Jenny has to become the most impatient cat I know. It USED to be that she would jump up on the bed or the couch and wait for me to finish a sentence I am typing or whatever... then allow me to pet her. But NOW? She is meowing for attention as she is jumping up. Sometimes she meows before I even see her.
Jake can't really meow, so he just climbs up on me when he wants attention. But he at least has the decency to give me a minute if I'm in the middle of something.
And speaking of decency...
Lately I am lucky if I get 1/4 to 1/3 of the bed. Just look at this shit!
And that there is where they are feeling generous! Friday night I woke up because JENNY WAS KICKING ME OVER!! I was dazed and sleepy and very nearly fell off the bed! I think I had a grand total of 12 inches of bed to sleep in. And then she hopped off the bed and went downstairs. So... essentially she kicked me awake just to let me know she was leaving?
Monsters.
My cats are monsters.
My cats are not enjoying the cold weather... at all.
I saw Jake headed toward the catio and dropped everything so I could time how long he actually stayed out in these below-freezing temperatures. The answer is zero minutes. He got his head out the door flap and recoiled in horror. Jenny, who isn't one for playing these games, won't even go near the windows. She instead finds the warmest place in the house and sets up camp. Which I don't understand at all, because cats have a fur coat that must make them feel like 100°rees; even when it's cold...
Which now happens to be next to me on their electric blanket.
Stay warm out there.
And so Jake has started doing something new, and I don't understand it at all.
He will take a massive bite of wet food. Drop it on the floor next to him. Then eat smaller bites from there. Which is all kinds of concerning. There's no foot traffic in front of the cat feeding station, so I'm not worried about dirt... but I am very worried about germ buildup. And so I've been washing the floor down in-between my weekly steam cleaning.
No idea why cats suddenly develop bizarre and inexplicable behavior. But I guess they wouldn't be cats if they didn't.
And now there's the warming pads I put out in winter so Jake and Jenny can be comfortable without my having to pay a massive heating bill. They are on them a lot. Jenny takes the pad next to me on the couch. Jake takes the pad on the loveseat.
But now they are switching things up for some reason.
Jenny will be on her warming pad, then Jake will hop up and smack her because he wants it.
On Thursday I was working away on the couch when Jake jumped on the armrest so he could smack Jenny out of her place.
"JAAAAAAKE... don't do it. Your sister got there first. Go sit on the other warming pad. JAAAAAAKE... nooo... nooooooo"
At which point he withdraws his paw and sits on the arm of the couch as if that's what he was going to do all along. I assure you it was not...
If I don't notice what Jake is doing, bedlam and much running around the house ensues.
Sleeping. It's what cats do for 75% of their lives. Probably more.
And believe me, I am completely jealous. I'd be thrilled if I could manage to sleep even 30% of my life. Heck, some nights (as in every night this week, where I've been battling a runny nose) I'd be thrilled to get even 20%. Last night I got around 3-1/2 hours.
Their favorite place to sleep is on my bed with me. Jake will sometimes sleep all night there. Jenny bails the minute I turn my light off...
Jenny used to not want to be on the bed when Jake was there, but lately has been more proactive. Even going sofar as to plop her ass down next to him and smack him with her tail until he leaves...
But that's okay. When Jake and Jenny were kittens, they loved these cheap kitty beds that I got from Petco, so I bought a bunch of them. Eventually Jake was too big to fit, so I tossed all but a couple because the beds have their scent on them and I figured if I ever got another kitten, it would be a great way to get it used to their smell. Plus Jenny still sleeps in them sometimes. — Recently I noticed that Jake, after losing weight, fits again. Now it's his favorite place to sleep when he's not with me...
I wish he'd sleep at the end of the couch more often. because it's nice to have warm toes..
Jenny has a sour little face that I just love for her. And watching her sleep gives me a clue as to how that works. The fur camouflages her mouth a bit, so you can't see it turn up easily like with most cats. But she also has an underbite sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. Especially when she sleeps. I think when she does have her chin out, it makes her look a little more disgruntled...
Not that I care. She may have a sour look on her face sometimes, but she remains a sweet (albeit demanding) cat.
My house is a shambles. I've been working long hours and cleaning up hasn't been in the cards.
Today I finally had time to attempt to tackle the mess I live in.
It hasn't been going well, and it's all Jake and Jenny's fault.
The first thing I wanted to do was clean out my kitchen. I scrubbed the countertops and the sink, steam cleaned the floors, then tried to re-organize my cupboards. Starting with all the shopping bags that I keep to use as garbage bags. The problem is that I don't produce a lot of garbage, so the bags keep piling up. It really makes me wish that the grocery store would have a bag rental that allows you to have deliveries made in bags you rent, then you can trade the bags bag when you place your next order. Because I'm never going to re-use the number of bags I get.
To better organize the cupboard I toss them into, I threw them all out on the floor. It took all of ten seconds before the cats were digging into them. Not wanting to interrupt their fun, I figured that I'd just wait until they were done playing. Jake left after about 20 minutes. But Jenny?
No chance. After a half hour, she's still there...
45 minutes maybe?
And now an hour...
She's still throwing them all over the kitchen. So I decided to give up on waiting and return to my laundry because I've got dirty clothes piled in the hallway.
Except...
Guess I'm not cleaning up after all. And it's all my cats' fault.
The cats are mad at me because I had workers here this week, and I can't say that I blame them. I'm mad that I had to have them here too. I hired a contractor who fucked up, so now I'm having to pay to have things un-fucked up, and it's been a long, slow, expensive process.
That's ongoing.
But don't tell Jake and Jenny that. And speaking of...
Jake follows me around the house and chirps at me when he's mad. And then he hovers...
Fortunately, all I have to say is "Do you want a treat? Is it treat time?" and he forgets about being mad...
Jenny hangs around to be petted, but resents me for it...
Which is better than yesterday when she wouldn't even look at me...
Next week I am hoping that I can get a plumber here to finish up my bathroom so I can be done with it and start saving money to have the downstairs repaired.
And then? I really, really hope that I am done with home repairs for a little while.
I'm scrubbing up after seven months of having my shower doors collecting dust in my hallway, but now that they're moved, I can move on... and blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Make Mine Marvel! I fully expected to get a Deadpool 3 trailer at the Superb Owl. And though I'm not watching the game, I wasn't disappointed. Now titled Deadpool & Wolverine, it's absolutely everything I dreamed of...
This may very well be worth a trip to the theater.
• Yawn! I was wandering through the internet and saw a photo of some cats that immediately reminded me of the famous Pet Shop Boys album cover for actually...
Classic. The Instagram account didn't credit the creator of the photos, but a reverse image search pointed me to this Tumblr here. Hopefully that's the right place. Kinda frustrating when creators don't get credited for their work.
• DOON TOO! Um. Wow. Can't wait for the second half of Dune. The whole idea of riding a big worm through the desert is just so comical, but here Denis Villeneuve actually makes it look terrifying...
I've always been a fan of what David Lynch managed to do with his original film back in 1984, but this is phenomenal. If only Frank Herbert could see how his master work has been so beautifully adapted.
• Call Me... Charlie Baltimore! I love maps. This short video is on a subject I've read about many times... but this is a very clear way of illustrating The Baltimore Phenomenon...
Alice Springs was an interesting place to visit. I went so I could see Uluru (AKA "Ayer's Rock), and it feels very much like a place that's there just to service people doing exactly that.
• I'm Blue! Oh how I love science. The story of the development of the blue LED is fascinating...
The implications of sterilization LEDs is mind-boggling.
• Shorted! It's been a while since I've read Optic Nerve. But I was excited when I heard that Randall Park was adapting Shortcomings from the original comic. THEN I saw that it was to star Justin Min (he's Ben in The Umbrella Academy) and Ally Maki (who I fell in love with from Wrecked) and was all in...
It ended up being darn good. Kinda slice-of-life with some humor to it. And though I don't recall seeing Sherry Cola in anything, she is hilarious. All the actors are really good, but holy crap should Justin Min be tearing up Hollywood. Good looking with the bone structure of a god... and incredible talented to boot.
