Caught in the act

Last weekend Eve and I were in the office talking. Tulip Kitty was bored because it was raining, and she couldn't go out on the deck. Instead, she jumped up on the bed and started attacking Violet. I told you she's a bully! We have evidence!

The family that pees together...

Quite frequently, when we use the bathroom, Tulip decides she should use the litterbox at the same time. Since the litterbox is right next to the toilet (in a tiny bathroom) she ends up leaning right against you, while she's perched on the edge of the box peeing. I'm not sure why she perches like that, but I have a picture of her doing it somewhere. I'll have to find it and post it.

Anyway, Eve got up first this morning. I was awake, but still lying in bed. I heard Eve go to the bathroom and pee. Then I could hear kitty climb into the litterbox and pee too. It's as if she goes, "Oh. Is it time to go to the bathroom now? OK".

That was probably too much info, but I thought it was funny. Is this some kind of feline bonding ritual?

My eye!

Tulip tried her best to give me a black eye this morning. She was curled up next to me when the alarm went off. She stretched and purred while I petted her. Then I sat up, which intimidated her because she could feel me looming over her. So of course she threw herself at me, claws and fangs out. Her nose hit me right in the eye full force. All I saw was a bright flash, followed by throbbing pain. I couldn’t even open that eye for a few minutes to see if it was okay. It’s a little bloodshot, but not too puffy now. Happy Friday!

Tulip realized right away what she had done. She sat down on the end of the bed with a pitiful look on her face. I was so pissed off initially that I left her sitting there. Once I decided I was going to live, I went out to the kitchen to make coffee. Kitty came out and rubbed up against my leg, looking for some approval. She got a pet and some breakfast, but she wasn’t very interested in eating.

While I sat and drank my coffee, she was still pretty sheepish. I finally coaxed her over to me and gave her another pet. Kitty was sorry! She curled up at my feet and watched the news with me while I finished my coffee.

I know that Tulip does most of the crazy things she does because she can’t see. I suspect that she’s used to being punked by the other cats she used to live with, so she’s very defensive unless she’s 200% sure who is touching her (or even near her sometimes) and why. But did I really need a punch in the eye at 5:30 in the morning?

Tiger perks

This morning while I was getting ready for work, Tulip curled up on our bed. She looked like she was getting ready for a nap. When I saw her there I blurted out,

"Kitty! Why do you get to take a nap whenever you want? It must be nice!"

And I heard from the other room, "Honey. It's tiger perks."

So I replied, "Oh yeah? How do I sign up for those?"

Eve's reply? "Sorry. You have to be a tiger."

Story of my life...

Naughty girl

On Saturday I was cleaning the bathroom. I moved Tulip's litterbox out to the main part of the bathroom while I cleaned, because it was in my way. As I was working away, I noticed a scratch, scratch, scratch and the tell-tale tssssss of fine grains kitty litter bouncing on the floor. I looked over and watched as Tulip sat outside her litterbox and flung kitty litter all over the place. She'd flick it with her paw onto the floor. Then she'd cock her head to the side and listen with that goofy kitty smile on her face. Apparently she liked the sound of it hitting the floor. She thought it was great fun. Punk!

Ouch

Tulip kitty was in a feisty mood this morning. She was kicking up a ruckus because she wanted breakfast. Evie got up and made coffee, and finally got around to feeding kitty. When I went out to the living room to drink my coffee, kitty bounced over to say hi. She was running around in and out of the legs of the coffee table, just itching to get into something. Well, unfortunately what she got into was the wrought iron leg of the table. She was standing between me and the table and spun around to run off. Instead she spun her little head right into the table leg at top speed. It made the most horrible bang. I picked her up to make sure she was okay. Of course she was flaming mad, so she bit me. I got her to calm down a little so I could check her out. Eve heard the whole thing go down, so she came out to see what happened. Tulip let Eve give her a little head rub. Poor kitty! She was definitely stunned a bit. I swear we're getting rid of that coffee table.

Naptime

Last Sunday it was reallly warm. When the afternoon sun came in through our bedroom windows, I couldn't resist having a nap. I knew kitty would love laying in the sun too, so I grabbed her and put her on the bed. She curled up next to me with the sun shining on her face. When I went to sleep, Tulip's face was right next to mine:




When I woke up, I had little kitty feet in my face instead:



mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Sunshine. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Blech!

Last night when I came home from the gym I was hungry. I had already eaten dinner, so I didn't want much. I decided to split a banana with Eve. As we were standing in the kitchen eating, Tulip kitty was very interested in joining the party. She kept circling around us and walking over to her bowl. Every once in a while she'd let out a little chirp. I held my banana out for her to investigate. Of course, she couldn't see it, so she stuck her nose right in it. I thought she might steal a bite, but she was completely offended by the very offer. She turned her little nose up and left the kitchen. I guess kitty doesn't care for bananas. It can't be sushi every time, kitty!

Kitty tunes 2

As a follow up to the last post, the Enya story in Evie's own words:

I usually work without listening to anything but the voices in my
head. The absence of music or TV noise makes for a stressful work
environment sometimes. Yet, I feel too busy to get up off of my
chair and put a CD in the player. Once I start my work in the day,
I am full steam ahead and not many things can deter me from doing
anything else. This is not always a good quality. In the instance
of not listening to music, I end up being more stressed than I
should be because I have nothing else to distract my thinking and
state of mind but my own brain chatter, which doesn't always help
the challenging situations I have to deal with every second.

