Friendly Friday

Spyro:  Mom didn't take any photos of us today because she was "busy" again.  First the tiny two-legger came over, then she left with her friend and didn't get home until nearly dark.  Our photos are half reruns and half unused pictures.  I am up on our fairly new scratcher busy scratching for treats.  One good thing about Mom being gone is that when she got home she had half a shopping bag full of treats.  Yay!  You'll never guess what Mom has for breakfast half the time.  Crunchies!  I love them.

Karen Jo:  It's Grapenuts, Spyro, and I'm amazed that you like them better dry than when I put the milk on them.

Spyro:  You don't use real milk and I don't really like it.

Karen Jo:  It's almond milk and it's good for me.

 Oja:  I am in the safe room by the heat vent.  It's toasty warm back here, which is nice because it's been cold outside.  I know because sometimes I greet Mom at the door and the cold air comes in.  I think I have mentioned that all the food in the kitchen is mine and I choose who I will share it with.  Last night at dinner and this morning at breakfast, I decided that Julius could share the canned food.  While he was eating breakfast, I sniffed his tail from the tip to his rump and gave him my seal of approval.  He is now officially no longer an orange threat.

Karen Jo:  This is amazing.  Oja has never warmed up to a new cat this fast.  It look her a couple of weeks after she came out of the safe room to make friends with Herman and Spyro.  It took months for her to make friends with Bambino.  She did make friends with Horus fairly quickly, but it was still a matter of weeks.  Rocio has been here a year and she still doesn't like him.  Julius has only been here nine days.

Oja:  You know what Mom has for breakfast some mornings?  Solid milk.  I love it and make her share.

Karen Jo:  It's called yogurt, Oja, and you are welcome to share.

 Rocio:  I am mostly in the blue cat bed by the heat vent in the living room.  It's nice and warm here, too.  I also like to play with the toggle and string from Mom's coat that you see hanging over my head.  I wish Oja would make friends with me.  At least Spyro, Bambino and Julius like me.  And Mom, of course.  When she has yummy meat or fish for dinner I stare at her until she gives me some.  I only want a bite or two and Mom always gives me what I want.  I love to lie on Mom's legs when she goes to bed.  It's comfy and warm.

 Bambino:  I'm up on the couch watching Julius play.  That boy loves all the toys and wants to play all the time he's awake.  Sometimes he curls up with me and we groom each other.  I am glad Mom got so many treats.  We were nearly out and I scratch for them a lot.

 Horus:  There is nothing better than my favorite pillow in a sun puddle for a nap.  The tiny two-legger wore me out with Da Bird this morning.  Mom got a new bird for it and it was more exciting than usual.  The tiny two-legger even petted me.  She has learned how to do it right and it feels good.  Rocio upset Oja again this morning and I had to chase him down the hall.  That boy will never learn that he can't make friends with Oja.  She has to make friends with him.

Julius:  I still won't let Mom get too close to me with the clicky box.  Oja lets me eat in the kitchen with the big kitties now.  Yay!

Karen Jo:  But your kitten food is in the safe room.

Julius:  Let Rocio eat it.  I like the big kitty food better.  Oja doesn't hiss at me any more.  She really sniffed my tail this morning, all over.  I think she might even like me now.  You will never guess where I slept for the first part of the night last night.  The Lady went to bed and Spyro followed her and she was petting him, so I jumped up on the big bed.  The Lady ignored me and just kept petting Spyro, so I snuggled up to her leg and went to sleep.  It's very comfy and warm up there.  I think I might try it again.

Mostly Tabby Thursday

 Spyro: Mom has been really busy today and didn't take new pictures of us, so here are some she hadn't used yet.  This is a chair in the living room with a cat cozy on it.  Mostly we run down the hall and jump in this chair, then on the end table, then on the couch when we are playing THoE.  We have completely cleared off the end table three times now and I think Mom is going to leave it cleared from now on.

Karen Jo:  That's right.  It's silly to keep putting the stuff back on the table just to have it all knocked off again in the next round of THoE.  I even saw Oja playing the other day.

