Late 'Tocktober

 We are a day late, darn it, but Happy Birthday, Derby, and here are my 'tocks.  They are a bit blurry, but I never stay still when Mom is looking at my 'tocks.  I am afraid that she is going to wipe them, which I hate.

 Emma:  Happy Birthday, Derby, and here are my 'tocks.  I am too lady-like to leave my 'tocks uncovered by my tail, so this is the best we can do.

Karen Jo:  I guess this could count as a 'tocks shot, too.  Happy Birthday, Derby!  I am sorry it's a day late.  I chased the kitties around yesterday morning, getting 'tocks shots and got all ready to post, then I had a really bad allergy attack.  I didn't even get to the meeting I was supposed to attend.  After getting very little sleep for the previous two nights, then having another bad attack, I was just wiped out.  I was either coughing or couldn't hold my eyes open.  I fell asleep a little after seven and didn't wake up again until after midnight, so I called it a day and went to bed.

She was so noisy in bed the previous two nights that not even I could stand to be in the same bed with her.

Karen Jo:  As you can see from the bottom picture, Emma is not afraid of Herman.  Wednesday, she spent the whole day asleep on her snuggle on her high shelf. She got down to eat dinner and retreated to her original hidey-hole, under the corner table in her room and spent the night there.  Herman slept in her bed.  I think he wanted to keep her company.  Thursday, Emma spent most of the day on the kitchen chair with a cushion.  After I got back from running some errands, she came into my room and plopped down on the floor. This is quite unusual for her.  I picked her up and put her in my lap and she just settled down and let me pet her.  This is also unusual. When she does stay in my lap, she usually turns round and round and pats everything and kneads a little bit before settling down.  She stayed in my lap for over an hour and I only moved her because I had to use the human litter box.  Last night she slept in my underwear drawer, which I keep open for her and Herman slept in bed with me.  In the wee hours, Herman and I both woke up to Emma either having very lady-like dry heaves or coughing.  That's when I figured out that, although Emma probably stayed in her hidey-hole the first day because of Herman, Emma was really hiding out and being a sleepyhead because she wasn't feeling all that good.  That also explains why Emma hissed at Herman last night when he came up to her to give her a nose kiss.  I was about to call the vet to make her an appointment this morning, when Emma came bounding down the hall for breakfast, just the same as ever.  Now I think I will keep an eye on her for the week-end and see if she really is back to normal.  If not, I can call the vet Monday.

There were some questions about the jealousy between Herman and Emma.  Herman always gets jealous and wants attention when I have visitors or am talking on the phone.  He usually comes up to me and tugs on my pants leg, or puts his paws on my lap or meows at me to get my attention.  This was the first time that he took it out on Emma. There is very little fighting over food.  The only time it happens is when they both want to eat out of the same dish. They usually trade whaps on the head, then the interloper backs off.  If I switch attention from one of them to the other the first one always gets jealous.  I had thought that Herman had gotten over this, but he hasn't.  Petting both of them at the same time isn't easy, as they are seldom that close together.  If I am petting Emma and Herman comes up for some petting too, petting them both doesn't stop Emma from swatting at Herman.  Herman will sometimes tolerate my petting Emma, too, while I am petting him, but not often.

Togetherness Day

That's me on the left and Emma on the right.  Mom couldn't believe her eyes when she saw both of us sharing the pillow in front of the window. She had never seen the two of us so close together before. She wonders if cuddling together can be far away.  I say, "Yes!  Cuddling together can be very far away, especially if she keeps on trying to butt in on my petting time."

Karen Jo:  Emma wasn't trying to butt in on your petting time.  I had been petting you for a long time and thought you were asleep. She just jumped up to see if she could get some attention, too.  You have been really hogging bedtime lately.  I just reached over and started petting her and you smacked both of us with your paw.  Poor Emma just looked confused.  It was morning and that is usually her time.

Night time, morning, I don't care.  If I am there first I want all the attention.

Karen Jo:  And you have been getting the lion's share of it.  To clue in our friends, I haven't been feeling well lately and have been spending a lot of time in bed. Herman has been right there with me, wanted to be petted and keeping me company.  Poor Emma hasn't been getting much attention at all.  I have managed to find some time for her when Herman isn't around.

Enough of that.  Our litter boxes need changing.

Karen Jo:  I know.  I tried to buy litter today, but all I could get was one box and I need two boxes for one litter box.  I will try again on Monday.  There was enough Deserts' Sand, but you don't really like that.

I don't like that at all.  Oh, well, I hope some more Swheat Scoop shows up soon.

Karen Jo:  I think I am going to have to start buying it one box at a time whenever I can find it.

Emma:  I want some more play time.

Karen Jo:  I have tried to play with you more, but you usually don't want to play when I want to play.

Emma:  So find out when I want to play and do more of it.

Karen Jo:  I know that you like to play at night, but I have been so tired that I haven't been up to playing with you when I used to.

Emma:  So get over it and play with me.

At least the food is getting better.  Mom cooked chicken in the oven and I sat by the oven waiting and waiting for it to get done.  At last it was ready and Mom gave me a bite.  She made something good out of it with cheese and I got some cheese, too.  Tonight was steak night and Mom gave me some sour cream.

Karen Jo:  I would have given you some steak, too, but you never asked for any.

I was too full of sour cream.

Emma:  I don't like that stuff.  My duck and pea bowl is almost empty and you aren't filling it up.

Karen Jo:  Every month I dump all of your dry food, wash the bowls and start over.  You will get all brand new dry food in the morning.

Emma:  I can hardly wait.

I can wait.  I tried some more of that duck and pea yesterday and barfed it again.  I think I will stick to my weight control formula.

