It All Came to A Halt

As the Princess of the house, I'm sure you all know by now: I don't miss a thing. And so, when Googie and I were chasing each other last night down the stairs and across the dining room, as I fled through under the table trying to figure out my next move to upstage that boy, I suddenly came to a halt and froze. Googie noticed my stare at mom. She had her hands in her bag and was making the dreaded clinky-clink sound. Oh-my-god, she was reaching for the [alarm remote] thingy again!

I quickly stopped in my tracks and curled up, staring right at her from across the room. But I noticed Googie didn't seem to mind. He actually just slowed down in front of me, and walked hesitantly toward her. Huh. Then he just stood there, just looking.

"Nobody's coming! It's okay", mom said. So he didn't bolt. Well, I guess neither did I now.

But it did cramp our chase to a halt !

[YES, 'Virginia', you CAN train your cats - in just two tries, if you're lucky. ]

:)

Not All A Bed of Roses

Or a bowl-of-cherries. Life that is, with Princess. She may have returned,* but we are picking up where we ... started, way back when in fact. The first few weeks were unbelievable of course, seeing that she understood all the phrases and responded amazingly to them, like jumping up the stairs as soon as she heard "time for beddie bye" the very first time when I brought her. But she is a rascal, just like she was in her first kittenhood. Our love-fest is sometimes punctuated by chasings, faux-hissings on my part, intense eyeball-to-eyeball starings (upon which she scurries off apparently scared to death by my stare), and more shenanigans... She leaves no stone unturned in this house... Everything she hasn't done before, she is doing now.. Fortunately, now that's she's reached her first year she is no longer climbing the fake fig tree maniacally, I've noticed that much. Nor the upholstered dining chairs. We have to start at the beginning, again, and she hasn't learned yet not to walk all over me when I'm sleeping. So, I mean, hey - just because your cat may want to reincarnate? That doesn't mean she's gonna be all-wise instantly, the next time around. Granted, yes - she'll understand those special phrases immediately. But she'll still act like a spoiled kitten. Like a very aggressive, spoiled kitten. If there is one thing different this time, it's that she is much more aggressive maybe because she's with a mate she feels she has to overpower. After all, he did start to follow her and everything she did ever since they arrived...


* (For those of you who are not-so-much metaphysically inclined, I, in my heart and mind have observed it and feel it to be true - and so does F. Reed Brown, the best psychic in the area for the last 30 years who told me straight up about her being back, not even knowing there was even a cat in my life.)

All Spread Out and Nowhere To Go

Hah, y'awl, it's Gabriel here. Well, Ah tell ya: Ah had me a real awkward moment there earlier 'dis eevening. You see, Ah laike to do thangs mah way. And so, when Ah feel it's thaime? Ah just deeg in mah claws wherever Ah may be. Well, Ah know mom doesn't laike that but Pipi on the uther hand doesn't even want me to use her clawing thangs.

So, here Ah was, beesy digging in. Ah happened to be bah the bottom of the stairs, you see and Ah thank that's a good place as any for some clawing.

Until Ah saw mom comin' down.

Aw, naw! Aw-dang! NOW? In the middle of mah clawing? And Ah can't even de-claw at that point, Ah'm stuck with one paw awl the way to mah left, anothar paw awwl the way to mah right... and Ah'm lying there, pretty much "spread-Eagle" one maight put it... While mom's now standing over me, trying to get down that last step. Holly-molly.

Ah finally managed to disengage mahself and scurried outta there on the double.

[Unfortunately, no video was taken... I just wasn't expecting that one... :) ]

A Subtle Message, Indeed

You know, sometimes even I miss things with the cats. :)
Like yesterday when I came home. I noticed Gabriel did something unusual during our -very- usual routine when I come home. I mean, he's always by my side with Princess in the kitchen. But this time, I saw him go all the way to the entrance door, peering out the glass panel. I actually did think about it and wondered if there was something out there but chose to put it off. He stood there by the door looking out and then back to me.

This morning as I'm starting to drive out, I noticed a UPS package left by the door... He actually tried to tell me something was out there (but I was too lazy to investigate).

I tell ya, cats have a very subtle way of communicating, and if you don't pay close attention? You're bound to miss it.

My Daily Cat Massages

Well... I make up for all my stealing and dismantling actually. I give mom daily cat massages. As soon as I see her plop down on the bed, I hop on and take the liberty of walking all over her, literally. I know I can. She lets me all the time. Even though I get chased a lot too, I'm not afraid, you know? So, I start giving her massages on her belly.

When I get a little tired? I stop to take a breather, and then I hear her begging me for more. So I come back and go back at it again. I mean she asks, you know? I can't very well just walk away...

[Video-accompanied - 2 videos ]

Tings I Like to Dismantle

Princess here. Yeah, my skills go far and beyond anyone's imagination.

Here's the quick rundown: (I don't have time to waste nowadays) I look for tings to take apart. Tings that are my size, you know, like when I can handle them with both one or both of my paws. My latest discoveries include one of the Bose speakers - I actually succeeded taking off that small thingy behind them, I really don't know what it was there for to begin with. It's like the cap on the bottles. I also like to come away with the kitchen sink stopper even though it's kinda bigger than my mouth can really hold - I still take it out and drop it on the floor. Until mom made it disappear.

I also like to dismantle tings off of the feared vacuum. I took the brush out of it. I keep my game near my scratching post, that one anyway. Mom hasn't dared take that away from me. And did I mention the water bottle caps? Yep, they've disappeared too nowadays... the whole bottle that is. And of course, I never miss the chance to swipe mom's barettes - if I can.

[This cat needs a lot of help. ]

[New klepto video-accompanied.]

I Shoulda Been A Zoologist (Or, 'The Story of the Alarm Remote')

You may remember an earlier entry about Gabriel and the alarm remote thingy. See, when somebody knocks at the front door, the first thing I have to do is reach for the little remote to press it and disengage the house alarm. Gabriel noticed this the first time and he never forgot it. So, when the second time came for me to go through the paces, as I reached out and got the remote in my hands, he immediately stopped what he was doing mid-stride, stared at my hand holding the alarm, his eyes got big and he bolted. "Aw, naw! Ah'm not gonna be 'round for some stranger to come in!" He actually learned to immediately associate the alarm remote with a visitor. This happens every time he sees me reach for it; mind you, the remote is tiny, not like a TV remote - but he still notices it.

So, I decided to teach him that this isn't such a bad thing after all. It took only two tries. On the second ... 'er 'training session', he reaches out with his paw twice and touches the remote. You will notice how he keeps craning his neck toward the stairs, ears going back and forth, anticipating nervously a visitor. But he sees no one coming and does not run away to hide anymore.

.... Maybe, ... I'll teach him to become a 'painting cat' next time... :)

[Video accompanied]

I'm Not Sure How I Did This

That's right, I'm not so sure how I did this... Because it started happening from the first or second time I used the words "belly belly" to Gabriel. Somehow, he's figured out that I mean to point out that he's got a big belly and that I think it's cute and I want to see it.... So he does "oblage" ... :))

And now... Now? I've started to use the "belly" word when he tries to pig out by the wet food bowl... The poor thing just walks away!!

(I swear, I am not giving these cats M&M's or whatever. )

[Video accompanied - seeing it is believing. ]

Like Cats, Like Men ....

I recently came across a video on YouTube which truly shocked me. It was classified under "cat fights" and showed a pair of red-orange male cats fighting ferociously on top of a metal roof. The fighting was so vicious, the video was divided into four parts... I guess because they were close to Gabriel's coloring it hit 'home' closer than I thought and anyway, it had really upset me that someone would allow such a fight to go on instead of stopping it. I posted a comment, disgusted, and got several comments in return; they all seemed to be saying the same message: "It's nature !" I thought, "how obtuse.."

Days later, as I'm fast-walking on the treadmill at the gym, my eye wanders up to the TV screen and I catch a hockey fight - two guys are at each other's throats, bodies all tangled up and down on the ice, rolling around just like the cats on the videos. Yep, it is nature. Whether it's a male cat, or a male human... or the female housewives on the reality show where they're viciously attacking one another at the dinner table. Except, in that instance, words are used in place of punches. The natural fight has morphed into a higher art form of sorts. But the words remain ...obtuse and 'natural' (whore, "vajay-jay", slut, "your whoo-hoo", etc.) So, I guess, we could easily visualize them in a down-drag-out fight on the floor, practically.

But I still think that idiot should have stopped that particular cat fight - he was videotaping from a window above them where he could have easily splashed on a bucket of water.

Klepto Kitty: Steals My Pen

She did it again... She stretched her little hot-dog long and limber body all across the night table and stuck her paw in between the books, knowing there is a coveted pen in there she so much likes to snatch. So she used her little tiny shoulder to push and pull - and got caught in the act.

Did she run? No. She just stood there and took it all in, listened to the 'choir' [that would be "mom" yelling at her... maybe "Mean Mommy" at this point]. And then she sat up, even, making herself more comfortable, eyes half closed. ("Yeah, yeah, yeah....")


