Turn Your Face Away

 Hahaha!  All three of us turned our heads just as Mom pushed the button on the camera today.  I don't know why Mom makes such a big deal out of Spyro and Oja having froot-bats.  I certainly don't have them.

Karen Jo:  I think your ears are really cute, Herman.  I also like froot-bats. Spyro really has them and Oja sort of has them, too.  What was the deal with waking me up at O-dark-thirty this morning?  You walked all over me, patted my face with your paw and when I kept telling you that it wasn't anywhere near time for breakfast, you started nipping my toes.  When I finally got out of bed and followed you down the hall, asking you to show me what you wanted, you headed into the kitchen.  I turned on the light and you dived right into the kibble.

I just wanted some light and company for my early morning snack.

Karen Jo:  You used to do that when I first adopted you, but you haven't done it in over a year now.

So?  I can do whatever I want.  I'm king of the house.

 Spyro:  When Herman left this spot in the kitchen doorway, I grabbed it.  It's right in the breezeway and it's a favorite resting spot around here.  I got Mom up at dawn for breakfast.  That's usually Herman's job, but he thought that Mom might be a little ticked off at him, so I did it.  Mom thought she would fool me by grabbing the mail right after she gave us lunch, but I still got halfway out the door before she caught me.

Karen Jo:  You are amazing.  Sometimes I look all around and you are nowhere in sight.  I start to open the screen door, and there you are, trying to get out.  I am going to have to start putting you out of the kitchen and closing the door before I take anything outside.

Spyro:  Spoilsport!

Oja:  I was looking right up at Mom when she pressed the button, honest.  You can see my tail in full curl in this picture.  I had another adventure today.  Mom opened the door to get me fresh water and left it open to clean all the litter boxes, so I could get some fresh air.  I went out to explore Mom's bedroom again, but didn't stay.

Karen Jo:  I saw you heading back to your room from mine as I came out of the litter box room on my way to clean the box in the entry hall.  I don't know if you didn't stay in my room longer because Spyro was up on my windowsill watching the road work or because Herman was starting to walk down the hall.

Oja:  Herman kept coming closer to me, so I hissed and growled at him, but Mom didn't come.

Karen Jo:  I heard you, but I decided to finish cleaning the box in the entry hall before I came to your rescue.  I would have come running if I had heard anything out of the ordinary.  When I got to your doorway, you were standing in front of the door, glaring at Herman and he was just standing there, watching you.  Herman retreated and I started cleaning your box.

Oja:  I ran for my hidey-hole and that Herman actually had the gall to come into my room!

Karen Jo:  I was right there to prevent anything bad from happening.  Herman just wanted to sniff the places you had been sitting and lying down.  He needs to get used to your scent, just as you need to get used to his.

Oja:  He can sniff me under the door, as Spyro does.  Anyway, Mom took away my fishie and gave me a different toy yesterday.  I didn't touch it.  She gave me back my fishie today and I played with it.  I hope she has learned that I only want to play with my fishie.

Karen Jo:  You really like your silver vine fish. I think I better order some more of them.

Rain!

We almost didn't get our pictures taken today.  When Mom got up it was all cloudy and looked like rain, so she went to get her allergy shot as soon as she could.  She said it rained on her all the way home, which was great.  We haven't had rain in such a long time.  It really cooled things off and it smelled great.  Once the rain was over and the sun came out, Mom went for her camera, but she couldn't find us.

Karen Jo:  Once I had good light for photos, all of you had gone to your shady hidey-holes for a nap.  Herman was under the couch; Spyro was under a chair in the living room and Oja was in her hidey-hole under the corner table.  I waited until I was afraid that I would lose the light and decided to just take a picture of Spyro under the chair.  It looked like there was just enough light for that.

Spyro:  It's really comfy here and it stays fairly cool.

Karen Jo:  Then I decided to visit Oja and put on my sweat shirt, since it was a bit cooler, to see if she would come out for a visit, taking the camera with me.  I waited for quite a while, but finally Oja came out, yawning and stretching.  I was in the easy chair and she jumped up in my lap.

Oja:  I mostly stayed in Mom's lap, though I did smear some cat drool on her face.  I even stayed still long enough for a picture.

Karen Jo:  Looking at this picture, I wonder if you qualify for the froot-bat club.  It looks like it to me.  After my visit with Oja, I walked back to the living room and Herman had come out and was stretched out in the light, so I got a picture of him, too.

Oja:  I want to tell about my adventure today.

Karen Jo:  You did have quite an adventure.  I always leave Oja's door open while I go to get her fresh water, so I don't have to open the door while holding her water dish.

Oja:  Spyro started peeking around the door jamb as soon as Mom left.  I watched him but he didn't bother me, so I didn't hiss at him.  When Mom got back with my water, Herman was following her.  He stood in the doorway, but didn't come in, so that didn't bother me either.  In fact, I walked a little closer to him, then hissed at him.  He didn't do anything; he just stood there in the doorway, swinging his tail slowly back and forth.