All of that to say that yesterday I forced myself to put on a CD
before I began my work. I didn't want to listen to the usual genre
of music that I listen to on my iPod at the gym or in my car. I
needed something to calm my nerves instead of inflate them. As I
was looking through the case full of CDs, I saw the familiar Enya
CD cover. I remembered it as one of the first CDs I listened to
with Renee when we first met. So for old time's sake, I decided I
would play it and hope that it wouldn't result in me wanting to
take a nap on my desk. I'm used to listening to faster beat, even
angry music.

I set the Enya CD to "repeat all". Another of one of what I call
inconveniences is having to press play every 30 minutes. Those come
by so quickly that I will go hours with silence before I realize
that the music has stopped playing. And when I do set it to play
till the end of time, I hardly ever notice that I've listened to
the same song every 30 minutes for the past 10 hours.

Soon after Renee left for her work day, I walked through the house
once over to verify the windows were open, etc. As I did that, I
wondered where Tu was, as I didn't see her in any of the usual
places. She wasn't in her bed in the bedroom, nor in the bed in the
livingroom, nor on her couch, nor in her tiger den, nor on the top
of her tree house.

I don't know why, when I can't find her in those places that I
think to myself, "Tu must have left for the day and didn't bother
to tell anyone." My mind begins to imagine her on her motorcycle
riding up the coast with our old cat, D. Don't ask why I drift off
to those images every single time I can't find her initially. I
don't have an answer for you.

I went back to the office and as I was looking over the piles of
stuff on the bed, I see her lying in between the piles. She's
sleeping like a sweet angel. It has been a while since she hung out
with me while I worked. I thought it to be a little unusual but
pleasantly surprising. Without another thought, I decided I needed
to get back to work. I had my back to her while I sat at the
computer.

Hours go by and I decide to walk around a little to get my mind
fresh again. I see she's still peacefully curled up on the bed
sleeping, only a foot or so from the CD playing Enya. The volume
was pretty loud. If I have music on while I work, I have to turn it
up a bit so that I might actually hear some of it throughout the
day. Again, I didn't think much of her sleeping only to think how
cute it was.

Lunchtime comes and goes. I had the rest of the black beans from
yesterday with some tortilla chips. It's just a little something to
keep me from freaking out over hunger at 3pm. She was a little
interested in my crunching on the chips but didn't move from her
spot. She only stood her head up till I finished eating, which
probably took 5 minutes. The she laid her head down again to resume
her sleeping. Yes, Enya was still playing.

Now at this point, I finally got that she liked Enya's music. And I
was tickled pink to realize that. I felt bad in turning it off on
my way out later that afternoon. But I resolved the conflict by
remembering that she had just gotten 7 hours of sleep from it.

A long story to say that: Tu likes Enya! She has good taste in
music.

Kitty tunes

Evie was listening to Enya before I left for work yesterday morning. She was commenting on how that music just alters one's mood. Apparently kitty thinks so too. Eve just let the CD loop, since it was just background noise for her anyway. She said that Tulip curled up next to the CD player and slept there all day long. She didn't even get up to snack. Kitty has some diverse musical tastes. Maybe we're going to have to compile a "Kitty's favorite tunes" playlist.

Kitty fetches

Here's a Tulip entertaining herself this morning. Kitty fetches (when she darn well feels like it)!

Do not want!

Last night, Eve decided it was time to clip kitty's toenails again. It gets a little old listening to her clip-clop around on the hardwood floors. It sounds like she's wearing heels.

I decided that instead of pinning Tulip down like a rattlesnake, it would be good to give her the opportunity to behave nicely. I sat her down on my lap with her 4 feet sticking straight out so Eve could clip her nails. Much to my delight, she sat still like a perfect angel. Eve clipped the back nails first, then went for the front paws. When it got down to the last paw, kitty was a little impatient. I told her to sit still like a good girl. Her response was to tuck her head into the crook of my arm, as if she just couldn't bear it another second. She sat that way while Eve finished up the last paw. After she was done, Tulip continued to sit there in the same position. I decided to hold her and wait to see what she would do. She eventually realized she was done and got down off my lap. It took long enough for us to get a few adorable pictures though.

Kitty no wanna clip toenails!

Tap tap

Sunday afternoon I was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. The house was a little chilly, so I kept trying to convince Tulip kitty to come sit with me. I wanted some company, and I knew she was cold. She just wouldn't do it. After a while, I just gave up and sulked while I studied.

As I was taking notes, I felt the slightest little tap on my leg. It was so slight, that I wasn't sure I felt it until it happened again. I looked down and saw a squinty, little face staring up at me. Tu came by to say hi. She still wouldn't sit with me, but at least she tried to patch up my hurt feelings. Does she have to be so cute?

*ting* *ting* *ting*

*ting* *ting* *ting* *ting* *slash* *splash*

Know what that sound is? That's Tulip playing in her water dish. Lately kitty has been messing with her water in order to get some attention. She splashes around in it. If that doesn't get Eve or I to come, she whacks the bowl until she knocks it over and spills water everywhere. There are little, wet footprints all over the place, and water droplets all over the floor, cabinets, fridge. Punk! I'm thinking about eating her.

I told Eve to yell at her when she does it. So now I hear "KITTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!" followed by "MMMBRRRRRT?" followed by some floor mopping, several times a day. It's a lot like how I imagine a mental hospital to be.