• Poppin'! TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES ONLY APPLY TO WOMEN! MEN CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT! IT'S IN THE BIBLE, YOU CAN LOOK IT UP! Meanwhile... misogyny never looked so fabulous. That lip gloss and those frosted tips are poppin' on him! Way to find a look that's so glam on you, my brother in Christ! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...
@speechprof This has the same energy for me as Andre Tatertot saying that the tears running down his face when he feels sad isn’t crying.
♬ original sound - The Speech Prof
The lack of awareness is just next level here.
And now? Back to playing clean up.
"Yeah, buddy, tear that shit up!" — Me, any time my cats are scratching on a scratching post.
I hit the cat lottery jackpot because my cats don't scratch anywhere they're not supposed to. They also don't rip my stuff apart. Nor do they knock things off of tables or shelves (except that exceedingly rare occasion when genetics take over and they have to). I guess what I'm trying to say is that they're just exceedingly well-behaved in all respects.
Last night I started sorting all the hundreds (thousands?) of Polaroid Mini photos I've been collecting since I started playing with the format in 2000. I was only 1/3 of the way through the big box of pictures, so I left out my sort piles and didn't think twice about it. Jake and Jenny both hopped up and sniffed at what was going, but immediately lost interest and left everything alone.
This morning everything was exactly as I left it...
I wonder how many cat owners would wake up to a total disaster?
You know how you think that your pet has outgrown some undesirable behavior... only to find out that they absolutely have not after all?
If you had asked me yesterday if Jenny had outgrown tormenting her brother, I would have said "yes."
Jake brought Mufasa downstairs. Then had breakfast. Then went to sleep. JENNY CAME DOWN AND GRABBED MUFASA. So I followed her, calling her name. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw this...
Clearly she dropped him and is now pretending that she has no idea how he got there. He just happened to be where she sat down.
Clearly.
At which point I'm pretty much obligated to take Mufasa downstairs and give him to Jake, or else this will be greeting me when Jake figures out that his favorite toy is missing...
Cats. What can you do?
My cats are hating me right now because I'm painting in the guest room and have the door closed so they can't get in. Never mind that they have the run of the entire rest of the house, of course the guest room is the only place they want to go!
Typical cats.
Today my Facebook memories came up with the news that I adopted my cats Eight Years Ago (back in February... so they're late) and these two photos popped up...
It's almost enough to make me want to get another kitten. Almost. Maybe this time I will get a kitten that's not a feral rescue and not terrified of absolutely everything. Except... those cats are easily adopted. I'm thrilled to have rescued a couple problem children. Jake and Jenny have been the absolute best cats.
And speaking of them... this week was kinda a Big Deal, cat-wise.
I got tired of having the Litter-Robot in the "Great Room" which has the kitchen flowing into the dining room flowing into the living room. It's not that it smells or anything (except temporarily, every once in a while when one of the cats has a particularly stinky poo to unleash) but I would really rather not have the cats doing their business next to where I'm watching television.
And so... when the electrician was here last week, I had him put an outlet in my hall closet. That way the cats have some privacy. Not that they seem to care about that, but it's sure nice for me...
Now I'll build a shelf above it with an air-seal so that I can still hang coats above the litterbox. Then I'll put a cat door in the closet door so I can close it off. Nice!
I was very, very worried about moving their pooping place. It's been the same since I got them eight years(!) ago. What I did was move the Litter-Robot about six inches every day until it was in its new place. They never batted an eye, and now they're going there automatically.
I don't know what I was expecting. But it certainly wasn't having things go this easily!
I'm not writing this on Caturday. I'm writing it on Sunday because Daylight Saving Time starts early in the morning, which is always an adventure.
Of course this is the good time change because the cats get fed an hour earlier, which they will never complain about. The problem is that my new feeders don't reset their clocks, and so I have to manually feed the cats their dry food until they miraculously get themselves set straight.
The irony is that my Chewy order arrived on Friday, which was very exciting for Jake and Jenny...
But today-yesterday (Caturday) was less exciting. Jake had a sneezing fit...
And Jenny demanded belly rubs riiiight up until the breakfast alarm rang...
After cleaning out the closet to make room for the Litter-Robot last week, I found one of the collapsible cat tunnels I bought when they were kittens. Which made them act like kittens all over again...
Jake pounced on the tube once Jenny entered.
Jake ran.
Jenny ran after him.
Bedlam ensued.
Just another Caturday.
When it comes to cat food, my cats can be picky. Or, in the case of Jenny, very picky.
I think she might not have a great sense of smell, because the only foods she recognizes as foods are pretty stinky. Namely: fish. I have tried all kinds of varieties of food and anything that's not fish is a tough sell.
I received a sample can a while back that I had kept in my car in case I ran across a hungry cat. But I rotate new food in so it doesn't go bad. When I looked at it I saw it was tuna, which is usually okay, so I fed it to my cats... who went absolutely bonkers for the stuff. They were so crazy for it that I ended up digging the can out of the trash so I could buy more of it...
I searched for "Seth & Chewy's Tuna morsels" and saw it was ridiculously expensive. Crazy ridiculously expensive. But I figured it would be a nice treat on occasion, so and bought some of it. But when it arrived, I opened the can and saw pasty, gross-looking "morsels" inside instead of the pink that the original can had been. Then I saw that I actually got "chicken & tuna" instead of just "tuna" because Stella & Chewy's has shitty product labeling that makes it hard to distinguish between flavors. All the cans are the exact same purple, and it's the little square around the flavor that's different.
But the cats loved it just the same, so crisis averted, I guess.
Something else they loved? These Tiny Tiger tuna cat treats...
I am always trying new stuff just in case the stuff I usually buy is out of stock or discontinued. I especially like how small these treats are because the cats think they're getting more than they really are. Always a good thing when it comes to treats.
Fortunately, unlike Seth & Chewy's, Tiny Tiger has excellent color identity on their products. The chicken flavor is in a bright yellow bag instead of tuna's bright blue bag.
I'm gone to Seattle-side today.
Which is always a big source of stress for me, because I worry about the cats being alone. Not so much because they won't be taken care of (there are feeder robots and litter robots and watering robots to handle their care), but because I know they miss me being there. At night when I'm usually home, they will wander around looking for me. And, if it's Jake, he will be crying out for me as well. That's really tough to take.
But, they always survive.
Even if I no longer let them go out into the catio when I'm gone. I do not want them bringing a bird or mouse or whatever into the house when I'm not in a place I can run home and let it back out.
So I dunno. Maybe I'm overreacting, and they're giving each other hugs to console themselves in my absence...
But probably not. They're probably trying to break into the treat cabinet.
My cats are frustrated with me because I'm on a mission this three-day-weekend to clean and organize as much as I can. They are much happier when there's no shuffling about and definitely no vacuum, but they get that most weekdays, so I'm trying not to feel bad about it.
My cats, by and large, have been uninterested in my computer. Sure if there's a video they find interesting, they will take a look, but most of the time they couldn't care less what's happening on the display. Except this past week when I was editing some text and Jake was inexplicably fascinated with the words that were appearing before him. He sat and stared at my laptop for quite a while...
I still have no idea what it was all about. If I had to guess, he's faking interest in my work because he's still a little clingy after my return from being gone four days over last weekend...
When he's not acting like he has a headache, that is...
As for Jenny? She's been playing it cool since I returned home. She's not been clingy at all... until bedtime, as usual. She has started making a home in my recycle pile from time to time though...
Which means that now I can't bring myself to take out the recycling, of course.
In non-cat news... my Instagram page has been taken over by... BATS! And I really couldn't be happier about that. They aren't as adorable as cats, but they come darn close. Especially when they're in photos like this...
Could Baturday be in my future? Probably not. I love bats, but really don't want them in my house.
I was only away from Jake and Jenny for two nights.
They have automated feeders. Automated litter boxes. Multiple water fountains. And neighbors who know I was gone and will step up if there's an explosion or something. And yet? I am still checking in on the security cameras multiple times a day to make sure the food is dispensing and there's nothing wrong. I know parents who are not this concerned about their children, so I'm either a really good cat dad or they're really bad parents. Or both.
