Getting Back on Schedule

 Mom was trying to get me to play with this yellow ball, but I didn't want to.  I hardly play with anything any more.  Spyro tried to get me to rassle with him yesterday, but I avoided him.  The last time I did rassle with him, I got a little rough.  Mom heard a yipe and when she came to see what was up, she found a tuft of Spyro's fur on my chin.  I just want to be left alone to snooze these days.

Karen Jo:  I would be a bit concerned about this, but you have never played much and you still go for the catnip when it is offered and eat normally and scratch for treats once or twice a day.  You got me up for breakfast this morning, which you hadn't done in quite a while.

I had to.  There isn't as much food around as there used to be and I was starving.

Karen Jo:  I am putting out the recommended amount of kibble for each of you and you still get your Stinky Goodness three times I day.  It isn't my fault that you didn't show up for lunch yesterday until almost all of it was gone.

 Spyro:  I always show up first for meals, but I am still the skinniest cat.  That's because I do more.  I really like lying up here on these boxes.  I am going to be sad when they get picked up.  Mom even took me outside on my harness yesterday evening.  I had a great time.  I sniffed at lots of stuff and got very interested in some birds who were in fairly low branches of a tree above my head.  Unfortunately, the trunk of the tree is over the neighbor's fence and the branches within jumping height are too thin to support me, so all I could do was watch them and talk to them.  I dug at a fresh gopher mound, but I didn't find anything interesting.

I got to go out, too, but I didn't see or hear the birds.  I was more interested in chewing on the grass.

Oja: Mom got all happy when I started playing with this ball.  I don't know why.

Karen Jo:  It's because you are the first kitty who has ever played with that ball.

Oja:  I like it well enough, but I like my jingle balls better.  We are having fun with the jingle balls with the feathers on them.  Spyro got out the pink one yesterday and played with it, then hid it again.  He got out the yellow one today and we both played with it for a while, then he hid it again.  It drives Mom nuts.

Karen Jo:  I'm just afraid that you'll "hide" it somewhere I'll step on it and break it.

Oja:  I am getting curious about this going outside business.  Maybe I'll want to try it someday.

Karen Jo:  You will have to put on your harness, but I'm afraid that the one I bought for you is too small for you now.  You can share Spyro's.

Oja:  I don't like the sound of that.  We'll see.

Mom finally got all the "important" stuff done that she has been "working" on and not blogging for us.  I think we can drag her away from the TV more now, too, so we just might get back to blogging almost every day like we used to.  I hope so.

Toys and Stuff

 I just got finished scratching for a treat and mean Mom made me wait until I got my picture taken to give me my treat.  Yes, I still get treats, even though I am supposed to be losing weight.  I only ask for one once or twice a day now, so Mom lets me have them.  The regular cat kibble has disappeared and all the bowls now have weight control kibble in them.  How boring!

Karen Jo:  That's because you managed to gain two-tenths of a pound eating the regular kibble.  I know it's not really your fault.  Spyro and Oja always gobbled up your weight control kibble first thing and you didn't have much choice but to eat the regular kibble.

I got a real treat the other evening.  I was lying in Mom's rocking chair and she was petting my chest when Oja jumped up in the rocking chair behind me.  I was all set for her to start bugging me, but she started grooming my back instead.  I got attention from two sides at once.  I loved it.

 Oja: I am playing with the turbo track and debating whether Herman's tail looks like more fun.

Karen Jo:  When I went to get the camera, Spyro and Oja were lying side by side playing with the turbo track.  By the time I got back, Spyro had left.

Spyro:  You have to be fast if you are going to catch me doing something.  I decided I wanted to lie up here on the storage boxes instead.  We got some new toys!

Karen Jo:  My friend took me to Santa Fe to try to find a computer desk for the once-forbidden room. While I was there, I looked in a pet store for a replacement for your favorite toy.  Spyro absolutely adored a toy that was a ping-pong ball with a feather stuck in it and something like a little sand inside.  I couple of months ago it disappeared and I haven't been able to find it anywhere.  I found something similar.  It looks like a miniature golf ball with  a feather stuck in it and a jingle bell inside.  I got two of them, one yellow and one pink.  I put the plastic bag with the balls and a package of two toy mice on the table and went off to do something necessary.  By the time I got back, Spyro had gotten the toys out of the bag and was playing with the balls on the floor.  I took the pink one and put it in a toy box, thinking that one at a time was enough, but Spyro took it right out again.  I just left them out and by yesterday both of them had disappeared.  I guess Spyro knows where they are, though, because the pink one reappeared today.

