Cat Tails #10

Raven.  Keeping an eye on me as I cut scraps.

Raven.  Pretending to be a dog sleeping nearby my chair.

Flame.  She's keeping an eye on my cutting as well.

Cat Tails #9 : Cats In The 'Dog' House

Yesterday morning, I took Nick to school, then stopped at Wally World aka WalMart to pick up some of Nick's favorite soups for his school lunches, some hand lotion (humidity has been very low here and my hands are dry), and a few other items, then on to JoAnn's to look for a couple specific items for a class I'm taking in March.  Found one item, but not the other.

When I got home and was bringing my purchases in, I was surprised to not be met by the kitties, they seemed to be hiding; Flame is almost always at the door as I come in.  As I set my purchases on the kitchen/dining room floor, I saw the reason why.  There, shattered in a gazillion pieces on the floor was one of my half-gallon jars, which I'd recently washed and not yet put away.  Also on the floor was a decorative wick-type lamp but it didn't have a chip out of it. It had been on the short bookshelf that sits beneath the breakfast counter that the jar was on.  Kitties finally made their appearance and proceeded to be wildly rambunctious chasing and wrestling each other, and I suspect they were doing the same when they managed to knock this jar off the counter!  And I forgot to take a picture even though my camera was at hand.

Wait, it gets better....but I was not sure whether to continue to be angry with the cats, or at my own klutziness.  I grabbed the broom to start sweeping up all the pieces and shards that skittled across the hard, ceramic tiles of the floor, and in maneuvering the broom to sweep underneath a low cart, I managed to move my hands holding the handle towards the floor in such a way that I jabbed the back of my left index finger, near the knuckle by the flat of the back of the hand, on a large piece of glass I'd not yet picked up.  It bled profusely, so I quickly grabbed a tissue and ran upstairs to find the bandages.  Then I had to keep the blood off long enough to get the bandage on! Uh huh.  OK, all set, get back downstairs and start picking up those bigger pieces, and reach down with my right hand and oh yeah, eeeeeyowwww, managed to slice the padded part of my right middle finger and again a profusion of blood, leaving drops on the floor and yet another trip up the stairs for more bandages and trying to keep the blood wiped off long enough to put the bandage on.  Needless to say, I was ready to take all the bandages back downstairs 'just in case' because things weren't going very smoothly.  I finally did get the glass all cleaned up and without further injury, but I was not happy with those kitties....nor with myself at that point.  Maybe I should've gone to the dog house...if we had one.

Had it not been Nick's bowling day, I'd have gone back to bed and just stayed there...all...day...long!

And today, I still feel like I should have stayed in bed all day, just no get-up and go at all.  And still klutzy but no further injuries.

I changed the bandages this morning and the cuts have closed nicely.  I treated them with a little hydrogen peroxide before putting the bandages back on.  Thankfully neither were bleeding any more, and they don't hurt, but they do need to stay bandaged...ok, where's my kitchen gloves...

And the kitties?  Well, I guess they're out of the dog house, they're just to sweet and lovable and they kept me warm overnight, as they do every night be cuddling on my bed. 

Cat Tails #8

There are times I'm not sure which of the two fur-babes is 'top' cat.  It seems lately though that Flame may hold that designation.

Here she is guarding my Easy Street blocks making sure they don't escape. 

And this smug look? Well, she's sitting atop the cable converter box which sits at the back of my desk between a file folder holder and a stack of 'stuff'.  Right behind it are two identical boxes with towels in them (just for the kitties) that sit atop respective 2-drawer file cabinets.  Raven had jumped up onto the desk and attempted to get past her to get to one of the boxes and Flame promptly decided no way, Jose' and bit Raven's nose, to which Raven then found a different route.  Flame was not about to move for anything.  And, upon Raven's getting into one of the boxes a different way, and trying to say howdy to Flame, Flame decided to nip at her again and remain smugly seated as you see above.  Guess we know who the Cat Queen is...at least on this day.  The day before they had a wrestling match on the dining room's tile floor - ouch!

Cat Tails #7

So the other night I went into the bathroom and what do I find?  Miss Raven making sure she was properly made up:

 

She was sitting on the end of the counter in the dark, guess that 'night vision' helps.