[Video accompanied]

Guilty Parties

I came in fairly late in the evening yesterday and in spite of my fatigue, I became like a dog-with-a-bone ... I'd discovered that my hair barette has been missing and it is the one thing I depend on every day to keep my hair out of my face, make a ponytail, get in the shower, etc. This frekking barette, besides, had cost me almost ten dollars! I knew that Princess had succeeded in swiping it when I wasn't looking because the last time I remember seeing it was when I put it down on the coffee table as I lay on the couch about to take a ..well, cat nap. :)

So, I became dogged in finding it... The first plan of attack was to look under the stove, where other barettes had been found.. In fact, by none other than baby Princess when she arrived in the house last December. That was her first foray, to uncover my old barette from under there, even though you can't see anything unless you stick your snout down on the floor. That's what I had to do now... I sprawled all over the kitchen floor with my nose on the hardwood, looking maniacally at the one-inch gap between the stove and the floor. Nothing. Oh, but there was that fake, painted Easter egg that Princess swiped ... So with stick in my right hand I remained in this pitiful position for minutes on end, trying to get this ridiculous thing out of there anyway.

While I'm struggling in this uncomfortable and inelegant position, I feel like somebody's staring at me. I turned around. There was Princess and Gabriel together crouching side by side at the edge of the kitchen, eyes wide and totally dilated. ("Whaaat is she doing??!", Gabriel especially seemed to be thinking, extending his face toward my way.) I stared back.

"Aww, shit! She's gonna come after us! " They both bolted as soon as they saw my face...

Gabriel ran toward Princess who was under the coffee table by now and tip-touched noses ("It's okay, Pipi, I thank she's just explooreng.") He then came back to check on me ... I was still on the floor working on digging up the damn thang. He came close and looked to see 'whaat am Ah tryin' go git??'. He looked carefully all around, his curiosity peaked... ("Ah weesh Ah could help..")

No barette.. She got her big prize and I still haven't dug it out.

Ah Do Oblage

Gabriel here... You knaw, Ah've come to realize lately that Ah'm pretty much the only 'man in the house'.. So, Ah'm in charge of Pipi and Ah've got to watch out for mom too. Ah don't laike to leave the ladies alone when they're together, even when Ah'm busy, indisposed bah the big glass window "downstairs" watching for our neighbor chipmunk and that crazy squirrel. As soon as mom wakes up and starts stirring, Ah can hear them both up there so Ah abandon mah huntin' and get to them.

And so, when mom comes cawling me, sayin' "Let's go upstairs" ? Ah do oblige. Ah'll get awl ready first, balance mah self back 'n forth before Ah spring forward, you knaw? And then Ah'll look over at mom half-way up the stairs to make sure Ah'm doin the raaight thang.

Ah laike to keep everybody happy. [Video accompanied ]

(Oh, and Ah also trah to do as mom duuz every mornin' - Ah reached over and tried to use the toiler paper roll, Ah figured .. if she duuz it, theen Ah should be doin' it too... )

Lime Green Carnage

It was on a late night visit to the local Giant when I found 'Wooly-Zingy'. Something about 'him' beckoned to me as I cut the corner from one aisle to the other. He was being kept in a basket just hanging off of a shelf, along with a bunch of other stuffed small animals. I suddenly stopped in mid-step and reached over to touch and feel this wooly, lime green stuffed toy in the shape of a sheep. He had cream colored ears, paws, and snout. I stood there feeling the softness of his wooly cover against my cheek when a man my own age even, suddenly stopped as well.. He looked at me in kind of a disbelief look, there was amuzement in his eyes. I thought he actually looked good, I saw a spark in those eyes which were actually... probably ridiculing me (!) His expression beckoned a response, so I told him I just couldn't resist Wooly-Zingy - he was for my cats, anyway. "Hey! I got this for my dogs!", he reassured me. And so he left. But he came back one more time, and I am still there, in the same spot, holding Woody-Zingy up close. He looks at me again. "I really don't do this all the time...:)", I said... well, sheepishly. "Yeah, RIGHT!", he said like he could tell that I did.

So lime green Wooly-Zingy came home with me; he'd make a great toy for Princess and Gabriel, I thought. Gabriel liked him, Princess not so much. One day last week I see Gabriel trying to pick a fight with Pipi - they were both sitting facing each other and he had his front paw outstretched about to swat at her (or maybe trying to protect himself). I could tell she was tired so I said to him "Gabriel?!! Stop it!" He broke away on-command but the energy of attack had already welled up in him, what was he gonna do now?

I'll tell you what he did: He transferred it to poor Wooly-Zingy. He went right for him. He was saying: "If I'm not allowed to jump Pipi, then I'll take it out on this little lime green thang!" In the middle of the carnage Pipi jumps up to see what's going on and enters the fray. Now she was going to share in Gabriel's faux-rage... nipping at Wooly-Zingy's feet as Gabriel pulled on his ears.

And then? Then he hears a voice, "Oh nooo!.. Noo! I'm dead! Mr. Bill!" Gabriel stopped his attack to look at 'mom'... Whaa is mom sounding like this? It's as if he recognized the word "dead" ? The look on his face says it all. Video-accompanied ("Lime Green Carnage")

Tings [sic] I Like to Swipe

Personally? My chosen word would be to .. uh, "collect".. or even, hunt-and-gather. I really don't know why I keep hearing this word "klepto" lately.

Anyway, I like to hunt, pounce, and gather on especially these tings: that pink mushy-thingy just sitting there next to mom's "beddie-bye" [it's an ear plug]; that little circle I can pry off of that big water thing [cap off the water bottle - no matter how tight I squeeze it shut, she somehow pries the damn thing off!]; little 'bottle' thingy's [she swiped two travel-sized Purell bottles, have no idea where she keeps them]; that long-and-thin 'pen' thingy [a pen by the night table]; the chewable stringy-thingy [she's swiped my cell phone's USB cable.. have no idea where she's keeping that one either... She definitely is stashing some of these things somewhere in the house where I just can't find them... I should be so lucky that she's not taking my rings or other jewelry at this point.]


And then, of course, the cylinder-paper-thingy that mom actually gives me... that I keep with the rest of my normal toys in the living room.

Mom's New Trick

I think I get it now, yep. At first, I used to run away shocked and scared but now? I get it. Mom has this thing where.. she'll just start looking right at me? And raise both arms up... she looks so big when she does that, it just scares me. And now, she even curls her hands too... Well, I mean, I do run still but not as fast...and my tail goes up in the air. And then I stop, wondering just where am I really going?

I forget all about it then and come back to be with her. But just to be on the safe side, you know - I figured I'll run for a second, I mean, why does she have to raise both [arms] like that?

[Only Princess gets skittish like that... Gabriel doesn't respond to my scare-crow act. ]

Temper Tantrum In-Secret

Mom came in the other night again through the usual way. I looked all over the bags she brought, stuck my nose in each one, watched her put everything away in the kitchen, and patiently continued to look her in the eye, eagerly and hopefully, for my 'nummy num'. But no such thing ever came. I became so disappointed, I just couldn't stand it anymore. I ran up the stairs first, I just didn't wanna...you know, lose it right in front of her. And then, as soon as I went up to my room? I let it rip. "Aeehhhh! ", I yelled and jumped around in a frenzy, I had to let some steam out I'm telling you, I didn't care who heard me. I guess I made such a spectacle of myself, she came up to check on me. I stopped for a moment but I was so pissed, I just jerked the other way when I saw her face, turning my back on her. I mean, enough is enough!

[That would be Princess having a temper tantrum ... discreetly. Hey, at least she didn't take it out on Gabriel! ]

A Drunken Frenzy

I woke up at the crack of dawn today and went down to the kitchen; something didn't seem right since late that night when I heard weird noises right before shutting my eyes. I was too tired or resigned to investigate for the umptenth time, knowing that Princess is always getting into something... be it 'stealing' the cap off of the water bottle, jumping down from the counter, 'attacking' the fake fig tree, or god knows what else. I think she's been going through another heat cycle too. So, I go down to the kitchen at the crack of dawn and discover to my horror that they've managed to open the kitchen pantry door... must've left it a crack open. Everything was in disarray, half the stuff off the shelves was strewn all over the floor, it was mostly pet stuff. Princess's old petsitting report sheets, old medicines from before, pi-cups, syringes, everything... Including a bag of catnip that was never opened... I have no idea where it came from.

Catnip was everywhere up and down the pantry ... I finally saw what remained of the empty plastic bag... They were both in a frenzy. Next thing I know, I hear a plaintive meow from around the corner, wondering which one is it now... I run over just in time to see Princess crouching in front of Gabriel - Gabriel, taking an aggressive about-to-pounce stance. Broke it up and went back to sleep... This was way too early to deal with. But I made sure to close the pantry door (!) This proved to be not good enough; I should have separated them, I didn't realize just how frenzied they were.

