Breakfast

Tulip kitty was eager for some breakfast this morning. She started squeaking around 5:30 this morning. I petted her for a few minutes and she went back to sleep. We all managed to sleep in until 9. We got up and made coffee. Renee washed out Tulip's bowls and fed her. She was as happy as could be after that. She plopped herself down on the rug in the bathroom and watched us finish making breakfast. Now we're all sitting on the deck enjoying the sun. It's getting hot already. Tulip already went for the shade. She likes to sit under the chair right next to the deck railing and listen to what's going on at the pool. She looks like she's watching. It's pretty cute. Right now the pool is empty again, but there are some guys playing tennis right next to it. She's pretty interested in that noise. She seems to like listening to the trees blowing around and the humming birds going by. I'm glad she likes to come out here and relax, because we do too.

Hanging out

Eve has been at home with Tu Tu kitty all week. Apparently they've had quite a bit of togetherness. There's been some lounging/napping on the deck, lots of extra snacks that a certain little tiger doesn't need, and lots of extra attention.

When I get home from work, Eve is usually in the office and Tulip comes out to greet me. I think she's really enjoying the company all day. She's always in a great mood. I can usually get in a pet or two without losing a pint of blood in the process.

I've been working on getting her used to being handled at bit more. Every day I pick her up and pet her 2 or 3 times. She's getting more tolerant of it. Sometimes she even lets out a purr. I'm trying so hard to make her more gentle. But she's a tough little nut to crack. So independent! Yesterday I reached down to pet her before leaving for work. She responded with the claw. I left with a nice bloody scratch across the back of my hand. "This ain't no petting zoo, lady! Don't touch the tiger!"

Rough night

Tulip kitty had a bit of a rough night last night. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. She came along with me as usual. Very often when I go in there, she comes along and uses the litterbox too. There’s nothing like a little togetherness!

Anyway, I flushed the toilet and got back in bed while she was still in the litterbox. I didn’t even give it a thought. I don’t know if the sound of the toilet scared her or what, but she totally freaked out. She came shooting out of the litterbox, couldn’t figure out which way to go and crashed into about every wall, corner and door in the room before running off into the living room.

Poor kitty. She was okay, but she was SO scared. She hid under the couch for a while. I finally coaxed her out and got her to follow me back to the bedroom. I put her up on the bed, but she was already spooked. She decided she was afraid of the blanket and got down. She was still roaming around the bedroom and bathroom investigating when I fell back to sleep.

She seems fine this morning, but I really worry about her running into things. She hit her head really hard! I’m pretty sure I don’t need a cat with a concussion. I guess I won’t make that mistake again.

Sandstorm

Tulip kitty has quite a knack for kicking up a sandstorm in the bathroom. She's really quite clean, but gets a little overzealous when covering up the business in her litterbox. Here's a bit of her handiwork that I woke up to the other morning:



The area in our bathroom where the litterbox will fit is quite small. We actually bought a larger litterbox with higher walls, but it doesn't fit in there next to the toilet. Eve had the brilliat idea of using an old kitchen dish pan instead:



As you can see, Tulip aproves! There's considerably less sweeping going on these days.

Wyatt Bear

Here's the picture of Tulip kitty snuggling with Wyatt Bear from the other morning.

Don't spill the love

Tulip kitty was quite affectionate this morning. I woke up to her sitting on my stomach waiting for pets. Then she made her way over to Eve (who was passed out on her stomach) and proceeded to give her a back massage. That was pretty darn cute!

Later we found her in the spare room snuggled up with Wyatt Bear (the white, fuzzy bear that Janet had for her). It was so adorable I had to grab the camera. I’ll post that picture on here as soon as I download it.

I asked Eve, “How does she fit all that love into that little body?”
Eve’s response? “That’s why her eyes are closed. So it doesn’t spill out.”

Sometimes the posts just write themselves.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Tulip flying up out of the stairwell. She was doing this off and on throughout the evening the other night. On the first run she caught some pretty impressive air. This attempt wasn't quite as good, but I still thought it was pretty funny.

New collar

Eve decided that Tulip needs a collar, just in case she ever sneaks out of the house. She's microchipped, but it would be just as nice if someone saw her and was able to give us a call and tell us where she is. I got her one of those break-away collars and wrote her name and our phone number on it so she doesn't have to have a tag dangling off of her. I thought this might go over a little better with her. She was unimpressed. After we put it on her, she spent most of the day trying to run away from it. By the evening she managed to loosen it up enough that she could get it into her mouth. She was trying to bite it off. I ended up taking it off of her for now, but we're not done with this plan yet. I'm going to tighten it up and give it another go. We haven't seen the last of the ugly yellow collar yet!

