Saturdays aren't just Caturday on my blog... they're Caturday at home too. It's the day that I steam-clean the cat feeding station... wash down and fill the automated feeders... soak and scrub the water fountain... empty and wipe down the Litter-Robots... and wash the covers of the warming pads. It's nice to have a routine so I know that everything is ship-shape and clean for Jake and Jenny for the coming week.

Not that I could ever forget to take care of them. Whenever I'm home they are always with me. Since hot air rises, I spend much of my time upstairs where it's warmer. The cats never pass up a shot to sleep while I'm working or reading in bed...

They're not always sleeping though. The other day Jenny was trying to give herself a pedicure, but her foot kept slipping away. So I decided to give her a hand and hold it up for her...

And now I have to deal with the worst night of the year for pet owners... the end of Daylight Saving Time, when tomorrow Jake and Jenny will not understand (or care) why their breakfast is an hour late. Lord how I hate dicking with the clocks twice a year. It's so senseless.

And so I finally put the warming pads out for the cats. Jake and Jenny complain if it gets too cold, but they settle right down if they have a warm spot to lay on. And it's cheaper than turning the heat on.

Jake took to it immediately. I barely got the thing plugged in...

Jenny ignored it. But eventually I lured her onto one and now you'd have to light a stick of dynamite under her furry butt before she'd vacate the thing...

And so... heating crisis averted.

For now.

Jenny is incredibly stealthy. She can slink into a room and I rarely hear her. One minute there's not cats, I look away for a second and... BLAM!... there's Jenny.

Jake is a different animal entirely. His nails click on the hardwood floors when he's walking, so I always know where he's at... so long as he's mobile.

As you may remember, I builts a shelf for on top of the stairwell after Jake fell and sprained his leg...

To make it more comfortable for him, I put carpet on the top. And he loves it. Many nights he will sleep on it because he can stretch out and be comfortable...

But the thing about carpet is... Jake makes no noise when walking on it.

This morning I was working at my desk even though I'm more comfortable working on the couch or in bed (my new, low-level iMac with Apple's M1 chip is far faster than my top-of-the-line MacBook Pro with an Intel chip). I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I had no idea Jake was sitting on the stairwell tray... just staring at me while I work! I was thrown into shock when I noticed and nearly fell out of my chair. But Jake just continued to stare at me...

It's like when we're racing downstairs because it's breakfast time. Sometimes Jake will be barreling down the stairs ahead of me and all of a sudden just... stop and sit down. I very nearly trip down the stairs trying to halt my downward momentum, and I just don't understand why he would be doing this. Am I going to slow and he wants to mock me by resting half-way down or something?

My cats will be the death of me. It's just a matter of timing.

My cats have decided that the colder weather should come with a renewed sense of pandemonium. They are acting totally nuts in a way I haven't seen since they were kittens. Which I'm guessing is a good thing? Running around the house at top speed for no reason. Chasing each other around the catio at all hours.

a perfect example is Jenny catching a praying mantis out in the catio... bringing it inside... losing it... then spending the next hour-and-a-half chasing it down so she can murder it (the corpse was on my floor the next morning...

If you look carefully, you can see the poor think fly across the top of the screen at 0:05. Which means she was running into the guest bedroom and tearing through my dirty laundry piles in the entirely wrong place!

All this kitten-like behavior results in my cats sleeping really, really hard. Things that used to wake them up all serious-like (such as my iPhone ringing) now barely makes a dent.

Jake still wants to sleep on me (usauly my legs still)...

Where Jenny seems to want to spend time in my laundry basket lately...

Oh well. They're apparently happy and healthy in their craziness, so I guess it's all good?

No clue if it's Dreamhost, my internet, or what the hell is going on... but my blog takes fucking forever to load. FOREVER! Maybe it's the new "fast cache" plugin that's screwing things up? No idea. Which means it's just one more task to add to this weekend's "To-Do List." Which, as you might guess this close to winter, is packed full as it is.

The good news is that I managed to finish cleaning up my garage and putting away my woodshop projects so that I can park indoors. That's a task that got moved up the list because I've been having to scrape frost off my windows in the morning. And I really don't want to be doing that when the home I'm fortunate enough to call my own has a garage.

The bad news is that some of my projects got put away unfinished. That's going to really bug me, but maybe I'm going to have some time on the weekends that I can drag them out and get things completed.

BWAH HA HA HA!

Only joking. My motivation to do anything of use is at an all-time low. I'm lucky to be getting out of bed in the morning. And I probably wouldn't if my cats didn't need to be fed.

Which just goes to show that Jake and Jenny are good for something after all!

And... my cats are now with me any time I'm home, hoping to sponge off my body heat because it's starting to get cold.

And because it's cold, most of the time when I'm working at home I'm in bed. The mattress heating pad is cheaper to run than the HVAC, so it's more budget-friendly to go with that. The fact that I get to spend a lot more time in bed is just a bonus. And my cats are all too happy to take advantage of the heat as well...