By the time I woke up later (much later..), I found Gabriel with his one eye totally shut.

You've probably all seen their fighting by now on the latest video but it'd be hard to say who did what to whom... :) ... Did Gabriel push it too far and he got his proverbial oats? Or was Princess a frenzied dominatrix once more?

I had to rush him to the vet... We ended up spending an entire 2 hours there today. He must of been in quite a bit of pain because he didn't make a peep during the drive over there. I only had to go after him twice before I could put him in the carrier, he had given up. The vet had to administer a special dye on his eye, shine an ultraviolet light on him to see just how bad the scratch was, rinse it off, and then some. She showed me the scratch under the black light - it was big. All over his eye in fact.... But she said it wasn't deep and she thought it should heal in time. We then had to give him eye ointment. Incredibly, he was patient throughout most of the ordeal. He liked the vet tech, and he was fine with the vet as well. He just didn't like the male vet tech, part of his pattern (he's got a thing against males in general.)

Something about this whole visit put me in a really bad mood... Just ... seeing Gabriel being man-handled (the vet told me not to touch him when she was working on his eye), and hearing him weakly protest in his squeaky voice just took the perk out of me.

They wanted $210.00 when all is said and done... After the receptionist saw my shocked face, they reduced it to minus "the $60.00 emergency fee".... I was thinking, what the hell would I do if I didn't have the money?? Would I be begging? I mean, my cat could go blind... We have to return on Monday because his eye needs to be monitored closely. I have to give him the ointment 3 times a day... good luck on that... Gabriel likes to use his paws to express himself if you know what I mean...

A Word on Refreshing and YouTube

Just to let you all know that sometimes you may need to hit the Refresh button on my blog to make sure you view the right videos. If you can't catch the third one, "Gabriel Stick Paw Kitty", you should be able to find it directly on YouTube.

Key words for all videos are: Princess Diaries tabby Gabriel orange cat - then add pink sheets, stick paw, etc.

Enjoy!

The Pink-Sheet Series

We have a series of three to four new videos here now that only moving pictures could tell the full story... I'm just beyond words at this point. :)

Gabriel seems to be very mindful of the boundary line between the pink sheets and the blanket. He doesn't seem to want to cross that line into bare-sheet territory. Not sure how he got that one, but we can all guess how that might have happened. On the next video, a few minutes later, Princess catches him on the bed and is not happy about it. Was she mad because he was laying on her spot? Or because he crossed the line? :) I cannot believe how this tiny cat has such amazing domination over this large, fluffy, big boy. She finally gets him to come down from the bed altogether as you'll see from the video, while he takes the submissive stance, flat on his back, unable to control his big belly that keeps rolling back and forth. But he gets a few nips and jabs in before it's all over.

Finally, they've made up now... Different day, granted. And Gabriel is so happy and content, he lets his paws just stick up in the air. Stick-paw kitty.

:)

Gabriel Obliges

Hah, y'awl.. Ah gotta tell ya, there's a new routine naw in the house... And Ah'm nawt sure what to make of it but Ah do oblige.

Ah laike to keep everybody happy, as you knaw... And Ah dawn't miss a thang so, mom duezn't really have to do much except tap me lightly on the shoulder. You see, there's only so much food to go around between Pipi and Ah. Ah mean the good food [wet food].

And so, after a little whaile? When Pipi and Ah are eating? Mom comes around and taps me with her finger on my shoulder. Ah know what to do you see... Ah just move away from the bowl immediately and let Pipi fineesh.

The other night mom came in with the good food and we hadn't had any for a while. Ah was lounging in the other room when Ah saw her put the good stuff on the bowl and Pipi ran right over to it. Ah just resigned to it and didn't move... Ah just figured mom would block me again...
Ah'll just go when Pipi is fineeeshed, it's beeest.

[Gabriel needs to watch how much he eats - he has gotten way too big for being just one year's old now... And I can't believe all I have to do is just touch him lightly on the shoulder .. He just gets it and backs off, the poor boy... Well, not 'poor' really.. He's got a lot of belly on him as it is.... ]

Klepto Kitty - Revisited

After watching the Klepto-Kitty video one more time I now realize what's happened to my missing short USB cable.... Princess swiped it!! .. I could not figure out how is it that I am losing random stuff that I normally don't lose.. like this short little USB cable that connects my cell phone to my PC so that I can upload more videos. (Oh, but wait: I did get an upgrade now - I got myself an actual Sony Handycam! )

So now I have to figure out where she's stashed it.. Probably the same place where she stashed the missing cap to the water bottle, and the missing hair clip, the missing god-knows-what that I don't even know yet ..it's missing!

She is a TOTAL klepto, that cat. And if you all recall, one of the first things she DID, when she came into the house as a little kitten? Was to look under the stove and get back my long-ago-missing hair comb/barette.

Ha!

You Better Put That Back

I was skulking around mom's bedroom today, trying to find whatever I could to add to my klepto-stash.. I actually hit a bonanza! I could see something sticking out from high over my head and I brought it down and bingo! It was this little string making this little sound and I could smell another cat's scent on it! [Princess One's old collar lying next to her picture on my dresser.] I seized the moment and grabbed it in my mouth before mom could detect me as she was coming out of the small room. I gingerly bounced out of the room as nonchalant as possible before she could see me and trotted half-way down the stairs. But Gabriel met me there and saw what I had done. "I think she's gonna be mad, Pipi....", he warned. I let it drop and we both stood there, contemplating our next move. We looked upstairs to see what mom was up to.

She could tell something was up just by the way we both stood around, looking at her. "Whatever you do, don't run like a fool..", Gabriel warned. I usually would, you know. So mom came down the steps to find what I had taken. Apprehensive, I looked at her wondering what now. "So that's what you got, eh??!" She just picked it up and walked away with it and I guess we were off the hook. Oh well.

Ah Have A Seeestem

Hah, y'awl, Gabriel auv cawrse heare [of course here]. And let me tell ya: Ah have mah self a leetle seestem: You see, every thame Ah have to go in the mornin'? for numbah-two? Well, Ah have to go to the big, nace whaite bowl up 'dere, that's mah spot. And mom always leaves this piece of peipah in there (paper towel) and so, becawze Ah laike to keep everybody happy, Ah make sure that Ah use that piece of peipah and covah mah stuff up.

... Ah can take a hint. Agin.

[Sure he can... NOT. He continues to do his business on the spare bathroom's sink.. And I clean it up every morning, and every morning I leave a paper towel in there. And each following morning, I come in and find that he's used the paper towel to cover his stuff up. Prissy-boy. ... You awl gotta understaand: Gabriel's spirit just does not lend itself for... common "discipline" abuse.. I can't really yell at him or anything worse even... He is too... sensitive. ]

A Little-Bit Auv Ensight

Hey, y'awl? You maght notice awn mah first video here that bafawre Ah launch mah ambush on the Dot? Ah take care to look around over at Pipi's direction. That would be because Ah didn't want her to see me losing it over the dot. Becauuze when she sees me do that? She comes and ambushes me, you see; she slaps me around and tells me Ah'm crazy for attacking a simple dot that duuusn't even move!

And so, that is whah Ah'm looking over mah shoulder laike that.

Gabriel, The Video

Alert, Alert you all!!! We now have Gabriel video! It's a must!
You can now watch Gabriel Live - obsessing over "the dot" !! (Remember The Dot? )

Get on my blog and watch it. It's on You Tube as well ("Gabriel Greer, The Cat" / Gabriel, the cat, obsessing over "the dot".)

:))

Accident Bah The Stairs!!

Two mornin's ago, we had kind of a scare. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure from whose perspective I should tell this little episode because both Gabriel and Princess reacted the same way, in unison. So, maybe I should just go by the most animated face, which would be Princess - because her little face expression was quite intense:

Mom woke up this morning like always, and did her usual thing in her smaller room. Googie and I followed her and groomed ourselves like she did. And then she went to go downstairs; but I could tell something wasn't right and I hung back this time, I didn't bound about and jump on the stairs first like I do nowadays. I decided to let her go 'cause I thought she was a little... out of it.

Next thing I know, while I'm still standing in the hallway about to follow her down the stairs, I see mom go down. And I mean plop!- plop! She ... fell down the stairs, half way! I just couldn't believe it. I stood there, frozen, my neck stretched out watching motionless. She turned around and looked back at me. I was so scared for mom, so scared... Is she gonna get up?? What now??

"I'm okay, it's okay" she said. I waited a few more moments for her to pick herself back up again. Googie had plopped down looking at her from the railing, his chin touching the floor - he was stone frozen himself, really.

The minute she got back up we continued to follow. I decided it was all okay and took the first step downstairs.

Day of the Gooey!

Mom did anuthar (another) thang tuday that Ah just didn't understaaand. Well, she did it to Pipi, really.. Ah mean that poor Pipi was just totally out of her wits, Ah tell ya.