Except...
Maybe the bad parents are actually the better parents.
I looked in and saw Jenny laying on the electric blanket. I was all guilty and "AWWWWWW!" so I remotely heated up that blanket. Just a little treat for her since I wasn't there (I intentionally leave it lumpy and messed up because the cats like to nest, the rest of the bed is totally made, I swear!)...
Later I got a notice that the automated feeders had triggered, so I looked in, and... no Jenny? This is incredibly unusual. Jake is sometimes late to a meal because he's lazy, but Jenny? Never. She is sprinting for the food the second she hears that kibble hit the bowl.
So I look at all the cameras and... he's still on the blanket?
I'm immediately worried she's dead, so I scrub the camera footage to see if she's been moving. AND OF COURSE SHE HAS BEEN! SHE JUST LIKES A WARM BLANKET! MY BAD! So by being the "good cat dad" I've deprived my cat of her lunch. Because this time Jake was not lazy. And of course he ate all the food.
And now I'm home.
Whether I'm gone 8 hours or 8 days, Jake comes running the minute I open the door so he can get petted. And it seems like every time he wants to be petted more. And when I don't pet him as much as he wants, he follows me around crying.
Whether I'm gone 8 hours or 8 days, Jenny hides from the total stranger invading her house. Eventually, if she doesn't hear her brother getting murdered, she'll peek out and see what's happening. Then, if I move too fast, run out of the room as fast as she can because apparently she thinks I'm a cat murderer after all.
But, hey, at least they survived my absence and didn't burn the house down, so I'm good.
I was awakened by Jenny crying in the stairwell shortly after 1:00am this morning. I called to her and she came running to hop on the bed with me. I was worried she might be sick or in pain because she was acting strange... making squeaks and moving around like she couldn’t get comfortable. I was genuinely concerned that I was going to end up with an emergency trip to the vet. But was also thinking that she might have just woke herself up with a nightmare or something. Poor thing...
A half hour later, she finally settled down and went to sleep...
That's when I noticed that Jake was still there sleeping (along with Mufasa, which I had found for him earlier)...
According to my Apple Watch, I fell asleep at 2:10am. But then got woken up again at 2:52 by Jenny puking her guts out. Jake ran off (and who could blame him?) and I resisted the urge to talk to her or pet her, because I didn't want her to vomit running and give me more to clean up. After she had puked up a gallon, she too ran off. Leaving me with having to strip the bed and clean up.
When I went downstairs to the laundry room, I saw that both cats were relaxing on their heating pads. Jenny didn't seem to be in any pain when I pressed around trying to see if there was anything wrong, but it's hard not to worry...
After grabbing a couple blankets to put on my bed, I tried to fall asleep, but didn't have any luck. I kept sneaking downstairs to check on Jenny and make sure she was still okay. After I tossed the bedding in the dryer, I gave up trying to sleep and read until it was time to feed the cats their breakfast. Jenny looked okay, but seemed a little unsteady. I was glad I could stay home the weekend to keep an eye on her.
After returning from buying lumber, I thought I'd try to take a nap. Jenny was all... What happened to the blanket? And I was all... You puked like A GALLON of vomit on it last night, so it had to be wiped off and put in the wash. 3 or 4 times. Then THIS blanket will have to be washed then the sheets then the mattress protector. So thanks for that! And Jenny was all... No problem! I know you washed everything last Wednesday, but I prefer twice a week bedding washes instead of weekly anyway!
When I fell asleep, Jenny was with me. But when I woke up, Jake was there...
When night came, I thought I had better get the bed ready...
ME: "Jenny, I know you think you're being all adorable by refusing to move off the bed while I'm trying to make it... but I assure you that you are not."
ALSO ME: "Awwww! Who am I kidding? Who cares that you were the one who puked all over the bed at 2:52am so I had to wash everything again after just three days? Who's the prettiest girl? Who's the prettiest girl?"
JENNY: "Do you want me to puke on this shit again tonight? No? Might want to hold that embarrassing (but wholly accurate) talk."
I keep bringing in bedding. She moved. But in top of the sheets. For comfort, I'd imagine...
I pulled the sheets to fit them and she jumps off. Then stares at me with murder in her eyes...
Guess I’m forgiven though...
So, yeah. Quite a night. Hopefully it won't be repeated tonight.
I may be hard at work hammering studs into my ceiling frame to prepare for construction, but I'm not ignoring this blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Ultimate Eclipse! After seeing loads of photos and videos of the eclipse as seen on earth, I was surprised when footage started popping up of the eclipse as seen from space...
I'm really hoping that the NASA YouTube Channel eventually gets more of the stuff that came from the International Space Station. Because how amazing is that? Or, if you're a flerfer, I guess it's more like how fake is that?
• Galagos! Okay, this would 100% be me...
I don't know that I could ever not feed animals that wanted food.
• Flowers are a Bonus! Not that animals never give back...
Cats know what buttons to push to win over people.
• Melancholy Hill! If Damon Albarn asked me to eat a pound of broken glass, I'd ask if I could have extra for dessert. Every once in a while YouTube comes completely out of left field with a recommendation that floors me...
I love, love, love Gorillaz. I've gone down a YouTube rabbit hole so many times watching as much content as possible from the "band." But I have never seen this wonderful live performance of one of their best songs before. Magical.
• Faltas Tú! I was eating lunch in a restaurant when this amazing bop of a song came on. Fortunately my phone could tell me exactly what it was. And what's bizarre is that this is not an old song... it's relatively new. The music video mentions the eclipse and was released just over a week ago...
Props to the guy trying to bring back crop-tops for men!
• Adequate! While waiting for paint to dry, I'm cleaning and catching up on Hulu's Shōgun. Early in Episode 07, Lady Fuji's grandfather surprises her with a visit and compliments her on her clean home. She replies "It is adequate."
If I had to pick a moment from this show that summarizes my experience in Japan with the Japanese people (whom I adore), that would be it. The Japanese are exceedingly polite, humble, and respectful in order to maintain harmony and calm in society (at least outwardly). It would never occur to them to be boastful and say "Oh yeah, my house IS totally clean! Thanks for noticing!" I ran into that over and over and over again. It wasn't until I studied the language that I started to understand how ingrained humbleness is in their culture. It's something we could use more of in our culture.
• The Talented Mr. Ripley! Dang. Netflix took a beautiful gamble with this series, and it pays off wonderfully. It's very different than the book... and very different than other adaptations I've seen. Much more... menacing?... I think is the word I want? Plus it's a nice slow burn. Deliberately. They have the main character walk all the way up a long set of stairs only to be told that what he's looking for is back down where he started. It would be easy to write that off as a big waste of time, but it's the character's reaction to this setback which makes it so essential to understanding him. AND THEY DON'T EVEN LEAVE IT AT THAT. They revisit in a way that's both funny and even more revealing.
But the real treat is the cinematography. Holy shit is this beautiful. Every single frame looks like it you could pop it out of the film and hang it on your wall. Seriously. I can't even begin to tell you how gorgeous this is. And then there's Andrew Scott absolutely killing it. Again! His work here is a masterclass. Every look he has... every move he makes... no matter how small... it's all important as he paints the role. Highly recommended series if you don't demand a breakneck pace to your viewing.
• Oui Oui! This cat speaks flawless French. But don't worry... there's subtitles...
If they didn't already have a cat, they do now.
Back to hammering then.
Every night Jenny naps on the cat tree where she can see me... or on the warming pad next to me on the couch. She's doing this so she knows the minute I close my laptop to head upstairs to bed. Because she knows that I'll be happy to pet her for a few hours while working or watching TV. Jake usually heads up a while later...
Then, once I set down the laptop and turn off the lights to go to sleep, Jenny leaves immediately because she knows there's no more petting happening. Jake sleeps with me a lot of the time, which is not a big deal because he doesn't need anything from me and doesn't bother me. Mostly. Sometimes he decides to crawl on me because he wants attention, but that's rare.
