People continue to be surprised that Jake is still obsessed with Mufasa, his stuffed lion toy. And, yep, he really is. Six years strong now.

Most times, he is dragging him around the house, dropping Mufasa somewhere or another. And he's less and less inclined to freak out when he can't find him. And yet... every once in a while...

Thursday night Jake woke me up at 2:00am. And the only reason that happens...

And so... off we went for a game of hide-and-seek. Though it wasn't much of a game. It took two minutes to find Mufasa sitting on the couch.

After throwing Mufasa around for a while, he picked him up and ran upstairs where we went back to bed...

At which point I fell asleep watching him give Mufasa a bath.

I got this new "Fancy Feast Broth with Chunks" cat food because Jake's prescription food has been out of stock (THANKS, COVID!). I opened up the little pouch and immediately started gagging. I seriously thought I was going to puke. But I managed to get it into the bowl... and of course the rank smell compelled Jake and Jenny to IMMEDIATELY start scarfing it down like maniacs. Licking the bowl and everything...

Why is it that the worse something smells, the more my cats yum it up? So gross.

AND CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THEIR POOPS ARE GOING TO SMELL LIKE?!?

=shudder=

Coming home from work this past Monday after I had been gone for three nights has Jake acting as if I've been gone for six months. Much petting has to ensue before he will let me go. And he's smarter about it now. Lays on my feet to pin me down so he doesn't have to walk after me squawking as I move around the house. And what I said to him as he's rolling around on me? "Gee Jake, your butt looks particularly clean today!" Cats...

Last Caturday I remarked how nice it was that my knucklehead cats got along so well while I was gone. Well, now that I'm home, that's apparently over. When I got home on Friday, Jake came running down the stairs all "WAaAAaAAaAH!!" And I was like, what's up buddy? What's wrong? And so I went back through the camera feeds to see. Turns out I left my bed a mess, and Jake had nested in the blankets. But then Jenny came up and wanted to lay there. So she started beating him up so he would move!

RUDE!

Fortunately, when I'm home they're happy to make peace again...

Makes it worth putting up with stinky food and even stinkier poops.

I'm away from home this Caturday.

Which is really sad, because I know that if I check in on Jake at night when he expects me to be home I'll see him wandering around the house crying because he can't find me. And it's even worse now that I rarely leave home (thanks, COVID!).

But when I checked in on the knuckleheads this afternoon, I found that they are consoling each other in my absence...

DON'T WORRY, KITTIES! I'LL BE HOME TOMORROW MORNING!

My cats live for the Alexa alarm that tells them that it's breakfast or dinner time. They come running up to me and are hopping around all excited that their favorite time of day has arrived. Every once in a while, I try to out-excite them. I freak out and be all "DINNER TIME! ZOMG! IT'S DINNER TIME! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!? YOU GUYS... IT'S DINNNNNNER TIIIIIIIME! WOO HOO!"

The first couple times I did that, they stopped in their tracks and were all "Wow. You're nuts, man." But now? It just makes them even more excited. They're running around... clawing the scratching post... hopping on and off the furniture... just going bonkers. It's hilarious. I cannot imagine my life without these two knuckleheads. They made a crappy day somehow bearable.

But it's not all peaches and cream.

Jake is not above bullying Jenny to get what he wants. And usually it's her spot on the couch or the cat tree. If she has it, he wants it.

Even a year ago, Jenny would immediately bail. She has no interest in confrontation. But now-a-days? It's a mixed bag. Sometimes she will just stay in place defiantly... especially if Jake starts licking her head...

And sometimes she will absolutely fight back if she's not in the mood for Jake's bullshit...

More than a couple times I see her chasing him around the house because he's done something to piss her off. And I'm always like "Good for you!" Because I am also to the point in my life where I don't want to tolerate people's bullshit.

Role models pop up where you least expect them to.

Now that Spring has arrived, Jake and Jenny want less and less to do with me as they spend more and more time out in the catio watching the world wake up. New smells. Birds everywhere.

How can I compete with that?

I can't, really. Though there are still moments where my body heat is of interest, and that ain't nothing...

AWWWWWWWW!

Seems like only yesterday they were kittens...

But that photo was taken six years ago.

Boy was that a lifetime ago, wasn't it?

Jake has no problem violating your personal space. He's been that way since I got him. It bothers Jenny a lot. Like a lot a lot.

Usually when Jake gets too close to Jenny she will run away immediately. Sometimes she will swipe at him first. But lately Jenny can't be bothered to be bothered. She just lays there being annoyed...

Just look at that face...

This photo was taken after Jake plopped his butt down right up to her face while she was sleeping...

