Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Tommy let me sleep in until around 7:00, but she was in a crabby mood. I took care of my morning duties, but we skipped the petting because Tommy indicated that she’d rather play. We played for about 10-15 minutes with her favorite, the fleece teaser, and also a couple small toys that were tied to the end of a cord.  She didn’t play with the small covered paper roll before so putting it on the end of a strong thick cord made her want to play with it.

After our short play time, Tommy quit to sit by the balcony screen and watch the outside activity.  Occasionally she would play with one of her toys, but then would return to the balcony screen. As I get ready to meet a friend for coffee Tommy realizes I’m leaving and goes under the bed. I’ll only be gone a short time, so I hope she understands.

When I return, Tommy greets me letting me know that I was missed and doesn’t seem too upset with me. We spend a leisurely afternoon both taking short naps as needed. During one of Tommy’s naps I try to work on transcribing my grandfather’s diaries, but the wind blows the door shut and wakes up Tommy. After we spend some much needed petting time I’m allowed to finish the month’s entries under the watchful eyes of Tommy who sits in front of the keyboard and expects me to use at least one hand to continue petting her.

After dinner I could go to a classic movie at a nearby museum, but decide to skip it. I figure that I’ve already been gone today and have been gone quite a bit lately, so I decide not to go. (I really wasn’t that interested in the particular film, so it was okay.) Tommy spends most of the evening on one of the dining room chairs and we spent very little time playing, so maybe I should have gone to the film.

The night ends okay and we head for bed. Tommy decides to stay up and amuse herself. I turn off the television and lights knowing that sooner or later Tommy will decide to sleep on the bed and I’ll wake up in the morning with her close by my side.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014: One Month Together

Around 3:00 I woke up and felt all of Tommy’s paws touching my knee. She also woke up and we spent a little while awake as Tommy completed what must be her predawn activities. When she came back to bed, she curled into her usual ball, but this time she was against my arm. She seems often to have a physical connection to me usually by just having a paw touching me. It was a good way to end our first month.

When we truly awake up for good, everything goes well. We (really just I) complete the morning tasks and we have our usual quiet petting time. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. I went for coffee with a friend who came back later to meet Tommy.

Tommy was again a great hostess and allowed my friend to pet her and give her all the attention that she thinks she deserves.  At one point she did think we were in play mode and did try to bite, but it was just one futile attempt and then she realized that we were in “meet and greet” mode.

After the company left we spent some time playing and then celebrated the one month anniversary of our adoption. Tommy spent the afternoon taking nap in various places, but usually woke up if I got up from my seat.

Unfortunately Tommy was napping as I prepared to go to see a movie as I usually do with friends. She was not very happy about being moved and let me know. She also knew I was leaving so that added to her vocal rebuke. Upon my return I was greeted without as much scolding as I’d expected. Maybe she was catching on to the routine of my comings and goings and wanted to show me how after one month she was learning. We spent some time playing before bed and then called it a night.

Monday, August 4, 2014: I am the Tommy (Cat) Whisperer

Someone woke up in a crabby mood. Tommy woke up several times during the night. I think it had something to do with the HVAC unit. We haven’t used the air conditioning much, but last night was very humid, so I closed all the windows and turned the AC on.  Since I was going to have some alone time, I worked in the study for a while.

Later I learned the error of my ways. Tommy didn’t appreciate being left alone and spent a good portion of the early morning shunning my futile attempts at giving her affection. She spent quite some time on my pile of shorts on the table and I left her there until I needed to iron them while it was still cool inside the condo.

Tommy has a sixth sense. When I got out the ironing board she got off the shorts and moved to the dining room chair that she sometimes occupies. I finished the ironing and took a break. During that time Tommy would come up to me and want some petting and attention, but after a few minutes she would get into biting mode again.  I didn’t know what to do.

For some reason I just started whispering to her instead of my usual soft voice when I pet her. Her paws/claws drew closer together and she calmed down and didn’t want to bite me; she just let me pet her chest, neck, back, and head. Since I was on a roll, I decided to go all out and vacuum the condo.

Tommy usually sees the vacuum and heads for under the bed until I move the vacuum into the bedroom and then she heads for the living room. Today she stayed in the entrance to the bedroom and watched me toil away.  When I got within about six feet she finally headed to the bedroom.  When I brought the vacuum into the bedroom (turned off, of course) she wasn’t leaving from under the bed.  No amount of coaxing worked until I put both sides of the dust ruffle up and whispered that it was time to move. Off she went to the living room and I was able to finish.

