This morning Tommy woke up in a bad
mood. She didn't wanted to be petted and just wanted to sit in the middle of
the living room by herself. It was a
perfect time for me to catch up on some cleaning. With her watchful eye upon me
I was able to wash the kitchen floor, dust everything in the living room, and
get catch up with other minor tasks.
The only time she left the living
room was when I brought out the vacuum cleaner to clean and rotate cushions on
the chairs and sofa. She must be getting used to the vacuum because I noticed
that she was watching me from the doorway to the master suite. She stayed there
even when I moved the vacuum into the study and didn't venture into the living
room until I had unplugged the cleaner and stored it in the closet. She
surprises me sometimes with how astute she is.
Around 11:00 after I had completed
many of my chores, she finally was in a better mood. She “allowed” me to pet
her for quite a while and we also spent some time playing with the ribbons. She
still doesn’t care for the laser pointer. She might run after it once or twice,
but that’s about it. I had better luck with just the light from the flashlight.
Afternoon meant nap time and while
she napped I tried to catch up on transcribing my grandfather’s diary entries
from 1936 for my other blog. When she woke up I figured she would just come and
find me and either lay on the floor or sit up on the desk. Today was not that
kind of day. All she wanted to do was yell at me. I stopped working and gave
her the attention that she wanted.
After getting the attention, she
abandoned me for the bedroom. I thought that now would be a good time to do my
fitness walk. When I returned I learned the error of my ways. The rest of the
evening was spent either being “reminded” how if Tommy’s not happy nobody’s
happy, making Tommy happy by petting her, or trying to have Tommy ignore my
movements so I could work on the computer.
Tommy got very vocal when I
laughed, yawned, or moved. My way to get
her to stop was simple, if I could pet her under her jaw and down her neck,
she’d stop. I’ve found that that’s her Achilles’s heel; she’ll stop doing
anything when you rub that area. Of course nothing else gets accomplished, but
isn’t that my primary job, to make her happy?
I don’t know what’s going on
tonight, but she is definitely irate about something. She started running around the condo and
yelling whenever I came near. I tried calming her down but it only seemed to
make matters worse. When she hissed at
me while I was talking in a calm voice, I knew it was time for Tommy to have
some “alone time.” Hopefully she’ll calm down before the fireworks start and
she and I are confined to the closet together.
I went back into the bedroom right
before the fireworks and it appeared that all was well. Tommy approached me, but I couldn't tell if it
was contrite or stalking stance. I
found out in a second when instead of licking my elbow, she tried biting it. I
said “Ouch!” and she backed off. I was
actually glad when the fireworks began.
When the first fireworks went off
we headed for our safe/happy place, my walk-in closet. Tommy loves exploring in
there and also it also has some of her favorite hiding places. We spent the
time in there and she stayed pretty calm with my constant talking drowning out
the noise and petting reassuring her that she was safe.
When the fireworks ended we went
back into the bedroom. Tommy got a treat
for going to the closet and coming back out. As we lay on the bed, the yelling
and biting didn't return. It was all just petting and purring. Even though the
day was unsettling, it ended well.
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