Well, tonight I did something I never do.
Closed my bedroom door.
It was heartbreaking seeing Jenny walking towards me anticipating getting her nightly petting time, then shutting her out. But I really had no choice. I desperately needed sleep after two nights of not getting any. And having cats on the bed would be a distraction from that.
We'll see if there are repercussions from this tomorrow. Will they shred everything? Poop in my shoes? Chew up the furniture? Nothing is off the table.
UPDATE: After getting 8 hours and 20 minutes of fairly restful sleep, I woke up and opened the door about an hour before their breakfast time. Jake was there waiting. Jenny came running in five minutes later. No repercussions that I've found. Lucky me. This time.
Earth Day! Which means it's been... um... 38 years since I've eaten meat. THAT I KNOW OF! Because do we really know what's in an Impossible Burger? How do they make it taste so good and meaty? Is it because there's meat inside?
And now? A question. Is this what a parent feels like when they accidentally drop their baby down the stairs?
When I got home, I sat down on the couch to answer personal emails. What I did not see was Jenny sneaking into the room. And I really didn't see her jumping on the back of the couch as I was reaching for my Coke Zero. She jumped into my elbow. Clocked her hard and she ran off. I was mortified. Followed her to her hiding place to check and make sure nothing was broken. Then left her alone.
I called her to dinner and she came down, but was wary of getting near me. She wasn't limping or appearing hurt, so I just let her be. And I've been feeling awful ever since.
Just now she came in and wanted to be petted. So I'm thinking where she hit was on her head and now she has memory loss. Poor thing. I would have been inconsolable if I hit her eye or caused some damage. Hopefully it's something she can just shake off.
And speaking of shaking it off...
There's still something going on in my urinary system. Don't know if it's another, smaller, kidney stone... a piece of the last stone which broke off... just an injury from the passing of the last stone... or lupus.
I feel the need to toss lupus in the mix because that's what House M.D. would want.
But life has to go on, so I popped a couple Advil this morning and went back to work. That's not what House M.D. would want, but he isn't paying my mortgage.
Facebook has a "Memories" section where you can take a look at what you were talking about on this date one year ago... five years ago... ten years ago... whatever. I mostly like this feature because I've done some cool stuff over the years, and it's nice to remember what it was like to travel the globe and live life outside my bubble. Good times.
On this date eight years ago, I was posting about how my mom had completely won over Jake. He was still wary of me but, because he was home with my mom all day, she managed to bond with him in the three months since he and Jenny had been adopted. Which was exactly what I was hoping would happen. I needed to be in the office as much as possible, and the cats were meant to be a distraction from the non-stop confusion that plagued her as the dementia took hold...
At that point, mom was unable to make any long-term memories. So to her, the cats were always something new. We'd be sitting in the living room watching television... one of the cats would walk by, and she'd immediately be walking up to it and asking "Where did you come from?" Then she'd tell me that she was keeping it. Not many cats have jobs, but Jake and Jenny performed theirs perfectly.
And that makes for a nice memory... with our without Facebook.
After my last girlfriend and I split, I texted her to tell her that she left her memory foam pillow. She told me it was a cheap one that she didn't really like so I could keep it or toss it. I remember thinking AHAAAA! It wasn't that we didn't have common interests that broke us up... it was this stupid pillow!"
I made a mental note to toss it because I had my Ghost Pillow, but it sat there on her side of the bed for weeks (making it more of a ghost pillow than my actual Ghost Pillow) because I didn't have to change the pillowcase.
Then at some point Jenny started laying on it, so then I couldn't toss it. Instead I had to start changing the pillowcase again.
On Wednesday when I was making my weekly linens change, I decided to remove the pillow and put it in the cat's room. No sense constantly reminding myself that the only relationship in my life is my cats.
Well, I'm sure you know what happened next.
That night when I went up to bed, Jenny charged ahead like she usually does. After brushing my teeth, I went into my bedroom and... saw that Jenny was laying on my pillow. Because of course she was.
And so now her pillow is back on my bed so
Some ghosts can't be busted, I guess.
Jenny is getting to be more of a problem with food than Jake ever was. If Jake is slow to his bowl when the food drops, Jenny will eat hers... then his. It's so bad that I get up and call Jake over so he gets to eat. But this week there's been a new wrinkle. When Jenny sees that Jake is finally coming, she will stop eating her food... then go to his bowl to eat because there's more food there. Jake gets whatever she didn't get around to eating. I can't even be mad because that's a pro move right there. But there's going to come a time when she's too smart for her own good... and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that.
Also? My cats have started talking. Quite a lot. If Jenny thinks I'm taking too long brushing my teeth and she want me in bed so she can get petted? Meows. So many meows. Jake can't meow, but he whines and frets and squeaks and wails. ZOMG the wailing. This past week I just walked in the door and he comes running up to be petted. I have to sit a bunch of stuff on the counter first, so I walk by him. He exploded with wailing. You'd think that I kicked him. In the face! Then... once I have my hands free and start giving him a rub-down? All the squeaks.
Cats only get more nuts with age. What will they be like in five years?
I'm visually-impaired this week, so naturally that's when my cats decide they want to be problematic.
Jake, who hasn't been dragging his toys around to create toy gauntlets for months, has all of a sudden started to do that again. Almost as if he knows I will have a tough time seeing them... and will possibly trip on them, fall down the stairs, and die...
And, yep, Jake has been caught on video, so there's no defending him...
This past week was a banner catio week because the weather has been warming up. The only problem is the wind, which doesn't seem to bother Jake. He just digs his claws in and braces for impact...
Jenny, however, will come running back inside if it gets too windy. She would much rather lounge on the couch getting pets than be uncomfortable...
But don't get the impression that Jenny is any less weird than her brother. Lately she's been sitting on her tail, which is not only puzzling to me... but to her brother as well...
Though it's probably unwise to refer to my cats as "weird." All cats are weird. It's what makes them cats.
The fact that my cats are such a small percentage of my size and yet occupy a far greater percentage of my bed is an irony that's not lost on me. And do you think that they care even a little bit that I have to struggle to find a place to sleep? The answer will not shock you. It's no.
Take this show from last night, for example...
Now, lest you think that the square-ish lump is my legs folded up, it's not. That's a pillow that Jenny was propped up against that I couldn't move or else she'd get mad (seen in green below). No, I'm barely on the bed at all, with my legs almost falling off (seen in red below)...
Now, the good news is that Jenny rarely wants to stick around after I go to bed. The minute I close my laptop and turn the lights off, she's running downstairs to sleep who-knows-where. So once she's gone I could move the pillow and move my legs on the other side of Jake where I have a little more room. He will be in that exact same spot when I wake up in the morning. At which time he'll let me know he's hungry.
Cats have got to be the most narcissistic creatures on the planet (after humans, of course). The world really is all about them. And when it's not, they make it that way.
My cats are not the clingy type. Jake likes to run and greet me when I get home from work so he can get petted. Jenny likes to be petted until I fall asleep at night. From time to time they'll want more attention than usual but, for the most part, they're happy to hang out with me... but at a distance.
The exception is when I'm sick or hurting.
Jake has a weird ability to sense this and, when he does, he's all over me. In these past weeks when I've been dealing with eye-related issues, he's been stuck to me like glue. When I'm trying to work...
Or trying to sleep...
Or watching television...
Or taking a nap...
I mean, it's nice to have the company, of course. But it's also nice to have my own space. After next week I'm hoping that my problems will start to resolve themselves and Jake will deem me suitably fit to go back to his normal routine.
Despite the fact that I am doing so much better with my eyes lately, Jake still feels the need to watch over me.
Or maybe he doesn't actually care, but finds me to be a comfortable place to sleep somehow.
He's still wanting to take naps on top of me...
He's still snuggling up against me every night...
Meanwhile Jenny is still indifferent, as you can tell from her adorable little frowny face...
Speaking of Jenny, this past week she woke me up at 4:30am because she thought it was important for me to know that there were two birds fighting on the roof outside the window...
At which point she decided to fall asleep, leaving me wide awake...