What's funny is that they both get upset when I'm at home but not in bed. Jenny will sit by my bed and meow. Jake will come butt his head against me on the couch letting me know he wants the mattress pad turned on. And if I'm at my destop iMac? Jenny frets at my feet meowing and Jake will legit just hop up on my desk and sit in front of the display...

Now, I realize that this is something other cats do a lot... but my cats don't really do this. When I am working, they will largely leave me alone. Except when the house is cold. And they want me in bed so that the mattress pad will be turned on.

Not that I can blame them... but holy crap. They have fur coats on!

Whenever I feed my cats, Jake just lunges for the bowl and starts chomping away. Jenny does not do this. Instead she rubs up against my legs first, as if she's saying "Thank you," THEN starts chomping away.

And there's a lot of differences like that.

Jenny contorts to where she wants to be petted, getting up and moving if she has to. Jake will just let out a soft cry when you are petting him in the wrong place and you have to figure out where he wants to be petted.

Jake will lay on top of me if he's in the mood. Jenny never will...

But many things are the exact same between them. Most things are the same.

Like the scratcher lounge.

Whenever one of them spots something interesting happening in the catio or the back yard, they'll dash to the scratcher lounger to have a look. Then the other one will follow. And whomever gets there first is who gets to lay down... the second one to arrive only has room to sit...

But only Jenny looks a little resentful when she's not the one laying down.

And you really can't blame her. That cardboard looks SO comfortable!

Jenny is pretty much back to normal after my leaving for a week.

Jake, on the other hand, is still stuck to me like glue whenever I'm home. The only thing that will pull him away is if he wants to eat or poop. Or his sister distracts him enough.

When Jake hears the door open, he comes running down the stairs at top speed to say hello. And sometimes he brings me a gift... like Peeps Bunny...

Jenny will just stay put and wait for me to come to her. She's a princess like that...

Surprisingly, Jake never gets bored hanging with me. He'll find a way to keep himself occupied... usually giving himself a bath... but sometimes chewing on my clothes or whatnot...

And occasionally doing his best to get his head stuck in my Cheetos bag...

Because some things never change.

My cats have never been okay with my traveling. They are barely agreeable for me to go to work. So it will come as no surprise that they were most unhappy for me to leave for a week.

But I really had no idea just how unhappy they would be.

Turns out that after having me home for two years, my leaving would end up being a Very Bad Thing.

Both cats have been glued to me since I got back... even going so far as to share the bed, which is something they do rarely...

Jenny is probably the most upset by my time away. Jake is usually the one who wanders the house crying when he can't find his toy lion, Mufasa, or can't figure out where I am. But lately it's Jenny who's been wandering the house crying. Jake simply never leaves my side except to go to the bathroom or eat...

I guess it's nice to have somebody who misses you while you're gone and is happy when you're back... but having Jenny wake you up at 2:30am because she wants attention is something I hope she gets over real quick!

Jenny continues to be my little princess... knowing full-well that she can get away with absolutely anything she puts her mind to. She's also very quick to express her displeasure when something is not to her liking. That's definitely on me, because I not only put up with it... I seem to encourage it!

Now that I have Lemon 2.0 so I can work on a destop computer at home, I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk. Jake will often lay on the banister tray I made for him (so he won't fall off again) and watch me. But Jenny? She will sit up there and demand to be petted... meowing her head off if I don't comply!

But look at that face! How could I not comply?

Earlier this week Jenny was out chillin' in the catio (the cats spend a LOT of time out there this time of year when it's warm, but not too hot). All of a sudden she came running in the house, then starts meowing at the window. Glaring. She was furious. I couldn't figure it out, but then some kids with a dog walked by and I'm like... oh...

Weird that she's never done anything like this before. Weird but not surprising. This is just my little princess letting everybody know how unhappy she is with the world.

For the past week-and-a-half, Jake has had a dingleberry on his ass. Not stuck on his fur... but stuck to the skin. I tried to remove it (wearing a rubber glove, of course) but it was really stuck and any attempt was hurting him and I didn't want to rip off any skin in such a sensitive area. Then the thing started GROWING because more would stick to it every time Jake when to the bathroom. And it never fell off as I hoped it would.

Consulting Google, I saw that coconut oil was recommended. So I got the oil, loaded it in a squirt bottle, and would spray his pucker when I got the chance. I thought this would get him to try to clean it himself, but no. I am guessing it hurt when he tried so he gave up.

THEN YESTERDAY, after three days of hitting his ass with coconut oil, I gloved-up and it came right off when he was distracted with breakfast! Jake didn't even notice! Which is why I didn't mind when the little poop-head snuggled up to me that morning...

Because... you guys... YOU GUYS... that tongue!

Such are the crazy things I do as a cat dad that I never even conceived of when I first brought them home. Love this guy.