I'm in New Orleans for a bit. My husband was with me but he left yesterday to return to his job in Nigeria for his next 28 day rotation. I will see him again next month. I thought that my daughter might need a little break so asked her to come out here to N.O. and spend a few days and we can tour around a bit and do some things. Of course, she is the Goddess of cats and she is currently the keeper of my two fuzzy darlings. So by flying out here, that means her father will have to take charge of the fuzzies until Sunday when she returns. There is a temporary changing of the guard.
Her dad likes Puff. I would say he sees a like quality but Puff is a big scardy cat and I don't think her dad is so don't know what the appeal is there. He is ambivalent about Godiva as she has attitude. Possibly this is just what Godiva needs. if she is dependent on him for her food and water and litter box care, maybe she will stop being so persnickety to him. We shall see. He is competent so I will not worry too much about them the rest of this week. There are likely to be some tales though at the end of it.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Smutty Darling
Saw my babies yesterday. They are currently staying with my daughter while we did our week of diving in the Turks and Caicos. They have to stay with her another month as I am going to China at the end of this month to do a bit of traveling. We did go see them for one night as we had to go pick up our car. They did their usual "we can't see you, you left us" for about an hour and then were quite happy to be with us.
Godiva spent most of the night sitting on my chest and purring loudly. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. Puff spent a good deal of the night lying on the foot of the bed but he would have to get up and go check my daughter's bedroom as her door was closed. He was pretty sure he knew she was in there and couldn't figure out why he couldn't get to her.
My daughter is currently staying with her father - yes, my ex-husband. We are all friends now as it's been way too long to remember all the problems of our youth. Her dad pretty much likes Puff as he is a harmless big tub of love. But Godiva has issues. She has always been a prima-donna. So she has been going up to my daughter's dad, rubbing against his legs, rolling over for a belly rub (yes, she is a "tummy 'ho" and we know it), and then hissing when he leans down to give her a rub. So he hasn't taken to her as he has to Puff. I don't know what is up with the hissing. Does she possibly sense that there was friction between us some 35++ years ago? Wouldn't that be a kick. I think it is more that she doesn't like the nickname he has given her. He calls her Smutty. Godiva is a tortie-point Siamese in color. So her fur looks like it is smeared and muddled on some places. He says it looks like she feel down a chimney so he dubbed her Smutty. We insisted that if he used that analogy, it should be Sooty. He finally just settled for calling her a dirty cat. I'm sure she is offended.
We only got to spend one night with them and I miss her again. She is so cute. But the time will pass quickly because I have a lot of traveling to do. Plus my daughter keeps us updated on all their activities. then when I get back from China, they start traveling with me again, in the car. I'm sure they will then think maybe it was better when I left them behind.
Godiva spent most of the night sitting on my chest and purring loudly. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. Puff spent a good deal of the night lying on the foot of the bed but he would have to get up and go check my daughter's bedroom as her door was closed. He was pretty sure he knew she was in there and couldn't figure out why he couldn't get to her.
My daughter is currently staying with her father - yes, my ex-husband. We are all friends now as it's been way too long to remember all the problems of our youth. Her dad pretty much likes Puff as he is a harmless big tub of love. But Godiva has issues. She has always been a prima-donna. So she has been going up to my daughter's dad, rubbing against his legs, rolling over for a belly rub (yes, she is a "tummy 'ho" and we know it), and then hissing when he leans down to give her a rub. So he hasn't taken to her as he has to Puff. I don't know what is up with the hissing. Does she possibly sense that there was friction between us some 35++ years ago? Wouldn't that be a kick. I think it is more that she doesn't like the nickname he has given her. He calls her Smutty. Godiva is a tortie-point Siamese in color. So her fur looks like it is smeared and muddled on some places. He says it looks like she feel down a chimney so he dubbed her Smutty. We insisted that if he used that analogy, it should be Sooty. He finally just settled for calling her a dirty cat. I'm sure she is offended.
We only got to spend one night with them and I miss her again. She is so cute. But the time will pass quickly because I have a lot of traveling to do. Plus my daughter keeps us updated on all their activities. then when I get back from China, they start traveling with me again, in the car. I'm sure they will then think maybe it was better when I left them behind.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The cats go on vacation
Tomorrow my husband and I leave for a week in the Turks and Caicos islands, diving and doing water things. The cats cannot come, obviously. They will be heading to the hill country to spend a month with my daughter. So there might not be a lot of stories while I am traveling without them. Although I am sure my daughter will keep me appraised of their exploits.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Godiva's silent meow
I thought I remembered reading a book or an article by some famous author who discusses his cat having a silent meow. I tried to find that book this morning and couldn't locate it on Google. But there were several articles and other books referencing a cat's silent meow or miaow or mieow or however they chose to spell that wonderful sound that comes out of a cat's mouth. If you are a cat lover-keeper-owner-friend-slave or "one who changes the litter box" then you are aware of the cat's different motions and sounds. Godiva is the first cat living with us who has had an honest to goodness "silent meow".
Godiva has always been the least vocal of our cats. This is not because she doesn't talk a lot because she does. It's just because about half the time she opens her mouth, nothing comes out. You can tell she is meowing because her body moves, the mouth moves, and she's usually looking at you, but no sound. There is a 1/4 meow and a 1/2 meow which both sound more like a little squeak. She'll stare at you and open her mouth and nothing emerges. It's wonderfully cute. If she gets up on the bed behind me, I can feel her body move when she does one of her silent miaows. I have a hard time not laughing at her because it's so funny to feel it but not hear anything. Of course, being a Siamese, she does not appreciate being laughed at so I have to be careful.
