Livin' the Good Life in the Cat Condo

Pinot and I have a new cat condo. We used to share the doll house in the garage but we both got too big. And, besides that it was too isolated in there. We want to be where the action is. Today Chow walked by and I had to do the hissy on him. Unfortunately, this condo is only built for two. Sorry Chow.

The Legend of Barbie's Head

Once upon a time, so I'm told by the Old
Guy, Tera owned a Barbie which she and her friends played with. Even Derek played with Barbie when he was young. Well, after the kids grew older Barbie ended up in a box or drawer or some other dark place and was forgotten. Then when the family moved from 7th street, Barbie was also moved, but to a storage unit with many other toys. Last year the Old Guy began cleaning out parts of the storage unit and found Barbie, thinking that the Pretty Little Girl might want to play. So, Barbie came home . . . and got more than she bargained for. This is because there were some small creatures that really enjoyed Barbie. First Pinot, then me. And in the course of discovering Barbie we proceeded to decapitate her, hence the beginning of the legend of Barbie's Head. The legend is that every night Barbie's Head is placed in the cat toy basket, and almost every morning she is found out of the basket, as though she was trying to run and play like she could when she had a body and small children populated the household. Interestingly though, she does have a body, and unlike her head, it just lays in the basket, cold and lifeless. Although she rolls around the house looking for her body, she never finds it until the morning when she can only lay there waiting for the quiet of night, after everyone is asleep. The reality is that try as she might, Barbie's Head will never be permanently reunited with . . . Barbie's Body. Because even though the Old Guy does the reuniting, we rip her head off and send it off wondering the house "on it's own", with our gentle assistance. But the one thing that amazes me . . . she always has a big smile on her face. Yes, Barbie's Head is quite a gal.

The Old Guy Goes Off the Deep End

A very weird thing happened last night. A lot of people came over and ripped up all of the wrapped boxes which the Pretty Lady has been wrapping the last couple of weeks. The weird part about it is that this is exactly what Pinot and I have been doing for the last week, but getting yelled at for doing it. Then they all went to see stuff explode over the Manhattan Pier. When they came back the Old Guy did a cat inventory: Pinot, check; Minette, check; Chow . . . No Chow. The Old Guy freaked. He looked under every bed, in every closet, up on every shelf. You name it, he looked there. Then he went outside and called Chow, positive that one of the guests had let him out of the house. No Chow. He kept doing this and the Pretty Lady was kind of getting annoyed at him because she wanted to rip up more of the boxes. Then the Old Guy went into the garage to search (for the 3rd time). He heard a jingle, looked up and hiding on one of the more isolated and stuffed shelves, Chow peeked over the edge. Of course he wouldn't jump down so the Old Guy had to climb a ladder, at which point Chow dug his claws in to whatever was available, while the Old Guy tried to drag him down. Finally succeeding in dragging Chow out, the bedraggled Old Guy returned to the party. I don't get it. Why not just let Chow be Chow? Heck, all of us cats know that sometimes we just want to be alone. Frankly, I think the Old Guy has lost it. I think the Pretty Lady agrees.

Cat Toys

There's lots of new stuff around here. Yesterday, the Pretty Lady was taking a Christmas present to Sarah. I guess when she put it in the car she didn't look at it too carefully. As she parked the car and grabbed the present she had a chance to look at the wrapping. The top of the present wrapping was cellophane. It was totally ripped to shreds. I guess the Pretty Lady was pretty embarrassed and wondered, probably for not to long a time, how the cellophane got shredded. Beats me.

However, this morning at 5:00 a.m. there was a lot of rustling going on. There are presents all over the place and someone, I won't say who, was attacking them. First on the left, then on the right, then in stereo. The Old Guy finally got up and threw several pillows at the sounds, which then stopped for a few seconds, and then started again, until he got up and yelled like a wild man, stumbling down the stairs while making all kinds of indecent noises. I think that guy should seek professional help!

Pinot Did That II

I've always been a stay-on-the-floor cat. However, lately I've discovered that there is a lot of interesting stuff on the counters, tables, and walls. Today, for example, I discovered that the Pretty Lady puts a lot of stuff on the dining room table. Of particular interest is the center decoration which consists of a round bunch of branches with red berries on them, surrounding a kind of tulip (3 tulips) shaped candle holder. At first I just batted at the branches. Then I started attacking the branches. Next thing I knew, the candle holder fell over and the Old Guy came running. I took off as quickly as possible, but the Old Guy saw me. As I took off I yelled "Pinot Did That!"

Helping the Old Guy

The Old Guy said our rainy season is about to begin. Well if it's anything like my former home, San Francisco, I'm staying inside. The Old Guy decided he had better inspect the roof of the house. So he set the ladder up on the third floor roof so he could climb to the 4th floor roof. Unfortunately for him, Pinot had other uses for the ladder. He said he wanted to check out the surf, birds, bugs and whatever else was out there. Finally, the Old Guy booted Pinot off the ladder so he could get to the next roof. The Old Guy climbed the ladder to the next roof and started his inspection. While he was inspecting, he looked up to see Pinot casually walking by like it was totally normal. Wait a minute. That means he climbed the ladder and jumped to the next roof!! Well, the Old Guy had to grab him, carry him to the edge of the roof, put him on the top of the ladder and hope he climbed down. No problem. Pinot jumped from the top of the ladder to the roof top lounge chairs and laid down. He said he needed a nap after all that work helping out the Old Guy.

I've Got Egg on My Face

Chow and Pinot like to jump up on the counter, or where ever else there is a chance to get food. Me? I'm a floor cat. Plus, I get plenty to eat around this place.

Our normal morning routine is when the Old Guy takes a shower, I come in the bathroom and roll around on the floor hoping to get a scratch from the Old Guy after he gets out. So today, when he came in, there I was. He was holding a plate in his hand which he put on the counter. He came over to me and instead of giving me a scratch, he grabbed me, and picked me up. Now I don't like to be grabbed or picked up unless I initiate the event, so I squirmed with claws out. The next thing I know, I'm on the bathroom counter staring at the plate the Old Guy brought in. Something smelled really good so I sniffed and then licked. Wow!!!!! Fresh fried egg yoke leftover. I licked with all my might. Thanks Old Guy!!!!

PS. Don't tell the resident family veterinarian about this because she has a problem with cats eating people food . . . on the counter . . . on plates. My response is that the only difference between us and Daisy Dog is that Daisy grabs and runs whereas we are confident enough to hold our position. Plus, Daisy has trouble jumping up on the counter.