COVID19: Cat Shenanigans

Handsome Kinky

Several minutes - almost an hour - after we went to bed Thursday night, we realized Kinky was closed up in the linen closet. I kept hearing a cat pawing and pawing and pawing at something and thought it was just the cubs playing in the bathtub because they get loud in there. I finally got up and figured out there was a cat in trouble. 

Kinky has had a "not fun" week, and this episode was part of it. 

He's always hated storms, but it's been much worse since the really bad storm in April when Jack and I thought the roof was coming off the house. That's the night Kinky screamed out once and went into a catatonic state for a couple of hours. 

He's been different since then, and now all he has to do is suspect a storm is on its way, and he gets into protective stance. He has a couple of different places near the kitchen door, which seems like a strange place for him to want to be, that he'll move to and just huddle up. He gets so focused on listening for and to the storm that he's unresponsive to almost everything else. 

I say "almost," because on Wednesday, in the middle of a storm which caused our power to blink off and had some crackly, poppy thunder and lightning with, I spilled a whole tumbler of iced coffee all around Kinky's fraidy spot. I didn't spill any directly on him, because he did manage to scamper out of harm's way in time, but there was a mess to clean up, and as soon as I got all the coffee and ice cleared away and a dry towel spread out, Kinky was back on duty for the duration. 

Yesterday when we decided to let him finish Phoebe's lunch leftovers (Fancy Feast kitten pate), Josie immediately commandeered the bowl, then last night he got closed-up in the closet. 

I was ready to take blame for yet again terrorizing one of the sweetest cats who ever prowled this world, but Jack too responsibility for shutting the door on his way to bed after brushing his teeth.

Phoebe was doing her nightly training exercises. We don't know what those are about, but she gets fired up about midnight and romps around for a couple of hours at breakneck speed, jumping from here to there then scampering to the back of the house as fast as she can. She has different patterns and obstacles, and the big boys are in on it with her, but they are more passive participants and don't get fully involved in her madness. 

We've wondered what in the world she thinks she's ever going to do to use any of these skills. "Phoebe, you're a house cat, and you're never going outside," we tell her at least once a day as she stares at squirrels through the window before zooming through the house for a quick turnaround on the windowsill over our bed before hitting the bathtub at a dead run and bouncing back into position by the window.

She has never - none of the NowCats have ever - shown much interest in the outdoors beyond watching wildlife through the window. We are careful when we go in and out the front door and shoo the critters away whether any are in the vicinity or not. 

Bill ran outside by accident once during cold weather, and he was more than ready to be picked up and brought back inside. 

Carlton was the last cat we had who'd try to run the door out of the blue, and thank goodness, he stopped doing that during the last few months of his life. Even when he was super-elderly and mostly a lay-around-and-sleep cat, he still felt the call of the wild and would try to make one last leap for freedom. 

Here are some recent pictures of the kitties.

Phoebe takes a selfie of herself with Bill.

Snugglers.

Sweet Kinky.

Bill's favorite pose.

COVID19: Thoughts for the Day, Bill and Kinky's 6th Gotcha-Day

When Jack and I got home from celebrating Father's Day with Mom and Dad on the farm last week, we sat in the car with the doors open for about 30 minutes and watched lightning bugs. That was the farm trip when Josie wandered off, so she was tired and asleep in the back seat. We could hear her light snoring, and the wind was blowing pleasantly before rain later in the evening. The mosquitoes weren't bad and not a single car passed on the road, so we just sat and enjoyed some of the evening. We've both noticed that there seem to be more lightning bugs this year. Maybe people are spraying less RoundUp. Maybe it's just a banner year for lightning bugs. We slept good that night.

Mom and Dad kind of have a cat. It's a gray stray who likes hanging at their place and keeping the rodent population in the barn and shed under control. They think it's a male but aren't sure. I think it might be a male, too. He's got a big round head like a tomcat, and it's been visiting on and off for two years ago. If it was a girl cat, she'd have gifted them some feral barn kittens by now. He's pretty, a soft bluey-gray with muted stripes, and he seems pretty chill. They feed him, and he lets them know if there's nothing in his food pan. I love when Mom tells me about what the cat's into during our phone conversations, and sometimes during our in-person visits, he strolls around the periphery of the yard and checks out what's going on. He's pleasant and friendly from a distance, like a neighbor you wave at who waves back, but y'all don't talk and maybe don't even know one another's names.