Reading the different articles I found on line this morning indicates that there are many cats out there with silent meows. Why they do it, who knows. It usually does mean something though. And given enough time, Godiva will eventually puff up enough air to get out a real meow. And other times, she is quite vocal with her calls. So a mystery that is the cat. Certainly not the only mystery either. Love these guys.
Godiva has always been the least vocal of our cats. This is not because she doesn't talk a lot because she does. It's just because about half the time she opens her mouth, nothing comes out. You can tell she is meowing because her body moves, the mouth moves, and she's usually looking at you, but no sound. There is a 1/4 meow and a 1/2 meow which both sound more like a little squeak. She'll stare at you and open her mouth and nothing emerges. It's wonderfully cute. If she gets up on the bed behind me, I can feel her body move when she does one of her silent miaows. I have a hard time not laughing at her because it's so funny to feel it but not hear anything. Of course, being a Siamese, she does not appreciate being laughed at so I have to be careful.
Reading the different articles I found on line this morning indicates that there are many cats out there with silent meows. Why they do it, who knows. It usually does mean something though. And given enough time, Godiva will eventually puff up enough air to get out a real meow. And other times, she is quite vocal with her calls. So a mystery that is the cat. Certainly not the only mystery either. Love these guys.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Cell phones and charms
Our Puff is a mighty hunter. At least he thinks he is. Of course his prey is always something inanimate. I am not sure how he would actually handle anything living. He'd probably be scared to death of something that actually moved towards him or moved at all. But when he thinks he does have prey, he is a stalker and hunter and seeks out that prey wherever it is.
Phone charms are quite popular in Asia. There are whole stores dedicated to selling cell phone accessories and often the little charms that you can attach to your phone are fuzzy. My daughter liked these quite a lot and so we purchased a supply of these fuzzy charms that were made to look like small mice. Puff decided that these phone charms were excellent prey.
Our daughter would put her cell phone into her purse and zip it shut. Puff learned from watching her that this prey would disappear into this bag and he would be determined to retrieve it. he learned how to work the zipper. We never actually could catch him undoing it but suddenly he would be racing into the living room with the cell phone fuzzy mouse charm in his mouth and the cell phone trailing out of his mouth. She would try all manner of ways to hide the cell phone and fuzzy mouse charm in her purse or on her dresser but he would always find it. In the mornings, she would have to hunt down her cell phone before leaving because he had invariably found it during the night and dragged it off somewhere. It because quite a battle between the two: her to find somewhere to hide the phone and him to find it and drag away that prey. It was a good thing we purchased many of the fuzzy cell phone charm mice because Puff destroyed this prey quite a few times.
Finally our daughter even put a message on her cell phone that said if she didn't answer it was because the cat had dragged away her cell phone and she hadn't found it yet. Of course the solution was not to put a fuzzy mouse charm on the cell phone and eventually that is what happened. Puff was not without his prey though. We gave him a couple of the mice for his very own. He was a most excellent hunter and destroyed the evil intruder in our homes. There were bits of fuzzy cell phone mice charms all over the house.
Phone charms are quite popular in Asia. There are whole stores dedicated to selling cell phone accessories and often the little charms that you can attach to your phone are fuzzy. My daughter liked these quite a lot and so we purchased a supply of these fuzzy charms that were made to look like small mice. Puff decided that these phone charms were excellent prey.
Our daughter would put her cell phone into her purse and zip it shut. Puff learned from watching her that this prey would disappear into this bag and he would be determined to retrieve it. he learned how to work the zipper. We never actually could catch him undoing it but suddenly he would be racing into the living room with the cell phone fuzzy mouse charm in his mouth and the cell phone trailing out of his mouth. She would try all manner of ways to hide the cell phone and fuzzy mouse charm in her purse or on her dresser but he would always find it. In the mornings, she would have to hunt down her cell phone before leaving because he had invariably found it during the night and dragged it off somewhere. It because quite a battle between the two: her to find somewhere to hide the phone and him to find it and drag away that prey. It was a good thing we purchased many of the fuzzy cell phone charm mice because Puff destroyed this prey quite a few times.
Finally our daughter even put a message on her cell phone that said if she didn't answer it was because the cat had dragged away her cell phone and she hadn't found it yet. Of course the solution was not to put a fuzzy mouse charm on the cell phone and eventually that is what happened. Puff was not without his prey though. We gave him a couple of the mice for his very own. He was a most excellent hunter and destroyed the evil intruder in our homes. There were bits of fuzzy cell phone mice charms all over the house.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Cats on White
The temporary apartment has white sheets, white pillowcases, white comforter, white spread. Why would anyone put white in an apartment that is a temporary rental but for some reason the popular sentiment these days is white. We get it in a lot of hotel rooms too. I do NOT have white cats. I have placed a big beach towel across the white bed for the cats. The first couple of days, the cats stayed on the beach towel but that didn't last. Now they just love to lay on the white comforter. I can put them back on the towel and pet them and pet them and as soon as I stop, they move onto the white comforter. The white comforter is not so white in spots now but more of a fuzzy spotty color. Thank goodness for sticky rollers.
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