Sleeping beauty and my cross-eyed beauty

O thank heaven for red ribbon and bell

Kai's latest thing is to anticipate where I'm going to walk, and then zip speedy crazy ahead, missing my feet by barely an inch. Last night he miscalculated, threw in a poorly aimed dive, and knocked into the edge of my open dresser drawer. A terribly hard corner! I dropped everything and fell to the floor, the better to soothe him huddled under the bed. He didn't seem to be in pain, but enjoyed the being-talked-to bit, and finally agreed to come out and play with our fabulous red ribbon & bell combo. We had a great playtime together, and it soooo beat out anything else I might have had planned.

Of course Bella joined in!

Tea cart

Reacquaintance

For a good hour now, Bella has been carefully sniffing and snoofing every surface of the apartment. Is everything as it should be, and right where she left it? She'd be the one to know. Giant beanbag mountains? Check. Green ribbon dangling from tea cart? Check. Invisible spot on tattered rug? Check. Edge of easy chair footrest? Check.

In the spirit of reconciliation

I left my bedroom door open last night. Meerakai spent a good twenty minutes gnawing on my poor (heavily blanketed) toes while I, still guilty, suffered in silence and sleeplessness, and then finally they snuggled in behind my knees. It was very hard to leave them for the weekend, but so wonderful to come home to them.

All's well

In the end, I had to don a thick winter glove and just grab at her beneath the couch. Very harsh words were exchanged, and for awhile I didn't think our relationship would weather the storm. But we have since apologized to each other, and this morning, in the comfort of her own home, she came to me for some loving.

Precious cargo

"It's okay, little ones, it's okay. We're almost there."

"Mew! Mew! Mew! Meeeew!"

"Just another mile or two, and we'll be safe and sound back home. Hang in there, munchkins."

Crunch of pothole; the car shudders. "MEW! Mew mew mew mew."

"It's aallright, aalllright, my bebbies."

My palms are sweating and my body is tense. What a mad, gruesome machine this car must seem.

A dark hour

Tuna lured them into their carriers in the first place. Tuna wasn't gonna work the second time around.

As my first act during "capture hour" at my mom's house last night, I opened a can of the good stuff and immediately Bella headed for the hills. My second act involved calling for backup and waiting for my mom to appear with a broom.

Bella had done some excellent reconnaissance work while I'd been gone, and found all the darkest tricksiest hiding places at my mom's house. The dark forest of chair legs beneath the table in the basement. The nasty, moist, cobwebby space between the wall and the washer/dryer. Underneath the living room couch.

Forty minutes later, with Kai curled quietly in the corner of his carrier, and Bella only the gods knew where, I collapsed on the couch and felt like crying. My mom was crying--with laughter. In between gasps for breath she tried to give me encouragement. I vowed to have my catsitter come to me next time, instead of taking the cats to her...

I was fresh from the airport, which meant I felt anything but fresh. I was dehydrated, headachy, jetlagged, recovering from elevation sickness, and hungry. Why oh why wouldn't she cooperate?? Please, Bella, COOPERATE!

Tuna treat

The lure of the mouse

Trash toys

I walked through the library stacks this evening and my right foot set a stray wad of paper scuffling across the floor. And again before I realized it, my left foot hit it even farther. Do you know what I thought to myself? I thought, ooh, Meera would love this bit of paper. I should take it home to her!

Then I came to my senses and laughed.

Psycho Kitty

Last night I was eating my dinner at the kitchen table when out of the corner of my eye, I see one of my cats scrabbling sideways across the linoleum. Yes, sideways. It was Meera, high on something, I thought, or else going crazy from the gas coming from the oven. I was baking cookies, and maybe the gas was especially strong. Maybe it was affecting her brain. She bunched her body up, turned her front half so it was at a right-angle to her back half, and then kind of shuffled all four paws in a crazed dance. It sort of seemed like she was stalking Kai. She had her eyes fixed on him, and her pupils were dilated. But he was in the litter box at the time, and they never bother each other when they're doing their thing... So I don't know what to think. It also occurred to me that she'd split open her catnip mouse and sniffed a little too much, but just on the off chance that it was the oven, I opened one window in the front and one in the back of the apartment to get a little cross-ventilation going. Later that evening she was still acting crazy, jumping at walls (which truthfully isn't a new behavior), and pouncing around with a bushed tail. I made a mental note to keep an eye on her, and to keep my toes out of reach. She seemed fine this morning.

Sight unseen: a large truck goes rumbling by

Our seventeenth belly rub of the day...he's insatiable!

Strange eyes, fringe in motion, purple and warm amber lights

Found

Each morning I find a new offering carefully and lovingly placed next to the water bowl. Is this Kai's way of giving thanks to the water gods? Or does he just like piling all of his favorite things in one place...water, catnip mouse, stray rubber bands...?

This morning it was the pull-top to my new case of soymilk, the pull-top I thought I'd discarded. Yesterday it was the jingle bell. And tomorrow...??

In a universe where cats rule the earth, build the bridges, and write the books, these would be the strange pieces found and displayed as art. Art created by Kai: unintentional, wonderful, random.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/

One down, one to go

Last night my sister took a firm hold on Kai while I clipped his nails. Snip, snip, snip, and we were done. He struggled at first, but by the third nail, he had gone limp and was purring loudly. The experience was much more traumatic for my sister, who can't stand the sight or the sound of clippers. Plus, she used to own a dog whose nails were black, so there was no way to tell where the quick began. As she grimaced and distracted herself with meaningless chatter, I reassured her that Kai's nails are practically translucent. I know exactly how much to clip off...don't know that she felt any less squeamish, but thanks to her, the job is done! (Or half of it anyway...Meera stayed under the bed the whole time, surprise, surprise...)

A sideways glance from Miz Crafty

Herself the mole

Herself the mole 2

Like a mole

Last night little Meera burrowed under the bubble wrap I left in the living room, and this morning she burrowed under the top blanket of my bed. I knelt by the bed and lifted the edge of the blanket to see what I knew would be there: her tiny cunning face, her wildly dilated pupils. She mewed a hello and shot a predatory glance at the tips of my fingers. I withdrew.

Bubble, blanket, bed, burrow...methinks her nickname Bella Baby is just perfect.

New rug!

New, fairly expensive (for a grad student) rug! New, fairly expensive, thick rug for living room floor...

...is proving irresistable to kitten claws, despite the water bottle placed in plain sight, despite the centrally located (as in: smack in the middle of new rug) scratching post.

What to do, what to do?