The latest

Sorry, haven't written in a while.... life is going along (busily) for me and the kitties. Yuki took a page out of Murray's playbook and tried to do a "door dash" outside one night when I came in, but I managed to corral him and push him back inside. Murray made one of his dashes, too, and again, had to run outside and grab him and pull him back in. Yuki has started sleeping on my head at night. I keep pushing him off, and he keeps crawling back on. Murray has been very good about letting him sleep in the bed with us. And there is less chasing. Though there have been a couple little cat quarrels, since Yuki, as he gets bigger (from eating like a little piggy!), is getting bolder, and is starting to stand up for himself instead of running for cover when Murray chases him. I'm glad he's less intimidated, but he's still a lot smaller than Murray, so I don't want him getting hurt (though I think Murray wouldn't intentionally hurt Yuki).

After a couple whirlwind weeks when I was very busy despite being laid off, finally got some quality time to snuggle up with Yuki on the couch while listening to the Packers win... yay! :-) Go Pack go!

Murray the comforter

Murray always seems to know when I need him. He stayed by my side in bed all afternoon/evening yesterday, when I was bummed out about getting laid off. Yuki was a comfort, too, cuddling up to me on the sofa during the time I manged to be up and about. I'm glad I have such loving cats.

Yuki's eye

Yuki reminds me of Murray in some ways, temperamentally, and he's like Murray in another respect - he seems to have a weepy left eye. It doesn't seem to be bothering him or anything, and it looks like just a mild, clear discharge. So I don't think it's infected. It may just be a congenital thing, like with Murray. Maybe it's common among Siamese...

The latest on the kits

Well, I found my iPod charger, though I ended up not using the iPod anyway because Frontier has TVs on their planes, so I watched TV the whole time during the flights. Oh well, at least I have the charger now for next time I want to use the iPod. I will have to put the charger where Yuki can't get to it again.

The cats must have been okay while I was gone for Thanksgiving, because although they met me at the door and seemed glad to see me, they didn't act desperate/needy like Murray always used to when I went away (he would meow and meow so much in the past when I came in... but this time, I don't remember either cat meowing at all). The pet sitter must have done a good job (though she didn't mark on the log sheet that she brushed Murray at all, which is a shame, because he loves being brushed - and I had that on my instructions), plus maybe the cats weren't so lonely because they had each other for company. I think bringing Yuki home was a great idea, if that's the case. Because he is making Murray's life a little brighter.

Murray must have been feeling generous, because he let Yuki sleep in the bed with me last night (and Yuki spent the whole night there, as far as I can tell... I think Murray also spent some time in bed). Maybe having the two spend some time together alone made them get along even better than before I left...

No iPod for me on this trip!

Yuki, that lover of chargers, has gotten ahold of my iPod charger and hidden it somewhere. So I can't take my iPod on my trip to my mom's. Big bummer. So I guess I'll have to read the whole three hours... I do have a car charger for the iPod; if I'd known earlier that Yuki had made off with the wall charger, I could have charged the iPod in the car these past few days. Oh well.

I suppose I could always go old-school and take my walkman and a couple of cassettes... I'll look like a dork, but so what? At least I'll have music...

Fountain woes

The latest drinking fountain I bought a couple months ago pretty much stopped flowing, just like the other models I have tried over the past couple years. I have been told it might be due to our hard water - it is hard on the pump/motor. So I'm going to try using bottled water. (The pet store let me exchange the fountain.) If THAT doesn't help, and the new fountain stops working, then I'll just take it back and put out a water bowl.... and give up on the whole fountain thing.

Met some new kitties

I'm going to start volunteering at a no-kill animal shelter, in their cattery - socializing the cats (getting them familiar with human interaction), petting them, holding them, brushing them, etc. I went down there for orientation over the weekend and got to see (and pet) the cats. They have a free-roaming cattery with cat trees, etc., instead of cages. It's a nice setup. They require just eight hours a month, so I think I can handle that. I get to do four hours in lieu of work, since my dept. is pushing us to do community service (on company time). That's a pretty good deal.

Meanwhile, my cats are still doing pretty well together. Murray sometimes kicks Yuki out of bed and sometimes lets him stay... he is still learning to share. Yuki is still very sweet and cuddly, and is learning that I don't like it when he (playfully) scratches me when I try to pet him. Murray is eating plenty of wet food - almost a can a day, since he usually ends up eating most of Yuki's portion (Yuki likes to get a taste but doesn't eat much of the wet food); I never even see Murray eat dry food anymore. I hope he is at least eating some dry food because it is good for his teeth.

The cats' fountain has pretty much stopped working. This is the third fountain I've bought, and the second style, and all three have stopped working within a short period of time. I think I'm going to give up and just put out a water bowl from now on.