Home Alone

THANKFUL THURSDAY: THE RETURN & NIP

We are so thankful to have the humans back after their four-day jaunt to Colonial Williamsburg. The weather has turned furry cold again with the temps below freezing two nights in a row. The first night they were not here to snuggle us. We didn’t like that. But last night, six of us piled on the bed with them.

Mauricio and Giulietta feign disinterest.

Giulietta nomming.

Giulietta nomming.

Mauricio gives the new nip his pawstamp of approval.

Mauricio gives the new nip his pawstamp of approval.

 

We are particularly thankful for the live catnip plant they brought home for us. The killer cold weather this past winter deaded all our potted plants but one little sprig of parsley. Do you think our nip’s ancestors were plants from colonial times? Do you think that would make it more potent? We sure hope so ’cause last year we had two live plants!

Mom decided to plant our nip in the over-sized teacup planter that she painted a couple of years ago. She’s just hoping that Lisbeth does not try to dig it up as she did with the flowers planted there last summer. Here’s a photo of her caught in the act.

Lisbeth inspects her handiwork.

Lisbeth inspects her handiwork.

p.s. Mommy found remnants of nip on the kitchen counter and treats on top of our dry food when she got home. Now she knows that Chris was indulging us. But she is okay with that. So today, we also are thankful that Chris was our caregiver while the human’s were away.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

 

 

LADIES DAY

Has anyone else noticed how Mauricio has been hogging the blog ’cause we sure have? It’s Cat Scouts this and Cat Scouts that. And then there is all the prattling on about his girlfriend Allie.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we think Allie is a sweetie-pie and are super happy that she likes Mauricio enough to have him as her boyfriend. It does keep him out of our furs when he’s at Campfire with her.

And we are even more pleased that he is a Cat Scout. That, along with his calming collar, has made it much easier to put up with him enjoy his company. (OK, that may be pushing it just a little! Sorry.)

Lily Olivia takes a turn on the Ham-mick.

Lily Olivia takes a turn on the Ham-mick.

Anyway, we lady-cats are highjacking the blog for today. We don’t have anything particular to tell you about. It was pretty quiet and boring around here while the humans were in Paris. Of course, we spent most of the 11 days napping.

We were able to watch the birds and squirrels from the kitchen windows…until they emptied the feeders. We had a few instances of the “cat crazies,” which Maggie had to tell the pawrents about. Yeash! She takes good care of us, but she can be a party pooper. And, since all but Lily and Giulietta were fitted with calming collars prior to the desertion, we didn’t break any lamps…or anything else for that matter.

Chris came one day to clean so that was a little bit of excitement. Fiona, as usual, spent the entire time UTB. And we spent the following days trying to dirty things up again.

We cannot understand how Astrid found this a comfy place to nap.

We cannot understand why Astrid knocked over the photos and then selected that most uncomfortable spot for a nap. (But then we don’t understand much about Astrid.)

We had expected the solar workmen to be here while the humans were gone, but our panels were delivered to the wrong city, so they didn’t get started until two days before Mom and Dad got home. They come back Wednesday to hook everything up, and then all should be peaceful again for awhile. At least until John comes to start painting the guest room. John has spent lots of time here both inside and outside, and we like him a lot so we won’t mind that project too much. We bet he closes the door so we don’t put painty paw prints all over the room. Phooey!

Giulietta and Fiona in their usual positions.

Giulietta and Fiona in their usual positions.

 

So that’s it for our “no” news. We are glad to have Mom and Dad back where they belong. They have promised us that they have no plans for any trips in the immediate future, except the 24-hour kind. Not that we are fond of those!

Mom says she’ll show some photos of Paris in an upcoming blog. She does have one planned for Wordless Wednesday.

Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

NOT AGAIN!

So the humans left us again on Monday afternoon. They didn’t have the tandem, took the red car and only had a very small suitcase. It appeared to be a quick trip, but we weren’t sure until dinnertime came and went. Maggie did not show up to feed us, so we figured unless we had been abandoned totally, they would return soon. And they did.

Twenty-two hours later they appeared at the door, and we got our breakfast, albeit three hours late, but it was still breakfast. They were talking about something called a Fleetwood Mac (Is that any relation to a Big Mac?) and a place called Charlotte, North Carolina. We figured that’s where they had been but really didn’t care. We were just happy to see them, especially when that suitcase was unpacked and put away.

But something was definitely rotten in Roanoke, as we were not being allowed on the catio. We were thinking it was due to Astrid’s escape the previous morning*. Maybe the humans were trying to make some kind of ill-conceived point about our outdoor privileges. Like we all should be punished for the antics of one sneaky and naughty meowmate.

Misty May, "Are you kidding me. You two are leaving again?

Misty May, “Are you kidding me? You two are leaving again.”

But then all our food bowls appeared on the kitchen counter as well as multiple cans of food, a spoon and an unopened bag of treats.  We knew then we were looking at some nefarious plan on the part of those thoughtless humans. The next occurrence sealed our fate: two very large suitcases appeared downstairs. What could they be thinking? They’d only returned an hour and a half earlier. Was this some new Frustrate the Felines game?

And then they were gone. It seems they were heading someplace called Reno but only after returning to the aforementioned Charlotte and then Phoenix. Isn’t that a bird? We really think it’s a bird and unless they’re planning on bringing it home roasted and ready to eat, we are less than pleased by their plan to visit it. Doesn’t make any sense to us.

Anyway…it seems Dad has some volleyball stuff to do. Mom is going along to visit a friend from high school. We’re not sure what the heck a high school is, but we think her trip is definitely unnecessary. Normally, she’d be getting a big fat raspberry from us, but she asked if we could please be good kitties, not complain and not trash the house. Sure, we’ll be good…in what universe? She left us alone on World Cat Domination Day and was leaving again, so we figured we didn’t owe her any favors!

