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.

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.

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.

• First there's the Litter-Robots. The old models I owned had optional stairs you can attach to the front. I bought them because Jake and Jenny were small at the time and I wanted them to be able to get to the litter easily. The new models didn't have stairs when I bought them, but I see they're available now. I couldn't get bundle savings at the time, but Whisker offered me a 10% discount on them (I saved a whopping $13.00!), so I went ahead and ordered them. Really hoping this helps the cats poop in the place I need them to as they age, because the last thing I want is for it to be so difficult that they poop on the floor.
• Jake's favorite place to be is on top of the cat tree. But if it's harder for him to make the leap from step to step, it's probably time to design a tree that has smaller steps and build it come Spring.
• Jake's second-favorite place to be is on my bed. So I'm either going to have to build some stairs up to my current bed (and the window perches) or look into a platform bed. Though the idea of me getting up from a platform bed as I age doesn't sound very appealing, so probably the stairs.
• Next up is the cat shelf I built for the top of the staircase so he wouldn't fall down again. Definitely going to have to build some kind of stairs for him to access that.
• I am not sure what to do about the staircase. He seems to be doing okay, but I can foresee having to build a small secondary staircase attached to the wall or running down the side of the existing staircase which has half-steps that are easier for him to climb? I dunno. I might build a partial to see if Jake and Jenny would even use it. If not? I guess I build an elevator and train them to use that! Wish me luck!

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?

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...

1. Jenny will uses the Litter Robot downstairs, then start crying. Loudly.
2. I'll holler down for her to get her fuzzy butt up here, then hear her dashing up the stairs.
3. She'll spend five minutes wanting to be petted, then plop down wanting belly rubs. I've gotten real good typing one-handed.
4. Jake finally wakes up, moseys upstairs, then sits on the bedroom floor staring at us.
5. He'll then leave to go use the upstairs Litter Robot.
6. Eventually he'll come back so he can use his night vision to stare out back from the bedroom window perch.
7. When he's had enough, he'll jump on the bed and annoy his sister, demand pets for a few minutes, then lay down... hopefully not on top of Jenny.
8. Eventually they both fall asleep and I can go back to work.
9. At around 6:30, Jake goes to the stair banister cat shelf and stares at me through the door until the breakfast alarm goes off at 6:55.
10. Jenny runs down stairs at around 6:45 so she's ready for breakfast ten minutes later.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.