The rest of the afternoon Tommy spent near me. I think she could tell that I was going to be leaving again for a while.  We played for quite a while with her fleece strip teaser. She then played with her mouse and rat while I got ready to go to a birthday celebration.

When I returned, of course I was scolded, but it didn’t last very long. I petted Tommy and talked to her. Then we played and headed for the bedroom to watch the news and go to bed.  All in all, it was a good day. I can’t believe that tomorrow it will be one month since Tommy came to live with me.

Sunday, August 3, 2014: A Pleasant Day

The day begins well before sunrise. Tommy wakes me and tries to get me to engage, but it’s still dark out and I go back to sleep. Next time when I wake up Tommy is over looking out the window. It’s around 6:00 A.M. and I finally give up around 6:30 and decide to start the day.

After completing the normal morning activities, tommy and I work on the Sunday Sudoku online. At one point she rolls onto the keyboard and suddenly all incomplete squares have the small possible numbers showing. I take this as a hint that she’s bored and wants me to be spending my time doing my number one task, petting her.

We spend quite some time making her feel happy and then she jumps off the desk to explore. When she sits by the screen door (and appears to be in a good mood) I figure now would be a good time to try the harness again.  After one poor attempt, Tommy lets me put the harness over her head, but she’s not ready for the clips to be attached. We try again and although she tries to bite my hand when it’s clipping the harness together I talk to her calmly and amazingly she lets me attach everything. I give her a treat and we’re ready to head out to the balcony.

Tommy gets to the screen door, but when I open it she doesn’t head out to the balcony. I sit out there for a little while and hope that she’ll make an attempt. Even putting a treat just outside the balcony entrance doesn’t work. We’ve made some progress and I’m happy about that. I come in, unhook her, and give her a treat.

I wasn’t sure how she would be after the harness incident, so I bring out her new toy, the fabric on the wand. We play together with it for over 20 minutes until she no longer seems interested. We start the laundry, but Tommy can’t figure out what happened to her other toy (the roll of toilet paper) in the guest bathroom.  She becomes bored with the laundry and heads back out to the living room.

While she’s by the dining room table I realize that there’s been a problem recently with the mother-in-law’s tongue. Tommy’s been trying to chew the leaves which hadn’t been a problem. I get out the aluminum foil to create a barrier. Tommy hears the crinkling of the foil and heads under the table.  When I finish I let her know that I’m all done and inadvertently whistle. Surprisingly, she comes out from under the table to investigate the sound. I need to remember this for future reference.

We spend the rest of the morning with Tommy lounging and seeking an occasional petting, especially the neck/chest rub that she likes so much. I have time in between pettings to work on laundry and at the computer. I must be slowly working my way out of the doghouse because Tommy is back sitting with me in the living room on her favorite chair.  The last few days she had been sitting in the dining room and wouldn’t venture into the living room area when I was sitting there…another small step!

Later in the day as I’m talking on the phone, Tommy finds a new place to nap. I’d put the shorts that need ironing on the dining room table, and she decided that it was a nice soft place to snooze. I now have a new excuse to put off the ironing.

Later when she wakes up and before we head to bed in about an hour, we play with the fleece strip on the wand and with the laser pointer. Hopefully she gets a good workout and will sleep longer tonight. We both seem to be figuring out each other and don’t seem to have as many missteps. She, at times, lets me work on the computer unaided, and I learn when it’s petting time and when it’s play time. Play time is not a time when I should to put my hands near her mouth. As I type this Tommy comes in to remind me that enough is enough and it’s “Tommy time” before we head to bed.

Saturday, August 2, 2014: I’m AWOL and learn the consequences

The day begins rather late and I have to rush around in order to get to rehearsal at 10 o’clock. Tommy is figuring out my routine and knows that I’m leaving, so she keeps running out of the bedroom.

After rehearsal I pick up litter, hairball remedy “gel” and a couple toys. When I return I find out that Tommy doesn’t like the hairball stuff even though people I talked to said she’d love it. I called my sister for a solution. Sure enough, one of her cats has the same problem. She tells me to put it on one of Tommy’s front paws. It works, Tommy licks it off, but I can see that she’s not happy with me.

I present toy #1, a ball on a spring on a platform. She investigates, but doesn’t seem to care. I’ll keep it out and hope that she becomes curious later. Toy #2 is a long piece of fabric on a wand. She loves this one and we spend lots of time playing with it.  This looks like it has the possibility of becoming Tommy’s toy of choice (for now).

