Mimi Sitting on Things Again

Mimi and Buddy both don't like the dog all that much, maybe because Millie has barked and snarled at the both of them when they've tried to get up on the bed when one of us was already in it and she was feeling extra protective. Buddy will hiss at her and then go somewhere else when she is around. She has no problem at all with the other three indoor cats and the two cats outside. Harri sleeps at the foot of my bed most nights and Millie crawls under the covers and they both get along just fine all night. Pepper just kind of ignores Millie but Bear is quite curious although a little intimidated. Millie likes Bear and will come right up to her and sniff her and Bear will just sit there. If Millie is on the couch next to me Bear is not afraid to get up on the arm of the couch and sit there to be petted.

I took Millie for her walk this morning, hoping the promised rain would hold off until after the walk, and so far it has, hours later now. Keith did call from Barstow and said it had started raining there, so hopefully we will get some here sometime today. It's been chilly the past few days and I'm glad I didn't get rid of the well worn winter clothes just yet, I almost did thinking that it wasn't going to get cold again what with all the warm days we've been having lately. Sorry, rest of the country, I know your weather is ridiculously unbearable right now with no end in sight. Anyway, Millie the little yappy dog is still kind of a pain to take for a walk what with her pulling on the leash and getting all the dogs in the neighborhood to bark as we go by. We were coming down the sidewalk and a couple with two small dogs were coming the other way and knowing what Millie does when other dogs come along, I stepped to the side and crouched down to hold her still while she barked furiously at the other dogs. She kind of wants to go check them out but is also doing her protection thing. I'm beginning to think I need to call a dog trainer or something. They do have a dog class that I see every Saturday walking the well behaved dogs around behind the pet store, but I think they are the advanced class and all she would do is bark and lunge. Bark and lunge. Plus, they do their class really early in the morning and I'm just not that ambitious first thing in the morning. We will see, I did pick her up and carried her a couple of times this morning when she got too excited and strained too much at the leash, maybe if I don't let her walk when she's acting like that she will get the message.

She also really likes motorcycles and when they go by gets very excited and barky and tries to run after them.

I have not been feeling like doing much of anything lately, yesterday Keith was sleeping most of the day so I read books until I almost had to take a nap from all the inactivity. I did get the vacuum cleaner out this morning and did the front bedroom and hallway, then wheeled it into the living room where it is still sitting. Mimi has a thing for the coiled up cord and really likes to sit on it.

Silly, silly kitty.

Dog Spay and Yard Clean Up

Yesterday I mowed and weed whacked the front yard while Keith napped and then finally came out to help spray weed killer around the front patio where weeds had come up between the bricks. We have had such a small amount of rain so far this winter but that little bit of rain sure got those weeds growing. We won't even talk about the back yard except to say that the mixture of weeds and grass is about 2 feet high in some places. The dog and the cats kind of like it though, they like to eat the grass and also hide in it. Keith was supposed to clean all that up. Someday maybe he will get to it.

Anyway, he forgot to shut the gate after he put the weed killer away and when Millie went out late in the afternoon to take care of business she of course discovered the open gate. I was sitting in the back yard and heard her barking but the barking sounded like it was coming from further away than usual, so inside I went to look out front since I didn't have my shoes on and didn't want to walk through all the sort of muddy dirt in the side yard to check on things.

Sure enough, there she is in the front yard barking away. Freedom! I grabbed my shoes and some doggy treats for luring purposes and by the time I got out the front door she was across the street at our neighbor Colby's front door. He has a little blind weenie dog (can't remember how to spell dachsund) that Millie probably heard barking when his doggy care lady came to feed him. Colby works a job that has him on the road much of the time so he has a pet sitting service that comes twice a day to check on the dog. The stray cats also love his front door and sit there quite frequently and also pee there quite frequently. His front door probably smells even worse than ours from the stray cats spraying the doors. He has a little stone dog statue by his door and when I got across the street Millie had discovered it and was growling at it. Thinking it was a real dog I'm assuming. I got her picked up and back across the street. Bad Girl!