Awl Ah know is that Pipi came charging out of the kitchen looking as scared as evah. Ah stood up from my lounge position as soon as Ah saw that and ran over to her. "Pipi, honey.. What's wrong?!!", Ah asked, while we were hiding under the dinin' table.

She had this gooey stuff awl over her mouth and nose; she was licking it. "Googie, if you know what's good for you, run! Just run! ", she gave me the understaandin'. Ah looked at mom and she was goin' around lookin' for Pipi, cawling her laike: "Princess? Come and get your treat! It's okay!" Ah made a run for it upstairs as soon as Ah saw her approaching - aw, no! Ah wasn't gonna fall for it now! Ah mean Ah just dug my heels and bolted !

But nope... Ah guess she wasn't really going after me - it was only Pipi. So Ah came downstairs again in a few, Ah knew Ah was in-the-clear.

["Pipi" keeps fighting me on the Nutrical, the high-calorie treat to help get her to a more normal weight... She is acting totally terrified of it, won't even come near it to smell it or try it..]

Not Now, Googie

Mom came in the other night looking really tired. In fact, she was so out of it, Googie and I just tip-toed around her, watching her every move. We didn't do any of our usual silly things, like chasing each other maniacally, happy that she's home. Or jumping all over the kitchen counter.

She went straight for the couch. I was worried... I went to her and decided I was gonna quietly jump on her and just lay on her chest. I layed quietly in front of her face, checking her out and just making sure she was okay. Yep, this was not the time for me to keep shifting around trying to find the right spot, oh no. Bumbling Googie approached and tried to see what was going on.

I looked over at him, gonna keep that silly boy at bay: "Not now, Googie.. She's tired.. Let me handle this."

So he stayed his distance, layed right across from us on the coffee table, leaving us in peace.
Mom came to soon enough, leave it to me.

The Thang ... (Another One, Anywah...)

Hah, y' awl... Gabriel here, happe as evah. And Ah'm very observant, as evah too despite awl appearances. Tudah (today), Ah noticed mom doin' something different. Ah could tell she was getting ready to leave but at the last moment? She grabbed this little THANG in her hands and did sometin' with it. Ah could tell it was important and Ah stopped doin' whatevah Ah was doin' just to watch her - and Ah watched her intently as she looked at that thang, it was a little thang mand you, but yet oh-so-important. Mah eyes went biiig as Ah could tell she was up to somethang.

Next thang Ah knew? Somebody came through that door again and Ah had to disappear right along with Pipi... Awl that passed and we came out to be with mom again. And a while longer? Ah see her pick up that THANG again and Ah'm thinking: Mah-oh-mah, she's gonna let somebody in here again, 'cause she's doin' it again! Ah scurried to take cover as soon as she fiddled with that damn thang!

['That damn thang' happened to be the house alarm remote... And he figured it out the first time he's ever seen it, that the remote in my hand? Means somebody must be coming. Wow... Scary.. ]

:)

Not That Bag

Princess is very adept at knowing the difference between grocery bags, other bags, and my personal bag. Or purse as we call it. She knows that when that bag gets set down or brought down, it's a signal that I am about to leave. And when I come home, I drop it on the floor for her personal inspection, it seems. Not only is she about to run off with my phone when she gets the chance, but nowadays she takes it upon herself to stick her nose in the purse, see what's in there and what not. She has taken secondary ownership of 'the bag', mom's bag. And no one else except mom has rights to it. Consequently, the following scene ensued one recent evening as I'm lounging on the couch and looked over to see what they were doing.

They were both hanging out by the bag on the floor. Princess was sitting on her back legs in an upright position right next to "mom's bag". Gabriel was next to her when I noticed he began to assume a submissive position. He lowered his fluffy body below her eye level and his eyes got real big as he looked directly at her face in an intense way... His ears were not down but I could literally see what he was trying to communicate:

"Pipi, please! It's cool! Really... I'm not gonna do anything!" She stood there craning her neck in that certain crooked way, a potential ambush imminent. "Well, I don't care... you're too close to mom's bag already. You need to back off. " Gabriel lowered himself even lower if that was at all possible for that fluffy belly to flatten on the floor. "Okay, Pipi, okay... What else do you want me to DO? " "Pipi's" paw extended to poke him just once. "Just stay away from mom's bag."

It took one paw poke to break the impass... and maybe a quick nip on that fluffy belly and chase into the kitchen... She does the same thing when he gets too close to the scratching post. I got three of them..

Cat Panic-Attack

Just when you thought you'd heard everything... Yep, there is such thing as a cat-panic-attack.! I found that out yesterday when I took dear Gabriel for his monthly nail clipping. Instead of getting used to his occassional car and vet trips, he actually got worse! He freaked out. As soon as the carrier ws set in the car he began his tirade. Halfway there, I looked over and what did I see - his mouth was open, tongue hanging out, and he was panting like a dog... I then began to freak out myself, fearing I was about to lose him altogether.

We finally got to the new place, they had to navigate me over the phone, and the kind vet there had to look at him. He wasn't overheated of course... He had a "panic attack"... Poor Gabriel was hyperventillating...

Of course, right after the clipping he was more than happy to crawl back to the carrier... The rest of the afternoon was spent chasing a rogue fly stuck in the house; both he and Princess went nuts for a few hours chasing it around, knocking themselves agains window panes, jumping up to five feet high to get it... All was well...

:)

How Thangs Go Wrong Somethayme

As being Gabriel here, Ah can tell you that Ah've been very happy... y'awl know that. Ah mean, Ah have charge of Pipi, Ah got mom, and ain't nobody bothering me. In fact, Ah got a whole place here, bigger than Ah ever imagined. And so, Ah do as Ah please awl day loong...

But god-dang it, mom sometimes cramps mah style. Laike last night: she kept tryin' to get me out of my favorite spot again in her small room [bathroom]. She tried to cajole me up, poke me here and there with her fingers, spoke to me... But Ah wouldn't buudge.. Ah laiked it right there and Ah couldnt' see whah Ah had to move. Ah was tired and hot.

She wouldn't give up though, sayin' to me thangs laike 'it's time for beddie bye' and awl that... She tried to turn me over so Ah would stand up and kept rolling up on mah belly to avoid being picked up. Finally, Ah'm like: "God dang it! Ah'm just gonna git up and just go around the door and change spots... Maybe she'll be okay with that. She came after me there too! "No! ", Ah protested, raising mah paw to block her hand and keep her from touching mah back. Then she tried to get ahold of me. "Nooo, mom! Ah don't wanna! ", Ah swatted at her with mah open paw this time.

"Ayyyeeehhh!!!!! ", she screamed. Dang it.. Now Ah made a mess and Ah really didn't mean to, and Pipi started staring at me ("What did you do to her?!!). Ah just bounced away as cooly as Ah could muster laike notin' happened. Ah can take a hint after awl...

Being Gabriel

Being Gabriel means Ah gawt to do a lot of different thangs. Laike, Ah step into the room where Ah know mom's in one paw at a time, stopping and then stretching mah neck to assess the situation. Does she or does she nawt want me in here? Or laike, Ah am sooo, so sensitive? Ah kinda...jump at the slightest sudden sound that's near me 'cause Ah am so tuned into what Ah do...

Being Gabriel also means crying laike a baby when Ah want to jump on mom's lap on the couch and Ah can't 'cause sometin' in the way. And when Ah try to chase Pipi? Ah now have to rev mah engines 'cause Ah'm kinda heavy and Ah have to take time out to get going... so mah back legs start revving up first ... kinda laike spinning mah own wheels for a few seconds befawre Ah can start running.

And it also means takin' heed of mom's "excuse me" words nowadays... Ah've learned that trick from Pipi... When Ah hear "excuse me" ? Ah know she kinda.. wants me out of the way so Ah vacate the small room in short order, no fuss about it, Ah don't even look baack even though Ah laike that small room, Ah laike to lay on the cold floor there.

And, Ah laike to give mom some thayme in the mornin' befawre Ah thank it's time to start cawling her bah outside the door... Pipi keeps warnin' me not to wake her up, that's important, Ah know... But Ah sit and wait until Ah know when she wakes up - and then Ah can start cawling her and begging to open the door ("Ah've been owt here enough already, waiting... Pleaase, mom.. pleeeeease open the door, okay??")

Been Gabriel, above awl, means standing there in place whenever mom wants to lauve me. Sometimes? She puts me on the 'beddie bye' in the mornin' or when she comes home at night and she just huugs me awl over. And Ah oblige, y'a know. Ah can tell she needs me just as much as Ah need her... Ah can tell it's really important for her to be that close to me... Ah don't feel smothered laike Pipi... So Ah just stand there, patiently, and let her looove me all she wants...

Where But.. Where?