I have to leave to attend a law school graduation/bar exam party, so it’s back to the master suite for Tommy. When I return a couple hours later, I give tommy her treat. I later find that she has spit it out on the bedroom floor. I’m not sure if she had a problem with the treat or with me.

I get the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. Tommy stays on her dining room chair and refuses all my offers of petting, play etc. When we head for bed and she heads under the bed.  Hopefully she’ll come out later in the evening when she feels better.

Friday, August 1, 2014:

My wake-up call came at 6:00 today. I assume that Tommy felt that since we had rested all day yesterday, we could get up a little earlier today. We both were well rested and in good moods. After the morning rubdown (petting) I was able to close my eyes for a few more minutes, but Tommy’s fore paw was always in contact with my arm, so I couldn’t bolt.

At 7:00 Tommy was napping, so I left to make coffee and catch up on banking (first of the month stuff).  I left the bedroom door open so she could come and investigate whenever she woke up.  I was wrong, when she woke up and noticed I wasn’t there she just started “calling” to me quite frantically.  I came running to see what the problem was as she came out of the bedroom. We almost collided, but once she saw that everything was okay, she let me know how upset she was that I had snuck out. She also let me know that I owed her another neck/chest rubbing.

I headed back to the study to finish my paperwork and also opened the window. Tommy had snuck up on me and I hadn’t noticed. When I moved away from the window, part of my foot stopped on her paw.  She went flying into the living room while yelling at/for me.  You guess it…round three of petting!

When everyone (meaning Tommy) was finally calmed down and happy, I headed back one more time to finally finish.  I was mistaken. As I was typing, she joined me on the desk and let me know that I was behind on neck/chest rubs, so round 4.  I don’t know how I fell behind since we hadn’t even been awake for two hours yet! Of course, my boss must have figured that I needed to work overtime for slacking off yesterday.

I finished all the paperwork, watered the plants and was finally able to sit down with a cup of coffee and the daily puzzles. Of course I barely got into the living room where my mistress was patiently (?) waiting and she let me know that it was time for round five!

As we were sitting in the living room. I noticed a large tent next to the lagoon in the park. As we went to investigate at the screen door, we found that there was a water ski show being held. We could sit on the balcony and watch all day if we wanted. I held Tommy up to the screen door so she could see the boat and skier. When she saw them she started growling. My brave kitty was protecting her turf. (As if they could get up here and she’s always brave when I’m holding her!) She proceeded to spend the rest of the morning either sitting in her favorite box in the study or on her throne, aka dining room chair, overseeing her subject (Me).

Missing Tommy saves my car.  After lunch with a friend, a car appointment, and running errands, I decided to skip my last errand and head for home. Had I done that errand I would have been in the parking lot in St. Francis that got flooded ruining several cars where I would have parked.

When the thunderstorm hits, we head for the closet and this time I bring Tommy’s food and water dishes with us. During some of the lower claps of thunder, Tommy is eating her crunchy food and hardly notices the noise. At one point I practice the songs I need to learn for choir. Tommy actually tries to open the closet door and escape. I guess I won’t be singing her any lullabies at night.

The rest of the evening is spent quietly. Tommy spends most of the time either under the dining room table or near the window in the study while I’m typing. She does, of course, allow me to pet her occasionally.

Tommy does show me that she can also use the scratching post in the living room to scratch not just sit on top. I also change out Tommy’s little mouse for a new one when I see that it is splitting open. She’s starting to play with more of her toys to keep herself amused when I’m gone or busy.

It’s time for bed and off we go, but who is reclining right in the middle of the bed? Tommy; I guess I’ll be sleeping on one of the sides for a change.

Thursday, July 31, 2014: A Day of Rest

Neither of us slept well and we both woke up cranky and I had a headache.  Tommy may have had one too, but she didn't tell me.  We spent most of the day just relaxing and trying not to get each other upset. Tommy stationed herself on a dining room chair where she could still oversee my movements and I stayed on the sofa.

Of course there were some P & P times…petting and play, but mostly we just napped all day. When it was time for bed, Tommy came bolting over on to the top of the sofa and kept staring at the wall. I looked up and noticed a bug crawling up the wall.  I got rid of it and Tommy got an extra treat for her vigilance.

We headed for bed, but of course Tommy now wanted to play. This time she was on her own and she did quite well amusing herself with her scratching post, rat, mouse, and ball. I fell asleep knowing that someone would be on the bed in the morning with my wake up call.