Wednesday July 9, 2014

 Last night (Tuesday) Tommy tried walking slowly and carefully on one of the glass tables in the living room. She wanted to check out a candle holder. While she still hasn't tried the glass sofa table or large cocktail table, she at least feels comfortable enough to experiment.

   Today she had her first experience with me vacuuming. It seems Tommy's already familiar with this machine because when I brought it out of the closet she immediately got on her haunches and hissed.

Vacuuming went well I left the bedroom door open and when I saw that Tommy was near the door I started vacuuming in the living room as far from the bedroom door as I could. When I turned on the machine, Tommy quickly hightailed it in to the bedroom.

   When I finished vacuuming all areas other than the bedroom, I turned off the machine and went to get Tommy. I brought her into the living room and put her on the sofa which is far away from the bedroom door. I moved into the bedroom before turning the machine back on.

   When I finished I rewound the cord and took it to the study closet. A watchful and wary kitty stayed partially hidden next to some shelves until she was sure the coast was clear. After a tongue lashing by Tommy all was forgiven and we sat quietly on the chair waiting for our company.

   I wasn't sure what would happen when new people came over. Would she run and hide, hiss at them, or be curious and accept them?  The front desk phoned when the company arrived, so I put Tommy in the master suite and closed the door. After showing the company around the condo and on the balcony, we returned to the living room and I opened the bedroom door. Tommy came flying out and immediately went to the new people to investigate. I was so proud of her and how she handled herself around my friends. Unfortunately I had to put her back in the master suite while we humans went out for lunch.

   What I expected to be a 1-2 hour lunch ended up lasting for over four hours. My little girl let me know how unhappy she was with me upon my return. After much verbalizing on her part and much groveling and petting on my part, all was forgiven.  What she didn't know was that I had a board meeting and would have to leave in about 20 minutes.  I made sure that all her supplies were adequate and clean and headed out the door.

   After the board meeting I also was attending a classic movie viewing.  I was gone a total of about five hours.  If I thought she was upset after my lunch outing, I had no idea how upset she was when I returned for the evening.  After the howling tirade there was a belly rubbing session.  During the petting session began, Tommy tried to bite me a couple times, each time I responded with a pointed finger and a “No biting!” reproach.  The third time it happened, I went to the bedroom as I told her that I wouldn't tolerate her biting me. I’m sure she didn't understand the words, but she got the message.

   She sat under a dining room chair and didn't enter the bedroom.  After about 5-10 minutes, I sought her out, laid down next to her on the floor, and waited for her to come near.  She came over and immediately rolled onto her back showing me that she was ready to try the neck/chest/belly rubbing again.  This time there was no biting, just much loving tenderness on both our parts. We headed for bed having both learned important lessons.