I am not sure whether to relay this little moment directly or try to interpret it for Gabriel. But it was in the late morning today when he sauntered up near the dining table area where I was sitting. I assumed he must have seen me because I was right there; but his general attention was elsewhere. So I started trying to get his attention: "Baby.. babyyy!!", I called. And I mean I was right there just a few feet away from him. He had his back to me, facing the stairs. The more I called, the more he pointed his ears toward up the stairs. And then the unthinkable happened: he began to bound up the steps, eager to find me... Thinking I was up there, ears pointed and all...

Aw-gawd!! The first thing I could think of was that he may be having some sort of hearing problem in one of his ears... He actually could not tell where the sound was coming from... He could hear it but could not get the right direction. He did a similar thing the other night when Princess had just entered my closet and the door opening made a squeaky sound. He was right next to it, on the bed when this happened but he was unable to tell the correct direction of the sound: he thought it was coming from outside of the room and he stood up, alarmed, his eyes got dilated as he instantly looked at me, searching my eyes for reassurance. "It's okay", I told him. "It's this way...", I tried to get him to focus on the closet area. He finally did, noticing Princess in there... But he was still left wondering, alarmed as to the sound he heard...

The more I think of it now, the more I am suspecting that it may not be an ear/hearing problem at all... It's more of a ... psychological thing, for lack of a better term.. Tied to his beginnings, as he may be associating unfamiliar sounds as omens, or preludes, to something disruptive about to happen to him... At least he has had a very tight bond with Princess, since his foster days or before... They went through this together and they have each other to lean on.. They're always looking out for each other, besides being so bonded to me. In fact, they were able to transfer, or rather replicate the type of strong bond they have developed with each other, on to me as well... I don't know how I did it... Besides being there 24/7 for them for the first month and a half after my adoption. And just making myself available for lots of love - and slumbering on me for hours at a time.. like an emotional pillow for them.

Gabriel continues to like to sleep inside the carrier, so I think he is making great strides. And I just discovered another yet whole paper towel roll placed over you-know-what (this, on the empty bathroom sink.)

Revisiting THE Room....

A while back I began noticing that the door to the storage room was occassionally left ajar - even though I always keep it closed nowadays. At first, I thought that maybe I hadn't closed it tightly. But then I would click it closed and the next day still find that it had been opened... It would only be that particular door, down by the rec room. There is a half bath down there too, the door is kept closed at all times; meaning, nothing or nobody has tried to open that door up...

I finally saw Princess trying to push the storage room door open one evening... She was trying to get in there again... This is where Princess I spent a lot of time in her last months of life... This is where, as you might all remember, this is where she would sleep at night. And I kept the door closed on purpose ever since Princess II arrived here. But she keeps wanting to go back to the room... and she has... on her own sneaky time, she has. When the room is empty, dark and bleak now. I still feel horrible about that room myself... the fact that I had to close the door on her overnight, to keep her from waking me up. I never like to go into that room anymore and I'm glad to see that at least Gabriel doesn't have any interest in it either...

Only Princess....

It's Me And Only Me

On the socialization front, I'm afraid it's me and only me for Gabriel and Princess. (Oh, that's right: Mom is actually talking now! :))

I had a random man come in the other day for the cable (another yet 'cable guy') and they disappeared before he even came into the house. I am a little puzzled at just how un-social they really are with anyone else coming into the house... The man was around in and out of the house for a couple of hours, part of the time on top of the roof and yet they would not come out. I started looking for them after he left and found them both huddled again in a really tight space between the couch in the rec room downstairs and the wall! ... That's a really tight space.. And there they were, on top of one another, simulating ... basically, what they went through at some point between their rescue and foster home. They were on top of each other when I found them even, in the display cage at Petco. And now they are going back to this behavior..

I had to move the couch to give them breathing room ... and they slowly came out again, cautious and hesitant, reconnecting with me. Now I've got to wonder: how long is this gonna go on for before they get over it. Or will they. Will they ever get over the trauma they must have experienced at kittenhood.. They are definitely not responding well to male presence, let's put it this way. I think it's because it was probably a male who busted into the house and took them away, perhaps an animal control type of person.

There is a silver lining to this story though. That night I discovered Gabriel sleeping inside of the open vet carrier. We had to borrow it from them and I had left it open. He made peace with it and decided to sleep there for the night even though it was a demonized item to him just days ago...


* (Oh, and by the way: Princess is still afraid of the sound of a scrunchy bag... For those of you who have been following the Princess Diaries for the last few years, you might remember that she had that fear for a really long time, the sound of bag scrunching would send her flying away. Unfortunately, this is a carry-over... She still runs at the sound; not Gabriel though.)

Mom Ain't Feelin' Goood

Mom opened the door this mornin' and Pipi and Ah could tell immediately she wasn't feeling' right. Ah mean, for one thang, she didn't greet us laike she usually does. Anywah, Ah let the day go bah, thanking she was gone and Ah waus downstairs virtual-stalking our neighbor chipmunk when Ah realized that mom waus still here. Ah went up the stairs slowly and stretched mah neck to see from behand the railing - yep, she's still here, how strange... She was on that thang again, that weird box thang on top of the table, giving it awl her attention [laptop]. Ah never laiked her doin' this anywah.. So Ah jump on the table thang and stick my nose to hers momentarily, or tryin' to.. Stick my nose in the direction of this weird thang that takes awl her attention... and generally try to figure how's she doin, walking awl over thangs next to her face.

Ah guess mom didn't laike that too much and put me down the floor in short order, doin' mand ya her shrill yell at me. Okay, Ah get it - Ah scrambled over a few feet away halfway to the stairs and looked back at her... Aw no.. she ain't feelin' good, Ah can teelll. Ah followed her upstairs theen ... tried to get close to her again in that little room of her where Ah laike to have mah mornin' time with her [bathroom] but she closed the door on me.

That's okay... Ah'll just lay bah the door, right up against the whole door, and wait patiently until she opens it.


[Mom's got an increasingly bad 'cold' and going to the doctor... And mom's worried now about her darlings being cared for in case she's hospitalized or whatever... ]

The Day of Horror

That day began just as faane as any awther day.. Mom went downstairs and Pipi and Ah just thought she was gonna go out the door, like she usually does. But then she took Pipi and put 'er in the box [carrier]. It was the same one Ah was in a while ago. This did NAWT bode well... Naw-naw.. This should not be happenin', not with mom anywah. Next thang Ah knew, mom came at me, cawling me bah mah name, beckoning to me. Aw-naw! Ah decided Ah was gonna fight this with all mah might. Ah knew what she was trying' to do. She was tryin' to put me in that other box Ah could see standin' there, next to Pipi's!! Aw-MAH-GOD!!

Ah gave it mah awl, is what Ah could do. At one point, Ah used both mah front paws against mom's legs as support to just... resist awl Ah could from gettin' into that box. Ah pushed and pushed back when Ah was put at its openin', let me tell ya. And then mom somehow took it, made it change shape, grabbed me and threw me in upside down... Naw, that wasn't elegant.. getting thrown in laike that... Aw-NAW!

Ah could feel me moving with it and Ah let out a scream [a heart-wrenching, please-don't-do-this-to-me scream, I might add... ] Mom tried to tell me it waws "okay" and awl... But Ah just wasn't buying it.. And Pipi started in on her too, Ah could hear her even though Ah couldn't see her. "Please, mom! Please! Don't let us go! Please!! Not again!"

Next thang we knew, we are at the place Ah was at bafawre... "the doctor's"... Mom kept tellin' us that. The box opened and Ah see Pipi comin' right over to me; we huddled together as tight as we could. "Pipi, honey... What are we gonna DO?!!" We huddled together deep into that box, not knowing what they were gonna do to us. Ah waws beginnin' to lose faith in mom because she was right there while awl this was happenin... She could she the terror in mah eyes..

Well... Then Ah guess "the doctor" came in and did thangs.. around us and awl.. And mom kept hugging me, tellin' me it was awl "okay"... They were tawlking about me, sometin' about how big Ah waws and other thangs Ah did nawt understand. Then "the doctor" had me up close to her and Ah waws patient with her... She waws awlright, Ah guess - Ah could put up with that. But oops! Somethin' got into my butt and Ah didn't quite laike that, Ah might say.

"It's okay, Gabriel.. It's the doctor! ... That's what the doctor does", mom said. "... Well, that's not what the doctor does all the time, thank god.. ", said "the doctor".

Awl in awl, Ah guess it waws "okay"... Pipi and Ah got back into our boxes. Well, Ah told her Ah wanted to go into hers this time and so we swapped. And then mom took us home ... we didn't feel the need to make a 'peep' on the way back. Except to hiss at some strange cat whaile we were waiting [for mom to pay the $427.00 tab...].

:))

Need Some Interpretation

Gabriel here, y'awl. As you awl know bah now, I do take a lot of my cues from Pipi. She is the one who knows a lot of thangs about the house and mom and so Ah'm resigned to that faact. Ah waws from the very beginning, actually. Pipi pretty much had to lead me through everythin' when we got here.