Don't worry. Eventually Jake decided to join her...
I was never able to fall back asleep, which is typical.
Jake absolutely kills me.
He's always been all about carrying his toys around, but he wants me to know it because he starts howling while carrying them now. Adorable. His toy box is in my office upstairs, so I'll hear him howling... then stop... then be howling... then stop... and so on. Then I'll go upstairs for something and see toys dropped around like...
In other Jake news... his snaggletooth, which was once an on-again off-again thing while he was sleeping, seems as though it's a permanent fixture now. Every time I see him sleeping, there it is...
He seems none the worse for wear, so I guess it's all good.
Jenny, whom I love more than potato salad, is turning into a cranky, bitter, judgmental creature. Which is to say that she's a cat. Whereas her brother is quite a bit more easygoing, she gets to be more of a demanding little princess every day. Which is fine by me, because the more of a personality she develops, the more I love her for it.
This past week Jenny was sitting next to me getting petted. Jake, experiencing sserious FOMO hopped up on the couch and climbed over her so he could sit on my lap and get petted also.
Jenny was furious.
She hissed and ran off.
Around ten minutes later I look up from my phone as I'm petting Jake and see Jenny sitting opposite staring at us...
But she wasn't staring. Not really...
Look at that face! She was glaring at us. Dang was she salty.
Then, last night, I was petting Jenny on my bed waiting for some laundry to finish drying. Again Jake decided that he wanted to lay on the bed too. He hopped up, flopped back on his back as he always does, which resulted in him rolling into Jenny, which she did not like one bit. I mean look at that face!
She did not like this disruption at all, even though I never stopped petting her. Eventually she got up and repositioned herself so that Jake wasn't touching her.
Maybe not a princess... probably more like a queen.
And her majesty was not pleased.
Jenny is afraid of everything. Including me. If I walk into the room too quickly and she can't gauge if I'm going to run up and attack her, she'll bail. Run out of the room and wait to see if it's safe to return.
Jake, on the other hand, will plop down on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and lay there, waiting for me to step over him. I've known this about him from very early on, so I'm always pretty careful when I'm not sure of where he is. Especially when I'm sitting at my desk, because he likes to lay behind my chair while waiting for me to finish...
Sometimes Jake's laying around is helpful. Like when my sister uses him as a kickstand instead of my arm...
Right now Jake is laying on the kitchen floor waiting for dinner to come. Guess he wants to be nearby so he has less distance to travel.
This morning I sifted through all the photos that I found on an abandoned backup drive. Most of which I never thought I'd see again after Apple lost my iCloud Drive data back in January. It was dumb luck that I even had the drive, yet alone was able to recover anything off it. Some of the photos were on my blog, but they were low-resolution. Now I had the originals back.
The most important ones to me were those of Jake and Jenny when they were little. I had most of the images backed up in multiple places, but there were a few sets that were only on iCloud Drive. Like this one...
How terrible would it be to have lost that?
Hope you have a backup strategy for your photos.
Jake, if you couldn't tell, is a big cat.
Not necessarily grossly obese... but big. Like he has Maine Coon in his genetic makeup or something. And, yes, he could stand to lose some pounds. Though he gets the same amount of food as his sister, who looks a third his size, so I don't think he's over-fed. The only extra food he gets is if his sister decides to not eat all her food.
But anyway...
This past week my cat food order arrived and the cardboard cap that was on the flat of wet food cans got dropped on the floor because my cats (all cats?) just love to sit in them.
Or, in Jake's case, lay in them.
Try to lay in them, rather...
To say that he was frustrated because he didn't fit is an understatement. He kept pushing and pushing and kicking and clawing trying to get himself inside that box. Then he squawked at me, but didn't seem to understand that there was nothing I could do about his situation.
Maybe I need to look for a larger box somewhere. Or build one.
Because my cats are nothing if not spoiled.
The highlight of Jake and Jenny's day is when it's time to eat. Which I try to keep interesting for them by feeding them a few small meals throughout the day instead of one or two big meals. But anyway... out of the small meals they get, the two that are the most important are breakfast and dinner because that's when they get wet food.
To remind me about it, I have alarms that play on my HomePods. It's a triggering situation for my cats. They hear that alarm and start to go nuts because it signals their favorite times out of the day.
And lately I've been hyping it up for them.
The alarm goes off and I'm like "OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY DAYS! IT'S BREAKFAST TIME! JAKE! IT'S BREAKFAST TIME! WHERE'S JENNY? THERE SHE IS! JENNY, IT'S BREAKFAST TIME!!!" At first my cats were kind afraid of my ranting. But now it spurs them on. Jake will run to a scratching pad and start going to town, at which point I'll say "THAT'S RIGHT, JAKEY BEAR! TEAR THAT SHIT UP!!!
And then I run downstairs with them as they're at maximum hype.
At which point I regret my actions a little bit, because they're so hyped up that they have absolutely zero patience for me to dish up their breakfast. They want their food now!
Although... Jake and Jenny do crash hard after breakfast and dinner now...
Which means it's a lot easier for me to get some work done before heading into the office.
I'm trying to be smarter about my life, but I regularly fail. Take yesterday, for example. I had some vaccinations to get, and rather than getting them spaced out (the smart thing), I didn't want to take extra time off work and so I just got them all at once. Which will come as no surprise to my readers. I did my last colonoscopy without sedation so I wouldn't have to cancel an appointment that I booked afterwards. But anyway... I needed some allergy shots. I needed one of my vaccinations updated. And I wanted another COVID booster before an upcoming trip (Yeah, I know... this is #7 and I'm not dead yet! Maybe these things are safe after all! And effective because I =knock wood= haven't gotten COVID yet!). That should have been two appointments at least a week apart. But nope! I have two arms!
And what, exactly, does this have to do with Caturday?
Glad you asked!
I find that I don't use the laundry bags in my closet except to hold junk that should be elsewhere. They never get dirty laundry. I always take it downstairs with me after my morning shower. So I've decided to add another hanger bar. That way I don't have to put my clothes in two closets, they'll all fit into my one bedroom closet...
Oooooooh. Photoshop visual follows...
BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CATURDAY?!??
Okay... okay!
Despite feeling like I was run over thanks to stupidly getting all my shots at the same time, I decided to work on my closet before going to my class reunion. I cut the mounting board. I found the drywall studs. Then noticed that Jenny was glaring at me from the perch on the window. She was likely sleeping there and I woke her up...
But rather than vacuum up the dust, drill holes, then screw the board in place so I could add the bar... I put everything down and left.
I'll wait until after I get back and she's come downstairs for dinner.
Because as much as I would love to have my closet finished, I love my cats more. I don't intentionally upset them if I can help it... ever. And this closet thing can wait.
Happy Caturday!
I'm in the middle of upgrading my closet, but it's time for a break... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• What is that? Let's start with the funniest thing I've seen all week...
This video short may be better than Revenge of the Sith!
• Super! Supacell is the Netflix series that Marvel Studios and Disney+ wish they had made. The only super-hero-television-show I've enjoyed more was Hawkeye. This show is exceptional. Where did they find these actors? I don't know that I've seen any of them before, and they're all so amazing. As if that wasn't enough, the show looks beautiful. Truly movie-quality gorgeous. Sure, the budget for the special effects isn't huge, but they make the most of what they had... and you're not looking at a shitty CGI wankfest every scene...
Absolutely worth your valuable time to watch.
• Ummmm! So... they're making a television series based on the book Bad Monkey which came out a full decade after the original Bad Monkey from Blogography...
I should sue! Yes! I should totally sue! Except I love Vince Vaughn, so I kinda want to see this show!
• Spider-Cat! Well this is awesome...
• Section 31! Normalize putting Michelle Yeoh in everything. Everything!
Seeing her in a deliciously evil role is too good to be true.
• Fake Ink! I wish to God that movie makeup crews knew how to apply realistic fake tattoos to actors. I am watching a sweet rom-com flick on Netflix called Find Me Falling, and Harry Connick Jr.'s rock star character has the absolute WORST fake ink on him. The lines are all perfectly crisp and the black ink is deepest black... like it was put on him last week. But it's tribal, which means it's at least two decades old...
