Smilebox

A greeting card by Smilebox

The Vet redux!

It was time for my annual physical recently so I was stuffed in The Box (how I hate that!) and wailed the entire way to the vet's office where Dr. Larrison said my heart was beating so hard that he would barely need the stethoscope. I was complimented on my accommodating behavior (actually, I was just too scared to move, and I'm much too polite to bite or scratch) but the bad news is I have a cavity and will have to have a tooth pulled within the year. Woe. Turns out that the respiratory illness I had several years ago Lodged in my Teeth and the cavity was formed as my body tried to drill down to the virus to destroy it - that's your vet\medical lesson for the day. I hope my other teeth aren't infected! How can I battle my mice properly if I don't have a good bite?

Mama Calls Me...

Quinn
Quinnie (Quinn E)
Quinn-Quinn
Baby Kitteh
Kitty Cat
Puddy Tat
Soft-soft Girl
Tikky
Tikky Boo
Sweet Kitteh
Fuzz Face
My Girl
Mama's Precious Baby Kitten
Boo Tikkeh

Okay, when they're spread out into normal conversation, they don't seem so saccharine. Listing them like this is the 'sweetened, condensed version.'

Confesson Redux

I have another confession...I am a lazy cat - I haven't posted in forever! So I'll make up for it with some photos, two of which showcase the "lazy," or at least the lazing.

Cattail

I have a confession: I suffer from BTS (Busy Tail Syndrome). I suspect if I was an outside cat and wanted to hunt routinely, it would interfere with my Stealth Mode (I can just hear the birds now: "There's a cat tail flicking around in the shrubbery; quick, fly away!"). It is a little embarrassing to have such a lack of control over a body part, but I've grown used to it. Mom swears there's a science fiction story about aliens inhabiting cats' tails and controlling them, and says she's going to read it to me someday. She's a big help....

I don't know what causes it, but I can be relaxed and snoozing gently on a lap while my tail proceeds to thwack the person I'm lying on repeatedly. Even if I'm cuddled up in the bedcovers on a quiet morning, my tail beats a not-so-gentle tattoo on the duvet as I purr.

Oh, well. It's more of an annoyance than a debilitation, so I don't fret about it much.

Alaska sounds nice - not!

Dad and Mom are back from a few days visiting family in Alaska. They saw an Eagle in downtown Seward, a Moose a couple of yards off the trail in Anchorage and, moments later, had to scamper back by the moose as they went Right Back Up the trail, which turned out to be guarded by Two Black Bears just around the corner! And they would have seen a Grizzly mom and cubs along the highway, if the police hadn't scared them away by shooting at them. Since all of these creatures would make a Small Meal Out of Me, I'm just as glad I got to stay home with the catsitter taking care of me! I don't think I'm cut out for the wilds of Alaska. The Anchorage folks were impressed, though, since they never see bears unless the out-of-towners are around; it's some kind of mystic connection the Oregon and Californians bring with them. Last time they saw a grizzly mom and cubs wading out into a river full of fly fishermen and stealing lunches and fish stashes. One cub even took a bag-o-fish off into the woods as a snack for later.

It's sure good to have the folks back home, though. I was lonely and missed having treats and mousey tosses and snuggles. I followed mom around the house as she unpacked and then curled up beside her for an hour or two. This morning, I helped her sleep in and kept her company for several hours. Right now we're spending a quiet morning catching up on email and DVR shows. I feel much better now that things are back to normal and am going to settle in for a nice snooze. Don't I look relaxed?

Busy Weekends

What a strange couple of weekends it has been. First Mom disappeared for days and left me and Dad home alone while she played in Pendleton and created altered books with Jill (remember her? she is Jet and Lucy and Sam's mom). While we were home together, Dad tried to get me to sit on his lap and snuggle but I was feeling aloof. Boy, if I had had any idea how crazy the next weekend was going to be, I'd have taken him up on his offer!

Thursday started out as a perfectly normal day with everyone going off to work, but when Mom came home she brought 5 people and a Border Collie with her! Seems her best friend from Grad School, Carol, was visiting from New Jersey. Carol, her husband Gary and their daughter, Kate, flew out to Seattle, picked up two friends from their old Potsdam days - Gomer and Jane (with canine Rob Roy) - and all headed down to our place to stay through mid-day Saturday! It was mass chaos. I barely was able to stick my head out of hiding for a minute before someone would startle me. I was clever and used my litter box in the early morning before they all started to get up, but I wound up spending most of the weekend sacked out on a closet shelf in Mom and Dad's bedroom, hidden by Dad's shirts. Mom set up a duplicate food dish, water dish and litter box in that bedroom so I had a self-contained retreat, which was very comforting. Rob Roy was an older gentleman and I would have liked to make his acquaintance, but there were just too many humans out and about all the time. Eventually all the excitement died down as the big group headed off to visit more friends down at OSU before Carol and her family polished off their west coast trip at the Puzzlers' League convention in Seattle. Sounds like fun!

This weekend has been much quieter [you know it's been crazy when firecracker weekend is 'quieter'!] and Mom says my favorite visitor, Nancy, is coming to work on SoulCollage, so I'll get to flirt with her. Oh, boy!

Toy Report

I like this toy...mostly because its purpose is to Deliver Treats. It didn't take me long to figure out that the good smell was coming from the tummy pocket and I spent several pleasurable minutes sniffing and pawing and exploring before I worked them out of hiding and devoured them. My technique has refined over the past several weeks, of course, and gotten faster. Unfortunately, my Preferred Method of Attack is to nom the treats out of the lip of the pocket, so the toy is already pretty threadbare and obviously destined for a short life span; brief but glorious, I'd say. Yum!

Hugs

Mom scooped me up, put me on her lap and informed me that it was National Hug Your Cat Day. I made it clear that I thought it should be National Lick Your Owner's Nose Day and hopped down.

Anniversary

Hard to believe, but it's been six months since I came to live at my new home. Things have settled down nicely, I have to say; and I really like it here! I have settled on several favorite snoozing spots (the back of the armchair, the top bunk in the spare bedroom, the ottoman in front of the TV and, of course, my basket in the living room) and I've worn out several mice over the months playing Chase and Assault. I've successfully trained mom and dad to play quick games of Toss the Crunchie whenever they get close to the snack jar in the kitchen; and I now spend quite a few hours on quiet weekends sacked out on a handy lap. I've even become somewhat accustomed to being picked up and snuggled, although I never allow it for long, but it's not as bad as I first thought. Mom tends to bury her nose in my fur and use the word 'plush' a lot during the time I spend in her arms, which is flattering, of course.

As you can see, one of my favorite new rituals is the morning Reading of the Paper. I ADORE the crinkly, crunchy sound and feel of newspaper! It's one of my favoritist things in the Whole World, so every morning I'm given the sections to sit and meditate on. When a new section is laid down next to the one I'm on, I often move to the new spot, or align myself becomingly over both. Mom thinks it's funny to drape them over me, and I put up with this to please her. Actually, it makes it easier to nibble on the edges when they're up in the air like that, too. There's nothing like the taste of newsprint to start your day. Life is good!