So, mom began to do something different the other naight. As Ah was lounging on the floor close to Pipi, she came over to me and started rubbing mah belly with her foot ... sayin' "Belly, belly! You got a big belly, don't you?? Belly, belly!!" Ah could tell bah her voice she was laike... makin' fun of me a little biiit. So Ah quickly got up, irritated, and shifted position tryin' to avoid her.

But mom continued to poke me with her foot, repeating "belly, belly!!". She hadn't done anythang laike that bafawre. Ah was at a loss. Ah swiped at her foot a couple of times, trying to get 'er to leave me alone. Didn't work.

Ah looked over at Pipi, stretching mah neck in her direction: "Pipi, honey?? Can you help out here? What do Ah do? "

Pipi seemed to thank it was awl gooood... And so, Ah took her cue -as usual- and just layed there, takin' it, until mom decided she had enough fun with me and mah belly.

The Rev. F. Reed Brown Session

Today, was the day of my impromptu appointment with the Reverend Reed Brown in Arlington.

I got this appointment quite suddenly last Friday, as some of you know. This is a man who is so good at what he does as a spiritual counselor for over 20 years, that he literally has a two-month waiting period before anyone can go see him. People from other states will make the trek to see him. He is our own local John Edward, would be one way to put it. I have gone to him about five times since 1984.

But let's just cut to the chase, shall we? Last Friday, while driving to work, I started thinking and wondering about Princess I again... I began to second-guess myself, thought about something she did and it brought tears to my eyes. The next thought was to call the Rev. Brown and check up on my name's order in the waiting list. I got that urge to call while zipping down the Toll road at a high speed, no less. And I was told that she in fact just had a cancellation a minute or two before I called. So she gave me the appointment for today.

Within the first couple of minutes of the session, Rev. Brown suddenly switched subjects and said this (and thank god I have it on tape): "Do you like cats? Because I sense that there is a cat... a cat who reincarnated and I think this has already happened... a cat who has come back as another cat. "

At that point, I couldn't contain myself anymore... I just let out a burst of joy, a "yeeessss!!! "

I mean, like I didn't know... But this should serve as a reminder to all of us: Trust your gut instinct. Do not second-guess yourself.

And you know what? The reincarnation of Princess Greer has now been certified.


:)) !!!

Mah Take of Thangs

Awl Ah can say, as Gabriel here, eas that Ah'm pretty much resigned to it that Pipi here is gonna act a little off-kilter every once in a while and Ah just have to learn to cope with it.

Laike tawday, she started rolling again and I just went to her and licked her head a little bit to make her feel better. But Ah just stand there and oversee her naw, you know? Ah can't do much more and Ah've accepted that fact. But Ah wanna make sure she's awlright though, know what Ah mean? So Ah'm constantly watching her.

Ah try to get creative now and then... Laike just a few minutes ago? I tried another move on her, Ah put one paw on end of her back and the other paw down close to her tail, and just nipped her a little bit in the middle of her spine... thought maybe she might laike that.

... And then Ah heard mom go: "She's not a HOT DOG !!"

A Second Cycle of Confusion

"Pipi" is going through a second heat cycle as of today and although we're all lucky she's not an obnoxiously vocal cat, I worry about how they're going to go about it. Her personal style is to roll on the floor in this out-of-control kind of way, scratching the carpet, twisting, and turning. At which point Gabriel notices her behavior and runs across the room to her, trying to step up to the plate. He stadles her, gets her by the scruff for a moment, then he'll bite her on the back, and sometimes it seems to me at least, that he hurts her in the process because she'll squeal or hiss at him. But that's where it ends of course... The last hiss I heard, I had to get up from the table and investigate, at which point they stopped grappling with each other. Poor Princess crawled over to me and I tried to make her feel "okay", stroking her and holding her.

They've calmed down right now, hopefully for the night. The cost of neutering a cat is proving rather prohibitive, and I had to make a choice. I at least had to take care of Gabriel first, being that he was the most immediate concern, seeing how aggressive he was getting with her; thankfully, the aggression has dissipated even though he does try to go through the motions when he sees her in heat, it's all relatively lame at this point.. (His neutering cost me upwards of $400.00...)

The Obligatory Swipe

Ah'm Gabriel here and y'awl know bah naw just how Ah am: Ah laike to keep everybody happy. There was a thyme, a whaile back, when Ah was still a small kitten? When Ah waus playin kinda hard with Pipi. In fact, she and Ah had a score to settle. And so, Ah was awl absorbed into that fight, when mom decided to try to destract me with our favorite toy thang - the string on a stick [fishing pole]. That thang, mand you, gets me awl excited especially when Ah waus a kitten. And so, she stuck the thang right on mah nose, practically, whaile Ah settling this score with Pipi.

You know whaat? Ah wasn't gonna let that take mah focus away. Without a second glance, Ah just took one swipe at the string thang with mah right paw, whaile keeping mah main attention on Pipi.

... Ah can multi-task even when Ah'm mad, and still keep mom happy. Besides: that thang ended up takin' some of mah frustrations away.

It's All About Me

Mom came back later today bringing a bunch of stuff with her as she walked in. There was new stuff, different shapes, not the usual scrunchy bags I like so much putting my nose in. She like, brought in this big round thing that she then hovered over and somehow made it change shape into a square. And then she plopped it over the floor nearby where Gabriel and I eat. Oh, this was nice! I could tell this was all for me, so I wasted no time going over to it and plopping myself right down on it. Mmm... yep, it's pretty soft. But, hey - wait a minute, hmm.. let me just go over to the other one, the one that's been there all the time... I kinda like that one a little better.

Of course, Gabriel wasted no time being a copy-cat.. he just went over there where I vacated my seat and plopped right down on the same spot, that boy. I tell you, he doesn't have a mind of his own, he's such a ... follower. Anyway, we both liked this new soft cover... It's all ours, I know it, I mean it was pretty obvious to me from the start.

And then she brought this other thing, totally different, it goes upward, four different sticks all around, and has a flat base where I can lay on it and look up and see the top of it. It called to me, what can I say. After taking possession of the.. 'area rug', I had to go over to this thing and lay inside it, twist and turn, and make sure I was well familiar with it. I mean, why would she bring it in here if she didn't want me to crawl all over it?

[That'd be a small marble-top stand... and an area rug in the kitchen.]

Synchronized Leggin'

I watched mom this afternoon enter this area in her other room where I see her get drenched by a lot of water; but I can never get to her because there's this see-through thing blocking me. I can see her but I can't touch her. But now, she was half-way in there, she had one leg in and one leg out and she was bending over her leg. I walked into this picture and stood there trying to figure out what she was doing. Then I noticed she had some thing in her hand, some little thing that I would love to snatch away if she's not looking. Anyway, she kept moving this thing up and down her leg, I mean ... back and forth, this way and that.

I followed closely trying to understand what she was doing; I had never seen her do that before. Hmm, .. here's one way - up with that thing, and then down, and then up again ... and I'm going into a trance now watching her, she's really into this and so am I - I'm following right along keeping pace with each stroke on her leg by lifting my paw and swinging it back and forth against thin air.

She turned around and looked at me while my paw was in mid-air. I lifted my face and looked back at her: "Am I doing it right ? What is that?? "

[Princess saw me dry-shaving my legs by the open shower door and decided to start mirroring my movement with her paw.]

:))))

I Thought I Had The Drill

Mom told me she was going "bye bye" earlier today as she was walking out of her room. I was up there with her, paying her company with Gabriel. So that got my attention and I began to follow her down the stairs. I got ahead of her, sure that she was gonna go for that big bag that's sitting against a chair on the floor. So, with aplomb, I hopped over to it and marked it with my nose for good measure knowing full well she's gonna pick it up before she really goes "bye bye". I know what's involved in these things, trust me.

But she kept going. She actually passed by the bag and kept going down the stairs ! I stood there in disbelief, looking at her.. But mom? You're not all ready yet, are you?

Well, she kept walking, telling me she was really going; I was a little stunned and confused and I kinda .. just stood there staring at her. Hmm.... Oh, well.

[Princess is used to seeing me pick up the laptop bag most mornings before heading out to work... ]

:))

Dots! Dots Where They Don't Belong!

Ah'm Gabriel here, and Ah have a thang about little dawt circles... "dots" they call'em.. Ah keep fanding dots where they don't belawng.. And they're driving mah crazy!...

Laike there's a dot on the big whate box [refrigerator], and Ah've been attacking that dot ever since Ah can remember...since Ah first came to the house as a lil' kitten. Ah laike, out of the blue-style, just jump on it awn and awn.. And Pipi thanks Ah'm crazy and loses her patience and attacks me to get me to stop the insanity.

But then Ah notice another dawt, 'er .. "dot"! And this thayme, it's awn the floor, on this piece of wood [railing base] and it's driving me crazy awl over again. Jump! Ah go, right awn it.. Dot! Dot! What's it doin here? Laike that? Out of nowhere?