Every time I saw it I was taken completely out of the film because it looks so fucking ridiculous. Do the people who make these fake tattoos know what an actual tattoo looks like?
• It's a Fucking Book! God forbid people be exposed to an alternative point of view. Families come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations...
Books. Like. This. Saves. Lives.
• TRON TRON TRON! I've been happy to see a lot of people sharing a meme with brilliant composer Wendy Carlos (debunking the idea that "trans people didn't exist five years ago when she transitioned in the early 70's) . Her TRON soundtrack still gives me chills when I think back to her groundbreaking work in electronic music. What people might not know about her is that after her first album Switched on Bach became a wild success, she was transitioning and terrified that her being credited as "Walter Carlos" on the album would cause problems... so she wore a wig and fake sideburns to appear more masculine at her public appearances...
Since then, all her albums were issued (or re-issued) with her properly credited as "Wendy Carlos." I find it horrific that society is sliding back to a time when trans persons were persecuted and ridiculed so viciously and openly. What has Wendy done to the world to deserve that except spread joy and feeling with her music? What has any trans person done to deserve this? They're just living their lives the best they can with the cards they were dealt. Just like we all are. Seek out Wendy's work. Some incredible stuff out there.
Hoping the last Sunday of July finds you well.
A month ago I came home from floating on the rive in absurd heat to find Jenny wouldn't come near me after I applied lotion on my sunburn. Apparently she didn't like my new smell, and would rather run away than get her nightly pets before I fall asleep.
Jake on the other hand?
Oh of course he as all over me, because no amount of smells or burning flesh was going to deter him...
last night when I got home, one of the little monsters had knocked the bottle of moisturizer on the floor of the bathroom, and I remembered thinking that it was either Jake (by accident) or Jenny (on purpose), and that I will probably have to stop leaving stuff out on the bathroom vanity.
Or leave anything out anywhere, because although my cats are really good about not pushing things onto the floor, apparently their cat nature takes over sometimes.
Or Jenny really, really hates my moisturizer.
Are you kidding me?
International cat DAY?
EVERY DAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY! Ask any cat owner! Cats demand it!
Because they're cats.
Poor Jake.
He's been getting more and more agitated lately, and I'm not sure what's up. I'm going to try to get him into the vet sometime soon to see if it's anything physical. I hope that his urinary problems haven't returned after all these years. He doesn't seem to have any trouble at the litter box. Though he has started announcing when he poops.
In the meanwhile, he's got this kind of ennui thing going on at random times where he seems depressed. Or bored. Or something. Trying to engage with him is tough because all he wants to do is get petted and fall asleep...
Maybe it's because it's been too hot out for him to go out to the catio? He has been going out at night when it's cooler, but he does spend a lot of time looking out the window during the day. If he goes outside, it's just for a few minutes.
Or maybe he's just getting old and cranky like his sister.
And me.
As I've mentioned, my cats have a serious case of FOMO when it comes to anything new and exciting. If one cat seems to be doing something interesting, the other will immediately come running to see what's happening.
This morning Jake was out in the catio when Fake Jake wandered by. He was beside himself. And when Fake Jake walked outside of his view, Jake came bombing into the living room and high-tailed it into the bedroom so he could keep watching him.
Jenny was sitting next to me when all this went down. She LAUNCHED off of me to run after her brother.
And scraped up my arm with her back feet while I was scratching her.
So that was fun.
Fortunately she decided to use her brother as a foot-rest instead of me tonight. And he was thrilled...
I don't know why Jenny loves sleeping with her feet up against something. Maybe she just likes to know she's not alone?
And who could blame her. It's been thundering like crazy.
>Continuing on with my recent trip to Walt Disney World... I usually buy something for my cats to play with when I go on vacation.
After I got back from my trip to Disney World, I had to order a replacement Orange Bird MagicBand+, so I ordered a small plush for my cats so they had a souvenir as well. Except when I got it, the thing wasn't "small" at all. Orange Bird was as tall as my cats and maybe even a little taller! So there goes my plan where they (but mostly Jake) would be dragging him all over the house as they do with their other plushie toys.
Jenny ran back upstairs the minute she saw it. Jake, on the other hand, was curious...
He gave Orange Bird a couple sniffs. Batted at it once or twice. Then walked away...
Jake and Jenny both has been ignoring Orange Bird ever since.
Oh well. I tried.
As for myself? The souvenir I bought for me was a Grinning Loth Cat collectible tiki mug from Oga's Cantina at Galaxy's Edge...
The matte grey one from Walt Disney World Florida is not as cool as the glossy shaded brown one from Disneyland California, but I still love it.
And, as much as I'd love to set it out, I worry that it would then become another souvenir for my cats once one of them knocks it off a table or something. So it gets to be put in my glassware cabinet.
Continuing on with my recent trip to Walt Disney World... Well today's entry didn't go as planned.
What I wanted to do, just for fun, was have Adobe Photoshop's "Generative Fill" tool put Mickey Mouse ears on my cats as I continue writing about my trip to Walt Disney World. And that was going to be the entire post today. Two photos and done. What can I say, it struck me as funny.
So I drew a lasso around Jake's head and opened up the Generative AI Fill dialogue so I could ask for "Mickey Mouse ears hat...
But Adobe wasn't having it, and I got an error telling me that there was something wrong with my prompt...
No matter how I tried to get around it by using other words, Adobe AI would refuse to give me what I want and instead gave me crazy stuff like this...
I'm assuming, there was a copyright issue, because what else could it be? This is hilarious when you consider Adobe was happy to train their AI tool by stealing from a bajillion people's work. But big companies like Disney have lawsuit money, so I guess Adobe has gotta do what they gotta do.
Eventually I gave up and just did the Photoshop job myself...
I picked photos which I thought represented my cats and their reaction to having Mickey Ears on their heads. Pretty much perfect.
No thanks to Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill.
Just one more reason to loathe AI, I guess.
Today I had to run out for a quick errand. When I got back, Jake was running up to me crying like I had been gone fifteen days instead of fifteen minutes. So I started petting him like I always do when I come home from work. Except any time I went to leave, he'd start crying again. So I ended up hanging with Jake for more time than I was actually gone.
Jenny, on the other hand, is crying more often because she doesn't like what she's being fed for her meals. Even if it's something she's yummed up many, many times before... all of a sudden it's unacceptable and so she comes into the kitchen crying at me to complain. I used to rush to find something else, but the more I did that the more often she complained. So I started ignoring her, and she'd go eat the stuff she didn't want two seconds prior. But this week when I tried that, she was not having it. She followed me out of the kitchen and hounded me until I was all "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'LL GET YOU SOMETHING ELSE!"
Which is exactly what she wanted, and she got her way. Again.
My girl is getting so cranky as she gets older. Just look at this face she made when her peace was interrupted by Jake who hopped on the bed, flopped over, then passed out...
She gave me this look for a while. And look at the judgey look she gave me when I dared to cough while she was sleeping. She woke up, twisted herself around, then glared at me...
Poor Jenny. She really is the sweetest cat you'll ever find. She just enjoys letting you know when she's annoyed.
Facebook is the craziest fucking platform. They are constantly slapping down people for stupid reason, giving them time-outs for even stupider reason, and outright banning them for the stupidest reasons you've heard... all while not doing a fucking thing to protect people who are actually being attacked or stopping advertisers who are scammers.
One of the posts I made years ago was flagged as "False Information"...
And I was like... huh. I wonder what it was that I shared? I click through and they don't tell me yet, I'm just told that independent fact checkers have flagged the post...
I click through on that and find out that it's a fucking joke as to why cats purr...
Jesus. Meanwhile politicians are posting some shit that's so fucking outrageous that it defies any kind of logic, but since Facebook isn't flagging that, their followers are thinking "Well, it must be 100% true or else Facebook would be flagging it like they do that misinformation about why cats purr!" But of course it's just because Facebook doesn't give a single fuck about truth... it's all about money. Advertisers lie? Who cares, they are paying Facebook for their ads! Politicians lie? Who cares, their followers are driving engagement which means more eyeballs on ads which means more money! It's only the random people who have almost zero monetary value to Facebook that get blocked or banned because it's not affecting the money that's rolling in.