She was clearly annoyed. But couldn't be bothered to run away as she usually would. She just went back to sleep.

But lately she's been even less bothered. Rather than going around her, Jake is happy to climb over her to get to where he's going. I expect her to bolt every time, because that's what she usually does. But nope.

I guess she's just to old and irritated to give a crap now.

Much like myself...

Though I suppose I should be grateful that he doesn't lay across my keyboard while I'm trying to type. This is as close as he gets... just close enough to stare at me while I'm trying to work...

Speaking of Jake...

A part of me is sad that Jake can't meow. The guy tries and tries, but the best he can manage is a squawk... but most times nothing comes out at all. But there's another part of me that is a bit relieved because he would be meowing his head off all the time. I do always pretend he's meowing when I see him him mouth one... and I always respond if I hear his little squawk... I don't want him to feel bad. But he would be one noisy cat if his vocal chords worked that way.

Now that it's getting warmer, the cats are spending more time outside... and starting to shed like crazy. Jake more than Jenny by a factor of about ten. The fur just rolls off of him. Every time I run my hand down his back, a handful of the stuff falls out. Using the Furminator brush pulls out enough fur to build another cat.

It wouldn't be so bad if my cats weren't sleeping with me every night and morning. I'm going to have to switch from weekly bedding washing to twice-weekly...

Wishing for the millionth time that I could sleep as easily and often as a cat.

As I am typing this, Jake is laying at my feet sleeping.

Not a big deal... he does that a lot. But he must be dreaming or something, because he's grabbing my foot with his claws, which is ouchy, but not unbearably so. It's nice to feel loved...

Yesterday I was at the office most of the day, but worked from bed most of the morning. Last Caturday I mentioned that Jake likes to sleep in the sun that comes through the window, he was like this the entire time...

TikTok has a lot of cat videos. Like a lot a lot. Most of them are the same kind of thing, but every once in a while I see something entirely new. Like a cat named Truffles who has a pair of colorblind-correcting glasses (here's the link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

And Truffles wanting to wear the glasses all the time is not hype. There's other videos where they're acting like it's perfectly normal for a cat to wear glasses (here's the link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

And now I guess it is perfectly normal.

As is my wanting a baby tiger. They are SO cute (here's the link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Something tells me that would not be a good companion for Jake and Jenny though.

Winter where I live is kinda bleak and dreary. Even when it's not snowing, sunshine can be a rare commodity.

My cats, of course, hate that. The only thing they like more than sunshine is staying warm, and that can be a bit of a chore. I bought electronic warming pads that they could lay on, which they do almost all day long. Jake usually likes to lay on the one in the loveseat, Jenny prefers the one down the couch from where I sit. But lately Jake has been going to whatever one Jenny is already on, which is a bit frustrating. Most times she hops off immediately. But not always...

Why he has to be a little butthead like this is anybody's guess.

If you look at Jenny in that photo, you'll see the latest thing she likes to do... sit when her feet completely underneath her, looking like a little potato...

If I were to guess, this is her way of dramatizing the fact that her feet are cold and I should turn the heat on.

There is light (literally) at the end of the (figurative) tunnel though. This past week we've had quite a bit of sunshine off-and-on, which both cats are fully ready to take advantage of...

Hopefully Spring will happen soon so they can spend their days lounging out in the catio, which is their favorite thing to do. Then I can take down the warming pads for another season and save a couple bucks on my electric bill.

It's pennies compared to the amount I spend on the heating, but every little bit helps.

My cats are going a little stir-crazy, which makes no sense because they are indoor cats. It may have something to do with the fact that it's still cold out so they can't lounge around in the catio all day long. It's not that they don't go out there, it's just that they would rather not spend an extended amount of time being cold.

Though it snowed a little bit, which resulted in Jenny booping the snow through the fence for a good ten minutes...

Eventually I went out and grabbed a shovelful to dump in the catio so she wouldn't have to work so hard for it. At which point she completely lost interest. Of course.

Yesterday morning I woke up to Jake flying off of me. Which lead me to suspect that he's been sleeping on top of me again. And so I turned on the upstairs security camera. Sure enough. He came in about ten minutes before the breakfast alarm went off. And this is where he decided to wait...

I cannot fathom how that's comfortable. Though he's more on a pillow than he's actually on me.

In other news... I've been addicted to CatTok lately. There's SO. MUCH. CAT. on TikTok.

This one just boggles my mind (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

And if I keep seeing videos like this, I will be very surprised if I make it until the end of 2022 without getting a new cat (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

I should probably stop looking at TikTok and go back to work. Maybe just one... more... video...