She had her spay done last week and has been much quieter than usual while she heals. I've been kind of surprised at how quiet she has been, I thought it might be an issue trying to keep her calm, remembering kitten spay and neuters where they acted just like they did before, especially Buddy who had his cone of shame off within a few hours and was ready to play at like 3 am. We did take her inflatable collar off for a bit the other day but that was a mistake because lick, lick, lick, and her incision was all irritated looking. I've been cleaning it twice a day with peroxide and putting neosporin on it like the doctor said and after we put her collar back on it's looking pretty good. She actually grabbed her Lamb Chop toy this morning, but other than that has not even played with any toys. Lots of sleeping and just resting going on.

If you ever have a dog or cat that has surgery, by all means get the inflatable collar, so much more comfortable for them that those horrible plastic things.

Last night I was cleaning the cat box and Mimi decided my bent over body looked like a good thing to climb on.

It's a little difficult to walk around with a cat on your neck.

Cat In The Laundry Basket

Unlike Millie the dog who prefers a laundry basket filled with nice smelly dirty clothes to lay in, Mimi the cat just can't resist the lure of an empty laundry basket. Or any other type of basket, box, container, what have you.

I was being nice and folding Keith's laundry while he was napping the other day and the empty basket was sitting on the floor and yes, about 2 seconds after it was emptied and put on the floor, little Miss Has To Sit On Or In Everything was in the basket. Where she was quite content for a while.

Today I went on two walks with the dog, one this morning down the street behind our house to the intersection at the end of it and back around. It was really foggy and rather cold and I was glad that I had put on the hat that Jennifer made me for Christmas. Kept my ears nice and toasty warm. The fog didn't lift until about 3:30 today, so much for the warmer weekend we were promised.

I was getting really hungry around 4 and when I'm home alone I really don't want to cook anything, not that there are any ingredients to make much of anything with anyway. I needed to go over to Office Depot and get some ink and figured we could just walk down a little further to Sonic, where we can order at the ordering machine on the patio and the dog could sit with me while I got something to eat. The ordering machine that you can't understand a single word the person taking your order says and you just hope they got it right. I've only eaten the actual food there once before and wasn't real impressed but when you are hungry and don't want to fix anything and it's the only place that you can bring a dog with you when you don't have a car available for the drive thru, Sonic it was. I ordered some popcorn chicken and a plain cheeseburger to give some to Millie and some cherry limeade. The cherry limeade was good and Millie seemed to enjoy the hamburger (after being so rude as to bark at the girl who brought it to us) but the popcorn chicken tasted worse than the cheapest frozen popcorn chicken you can buy. I only ate a few pieces of it, but Millie sat there on the bench and was a good girl while I fed her some of the cheeseburger. I don't get why people eat the food at Sonic, it really is just not very good. Now, the ice cream and shakes, YES! Food, no. If they didn't have the ice cream and all I don't think they'd be in business long. McDonalds cheapest hamburger beats them by a mile. Even the chicken nuggets are better.

So, two walks in and a lousy dinner. The only other thing I've done all day is work on some things for my shops and mess around printing up more things to make.

Mimi's Sitting in and on Things Again

I was in Target the other day, not having shopped there in a week or so, having done what shopping needed to be done elsewhere. I did need to pick up some meds, though, and until they all get transferred to the mail order pharmacy, Target it was. I happened to see these perfectly sized plastic bins while walking by the dollar spot and grabbed what few they had, thinking Keith might put some of his many many papers in them instead of all over the bedroom. And I mean ALL over the bedroom. Stacks and stacks of printouts from work ALL OVER the bedroom.

I also though Mimi might find them fun since just about anything she can fit in or on seems to be so much fun for her. So, I left one laying on the rug to see what would happen and by the time I took the others into the bedroom she was already investigating.

Yesterday I was working on some things in the bedroom and had laid some paper that was in my way on the floor by my paper box and, you guessed it, paper is a perfect thing to sit upon.

I am way behind the times when it comes to all that computers can do and have been using Picasa to lighten up my photos but had never investigated the other tools they have for photo finishing until the other day, and it was like why didn't I ever investigate before? So many cool things you can do!

Fun!

