Today started off good enough.

Woke up. Fed the cats. Handled my emails. Did some work. Read my news feeds. Then waited for Jake and Jenny to come hang out on my electric blanket so I could chill in bed for a while. A long while, since I had no plans of going into the office since I've been working my guts out all week...

But then I done fucked up by getting out of my comfortable bed to watch the (partial) eclipse that would be happening.

Which I should have investigated when I left my bed the first time, because then I would have seen that the skies were completely overcast and I wouldn't be able to see a fucking thing.

It's all been downhill from there.

The only way I even knew the eclipse was happening is that it got dark enough to trigger the light sensor and turn on my lights because my house thought it was night time. I really, really need to get a time range set on that automated routine. Especially now that the weather will blot out the sun at random moments as the weather gets darker and darker.

The good news is that my grocery delivery arrived.

Yesterday I saw an advertisement for Sour Patch Kids and had a craving for the watermelon-flavored candies they came out with. Except the mini mart didn't have them, so I placed a grocery delivery. My local store had the watermelon candies mixed in with regular Sour Patch Kids in a Halloween bagged assortment...

So that's something, I guess.

As for my cats? They've moved on without me.

I almost ran out of the "urinary care" prescription cat food that Jake needs and Jenny also eats. This is what I supplement to "wet" food, which is everything from Chicken of the Sea salmon or tuna and =shudder= anchovies to cat food that's soups, broths, and canned.

It wouldn't be the end of the world. I still have the Meow Mix that I feed to the neighbor cats, but it's not ideal if I'm going to keep Jake out of the cat hospital...

Anyway...

As I always do, I look at the seasonal toys to see if there's anything Jake and Jenny will play with for 20 minutes then abandon. I found Spooky Donuts and Kitty Crackle Catnip Candy Corn...

Jake stopped to smell the ones I threw on the stairs, but was mostly not interested. He has only a mild reaction to catnip...

His sister, on the other hand...

She gets high on the 'nip, that's for sure...

Jake was more interested in the box, as usual...

And, sure enough, the toys are completely ignored now. Halloween was nice while it lasted.

My cats are psychotic killers who just love to torture small creatures for fun because they just can't help themselves... which means birds hanging out in the catio are not safe from being brought into the house. What's weird is that they never actually hurt the birds, they just bring them inside to play with them.

Last Sunday I came downstairs only to find feathers on the floor. So then I spent a while searching for the bird. Dead or Alive. And of course the frightened little guy was alive. I tried to shoo him out the guest room window, but he got scared and flew into the wall that's torn out in my guest bathroom!

And so I used lights to draw him out of the walls... then used lights to lure him back into the guest room... then tried to shoo him out. Again. But he kept hiding out under the bed because he couldn't fly through the bottom window which cannot open. So finally I blocked the bottom window and then... five hours after I spotted feathers... the bird flew out...

My cats... watching me frantically trying to remove a bird from my home...

Apparently looking at me like I've ruined their fun isn't good enough... Jake had to sit on my work papers so I couldn't get to them as well.

Cats. What can you do?

How I know that it's time to haul out the electric blanket and the heating pads for the cats?

They start using me as an electric blanket. I mean Jake usually sleeps with me...

but when it gets colder he's on top of me...

And if he can't squeeze between my feet, he'll sleep on top of them...

As for Jenny? She's been squeezing beside me on the couch when I'm sitting length-wise on it. But now? She will dig behind me even if there's no room to use me as a heating pad...

And so... I put out the warming pads for them...

And so... I guess they've got their favorite place to sit for the next five months.

Sleeping arrangements for my cats is ultimately wherever they feel like it. And they are happy to sleep just about anywhere. Although this time of year they're mostly sleeping with me as a human hot water bottle because the temperatures are falling and I haven't turned on my heat yet.

Jenny has been sleeping in kitty beds scattered around because they are insulated and keep her warm...

Another favorite spot while in the living room is the backs of the couches. I usually have a blanket folded up over one spot, which they started fighting over, so now I unfold it out across the entire length so they can both lay on it...

Something Jake likes to do is wait until Jenny has fallen asleep next to me... then wedge himself in-between us so he can use Jenny as a pillow. Sometimes she swats at him or runs away... but other times she seems okay with him being annoying...

Once the heat is turned on, they'll probably go back to sleeping near the vents. It's the most comfy place to be. Which reminds me... I need to reverse the direction of the ceiling fan in my bedroom.

I don’t trim my cats’ claws. And I would NEVER de-claw them.

They don’t scratch where they’re not supposed to, and take care of their own claws with teeth manicures like they would do in nature, so I don’t see the point in putting them through the trauma. BUT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE... a week ago Jake was pushing Jenny out of the way so he could eat her dinner when he still had food. So I gently moved Jake back to his bowl.