Jack and I eat a lot of homemade pizza, and lately our dough has been ragged and hard to stretch. We made the switch to WalMart brand flour, because "what difference could it possibly make?" Right now we have two batches rising - one with the WalMart brand flour and one with King Arthur from a brand new bag. I'll blog about the results of the experiment to let you know what happens.

One of my goals for the week is to stay upbeat and focused on things other than not getting to spend any time with Sis, Chris, and the girls over July 4th weekend, which is always one of our family times. I have much privilege and good fortune in my life, and I'm not going to be a sadsack about anything. 

Today is the sixth anniversary of rescuing Bill and Kinky and making them part of the family. These are all from their very first day here. They finally grew into those ears and are still precious.

A Collection of Cat Naps

Sis and her family are getting a kick out of my texts with photos of our cats in various stages of nappery, so here are a few poses to make you smile. 

All the Ridiculous Love in the World

Dudley's toenails need to be trimmed, and I just can't bring myself to do it. I've tried to pedicure him three times in the last two weeks, but he won't play. As soon as he gets the slightest inkling of what I have in mind, he either hides under the bed or screams like I'm killing him - like BAD killing him.

The last time I carried him to the vet for a toenail-trimming, he was all smiles and rainbows. There was no screaming, no running, no attempts to hide. He acted like it was seriously no big deal. Jack says Dudley can smell my fear of cutting off one of his toes, and he's probably right. Even though I haven't said a thing out loud, Dudley is giving me suspicious looks as I type this. 

Maybe he knows I'm back on this toenail ting again. Maybe he knows I'm going to share this video:

Yes, that's still going on, and the affection is as strong as ever. If Dudley stays in the same place long enough, Kinky will show up with all the ridiculous love in the world and anoint Dudley's face and ears with it. 

Dudley and Venus were tight. They were buddies. They'd hang together on the same dog bed for hours and exchange facials for a few seconds, but this is different. And intense. Unless Kinky starts hitting Dudley with his claws, Dud is mostly content, though he does sometimes seem almost a bit embarrassed by the attention, especially in the presence of a camera. I'm not kidding when I say this scene plays out at least three times a day around here. 

Now, if only we could teach Kinky to trim Dudley's toenails as part of the grooming routine...

Squirrel Surgery

 A couple of weeks ago, Jack came home from the store with two new dog toys, one of which was a stuffed squirrel with a squeaker in both its head and the end of its tail. Since Josie has been going to training sessions with Curt, she's become more playful and engaged with her toys, and seeing how interested she is in the activities of the squirrels on our deck, it seemed like the perfect new thing.

Her initial interest was lukewarm beyond tossing it in the air a couple of times, and we thought the squirrel was destined for a lonely life of gathering dust under the couch.

A few hours later, we heard Kinky's insanely loud purring from across the room. And a couple of squeaks. He had the squirrel's tail in his mouth and was making biscuits with all four feet on it's body, occasionally stepping on the squeaker in the head. Once he caught us staring at him, he promptly stopped, but within thirty minutes, he was back at it. Purr-purr-knead-knead-knead-look guilty-knead-knead-purrrrrr.

Since then, Kinky hangs out with the squirrel about as much as he hangs out with Dudley, which is a lot and would be fine if Josie hadn't changed her mind and decided she likes the squirrel, too.

There have been a couple of incidents with barking and hurt feelings, but the squirrel situation seemed quite manageable until two nights ago when Josie proudly trotted through the house carrying only the tail in her mouth. Kinky was a few paces behind her and actually tried to take the thing away from her. After Josie had abandoned the tail on the couch, Kinky gently relocated it to the dog bed where Dudley was napping. A few minutes later, he deposited the body in Dudley's food bowl and made an appeal to his favorite dog buddy to do something to fix it. There was kneading and meowing and pacing - lots of pacing.

Yesterday morning, my first task of the day was fixing the squirrel. I used dental floss and a big needle. Good as new, and Kinky is happy.