Still Incredibly Boring

I guess we are even more boring than usual since I haven't found anything to blog about since before Halloween. Even our Halloween was boring. Keith was sleeping so I put a bowl of candy out on the porch with a sign to take a few but don't be greedy in the hopes that would satisfy the little monsters and nobody would ring the bell. It worked pretty well with the doorbell only being rung once by a ring and run type. I should have just done like most of our neighbors and left the lights turned off. We even live on a boring neighbors street.

Keith went to work last night after having 3 days off. He was told to get off the job he had been working because ever since he asked for extra training the spotlight has been on him and he still has a few weeks of probationary period to go where they could just fire him at any time. He was definitely being very closely watched. He tried to get on the road board but there wasn't a spot open so went onto the extra board for the yard and guess what job he got last night? The exact same radio control job that he has been doing, except last night he got put on as a helper instead of foreman. He should be able to fly under the radar working as a helper instead of being in charge of a job, though, at least I hope so. He'll find out today if he can get out onto some road jobs after the bids close. He's nervous about that, though, since he hasn't been out on the road for quite a while and of course has forgotten almost everything about it. He got kind of used to a set schedule and sleeping at home, so if he does go on the road he'll have to adjust all over again to weirder hours and staying in the motel in Barstow.

Anyway, there is really not much going on other than that. We've pretty much decided to ignore the holidays this year since he'll be working them anyway. Railroad guys don't get holidays off. But I think they might get extra pay for it.

I looked over the other day and see Mimi sitting behind the ceramic cat lamp in the window.

Yesterday she was laying there in a nice sunny spot using the cats as a pillow.

Mimi Sitting On Things And Laying Around

Mimi has two spots that she really likes for taking her many naps. One is in the bedroom right in front of the closet, actually right up against the closet door. The other is right smack in the middle of the hallway to where she blocks your way whether you are coming or going from or to the front door, coming or going in or out of the living room, coming or going in or from the bathroom, etc. Right in the what I think is the worst spot for a cat to lay. If you aren't paying attention, she is ripe for tripping over or stepping on.

Keith thinks she lays there because she knows you have to step over her and maybe will stop long enough to give her a belly rub.

I have a couple of cookie trays that I don't use for making cookies, but rather for things that I'm working on to dry on or glue to set on. I had one of the trays on the bench in the bedroom, I was cleaning and dusting in there and it was a handy place to set it until I found a better place.

Well, something sitting on something else is just too tempting for Miss Must Sit On Things, so she did. And she looked very comfortable doing it. I was kind of surprised to see Buddy right next to her, they aren't the best of friends lately.

Catch of the Day

In our neighbor's yard there is a tree that grows some really pretty flowers on it, a tree that is really nice since we don't have to take care of it, just admire the flowers that hang over our fence.

Well, when the flowers start to die, they drop down to the yard, making kind of a mess but our yard is usually kind of a mess anyway, so there they lay.

Mimi, however, is fascinated with these dead blooms, and every day gets a few of them to play with and brings them to me for my prize.

This morning, she put one carefully into the food bowl for safe keeping.

I am just really glad it's not a bird or a cockroach.

Sitting on Things (again)

I fixed the ugly slipcover thing yesterday. I really really disliked my bargain doesn't fit the couch right slipcover and every time I walked into the living room and saw it my dislike grew. So, I pulled it off yesterday and got one of our bargain quilts and put that on the couch instead to see how it looked. Our bargain quilts from Walmart, made by Better Homes and Gardens that only cost $25.00. And, it looked good on the couch. Now, the bargain quilts have been in use all winter, being on the beds where cats lay all day, and I'm too lazy to take them to the laundromat to wash them, so they are a little funky. I went back to Walmart to see what other bargain quilts they had and found one in more suitable living room colors that also looks good on the couch. I was going to get some new throw pillows, but didn't like any of the small selection that Walmart had, and then I saw a display of pillow covers and went, hey!

I got three pillow covers in colors to coordinate with the quilt, and came home and redecorated my couch. I like it much better and don't cringe and look away from the couch when walking into the living room now.

And, in other sitting news, Mimi the Sit Upon Cat struck again. Sitting upon a magazine that was on the counter this time.