First pedicure

Kitty got her toenails clipped today. We were sitting out on the deck and Eve decided it was time. I went and got the clippers, then snatched Tulip up off the floor. I sat her in my lap and held her by the scruff of her neck while Eve clipped her nails. She tolerated it pretty well. No one even bled in the process! I'm always amazed by how tolerant Tulip is. She really is a great cat.

Slightly less scary blanket

Tulip decided to come to bed last night. She's still unbelievably suspicious of her blanket, but she's more willing to tolerate it. She kept waking me up during the night by licking my arm. I swear I thought it was going to be bloody raw by the morning. Take it easy with the velcro tongue, lady! Then when we all got up, she bit both of us. That's my girl! Glad to see she's back to normal.

Oh, you're still there!

Tulip is still on her jumpy kick. She still doesn't want to get on the bed because she's afraid of the blanket. I managed to coax her up there to play with her string last night. But then she felt the blanket moving (from her weight sinking into the mattress) and ran away. Take it easy, girl!

This morning I heard a big ruckas in the kitchen. Eve said that when she went in there to make coffee, she gave Tulip her breakfast. While the coffee was brewing Tulip sat there and ate. Eve got on her computer at the dining table. When she went back into the ktchen to pour the coffee, apparently Tulip forgot she was around. She got startled and ran right into the wall. I swear I'm going to get her a helmet.

Invisible Fly

Here's Tulip chasing, well... Nothing.

Scary blanket

Janet gave us a blanket that has a huge kitty face on it. It looks just like Tulip. We have it spread out on the bed for her to sleep on. It happens to be the same color as her, so she blends right in on it. It's too much cuteness!

Thursday night I crawled into bed and Tulip came up to join me. While she was there, I moved my foot under the blankets and it startled her. She seemed to think that her blanket came to life. She was so scared that she backed herself right off the edge of the bed and wouldn't come back. She ended up sleeping in her kitty bed next to the nightstand that night.

To make a long story short, she still hasn't gotten over it. Not only will she not come on the bed, but now every other thing she bumps into or hears moving underneath her must be about to eat her. She's jumpy as anything right now. This is especially sucky for me since Eve has been out of town for the last few days. Now I have no company at night! I'm sure Tulip will work it out eventually. But in the mean time, it's pretty annoying because I can't really hang out with her. Any swishy sound anywhere near her sends all four feet off of the ground. Poor kitty. It's not easy having no eyes.

Greetings

Tulip's new habit is to greet me at the top of the stairs when I get home. She's done it the last couple of days. No more pulling her out from under the couch when I get home. She paces back and forth at the top of the landing waiting for a pet. Sometimes she even gives me a squeak hello. She rocks.

Meeting Christy

Kitty had another visitor last night. Christy came by to do some work with Eve. No earth-shattering events, but Tulip is definitely getting more curious about visitors. She hid next to the couch when Christy first got there, but you could see she wasn't really scared. She was just being cautious. We basically left her alone to do whatever she wanted. She pretty quickly decided that it was safe enough to come out from behind the couch. She never did go up and investigate Christy. However, she did wander around the house pretty freely. She felt comfortable enough to go to the kitchen for something to eat. She let out a squeak every once in a while when she wanted some attention. She's definitely loosening up a bit. I'm very curious to see who will be the first person she decides to make friends with.

Kitty on a string

Finally, a video of Tulip playing with her string on a stick. It's not the most exciting video ever. She was pretty low-key tonight. It was a pretty good example of her following the string around by listening to it though. She can hear that string rubbing against the floor from the other side of the house.

Fangy McFangums

Tulip has been biting me a lot lately. However, I finally realized that most of the time it's my own fault. Imagine that! I don't always give a lot of thought to the fact that she can't see. I've noticed that I walk up to her and pet her without much warning. She doesn't always realize I'm right there, doesn't see me reaching for her, then probably thinks she's being attacked. Fangs out! I'm going to have to get myself a little bell so she knows where I am. Either that or one of those falconry gloves so I can pet her without making a blood donation.

Grape stomper

I woke up gradually this morning to the realization that some body's little paws were kneading their way up and down my torso. It was fine until she decided to stomp around on my boobs. Why do you have to stomp the grapes, kitty? Are you a wine-maker? Just call her "Julio Gato". How come she doesn't do this to Renee?

Whatchu staring at?!

Too bad this one's a little blurry. It's next to impossible to take a good photo of Tulip because she doesn't hold still for one second. I still thought it was pretty cute though.

This is one of her favorite spots to sit, in between the couch and the wall. She sits there and peeks out when there's a lot of commotion going on. I think she thinks that she's hiding there. Often when we come home she'll sit there until she's sure who's coming into the house. We see you, kitty!