Ahhh! Ah can't stand it Ah tell you. I run the other way laike a maniac but then something keeps pulling me back to the dot, and Ah attack it again!

.... If Ah fand another dot, Ah'll scream...

The Mutual Admiration Society

Well... I guess it's gonna have to be a "society" of just three in this case.

I mean, I'm still gushing about how these cats have bonded so much with me. I really don't take it for granted. Every day, they'll do something that shows how close they feel to me.. Like when I came home the other day - I put the wet food out for them, as usual, and I know that they always crave wet food and want to eat it right away. But after a couple of minutes, they had barely started to eat, when I disappeared upstairs to change and refresh. Next thing I knew, they abandoned their feast and came up to find me . Even as I go about my daily routine, these seemingly little acts are not lost on me... "Look at that", I thought to myself. They would rather skip their tasty dinner just so they can be close to me.

And then tonight... Gabriel was laying down next to my leg by the laptop bag. I reached out with my foot to stroke his belly and he started licking my foot... They never miss an opportunity to lick me or 'cat-kiss' me.

I guess 'momma' love is just more important than plain food in the larger scheme of things.
(And, it doesn't hurt that they have an all-you-can-eat buffet of dry food all day long either.. !

:))

The Duckling Brigade

Yep, you got it: I was confronted by the ... duckling brigade.

I was walking towards the small pond by the Countryside office buildings yesterday when I noticed momma and poppa Canadian geese and their seven teenage ducklings. Well, they're "teenagers" because they are no longer in their fuzzy yellow cover, they are grown almost as big as adults but still in that awkward stage bearing still a fuzzy coat. Cars had to stop for them as they started to cross the small street, moving away from the pond toward the parking lot. What a sight... until one of the cars managed to corale them back to their natural habitat. So I crossed over toward the pond, keeping a safe distance from the brood. Then I decided to just stop and watch them from a few feet away. Apparently, that was giving off a cue... because the entire duckling brood began to waddle over to me . They seemed somehow all hopeful and excited, lifting their wings up as they stradled toward me. My god, was I popular. They came to just a few inches of me.

"Sorry!!.. I don't have any food! ", I chippered... On cue, momma and poppa goose ushered them all away in one clean sweep. They just all changed direction as soon as the adults made a move toward them.

... And off they went into the water.

A Little Piece of Heaven

When I named my furry 'pretty-boy' "Gabriel", the name had come suddenly to me after a period of time when I had no idea what to name him. And then one day, I got a 'flash': it would be "Gabriel". And it was perfect because he looked up at me as soon as he heard it, stood up and flicked his tail straight up in the air.

There were a couple of things I did not know then. As I was settling in bed last night, I reached out for my Archangels book. I have it sitting there on my night table for weeks, but had not yet opened it. And then I read the part about Archangel Gabriel. He is said to be of the "orange ray", ruling the second chakra of the human etheric body; he is being described as emitting or associated with an orange-to-gold light... I thought of Gabriel my cat, and how he is orange to golden... And how he feels so very warm to the touch. When I touch even the tips of his ears, I can feel this heat emanating from him; he can just touch me with his paws for a flicker of a second and I can still feel this heat coming out of him. He is a healing cat, no doubt.

I thought then that maybe this is a kind of quiet miracle that I would choose to call him Gabriel, that he happens to be the color of what is believed to be the Archangel's ray ....

A cat that perhaps can take the credit, along with Princess, in bringing me new luck and a new lease on life, at least in perspective, since his arrival.

Like a little piece of heaven on earth, to touch and hold every day.

Maybe Archangel Gabriel touched and inspired more than just my own consciousness. My neighbors next door had a son a few months ago, right about the same time as when I got the cats ... They named their son ... Gabriel.

Cat-Forgiveness

After our eventful -late-morning today, aka my freakout over Princess actually opening my eye cream jar up and dipping her paw in it, we thankfully forgot about it and moved on to our normal routine. Princess reconnected with me about an hour later ... and she forgave me. She started circling around me as I sat at the dining table working on my laptop, 'kissing' my feet and legs and brushing up against me. Gabriel followed suit too.

All I did really was screech like a cat when I discovered what had happened... I was just beyond words at the impossibility of a cat being able to open up a tightly closed jar, even. I'm beginning to talk their language now... why use words when I can just shrill in shock. :)

So, they continued to follow me from room to room, as always. At some point I was on the phone talking to a prospective renter coming in to see my place, it was a brief conversation. I was going to show him the spare bedroom -- yes, the one where they both knew as tiny kittens and spent their first few days in. I guess they see it as "their room" as it has their toy, cat beds, and food - and their kitten memories. But they almost never go in there if I'm in the house - they're with me at all times. Today, they picked the time to claim the room right before I was ready to show it. They both plopped down on the big bed even and just lounged... looking at me as I entered.

When the guy came in the front door, they split immediately never to be seen again until he left. This is the second or third time they have acted totally unsocial when someone new comes into the house. I thought that by now at least Gabriel would be over it because he was friendly with the DISH cable guy. But not this time, they scurried off before they even saw him.

So... they are attached-at-the-hip to me, on a really deep level ... But yet, are unable to remain social with anybody else.

Aw-mah-gawd, what have Ah done. (Cat psychologist ? )

:)

In The Cat-House

This mornin' mom came down a lot later than her usual thayme and Pipi and Ah were patient but anxious to go down to the kitchen with her. Pipi got a little skittish after a while and decided to start running around downstairs and playin. Until mom came down.

Next thang Ah knew? Ah hear her shriek. We pretty much know: when we hear mom do the shrill-shriek? We know somethang's gone wrong. She saw somethang on the floor and picked it up... and Ah guess it waws somethang about that thang that seemed to be the cause of all the shrieking. Ah mean, Ah did nawt hear any words comin' out of her mouth at first, she was just shrieking in laike... horror. She kept holding up this tiny little thang when Ah realized AH hadn't done anythang... It was awl directed at Pipi, thank god.

Ah removed mahself from this scene as quietly as possible. Pipi, honey? You're awn your own.. Ah'm sorry, but this thayme Ah'm just gonna retire over there bah the wall until this is awl over...

Pipi of course was acting awl sheepish and guilty.. it waws so obvious.. Ah mean, the more mom shrieked and showed her that tiny thang, the more Pipi kept lowering herself to the ground and flitting away. Finally we heard the "What did you DO?!!" phrase, but then there waws this other word we'd never heard of before and mom kept repeating it, well... shrieking it to Pipi: "Expensive!!" And Pipi would just stop and stare at mom whaile this word was being yelled, tryin' to understand what IS "expensive"?? And whah is that so bad??

It didn't seem to blow over as fast as other thaymes... Pipi was still in the cat-house minutes afterwards... and mom kept reminding her about this damn thang that Pipi played with. We finally went downstairs and stayed down there, away from the heat... let mom cool down.

[... "Pipi" managed to open my Chanel eye cream jar....complete with a paw print in it. ]

Spoke Too Soon

Hah, y' awl.. Ah gotta tell ya, the other naight? When Ah was sleepin' soundly by mom's door? Ah suddenly started seeing mom in some kaind of danger.. Aw-mah! She wuss... Ah'm not sure but she was... in danger! Ah tell ya! Ah started crying out for her, it waws a do-or-die thang. "Mom! Mom!! Where are you?!! ".

Then the door opened, and there was mom... intact. She kneeled down to stroke me and awl, wawndering if Ah was "okay"... Ah waws so glad to see her, Ah kept brushing up to her at every single step. What a relief, Ah tell ya. Ah followed her closely to the other small room, kept looking up at her... aww, mom! So glad you're okay.

After she closed the door back up again Ah waws more than happy to go back to mah sleep; Ah did not make one peep after that knowin' that mom was okay naw.

[Gabriel must've had a bad dream ... involving "mom"! no less! ]
:)

Speaking in Yiddish..

As both cats continue to grow and thrive, I am noticing that the way they communicate remains in the same stage as when they were kittens. As you know, I found Princess and Gabriel at a pet adoption fair at the Tyson's Petco in early December. They were part of a group of five kittens, as pictured here on the right, even though they were not all born of the same mother anyway, because Gabriel was born 3 weeks earlier. These kittens were rescued from what was deemed a "collector's" home... too many cats, apparently and what not, I am really not sure. But they were taken quite young because by the time they were up for adoption they were still only a couple months old. And of course, they were socialized at the foster's home, a woman who is part of the Four Paws organization and who has been fostering cats for a really long time.

Both cats as we all know by now :) took to me like ducks to water, bonding with me almost immediately. Gabriel, especially, even as an hornery kitten that he was, loved to spend lots of time laying on my lap and falling asleep in my arms. This was and still is part of our routine.