Oja:  It wasn't entirely my idea.  Austin started chasing me and I ran.  I didn't even hiss at him.  Since I lost weight, I can get up to places where I have never been before.  Mom saw me up on Spyro's tower the other day and the cat sitter told her that I had jumped up on the counter.  I haven't done that in front of Mom, though.  I didn't want her to know that I could do it.  I didn't know the cat sitter would tattle on me.

Karen Jo:  I was out of town last weekend, so my friend came over to feed and water the kitties.  She said she put the food down and Rocio was eating Oja's food, Spyro was eating Rocio's food and Oja was up on the counter eating Spyro's food.  Only Austin was eating his own food.  I am not going to worry about Oja jumping up on the counter to eat Spyro's food.  It's self-correcting.  If she eats too much and gains, she won't be able to make the jump any more.  I could always move the boxes she uses to help her up to make it a bigger jump.

 Austin:  Both of us boycats love the ham-micks, especially this one.  You should have seen all the fun we had when Mom changed the cat litter the other day.  Spyro, Rocio and I were all watching as she poured in the fresh litter.  Spyro jumped in as soon as she was finished and started digging like crazy.  Finally he was satisfied and made his deposit.  Then he looked straight at me as he dug and dug to bury it.

Spyro:  That's because you don't bury.  You just scratch the sides of the box.  I am trying to teach you the right way to do it, but you just don't get it.

Austin:  I jumped in right after you to do my business, then you jumped back in and buried it for me.  Why should I bury when you will do it?

Rocio:  I jumped in after Austin and made my deposit and buried it, too.

Rocio:  Spyro is a good teacher.  He taught us the best way to jump up on his tower and how to drink out of Mom's glass.  Oja and I are getting really good at sleeping together on and beside Mom.  Oja hasn't hissed at me in days.  She still makes little growly noises once in a while, especially when Austin wants to play with her.

Austin:  I love to play chase and rasslin'.  Spyro is always up for it, but Oja goes all growly on me.

Karen Jo:  Give her time.  I am sure that she will come around when she is ready.

It's Official!

The Boys:  It's official!  We have been adopted.  Now we can stay here together for the rest of our lives!
We are so happy!

Austin:  As you can see, we are making ourselves very much at home.  I love sleeping up here in the sunshine.  It feels so good on my furs.

Rocio:  I love sleeping on the big bed.  It's especially nice when Mom is here with me, but I like it anytime.  It's the only place Oja is actually nice to me.  I tried to climb in a chair with her and she gave me the big hissy.

Karen Jo:  There isn't as much room in a chair as there is on the big bed.  She might have felt crowded.

Rocio:  But she curls up with Spyro in a chair and I curl up with Spyro in a chair.

Karen Jo:  Spyro likes to curl up with another kitty a lot more than Oja does.  Also Oja has known Spyro for a lot longer than she has known you.  I think the time will come when Oja will curl up with you on a chair.  She already does it on the big bed.

Rocio:  That only happens when you are here, too.  When it's just the two of us, she stays apart from me.

Oja:    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb]'/';.....

Karen Jo:  Oja just added that herself.  I think she just gave you a raspberry with a juicy ending.  I think she will get friendlier with both of you in her own time.  It took her months to get so friendly with Spyro.

Karen Jo:  I have decided not to rename the blog after all.  I will try to make a new header to include The Boys, though.  I don't know when.  I am not very adept at graphics.

Not Quite So Sad

 Poor little Emma got shortchanged once again.  November 19th was her Bridge Day.  I was going to make a post just for her on the day, but I started crying again and I couldn't see to post.  It's been a year now since she left.  Somehow it seems an eternity and just a little while ago at the same time.  I chose a picture of her at play because that's the way I want to remember her.  She so loved to play, both with toys by herself and especially with Da Bird.  Every night after I got home from work and fed her and Herman, I took a little time to get in my PJs and rest a little, then I would go into the living room and get out Da Bird for a session with Emma.  We had such fun together.

 Spyro:  We have been having sunny, but cold weather.  I know it's been cold because I have been escaping and find that I don't like it much.  Mom doesn't even have to come get me. After only a few minutes I go back to the door and demand to be let back in.  I love catching the rays in my ham-mick.  Mom has been tossing me out of her bedroom and closing the door.  I don't like it.

