Thursday, September 4, 2014: The Storm and the Cold

After Tommy came to bed I fell back asleep and wasn’t awakened until around 4:30 when I heard Tommy’s call to come up on the bed.  I don’t always hear it, so I’m not sure if she always “asks’” or sometimes just jumps up on the bed.  This time there was a reason. The thunderstorm had arrived and since Tommy doesn’t like lightning and thunder she needed assurance and protection.

Up she came and after trying the window side of the bed, she moved to the other side which put me between her and the window. I spent some time calming and reassuring and we (first Tommy and then me) finally both fell asleep. When I work up at 7:45 I could tell that my little girl hadn’t moved and was still sleeping peacefully.

I tried to quietly get up, but nothing gets passed Tommy. I got up to handle bathroom needs and when I returned, Tommy was nowhere to be found. I opened the bedroom door and Tommy came zooming out from under the bed. There was no way I was going into the living room without her.  She checked out the living room and then sat by my chair waiting for me to finish my chores.

When I was done, she did her usual morning foot rubbing. I still don’t understand how she can stand to rub her face against my feet, but it just shows that she must really love me. She in return received her usual morning petting/rubbing. The rest of the morning was spent napping while I worked in the study or playing when Tommy awoke and summoned me. At times she needed to enter the study and remind me that she needed attention. Once when I was trying to finish a month’s transcription, she jumped up on the desk and planted herself right in front of me.  She let me finish what I was doing while I gave her some attention. When she saw that I was finished, she quickly jumped down and left the room.  Perhaps she was afraid that I would give her too much attention, or put her to work.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Tommy spent time near me or by herself. When she wanted to play, she let me know and when I needed to check her water & food levels, she also let me know.  She seemed to be much more affectionate today. I think she was being sympathetic since she could tell that I was still battling my cold. I’m sure that she didn’t quite understand the what-seemed-like constant hand washing.

We again had a nice breeze coming in from the balcony, but I didn’t want to try the sofa sleeper again. I brought out the quilted bedspread, folded it into a manageable size and put it on the floor.  Tommy, the inspector, had to come over and check out what I’d done.  I also put her cat afghan (catghan?) on top, but she preferred her Hallmark bag.

I made a major mistake when I tried moving the Hallmark bag closer while she was reclining on it.  It appeared that she thought I didn’t want her sitting on it, so she sat by the screen door and let me know how wrong I was.  This was followed by a period of tentativeness where she seemed like she wasn’t sure what she could do.  Of course, after a short time, she remembered her place in the condo and did whatever she felt like doing (as always!)

Tommy also received her first birthday card.  Tommy’s card was from Bootsie and Zoe, my friend Mary Kay’s cats. Because Tommy was a “found cat, “her actual birthday was unknown.  The shelter picked May 1^st, but the vaccination report from the vet estimated her age as 9 months, so I decided that we would celebrate her birthday on September 5^th which would also be our two month anniversary.

Tommy ended the night whining about something. I tried petting, playing, bringing her some of her toys, but nothing was working. I decided to bring out the tried and true toy, the Cat’s Meow. Perhaps since it was late at night, she enjoyed just sitting next to it and watching the little red tail circle around. When the mood struck her, she would stop it with her paw and chew on it. She still didn’t understand that it shuts down if it can’t move.  Whenever that happened I would be “told” that something was wrong and I needed to fix it.

Once she tired of playing with or watching the Cat’s Meow, I put it away and turned off the lights.  Tommy was curled up on her bag and I wasn’t sure if she would venture onto the bedspread during the night. Although we might not be sharing the covers, at least she wanted to remain close by me.