I say this as Jake is purring next to me on the couch.
The luxurious Summer heat has started to dissipate, which means that my cats are less likely to want to spend time outside in the catio.
Which means they're hanging around the house being all bored. And it goes something like this...
Me: "JAKE! HEY JAKE! YO, JAKE! WHAT'S HAPPENING JAKE?!?"
Jake:
Yeah, Spring can't come soon enough for them.
Jenny is skittish. She is always on high alert... even when it comes to me.
And who can blame her? I'm a giant by comparison! So when she's sitting somewhere, I will walk as slow as I can or take a route where I'm not so close that I spook her. I'd rather let her come to me when she wants attention than scare her. Then she can pretend to be disinterested, but I know better...
Meanwhile in Jake news...
I have never trimmed my cats' claws. Both of them maintain their own claws, they're not growing back into their toe pads, and they don't scratch where they're not supposed to. Jake is very serious about keeping his claws groomed, but makes clicky noises when he walks on the hardwood floors.
Except this week when he's gone totally silent somehow. Very disturbing to have him be able to sneak up on me when I can usually hear him coming!
One minute he's not there. Then the next thing I know he's popped up wanting to be petted...
Though there are certainly worse surprises to be had.
Indoor cats have serious FOMO when it comes to the Great Outdoors.
Which is why I built Jake and Jenny a catio, so they can have the illusion of enjoying the Great Outdoors while still being safe. But it's not just the catio... they have windows too. And they really, really love being distracted by the world outside the windows. Many times they've been sitting next to me on the couch or in bed and will go running to a window to investigate a bird that flew by or some rival cat moving in on their territory.
Yesterday morning Jake was next to me while I was in bed working. He was washing his face after breakfast when he suddenly bolted over my laptop to the window...
Then he bolted to the other window. Then he bolted to the window in my office next door. And then I heard him run downstairs into the catio.
Jeny, of course heard the disruption and bolted downstairs to see what was happening. She didn't want to miss out.
No idea what it was. My guess is a new cat they haven't seen before.
But it could have been aliens, in which case I'm the one who was missing out.
PLEASE BEWARE: Loads of fake charities are popping up trying to get you to donate to Hurricanes Milton and Helene relief efforts. Before donating anything anywhere, I implore you to check CharityNavigator.org and be sure that 1) The charity actually exists... and 2) The charity has a ranking which puts maximum dollars into the relief efforts.
If you want an easy way to help out, GlobalGiving.org has vetted charities for all kinds of causes. Their Hurricane Milton Relief page is right here (and they have a 97% rating from Charity Navigator).
If you want to donate to help animals in crisis situations, The Human Society of The United States is a great choice (and they have a 98% rating from Charity Navigator).
Meanwhile Jake and I are taking a break before I get back to my long, long list of weekend chores. This morning I started with taking apart the cat shelters and testing the warming pads so Fake Jake won't freeze if he's outside this winter... then taking apart the Litter Robots to give them one last deep cleaning before winter... then start in on the 20 loads of clothes I need to wash... then painted a wall I repaired last night... and here we are at 3:30 already.
And I'm exhausted. Might have something to do with only getting four hours of sleep last night because I was aurora-watching (or rather not getting to see any aurora to watch). This weekend is going to fly by.
Which is unfortunate. I could really use some sleep.
It's stressful being away from my cats. Doesn't matter that I have a security system, security cameras, automated litter boxes, automated water fountains, and automated feeders... they could still get sick or into trouble. So I usually hover over the security cameras to check in and set alarms at their feeding times so I can make sure that food was dispensed and I don't have to activate the backup feeders (yes, I have backup feeders, because these things are flakey as hell).
As I sit in my hotel room writing this, I can't check in because my internet back home must be down. Again. Which kinda defeats the purpose of having all this gear to take care of Jake and Jenny, but hopefully everything went okay and they got their dinner.
Tomorrow I'll fly back home and endure a couple days of them freaking out that I've returned. Both of them like to walk around the house crying in the middle of the night because they forget I came back home and can't find me. At which time I'll wake up and have to holler downstairs that I'm there and they need to come upstairs. This will frighten whichever cat is sleeping next to me, so they'll run off and the whole cycle will repeat in a couple hours.
It never used to be this way. I used to travel contantly and they were never the worse for wear.
I think because I don't travel so often now (and had a five year gap where I rarely traveled) it's more of a shock to them. Or something. It's not like I can ask them about it. And even if I could they probably wouldn't tell me because cats like to be all mysterious like that.
Cats are weird.
As you're about the find out, I am usually petting the cats one-handed because I need to be working on my laptop with the other. Usualy it's fine. They get belly rubs. I get a jump on my work day. Everybody wins.
Except when it comes to Jenny, my spoiled little princess. If I have to stop petting her for a second because I need both hands to type or need to flip pages of a document, she gets frustrated and starts meowing to be petted. If I don't pet her how she wants, she gets frustrated and starts meowing to be petted differently. And if that doesn't work, she gets up and comes over to demand it. Sometimes I try to recover before she gets all the way up off the bed, which leads to awkward situations like this...
My sweatshirt sleeve is the same color as the blanket so my hand is a ghost!
Yesterday I start work around 5:30am because I have to respond to emails before Europe ends their work day. My cats know this. They hear me typing away and used to just come up and hang out on my electric blanket while I work until it's time for their breakfast. But now every morning is drama. When I wake up and the cats hear me clicking away on the keyboard it starts a chain of events...
This happens every morning now. Same routine. Day after day. Why does Jenny cry her head off when she could just come up? Why does Jake think going to the cat shelf is essential to get breakfast? Why do cats do anything they do? Nobody knows. They're cats.
And speaking of cats...
When Jake is wandering around with Mufasa in his mouth, he'll drop him in random places. Often times in the middle of a walkway. Which makes going to the bathroom in the middle of the night a hazardous prospect from time to time. It certainly was last night when my foot dragged across Mufasa because it was dark and I couldn't see him...
I knew it wasn't my cats because they were on the bed with me. But it could have been anything else... like a dead rodent they dragged in from the catio... or, even worse, a live rodent they brought in from the catio.
So I turned on the lights and, yep, it was just Mufasa. Which should have been my first thought. But it wasn't.
Because cats are weird.
National Cat Day (as well as International Cat Day) are hysterical.
As anybody who owns a cat (or, more likely, has a cat own them) can tell you, EVERY DAY IS NATIONAL CAT DAY! To say otherwise is absurd.
I mean, just look at these assholes...
Do they in any way look as if it's not National Cat Day?
This photo was taken months ago, so there's your answer.
I think that Jake may be in the early stages of arthritis.
Or maybe he's just getting old. But in any event, I've noticed small things about how he moves and how he's jumping and such. Like he's a little bit stiff or maybe even experiencing some pain? I dunno. But I'm going to start in on making life a little easier for him now rather than one day being blindsided and having to do everything at once.
I know there are probably people who would laugh at me for going to all this expense and trouble, but I laugh at people who think that's funny. When my grandmother was having difficulty, we installed a walk-in tub, bought a rocking chair that could raise up, and installed all kinds of things to make her life easier, more convenient, and safer. Why wouldn't I do the same for my cats? There were days that Jake and Jenny made my life easier just by existing. The least I can do is repay the favor.
Then again, Jake just lunged at his sister as she came inside then chased her at full speed around the house. So maybe he's not getting quite so bad as I'm thinking?
Heating bills be damned, my cats demand warmth!
Even though electricity isn't hugely expensive where I live, every kilowatt adds up, so I do my absolute best to conserve energy. By far my biggest electrical expenditure is for heating, so I delay turning on the heat every year for as long as possible. Though the ultimate decision isn't mine... it's Jake and Jenny's. I am happy to throw on a hoodie and self-insulate against the cold. They already have fur coats and don't give a shit how much it costs to stay warm.