Karen Jo:  I have only done it twice.  Once a few days ago when you began attacking my pajama legs and your claws were going through the material and hurting me.  You just wouldn't stop it, despite my pushing you off my legs and petting you and trying to get you interested in something else.    After five minutes, Oja started crying at the door and I opened it again and got up for the day.  The second time was today when you were helping me make the bed.  I don't mind it when you attack the sheets and blankets and let yourself get covered up.  However, this morning you attacked the blanket where I was holding it and made such a deep hole in my finger that I had to get a bandage to stop the bleeding.  I let you back in as soon as I finished.

Spyro:  I still don't like it.  The traffic at the bird feeders has been very interesting.  We had some little animals as well as birds.  I lashed and lashed my tail.

Karen Jo:  Some chipmunks have discovered the bird seed that the birds knock to the ground.  I was very glad to see them.  I haven't seen any since the fire two years ago.

Spyro:  What were you doing in the back yard for so long?  You said I could stay out with you if I behaved, but it was too cold for me to stay out long.

Karen Jo:  Herman's grave marker arrived and I was putting it up along with the solar powered colored lights  I got for Herman and Emma.  Herman got a star and Emma got a dragonfly.  I really like them and they make useful markers for the sides of the graves.  I also fed and watered the birds.

Oja:  Hmmph!  Going outside in the cold seems stupid to me, especially when there are such nice sun puddles inside.  This is the same chair where Herman and I used to nap together.  I have been really good about keeping Mom company at bedtime.  I curl up right next to her face and purr softly.  I let her pet me a little, but I don't want to be petted as much as Herman did.  I want to take my nightly bath, then curl up and sleep.

Karen Jo:  Oja does sleep with me on most nights.  Some nights she and Spyro prefer to sleep elsewhere, but one or both of them is always there in the morning, making sure I am getting up for breakfast.  I am feeling a bit better.  I went to Thanksgiving dinner with my brother and nephews to one of my nephew's girlfriend's house.  There was a whole crowd of us and it was delightful.  When my brother brought me home, we had time to go to the bank and get the last of the papers connected with my Mother's death signed and notarized.  I went and filed the last of the papers with the county today and got the utilities put in my name and changed the insurance to my name, too.  It's finally almost all done.  Once I am sure that the last shares of stock have been transferred, I can close her checking account and everything will at last be all taken care of.  That took a great weight off my shoulders and made me feel happy.  I still miss Herman lots.  It's hard to get used to being greeted at the door by only Spyro, but it will come.  I also feel better that his grave has a marker and a light. I should be blogging fairly steadily from now on.

Togetherness

 The sunshine was bright today.  I was hanging out in the living room, away from the other two.  When Oja first came out of her room, Spyro and I got closer to each other.  We would sit together and nap together, but not touching. Today something remarkable happened:

Spyro:  Oja let me come hang out with her in her room.  She's not so bad.  She hasn't growled at any cat today at all.  She stopped hissing at us a couple of days ago.

Karen Jo:  I don't know how long they were together like this, but I snapped the picture just in time.  Not more than a minute later, Spyro came back into the living room to see what Herman was doing.

Oja:  Spyro's not so bad.  I don't hiss any more at all and I have almost stopped growling.  I even let Herman get close to me, but I ran away when he tried to sniff my tail.  Nose-sniffing is fine, but I draw the line at tail-sniffing, at least for now.

Spyro:  I came back into the living room because I was afraid Herman would be lonely.  A couple of hours after these pictures were taken, Herman and I curled up together on the couch, using each other for pillows.

Karen Jo:  You would wait until there wasn't enough light to get a decent picture.  This is the first time that I have seen Herman and Spyro snuggling.

Spyro:  I had to do something.  You wouldn't take me outside.

Karen Jo:  I apologize.  I was expecting a very important phone call.  I even delayed my dinner until it came. I told you that I would take you out as soon as I ate, but when I finished you and Herman were snoozing so peacefully together that I didn't have the heart to wake you up to go outside.

Karen Jo:  I have a message for all of you who have my e-mail address.  My ISP had two domain names and decided to drop one.  My e-mail used the one that got dropped.  That's why I couldn't get my e-mail.  The domain name changed from vla.com to losalamos.com.  If you forget, I am still getting mail addressed to vla.com, but I don't know for how much longer.