Cat Tails # 6

I should have had my camera ready for this one, but alas, it was Friday the 21st and I was still hacking and wheezing and just didn't have myself and my thought processes all together.

I had stood up from my computer and glanced over at my trash can which sits right next to the wall. There, hanging out in all of it's boldness was a little Jiminy.  Yeah, as in Jiminy CRICKET.  Well, that wasn't my hearth, where they're supposed to bring good luck, but was in my so-very-unkempt She-Den - you know, where I have fabric, and tons of paper genealogy, and ancient photos and all things crickets like, and the last thing that was going to pull on my heart-strings was a Jiminy.  Remember the spider-cat story here? Uh huh.   Well, Jiminy got scooped up into a plastic container I had at hand and was carried downstairs.  OK, I did consider briefly that I could just toss him out the back door, after all, he was just a little guy, but where there's one, there's likely more, so he received no grace. 

So Jiminy got a ride to the dining room where there were nice open spaces known as Tile Floor should he decide to have a good hop, and as his fate was cast, two eagerly awaiting kitties were right there wondering what Mama had in store for them.  Jiminy was dumped out on the floor and kitties gave their tentative little paw-bats trying to figure out what this new toy was.  They actually took turns.  After only about five minutes, during which time Jiminy never really gave any good hops to get the excitement going, rather just crawled along like a tired cockroach, Raven decided it was time to see if Jiminy was a worthy snack.  Jiminy must have been quite comparable to the spider as Jiminy didn't last long.  Raven strolled off pleased as punch and Flame said "where's my treat?" and licked up the last remaining Jiminy-leg.

Isn't this a heart-warming story? 

Cat Tails #5

When I was auditioning/choosing my fabrics for Easy Street, I pulled all the tubs of less than a yard fabric and set them on the bed.  Raven decided she needed to be guardian of this tub, however I think she's sleeping on the job ;p

Aw Mom, I'm praying, not sleeping.

Cat Tails #4

These two fur-balls have some great times together, chasing each other all over the house, seeking attention, basically doing what young kitties do.  What I had hoped they'd really become are lap cats.  You know, those sweet little things that look up at you with all the kitty-love they have and jump in your lap then curl up and purr and doze off.  Well, I'm here to tell you that most of the time, ok nearly all the time, they.do.not.like.to.be.held.at.all.  Nope, you pick them up and they want down immediately, especially that Raven girl, she cranes her neck away from you and is quite strong - she does not want to be held.  OK, so she makes up for it with her other antics, think 'fetch'.  Over the last few days, little miss Flame has decided she wants to jump up in my lap of her own accord and stretch up under my chin laying on my chest, closing her eyes, purring like crazy and kneading with rather sharp, pointy claws.  She loves having her neck scratched and massaged. 

I don't think they were really loving on each other in this picture though - amazing what a frozen-in-time shot can portray.  I think they were scrapping a bit with an occasional lick in there, which is what I caught in the shot.  Hmmm, maybe Raven thought she was an Orange Creamsicle.  I liked the little white paw wrapped around Raven's neck.  Kitty hugs :)

Raven & Flame

Cat Tails #3

Raven

So yesterday while I was busy spending so much of my time catching up on Easy Street, I was at the ironing board pressing one of the elements.  Out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of something moving across the floor to my left.  I look directly and there's a big ol' spider slowly moving along - well, when spiders invade MY territory, it's an instant death sentence, except on those very rare occasions I feel gracious and yesterday my feet hurt, my back hurt, my wrists hurt and I was over a hot iron, and I was not in a gracious mood! One quick tap of my foot and that spider breathed no more.  Do spiders breathe?  Surely they must, but hey, maybe not, creepy little bugger.  I didn't take the time to get a tissue and pick it up and put in the trash thinking I'd wait until I finished with my task at hand.  Moments later, along comes Raven and now she has a new nickname.  Spider Cat.  SHE ATE THAT SPIDER!  No kidding, she ate every.bit.of.it, body, legs, antennae - do they have antennae? - nothing was left.  So now we sing: Spider Cat, Spider Cat, Only Eats What A Spider Cat Can.  I've seen cats eat flies and moths, but I can't say I've ever seen one eat spiders - dead or alive!  She's welcome to all that she can find!