Saturday November 1, 2014

Tommy woke me up for the first time around 4:00. She was looking for her treat that was usually on the bed, but I had forgotten to put it out. I guess I deserved that wake up call. I put the treat out, but by then it was too late; she wasn’t having anything to do with that treat now. She only woke me up again around 6:15 and then finally woke me (and probably the dead) at 7:10. I’m sure that last time she wanted to make sure that I got up and fed her, which I did.

I went and handled the morning posts and puzzle printing while she ate.  When I finished, I found her quietly waiting for me under the dining room table. I brought out her grass for her morning salad. When I came back from finishing some morning duties, I went to pet her, but she rolled over and went to her rug for a minute.

She returned and started eating her grass. I wasn’t sure if she wanted an audience or wanted me to see that it wasn’t her fault if the container tipped over.  She finished eating and then just stared at me. I guess that was my cue to pet her. Sure enough, she was ready and we spent some time making sure that she was petted in her favorite spots, around the ears, on her neck, and along her spine.

Once she had enough petting, she went for a nap in her bed by the window as I worked on the morning puzzles and posts. When the Badger game began, I moved to the living room. During the game I yelled to Stave to “Go!” which woke up Tommy who thought I was yelling at her. She started to move, but was noticeably crabby about my yelling. I went over to her, apologized and petted her until she calmed down. I’m going to have to control myself a little more when I’m watching football and she’s napping.

When Tommy woke up near the end of the game, she didn’t really want to play or be petted. What she expected was for me to get out her dinner hours before it was time.  I walked into the bedroom and showed her the bowl of dry food that she could eat in between breakfast and dinner. She walked away, so I put the bowl by the dining table and she actually ate some of it. I guess she doesn’t like to eat in the bedroom.

Later I was folding some clothes and Tommy came to investigate. I pulled out a drawer so I could put my underwear away as I folded it. Tommy decided to “help” by jumping in the drawer and “rearranging” my underwear.  I finally had to pick her up and put her on the bed where she continued to “help” fold clothes until there were none left for her.

She then jumped up to the top of the bungalow to eat her treat that I had put up there in the morning when I needed to change the sheets.  Since she was already where she usually took her midafternoon nap, she chose to stay there and take a break from the laundry.

Later I tiptoed in to check on her; her hearing is so acute, she heard me and woke up. I apologized, petted her and as she drifted back off to sleep I exited. I returned later to fold and put away more clothes.  Tommy was again waking up, but this time left the room as I worked.  When I went back into the living room, there she was waiting on her rug.

As I entered, she moved toward the kitchen and told me that it was time for dinner. She expected me to head to the refrigerator, but since I had already put out her food to remove the chill, I put the food down. She looked up at me, but then quickly moved toward her bowl and began eating. She, as always, ate about half of it and then went and took a break.

Tommy decided to have a little quiet time in the study. She was awake, but just chilling out. After a while she came out and “asked” if it was time for play. We played for quite a while with the laser pointer. The only problem was that every so often while we were playing Tommy would roll over on her back as if she wanted to play with the red dot overhead.  I don’t think that she quite gets that the red dot can’t float in the air. Whenever she rolled over I’d use either her fish or fleece teaser.

We took occasional water or food breaks. Now with the dry food bowl placed where she eats her canned food, she would eat some of the dry food. After eating, Tommy took a break on her rug. It appeared that she was getting ready to call it a night, and so was I. I changed some of the clocks and went to bed. Tommy hung out on her bungalow and then chased through the condo. I hoped that she would have a good night.