Oja:  I like these new balls, too.

Spyro:  You like anything with a jingle bell in it.

Oja: So, you like anything with a feather on it.

Karen Jo:  It's great that you like different toys, though sometimes your likes overlap.  The toy mice didn't go over so well.  They are an orangish plastic that is supposed to be infused with catnip and they have a slit in the bottom to put treats in.  It was so hard to get a treat in one that I doubt the kitties will ever get it out.

Spyro:  I played with the mouse for a little while, but I like the new balls better.

Karen Jo:  I will hunt around for the yellow one.  I know that both it and the ping-pong ball are in the house somewhere, but I have no idea where.  You kitties have some hidey-holes that I can't even look into.

Spyro:  You will just have to keep buying us new toys.  Hahaha!

Where Did the Time Go?

 See how high up I am?  Isn't it awesome?  Mom is keeping some storage boxes for her friend and they are stacked up on an end table.  I am taller than Mom now.  Mom was really surprised to find me up here, because I have never gotten up this high before, though there are places in the house where I could do it, like the bookcase in Oja's room and the top of the file cabinet.  Now maybe Mom will get me a cat tree to climb.    Mom really let the time go by between posts this time.  Wow!  It's been almost a month.  She has been busy, so I guess we will forgive her this time, as long as she promises never to to it again.  Lots of things have happened around here since our last post.

 Spyro:  I wanna put a nose print on the camera lens.  Just get a little closer.  I wanna cat tree, too.  Know what?  The forbidden room isn't forbidden any more.  Mom cleaned it all up and now we can go in there all the time.  The bed in there got made up with pillows and everything and I like to lie on it.  I tried to get on the   window sill, but all I managed to do was bring down the sheer curtains.  Mom heard the noise and came in and saw me pawing the material.  I should have run away, then she wouldn't have known which cat did it.

Karen Jo:  I would have known anyway.  You are my teenager cat, always getting into mischief and trouble.

Oja:  See me chillaxing in the living room?  I spend most of my time in here with the other kitties now.  I love to play with all the toys.  I found out what the big Turbo Track does and I like it.  Spyro and I both play with it, sometimes at the same time.  I love the balls that look like cages with a jingle bell inside.  I chase them all over the house.  I even started napping in the ham-micks.  They are great!  Spyro and I rassle all the time and sometimes Spyro rassles with Herman.  I don't rassle with Herman, though.  He's too big for me.

Karen Jo:  We can see your ample tummy, too.

Oja:  It's good to have a little extra weight.  The food has gotten a bit boring, though.

Karen Jo:  Some kitty has a bit of diarrhea and I think it's probably you.  Everykitty is on Classic Fancy Feast now.  If it doesn't clear up in a week or so, I will have to make a vet appointment or two.  I did take Herman in to weigh him and he has gained two-tenths of a pound.  It's time to put everykitty on the diet kibble, as soon as the new bag of the regular runs out.

Karen Jo:  I have so much stuff in my top two drawers that I can't close them.  Spyro loves to get up in them and dig in my socks.  Now I am finding socks in odd places, like the entrance hall and behind the TV.  I wonder who is doing that?

Spyro:  I don't have the slightest idea.  You closed all the windows and we can't get whiffies any more.

Karen Jo:  It got cold Friday night and it hasn't warmed up enough to open the windows again.  If you are lucky, you will get a few more days of open windows before the cold weather sets in for the duration.

Spyro:  You haven't been taking me outside in my harness and leash much lately.

Karen Jo:  No, I haven't.  I have been really busy with stuff and the weather hasn't been cooperating.  I will try to take you our more before it gets too cold.  I guess I can look forward to the kitties getting the fall friskies.  What that will do to Spyro is beyond my imagination.  He is all over the place, getting into everything now.  I love it, even though I complain about it sometimes.  I am way behind in my newspaper reading, because Spyro always jumps up on the paper almost as soon as I start to read.  I must say that petting Spyro is more interesting than reading the paper.