home from shopping, they were playing one of his "cat wants out" songs. Then as she was coming up to the front door, one of our downstairs neighbors commented that it was a lovely day and asked if she'd be bringing the cat out! Of course he then met her at the door and demanded to go out. So when I get home tonight, it looks like we'll be taking the boys out for a little while!

Wabble Opens Doors

My youngest boy has gotten taller than I realized. A few weeks ago when I was doing laundry, I came out of the laundry room to find several of the cats roaming around the hall. Since my roommate was home, I thought she must have let them out, because I was sure I had pulled the door closed behind me. She heard me chasing them in and came to see what was going on. She hadn't even realized they were out! When I went back to the laundry room, I came back just in time to see Wabble coming out. Di swore he had opened the door himself. A couple of days later, I saw it with my own eyes. I had forgotten to lock the door when I came in from work, and Wabble went to the door and meowed. I looked to see what was going on in time to see him sit up, brace one paw against the door frame, and pull down on the door handle (we have ADA levers on the doors in our apartment). The door popped open enough that he could drop down and get a paw in there to pull the door open enough to get out. Now we have to lock the door even if we're just going to the laundry room, mail box, or dumpster.

Once again, my cats have proven that they are smarter than I am. It also means that we have to be home when Maintenance comes by because we can't lock them in the bedroom any more.

A New Blog Home

To give fair warning to new readers of this blog, it doesn't get updated very often. I have a tendency to forget for months on end that I even have it. To reintroduce my family to those who may not know us, it consists of myself, a full-time Department Digithead for the Exposition Sales department in a major trade association, variously full- or part- time student at a local community college (to get "officially smart" in what I've been doing and teaching myself for the past 20 years), and full-time cat mom; my roommate, a customer service assistant at a nearby grocery store and full-time "cats' favorite auntie"; His Grace, Sir Frederick, Duke of Northern Virginia (affectionately known as Freddie), a Siamese male who rules the roost; Nittany Lion (affectionately known as Mittens), a Siamese female who is very affectionate, but has a very loud soprano voice (especially when she wants something); two of her children (resulting from an adventure she had that was chronicled in the early part of this blog) Wabble, a tabby boy who is shaped like a Siamese, but scaled up to about double size (it's hard to believe that big boy came out of such a little Mother); and Sugar Paws, a cute little black girl with white paws and a white exclamation point on her nose (who looks just like her Mother with a different paint job); Finn Mac Cool, a Tonkinese (we think) whom we found at a local shelter while looking for the missing Mittens, and who is now a big Irish boy with a soft meow and a purr like a Mack truck; Coco Puff, a Siamese mix we also found while looking for Mittens. She looks like a Siamese done large with full Siamese coloring and a voice to match, but she's a real snugglebug when she wants to be; and Romana, a long-haired grey lady with a plumy tail and eyes that are green like springtime. Mittens also had two other kittens from her adventure, a grey-and-white pair now named Jamie and Zoe and living with their adoptive parents in Manassas. Our outside family also includes various birds, squirrels, and chipmunks who come to our feeder. The chipmunks only seem to come one at a time, so for a long time we thought they were all the same one and called them all Chippie (except when one got inside and became temporarily "that bloody rodent" (see "The Great Chipmunk Adventure" for more details on that one)).

Yesterday, Sugar Paws, Wabble, and Puff flushed Chippie out of the corner by the potting soil again when I went out to fill the feeder, but this time he escaped under the door of the utility closet. You should have seen the cats put on the brakes to stop from careening into the door!

As the days dwindle into Fall, the weather is turning colder, especially at night, although the days have still been fairly warm. We see a lot more squirrels out and about as they gather in their winter stores, and the time we have to take the boys out walking is limited -- especially since poisonous snakes have been seen in the area. According to the local news, a dog in the area was bitten and barely survived -- and the dog they were showing was a Golden Retriever. I don't want to risk my boys until we've had a solid frost so all the snakes go into hibernation.

I think Chippie either has a nest or a passage to his nest in the utility closet. I keep seeing him dashing back and forth across the balcony with his cheek pouches full. Most of the cats are asleep right now, except Sugar Paws, who is sitting under the coffee table watching the show outside the sliding door.

The other thing you may notice about these postings is that I never seem to know how to finish one off.