Karen Jo:  I think that's a good idea.  I took you to be weighed Wednesday and you have lost 0.6 pounds.  I hope some of it was fat and not just fur.

I do, too.  I hope I didn't lose that much fur.

Emma:  I think you look great without your fur, except for your swag belly.

You little twerp!  Wait till I get my paws on you!

Karen Jo:  Now, now, Herman.  Your belly is a bit more obvious now.

Humpf!  At least I still get most of the petting around here.  That proves I am still the primo cat in this house.

Caturday with Emma

Mom thinks that this is her computer chair.  I think that it is my chair.  You should see all my fur on it.  Now Mom wants a word.

Karen Jo:  I really apologize for not blogging in such a long time. This is a very busy time at work and I have been coming home exhausted.  I have also had a bunch of doctor appointments for which I have to get up early and that only adds to the problem.  It's nothing major.  I got a fungus on my hands which is proving to be a tiny bit stubborn and I had my eyes checked.  The eyes are fine; I just need a slight adjustment to my eyeglass prescription.  I will try to do better, but things are going to get even more hectic for a little while, then in September things will get a lot better for me.  Now back to Emma.

Mom didn't eat anything very interesting until today.  She cooked an oven roast and drove us crazy last night with the smell, but she didn't eat any of it.  She got it out again today and Herman went nuts.  He kept begging and begging for some, but only ate one bite.

Karen Jo:  I'm surprised that he even ate one bite.  Herman doesn't usually like roast beef, unless it's rib roast.  This was a sirloin tip.  You didn't want any at all, though you licked your bite.  I know, you just want your cat food.  You will be glad to hear that I got some more duck and pea for you.

That's good.  I like the duck and pea.  You did something weird with the litter boxes.

Karen Jo:  It was well past time for new litter.  I always get you Swheat Scoop, but they didn't have enough at the store for both litter boxes.  I got something called Desert's Sand for the other litter box.

It's weird and it's in a different box.  It's in the box that the crystal litter was in. Neither one of us has used it yet.

Karen Jo:  One of your regular litter boxes broke while I was cleaning it.  Part of the bottom just broke right out, so I had to dump the crystal litter and use the new box that I got during the evacuation for the sand litter.  I should say that I wasn't able to get regular litter boxes for a while, so I was using plastic storage boxes that aren't as sturdy.  I hope that you get over the newness and try it out.

Maybe.  Herman was mean to me again.  He cornered me in the entrance hall and made me cry.

Karen Jo:  I think it was more of a snarl than a cry, but he was being mean to you.  It did eliminate the speculation that Herman didn't like you using "his" litter box in the bathroom and was being mean to you over that.  The litter box in the entrance hall was the one with the crystal litter and neither of you had used that since the evacuation when you didn't have a choice.  I think he is just trying to make sure you know who is the Alpha cat around here.  You were mean to Herman this morning.

You were giving me my morning petting and he tried to muscle in.

Karen Jo:  That's not quite true.  He jumped up on the bed and just got close to both of us.  I never stopped petting you, but just reached out to give him a pet to let him know that I knew he was there.  You hissed at him and went at him with your claws out.

I didn't even touch him.  He is good at ducking.

Karen Jo:  He has to be with you being so jealous.  I thought you were over that.

Not when it comes to my morning petting. That is MY time and my time alone.

Karen Jo:  I will have to remember that from now on.  I have been coming home to find your toys all over the place.  Do you and Herman play with them together, or do you each play with some by yourselves?

We aren't saying.  It's cooler now, so we both feel more like playing while you are gone.

Catchup Thursday

 I was just playing with the dangler inside the Alpine scratcher.  Emma hasn't discovered it yet, at least not that Mom has seen.  Mom is giving me treats for scratching, but only three at a time.  I just wait a while on her days off and start scratching again.  I scored about twelve treats on Tuesday.  Mom gave Emma a treat while I was getting mine and she almost didn't eat it.  Mom was just on the point of giving it to me instead when Emma finally decided that she wanted it.  Darn it!

Emma: I let Mom get close enough with the camera for a closeup of me.  This is quite unusual.  I usually move away from her when she gets this close with the camera.

Karen Jo:  Sorry for not blogging in a week.  Things just kept happening to my blog time.  I was bragging last week about Herman not being jealous of Emma any more and he isn't.  However, Emma still gets jealous of Herman under certain circumstances.  Emma jumped up for her morning petting and she took Herman's usual spot.  Herman jumped up on the foot of the bed, but gave Emma room.  I reached way down to pet Herman with my right hand while I was petting Emma with my left hand. Emma smacked Herman right between the ears, then grabbed my wrist with her teeth and bunny-kicked my arm.

Emma:  Herman was moving in on my petting time.  I am fixing him now, though.  I am jumping up on the bed at night before he does and grabbing his spot.  Now I get the night petting.

It doesn't bother me.  I know that I just have to wait and you will jump over to the rocking chair.  Then I claim my spot and get my petting.  Mom bought chicken, but still hasn't cooked it.

Karen Jo:  Stuff happened to my cooking time, too, so I put the chicken in the freezer.  I will cook it tomorrow for sure. The two of you have been a bit friskier lately.

The weather has cooled off a bit.  Emma is running all over the place during the day again.  I am feeling up to trying to grab her as she darts by. I haven't caught her yet, but I am getting very close.

Karen Jo:  I wonder what you would do if you did catch her.

I am not sure.  Kitty wrestling doesn't seem to be our style.

Karen Jo:  The weather is cooler because the rainy season has started.  It either rains or threatens to rain every day.  It isn't raining nearly enough to mitigate the drought, though.