Sleeping Bear

She is a pro at it after all. She has claimed the big center box in the cat condo in the bedroom for her own, probably because she is too fat for the smaller bottom box and Mimi is usually in that one anyway. Harri always takes the top platform, as you can tell when you stand on a stepstool to look at the surface of it, there is an incredibly large amount of black cat hair on it. Buddy likes the next platform down sometimes. Pepper prefers the floor next to the cat condo.

Anyway, the way Bear was sleeping in her box today was rather interesting, on her back with her front paws hanging out the little window and her head somewhere under her arms.

All of the cats seem to be extra lazy today, maybe they are still recovering from the many hours they spent outside yesterday. Keith was working in the backyard all day on another totally unnecessary addition to the patio project (while my laundry rooms doors are STILL not up) and so he let the cats roam. Most of them came inside after a few hours, it was getting quite hot out there, but Buddy decided he really likes the outdoor life and stayed out most of the day. He jumped into the shed through Genie's enter/exit window and found her box and blankets on the shelf and thought Hey, this is a cool hideout in here! Genie was nowhere to be seen, usually she will hide in her basket when the other cats are out there, but she found somewhere else to hide yesterday.

I have not let them out today, I think we will try to keep outdoor activities as a treat when Keith is home on the weekends. Both Pepper and Harri like to roll around in the dirt out there and come back in totally filthy. Harri likes to be brushed but Pepper will only put up with it for a few minutes.

I'm Afraid of Pepper

She is still very very very cranky, but I guess if you'd been to the vet where they stuck things up your butt when you were sedated and then you had to go poop a whole lot afterwards, you'd be a little cranky, too.

This morning everyone wanted to go outside right after breakfast, I had opened up the back sliding door to get some fresh air in here and hear the extremely loud birds chirping out there, and they all lined up by the door saying OPEN OPEN and Pepper was there snarling, so I opened the door and out they all went. Pepper goes right for the dirt first and rolls around in it, Harri tries to find some grass to eat, Buddy and Mimi go to sniff and explore, as does Bear. Genie tries to hide in her basket because WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL OF THESE CATS DOING IN MY BACK YARD?

We did find one way to get them all back inside again yesterday, Keith went to roll the green waste bin out to the curb and when you roll one of the trash cans out to the curb it sounds like thunder, so they all came racing back into the house and I shut the door and made them stay in. So now I have that trick up my sleeve when they don't want to come in.

Anyway, this morning, Harri got spooked by something and came back in the house, where I brushed her and wiped her off with a damp cloth, and after she was all clean, right back outside she went. Everyone was getting along okay and I went out to sit with them for a little while. I felt Pepper's wet nose on my leg and reached to pet her and she snarled at me. Nice, Pepper, I'm just trying to pet you.

I went back inside and a few minutes later hear more snarling and hissing and cats are running for the door because someone got a little too close to Genie in her basket and somebody got mad and the basket got tipped over and Genie ran off to find someplace else to hide. Everyone was in now except Pepper, so I shut the door and left her outside to snarl at whatever, as long as it wasn't at me.

She finally calmed down enough and came inside and is nowhere to be found now. I'm assuming she is hiding under a bed or out in the garage, but for now I'm just going to let cranky snarling cats be wherever they want to be. She scares me sometimes, she will bite and scratch if she is not happy, and she really isn't very happy these days. I know her butt is sore from all the trauma it went through, and it really needs washing since she can't reach it and I noticed that she really does stink but I will wait on all that for another day or two.

It's hard being a cat parent sometimes. They really are like toddlers running around, dirty butts and all, and I've known lots of kids who like to bite.

I did thwart the white stray cat this morning, I've been picking up the outdoor cat's food right after they eat in an effort to keep flies and strays away, and this morning white cat was across the street waiting for an opportunity to come over and scavenge after Lucy was done eating. Ha ha, white cat, I picked up Lucy's dish and then a little while later see him coming up the sidewalk, looking around for food, not seeing food, and then wandering off back down the sidewalk, tail hanging in disappointment.