Karen Jo:  That is Herman's way of expressing interest.

Oja:  I went a little closer to him and growled at him.  He meowed softly to me and that intrigued me, so I walked right up to him and we touched noses and introduced ourselves.  Then I got a little spooked and backed up and hissed and growled at him again.  This is when Mom usually closes the door.

Karen Jo:  I couldn't close the door.  You were standing right in front of it.

Oja:  I finally walked away from him and Mom left, closing the door behind her.

Karen Jo:  I am really pleased with this development.  Herman was the perfect gentlecat.  He never moved any closer to Oja, letting her decide how much contact she wanted.  Oja didn't arch her back or poof out her tail, just hissed and growled.  Oja hasn't shown any more interest in leaving her room, but this evening Herman followed me a little way into her room when I went in to tell her good night.  Oja's reaction to that was her little "I don't like this" meow, but she didn't hiss at him.  I shooed Herman out and closed the door.  I am beginning to think that things may work out after all and Oja may eventually leave her room and really join the family.

Frootbat Friday

Spyro:  Mom says I get the blog all to myself today.  I'm showing off my frootbats.  Mom had a hard time getting this picture, because I wanted to smell the camera and play with the strap.

Karen Jo:  It's out of focus.  I put my little point and shoot camera into portrait mode to take pictures of the cats, but they come out out of focus almost all the time.  Could someone give me a suggestion?

Spyro:  I had some fun this morning.  After Herman got Mom up at dawn to feed us breakfast, I started playing with the kitchen doorstop again.  I got tired of it and went into the living room.  The wind blew the kitchen door mostly shut and Herman had to go wake Mom up again to get her to open it.  He could have pushed the door open himself, but he's lazy that way.

Karen Jo:  I thought that Herman just wanted the dry food put out.  I didn't do that at dawn because there wasn't enough light to see the measuring cup marks and I didn't want to turn on the light because I was going right back to bed.  I opened the kitchen door and replaced the door stop and gave them their dry food and went back to bed.  The boys let me be until I was ready to get up for the day.

Spyro:  I have started carrying toys around in my mouth until I find the perfect place to play with them.  The balls in cages that rattle or jingle are a lot more fun in the kitchen on the smooth floor than on the carpet.  I took one of the jingle balls to Mom in her room so I could be with her while I played with it.  I also found out that if I lie in a chair, I can give Herman a swat as he goes by and make him run.  That was really funny.

Karen Jo:  I wonder what Herman thought of it.  Maybe he was hoping that you would chase him.  He really wants to play THoE with you.

Spyro:  I don't know that game, but maybe I'll learn.

Froot Bat? Friday

Spyro:  The lady thinks I have froot bat ears.  What do you think?

She's not "the lady", Spyro.  She's the Mom.

Spyro:  But I thought that she was your Mom.

She is, but she is your Mom, too.  I am willing to share.

Spyro:  Thanks, bro'.

I am not sure I am ready for that yet.

Karen Jo:  You will be soon, Herman.  Herman really is willing to share me with Spyro.  When Spyro jumped up on the bed Wednesday night, I thought there would be trouble, but there wasn't.  Herman moved down near my feet to give Spyro room to crawl all over me and that's exactly what he did.  He just wouldn't settle down and kept waking me and Herman up.  Herman finally got up in disgust and went to sleep in the living room.

Spyro:  I was just excited to be in a new home with a new family.  I let everyone sleep last night.

Karen Jo:  That you did.  You slept on my pillow, leaning against my forehead and Herman slept next to my chest.  The two of you were less than an inch apart.

Spyro:  Mom took away that round thing with the ball that Herman wouldn't let me play with and replaced it with this:

 Karen Jo:  Herman had torn up the cardboard scratcher on the Turbo Scratcher something awful and Spyro wanted to chew on the cardboard.  I took it away and put together the two Turbo Tracks that I got for Herman's birthday.

 Spyro:  I really like it.  I started playing with the balls as soon as Mom put them in the track, even before she got the last piece in place.

Wait a minute!  You gave Spyro my birthday present?!?

Karen Jo:  Don't worry, Herman.  Your birthday isn't until June.  I will order you something else.  You won't get left out.  Now I have some questions.  What happened here?

 Spyro:  That's easy.  I was up on the table and jumped down on top of it.  I went right through.  It was an accident.

Karen Jo:  It's OK, Spyro.  You still have the purple one to play with.  Who tore open this new bag of Temptations?

Spyro:  Herman did it!  I saw him eating them.

Did not!

Karen Jo:  Spyro, I quite believe that you saw Herman eating some of the Temptations once the package had been torn open, but he has been living here for a long time and he has never done anything like this.  It was you, wasn't it?

Spyro:  Yeah, I guess so.  But they are so good and they were just sitting there in plain sight and easy to get to and you weren't here to ask for some.

Karen Jo:  It's all right.  I put them away in a drawer now, so you can't do it again.  What amazes me is that over half the bag was still in the bag.

We weren't hungry enough to eat the whole bag.