Which startled Jenny.

Which startled Jake.

WHO THEN RAN ACROSS MY FEET WITH CLAWS OUT... tearing them up...

The left foot only bleed for about 15 minutes. But that puncture wound on my right big toe? That bleed like for an hour. Funny thing is that the puncture wound doesn’t hurt at all. But the scratches are incredibly painful. Oh well. Cats, amirite?

Jake's still a good boy though. As the weather gets colder and colder, he's been sleeping up next to me like I'm a hot water bottle...

His favorite spot is right behind my knees, every night...

This morning I woke up at 4am, then went back to sleep. When I woke up a couple hours later, I couldn't move. Jake was on top of me...

And of course I just lay there until he decided to climb off of me. I'm pussy-whipped like that.

Yesterday was Orange Cat Appreciation Day.

Which is hilarious, because EVERY DAY IS ORANGE CAT APPRECIATION DAY! JENNY INSISTS ON IT!

I swear, she's the most entitled princess of a cat I've ever known. She demands to get her way, and does not give two shits how you feel about it. When she wants to be petted, you stop whatever you're doing and pet her. Then you don't stop until she's done with you.

Just look at the little scrubber squeezing beside me and pushing me over on the couch!

Then she meows until she get butt-scratches...

Eventually I graduated to neck scratches...

But the second I stop? She wakes right up and gives me this...

But what can I do. This is how she looks at me most of the time...

So happy Orange Cat Appreciation Day yesterday.

My cats having radically different personalities is a never-ending source of amusement. When you're petting Jenny and she wants you to move to a different location, she'll twist and contort to move the location to where you're petting her. Then get frustrated if you get it wrong. Jake, on the other hand, just lays there while you pet him and when he wants you to change location, he just squawks at you. And if you end guessing the wrong spot, he'll either squawk at you again... or just accept it and fall asleep. He's a wonder, that wonder cat...

And speaking of falling asleep...

Any time I'm working in bed, Jenny will insist on being petted before she falls asleep. Then the minute I turn the light off so I can go to sleep, she wakes up and immediately goes downstairs to sleep somewhere else. Jake, on the other hand, stays with me all night.

But Jake is usually late to the party when Jenny is still with me, and lately I've been noticing that he's plopping down to sleep closer and closer to the little princess...

Where he ends up smacking her with his tail...

I'd say it was random and unintentional, but he does this all the time...

And Jenny isn't the only victim. Jake will often lay parallel to me. But sometimes he stretches out horizontally on the bed... THEN KICK ME ASIDE BECAUSE HE WANTS MORE ROOM...

Life with cats expecting you to always put them first never gets old. Jenny has decided she wants a footrest while she sleeps... and will kick me until I comply...

Cats. What can you do?

I replaced my glass door with a fiberglass door so I could add a catio door to it. And they've been using it to go in and out for over six years.

Now all of a sudden Jenny is having problems with it. She can go out okay, but she can't manage to come back in. She's always struggled a little bit forcing the flap open so she can get through, but now it's like most of the time she can't do it. There's been times I've had to get out of bed and go downstairs to let her in because she's meowing... at which time she decides she doesn't want to come back in.

Then Jake started acting like he couldn't get through. And I just don't get it. I've inspected it, and it swings open just like it always has.

I finally ended up taking out some of the magnets that keep it closed in the hopes that it would be easier for them. Which it is. Except Jenny still doesn't want to use it to get back in for some reason, and Jake still squawks at it before coming back in. No idea what's going on in that furry little head, but if it doesn't resolve itself I may have to start closing up the catio at night so she doesn't get trapped out there.

August 8th was International Cat Day... which is kinda funny, because EVERY DAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY in my house. How can it not be when these are my cats...

If only they could remember how to use the cat door.

And now, this...

Cats are still great.

Jenny's behavior, which used to be changing from year to year is now evolving from week to week. As for Jake? He's just Jake.

Jenny's latest thing is meowing her head off when I do not respond instantly to her demands. She wanted to be petted while I was replying to a work email, I told her "Just a minute..." and then was treated to this long, extended howl that did not let up until I stopped typing and scratch her ass. Because HOW DARE I make her wait!

Truth is I can't even be mad, because it's just so funny.

She's graduating from a princess to a queen, and I guess it's my job to deal with it.

But how could I not? Just look at her...

The worst thing Jake did this past week was to get mad that I picked up one of his toys and took it back upstairs. He then brought it back downstairs and made sure I knew he was not happy.

Either that or he's trying to kill Carl the RoboVac again.