She told us, however, that they would be gone only one week of a trip originally planned for two. We weren’t sure why she thought that should make any difference to us. She added that they had planned the second week for a visit to her step-mom on the west coast, but she had passed away. Some of us know what that means ‘cause we’ve had brofurs and sisfurs leave us the same way. That made us very sad, so we knew Mom must be very sad as well and perhaps we needed to give her a break.

Calista Jo, "Hey, where are my new mousies? I promised to be good, so unless one or more of you want to get smacked, you better paw them over right now."

Calista Jo, “Hey, where are my new mousies? I promised to be good, so unless one or more of you want to get smacked, you better paw them over right now.”

So we promised to be on our bestest behavior, and we are trying really, really hard. She left Maggie the flying red dot toy and asked her to play with us a little each day. She thinks if we’re tired, we won’t have the energy for an effective house dismantling. Of course, not all of us are interested in the flying dot. We do, however, have all of our other toys as well as Calista’s two new catnip mice. So maybe, we can survive.

I’m sure Mom will let you know how successful we were when she gets home. And we hope all our friends will understand why we are not inviting you over for another good, old-fashioned trashing. Next time (and there better not ever be one of those), we will not be so good-hearted and obliging. We’re just giving those inconsiderate, gallivanting humans fair warning now so they can contemplate any future decisions regarding our desertion.

Astrid, "Do I really look like a naughty kitty to you?"

Astrid, “Look at what a good kitty I am, just relaxing in the sun on the upper deck. I absolutely would never jump off of here.”

* Monday morning after breakfast and our release to the catio, Dad looked out the kitchen window, turned and said, “There’s a cat in the backyard that looks just like Astrid.”

Mom replied, “Really? It can’t be. She’s on the catio, isn’t she? I better go check.”

And, Guess what? It was Astrid. The only explanation the humans came up with was that she went to the accessible, unscreened upper deck, jumped from there to the top of the gas grill just outside the catio, then to the deck followed by a leap to the yard. She gave Mom the run-around over and over and over again for the next hour. If she weren’t stuck inside with the rest of us, she’d be grounded for sure.

Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, naughty Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Josette

P.S. We are sorry that we have been slacking off on commenting, but our typist when Mom is away, Giulietta, has thrown up her paws in disgust. She says that she’s tired of us all talking at the same time and never letting her type anything she thinks is pertinent. Lily Olivia and Misty May have both put their paws down and said that such menial labor is beneath them. We are working on training Lisbeth for the job, but she is a very solitary cat and not much interested in what the rest of us want to do. So, for the time, we are muddling through as best we can.

A BIRD IN THE HAND

Aftermath

Dad Tom and I went away for a couple of days and just returned home to seven cats eager to get outside.

The house was not wrecked…probably because Chris was here to clean before we got home. She and the kitties always have nip and treat parties!

Two kitties—Fiona and Astrid, our escape artists—were collarless, however, and Lily Olivia was missing her bell. A quick search has not turned up either collar. If Chris found them and put them up for us, they were reappropriated by the horde and used as toys. It’s now time to look under all the rugs. Dad Tom found Lily’s bell. Getting it back on her collar will probably result in a wound or two for me.

We took our tandem out of town with us and rode yesterday and again today around Luray, Virginia, where we stayed for two nights. (If you’d like to learn more about Luray and the caverns we visited, check out the post, ” The Adventures of Periwinkle & Stinky: Part CXLVI.”

Yesterday I saw two felines while we were riding. Today I saw eight (five at one house) while riding and three more as we were driving home. I am always on the lookout for kitties when we are away from home, as I miss ours. We do, however, enjoy having a bed all to ourselves for a couple of nights, as I am sure the kitties enjoy having ours all to themselves.

Though all the kids sped outside immediately, Fiona came back in quickly so she could get some love and petting. She and I usually have at least three one-on-one sessions per day, so she is short about eight sessions. I am sure she will force me to make up each one. She is such a sweetheart, I’ll gladly give her plenty of lap time.

Carolina Chickadee

Bird in Hand: Grey cat in a human's lap getting a kiss and a hug.

Fiona demanding her “me” time crawls in my lap as I am working on this post.

While Fiona and I were having our first love fest, Tom was unpacking the car. On one of his trips into the house he found a baby Carolina Chickadee sitting on the front porch. The birdy was breathing hard when Dad Tom picked it up. It didn’t have any missing feathers, kitty spit or other evidence of meeting up with any of our furballs. The bird just sat in Dad Tom’s hand while he carried it through the house to a section of the back deck that is not part of the catio and so inaccessible to Kitties Blue. He set the bird on the railing, and it flew away. Danger averted!

Day’s End

Even though they had a short outside, everyone was ready for dinner when I called. They began swarming around me in the foyer like a school of sharks. The only kitty missing was Misty May. She always waits outside the front door until she sees the bowl of food in hand. They all acted as if pet sitter, Maggie, had failed to feed them in our absence! If they didn’t get their stinky goodness, it was because they refused to come out of hiding while she was here.

Lily’s collar has been removed, bell attached…no wounds! She’s back in her dough bowl having a wash.

Time to look for those collars, then off to bed for kitties and humans.

Astrid’s collar was located, but she almost severed one of my fingers when I tried to put it on her. So…both she and Fiona are still naked!

Note: For those who may not know, all the Kitties Blue were inside/outside cats until we adopted Fiona and Giulietta. Those who had the privilege continued to be allowed out until their passing. Misty May was the last of the Kitties Blue to have outside privileges. I expected all of them to be in before dark, and it most cases they obeyed.