I put out their warming pads, which they cling to, individually. But how I know when they become unsatisfied with the temperature is when they buddy up together to share warmth.
When I see this, I know it's time...
And once the heat is on?
Back to laying on separate warming pads.
Which can be a problem when Jake wants the pad which Jenny is sitting on, so he wakes her up to get it...
Literally pushing her off...
This doesn't make Jenny happy at all, and she will definitely lash out if Jake pisses her off like this...
But don't worry, she can fall asleep in sixty seconds, so she can move on after she's taken a chunk of Jake's fur out...
And now? I will sit here in my cozy-warm house and start up Ted Lasso for the hundredth time. When it comes to comfort, that's my happy place.
Last Thursday night Princess Jenny woke me up crying her head off at 1:30am. Jake was already sleeping at the end of the bed and I didn't know she left. So I called down to her because apparently she forgot where my bedroom is (something they BOTH do, often) and she comes running in for pets.
She's had what I'm guessing are "bad dreams" since she was a kitten, and sometimes she wakes up in a panic where she cries like this. According to my Apple Watch, I petted her for 15 minutes before falling asleep again, and the security cameras show she wandered back down shortly after. BUT HERE'S THE THING... Jake followed her down...
And though I don't have a camera on the warming pads, I'm pretty sure he laid down with her for the rest of the night, because they both left at the same time, which they usually only do if one of them is next to (or on top of) the other. That's kinda sweet, isn't it?
I've had the kitty igloos out for a while now just in case Fake Jake is trapped outside and needs a warm spot to hang out. I've been recording some strange temperature fluctuations I can't explain, so I finally put a camera in there to see what's going on. Apparently nothing. Although... I don't think this is Fake Jake...
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was worried Jake has a touch of arthritis, so I've been making some changes to (hopefully) make his life a little easier as he gets older. One of the things I did was order some ramps for the Litter-Robots. But here's the thing... every time I saw the cats using the toilet, they were leaping over the stairs! They weren't using them at all! So I set up the security cameras to keep an eye out and, sure enough, Jenny started using the stairs in short order...
Eventually Jake too has realized that using the stairs won't hurt him, and it does look easier for him, so I'm thinking it was money well-spent.
Kitty News! Kitty News! It's time for Kitty News!
Alas, we have to start with Jake being a bad kitty. My cats know... they know... that they are not allowed on the kitchen countertops. It's the only area of the house they can't go, because I'm a kitchen clean-freak. But, well, they're cats, and so it's not like I can trust them. So I have two security cameras with a countertop "zone" that will alert me if there's movement there. My interior cameras turn off when I'm home except these two, because I want those alerts.
This past week Jake has been ignoring the countertop rule, and I don't know why. The first time was this past Wednesday. I'm at work, I get an alert, I tune in and see this...
So I use the microphone to yell at him, he jumped off, and I thought that would be the end of it for a while.
Then it happened again on Friday.
And then this morning I wanted falafel for breakfast. It happens. After frying it up, I let the oil cool so I can strain it and use it a couple more times. But do you know what happened after it had cooled a bit? JAKE JUMPED ON THE COUNTER AND STARTED DRINKING THE OIL! GAAAAHHH! The little shithead! Not only can't I use the oil again, I have to worry if the oil is going to do anything other than make sure Jake shits out his hairballs easier. GAAAAHH!!!
After chasing him off the countertop, he scampered upstairs IN SHAME! That lasted all of ten minutes before he was downstairs laying next to me expecting pets...
Jenny, on the other hand, has been an angel...
She may insist on a foot massage sometimes, but she's still an angel...
Except... when she wakes me up at 12:30am wanting attention and I can't fall back asleep for 2-1/2 hours...
Now, to be fair, Jenny has woken up from what I'm assuming are nightmares since she was a kitten. And this is likely what the situation was. Because the minute I turn the light off at night to go to bed, she immediately hops off the bed and runs downstairs (Jake goes to the end of the bed and sleeps there). So she better not be waking me up for a foot rub!
Meanwhile in the kitty igloo shelter...
The Mystery Cat, whom we're pretty sure is not Fake Jake, is still showing up as it gets colder and colder at night...
But this cat isn't the only visitor. The neighbor's dog is curious about the new intruder's scent...
And that's your Kitty News update.
Jenny's default mode of existence when it comes to sharing her house with me is apparently "STOP TRYING TO KILL MEEEEEE!!!" She runs away in terror when I dare approach her. Because, oh no, she is the one who will approach me... assuming she feels like it. And God forbid you dare to try and reach out to touch her. Unless she approaches and demands to be petted, it just isn't done.
But somehow this just endears me to her more, because she's 110% a little princess, and any interactions with her are strictly on her terms.
Jake is more aloof, not bothering to move as I approach unless he's in weird panic mode... and willing to be petted without an invitation.
This past week when I was away for Thanksgiving, all their needs are met by feeding robots and litter box robots. I can check in via security cameras whenever I think about it (which is often) but they don't really need me for anything unless the food in the feeders runs out or the waste drawer in the litter box fills up.
And yet...
Jake misses me when I'm gone for work. He really misses me when I'm away from home. When he hears the garage door open, he runs to the bottom of the stairs where he'll wait for the pass-door to open... then make sure that it's actually me and not a rogue cat murderer stopping by... then come running to get petted. A lot.
Jenny, naturally, hides upstairs until she feels that Jake hasn't been cat murdered, then saunters down some time later.
At which point she'll decide if I'm allowed to touch her.
The cats have been extra crafty lately.
Like they're stalking each other. I think it started as an accident, but then things escallated and now they're hunting each other for fun.
Here's Jake looking down the stairwell as his sister comes back from running around downstairs...
But it's just play. They're not aggressive about it or anything. They still hang out being indifferent towards each other...
Meanwhile: It's a tale as old as time this morning...
JENNY: You should rub my belly.
ME: No. It's a trap.
JENNY: It's not a trap. Here's my belly... rub it.
ME: No.
JENNY: Look how fluffy it is tho.
ME: You just want an excuse to attack me.
JENNY: RUB IT! RUB MY BELLY!
ME: OKAY!!
=kicking and scratching ensues=
JENNY: HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO RUB MY BELLY!
=five minutes later=
JENNY: Rub my belly.
Today was not a very good day at all. A lot of crazy stuff mucking things up from the moment I turned on my computer at 5:50am until just a few moments ago when I was getting ready to feed the cats their dinner and wanted to turn the stairwell lights on for Jenny because she was still upstairs.
And here's how that went...
ME: "Hey Siri, turn on stair lights."
SIRI: Turns on lights.
SONOS: Plays Starlight by Muse.
JAKE: I'm hungry.
JENNY: Okay, I'm here. Scratch my ass.
Now, Siri actually turning on the lights is not fully expected, but also not surprising. Jake being hungry and Jenny wanting ass scratches are to be expected.
What was completely unexpected was Sonos playing Starlight.
Sonos never does the fuck what you want it to do when you ask it to do something directly and call it by name. Its voice assistant is shit (even if it has a great speaking voice). So why the heck did it pipe up with its bullshit when "Siri" sounds nothing like "Sonos?" Not even in the same ballpark.
But I did get to listen to a song by Muse, so there's that...
I am seriously beginning to wonder if a "smart" home isn't for me.
Cats have relatively short lives. And I am incredibly aware of this.
If I'm lucky, I've got another ten years with Jake and Jenny... and, if we're all lucky, they'll have the rest of their lives with me. And that's the thing. Because my cats have such limited time on this earth, I really don't deny them anything. If one of them wants to be petted, I will drop whatever I'm doing to pet them. I mean, I'm not going to make myself late for work or a dentist appointment or taking a cake out of the oven, but most anything else? Not as important as making sure their short time (not sleeping) is doing whatever makes them happy.
Such as attending a meeting on my crappy TV webcam and not caring that Jake is on my lap. Even when he's woken up when I have to talk...
Jenny, on the other hand, just runs away and hides.
Wish that was an option for me.
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