But now that both cats have passed the 8th month mark of their lives, they still are not vocal. I have yet to hear a clear "meow" out of either one of them, I mean a clear and loud one. Gabriel still sounds like a kitten the rare times that he 'meows'... The way that they vocallize is mostly through the 'chirping' sound, I'm not sure how else to describe it. I'm thinking of it as the equivalent of speaking in .. "Yiddish"! Some sort of ... isolated, "regional", cat-dialect that few cats have ever heard of before... :) ... Seriously, when does a cat never meow normally?

And part of their 'Yiddish' tongue, comes the wild swinging of their tails. They both do that as well, just part of their social time with me; their tail swings from its root back and forth really fast while they vye for my attention and petting. But they do respond to my verbalizations to them; like the other evening, they both came into the bedroom and as I greeted them verbally both their tails went straight up in unison, as they were side by side. That's when I know it's not enough to show affection physically by stroking them... they need to hear something from me as well, it's like a reassurance. Princess had started purring as a really tiny kitten that she was the minute I started 'talking' to her, not just by petting her.

I'm just wondering at this point: Are they ever going to come out of this strange dialect? Are they ever gonna meow normally? ... Is this 'Yiddish' tongue a kind of gypsy cat-dialect? A remnant of their feral-like beginnings?

:)

Breaking The Pact

Pipi and Ah had some really bad fights lately. As soon as mom came home, Ah get attacked by Pipi soon after, she's such a bully to me. She lunges for mah neck and knocks me down to the floor ... mah legs fly around up in the air as Ah roll around on mah belly tryin' to get mah balance. And half the thaymes Ah throw mahself down on the floor anticipating her attack, that's mah defensive stance. Ah let her 'cause Ah know Ah'm so much bigger than her. Ah 'been together with Pipi since Ah can remember, Ah luuve her so much, Ah always run right to her whenever Ah hear her cry. She just has a bad temper and thinks this place is all hers sometimes, is awl. She even screeched at me a couple of thaymes, twisting her neck lookin' realy ugly at me, humping her back... So Ah got the message...

Next thayme mom came home and tried to get me to plop down on her lap like we used to before, Ah wouldn't let her. Ah knew Pipi wouldn't laike that, so Ah kept mah distance. Mom couldn't understand it so she would come and get me again, trying to get me to stay and relax with her but awl Ah could think of was to look around anxiously for Pipi - Ah knew Ah'd be in trouble if she saw this.

Sure enough there she waws... in mah face, walking up to the couch looking at me menacingly: "You on there? What did we say?", she glared.

Well, mom noticed awl that and tried to put Pipi in her place. But Ah still couldn't relax enough and had to shake mahself loose every time and jump away. Ah took quite a beating over this, Ah wasn't gonna risk it. Pipi just got sick and tired Ah think of mom paying me too much attention whenever she comes home, so naw Pipi is the one to jump on her on the couch.

We got over it, pretty much. Ah get back at her too, eventually ... knocking her on the floor so hard sometimes she yelps. And then mom breaks it up by yelling "Stop fighting!!" and we split up immediately. Pipi stalks off with her ears down, looking really piiissed and awl but Ah'm finally free of the badgering, y'knaw?

[Sometimes I'm considering getting them X-rayed for broken bones... ]

The Other Side of the Door

Hi, y' awl... Y'know, every day mom goes through that door and Ah'm right there with Pipi biddin' mah 'gonna-go-byebye'. At least, that's what she says every mornin: "I'm gonna go bye-bye! But I'll be baack!" We saw her getting ready as usual the other mornin and we figured we're gonna beat her to it and went downstairs to wait for her - we know the drill. She takes some thangs that she carries with her uh... paws, and that's pretty much the giveaway that she's about to go 'bye-bye'. Ah mean, Ah'm learnin' to accept the fact that she's gonna go... even though Ah don't laike it. Especially when she's with us laike back in the old days, giving us awl the attention for laike... two days in a row. And theen, awl of a sudden? She laike, goes out that door again next mornin'... Up until last thayme, Ah still got shocked to see her leave 'cause Ah thought it would awl change and go back to what it wus before. So Ah got a look in mah face laike: "What??!! You're actually leaving again?!!" But Ah'm getting used to it naw.. Except last night... Last night she went out that door at the wrawng thayme, without telling us anythin'. Without carrying anything with her paws... notin'. And she left the door open, just a crack.

Ah just had to see what was going awn on the other side of this door. Ah just know not to go through that door, ever - Pipi told me it's a big no-no. Besides: we can hear this big noise every thayme and awl [garage door]. But Ah had to try and see for mahself what's going awn out there.

So Ah stood there, by the crack of the door, juuust enough for mah eye to see, patiently watching what mom was doing. Ah tell you, Ah don't think she could see me, Ah mean it was juust that bit of a crack, as small as mah eye could fit there. She did come back raight then, and Ah scooted further away from the door so that Ah don't know... so that Ah wouldn't be that obvious, y'a know?

:))

I See Dead People

It's Princess here again...oh, and one other thing: I get very skittish sometimes in this house... I don't know, really, but... I see some things that make me wanna run real fast. I tell you I do see them. I follow them with my eyes, I follow their movements and after a while I just can't stand it anymore and I run away, you know? Maybe I'm too sensitive, I don't know. But it gets kinda creepy sometimes 'cause they're not really here, I can't touch them or smell them. But I see them. Like, this morning? Mom picked me up first thing after she opened the door and held me close to her as usual, and all I could do was watch whatever this .. uh, thing is around her, it was close to her head but above it, moving around ... my eyes got real big and I kinda wanted to get down fast, you know?

Gabriel sees these things too... One time? Gabriel and I were both sitting near mom on the couch when we both looked up, on edge, watching the movement a few feet away from us. We were like... 'what in the world...' At least mom was right next to us, so... we didn't freak out too much.

[Mom really does wish she could see what they see... But she can't. Mom really does wonder: is it 'dead people' or ... dead cats floating around? ]

Big Game

Hello, Princess-incarnate here. (Well, they did call me "Princess-trouble" at my foster home, so... ) Anyway, I like to collect things but I don't sneak around doing it - I do it right in front of mom. She plopped her rings on the kitchen counter yesterday and I went for it, after all this time controlling myself. That ring called to me and I had to seize the moment and take it - until I got busted.. oh, well. I tried to get her hair thingy the other day too but I couldn't carry it in my mouth, tried to run with it so I could stash it somewhere but I kept dropping it, it was too big for my mouth ..(I got busted on that one too). And that phone thing of hers, oooh-my. I would love to take that away with me; tried to open it up, explore it ... tried to drag it away, but I couldn't, darn it. And then there are her keys but that's another 'big game' ... can't keep 'em in my mouth and run at the same time. Biting more than I can chew here.

In a perfect world? I'd keep a stash of mom's hair barettes, rings, phone thing, keys, and whatever else I could sweep up. And hey - to my credit I did dig up her old hair thingy from under the [stove] ... that wasn't my stash - not in this lifetime anyway.

Fashion Choice Horror

This mornin' stahrted normal enough for us awl. Everytin' seemed faine until Ah went into a room Ah usually don't go into. Ah was kand of fascinated bah this colorful thang standin' there, it beckoned to me. So Ah stretched mah neck and looked into it, explore it; it was so colorful on the outsade and it had this empty space inside it. Hmmm...

Then Ah decided Ah wus gonna walk away from it when the thang grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let me go! The more Ah yanked mah neck back, the more it came at me, mimicked mah movement! Ah started to walk and it started to follow me! Well, that totally spooked me owt then and Ah ran so fast laike Ah never ran laike that before. Ah ran toward mom, she wus standing in her room upstairs; she tried to catch me but Ah couldn't stop! The thang was still onto me! Ah wusn't stopping for nothing. The thang wouldn't let go! It took awn a laife of its own and gawd knows what it wus gonna do to me! Ah ran out of mom's room and flung mahself down the stairs - this wus do-or-die, Ah tell ya! And Ah could hear the thang making this crunchin' noise all the whaile as Ah flew down, Ah tell ya it wus right AWN me! Ah ran back upstairs again, and down the stairs trying to get it to leave me alone!

I ran out of gas... Ah got so taired, Ah had to stand there all still, in the middle of the kitchen. Ah could go no mawre. Ah no longer cared if that thang was awn me anymore. Mom came down and somehow? She made it go away, it was off of me. She held me close to her, Ah thank she was worried 'bout me.. Ah was breathin' real heavy, couldn't catch mah breath. She held my head close to her and waited until Ah was awright Ah guess.

And then Ah realized, Pipi got awl freaked owt bah awl of thiiss... and went hidin' behand the couch. Aw, naw.. Not again.. Ah looked her way but she wasn't coming owt. Ah better wait then, Ah layed down there waiting for Pipi. Mom came and sat next to me and started tawlking, whaile she was strokin' mah head:

"It's okay, Princess.. Gabriel's okay, see? It's okay. Gabriel just... had a bad fashion choice, that's all... "

Ah decided to scoot over a little bit, further away from mom... Ah don't know if mom was helping matters, wasn't sure Ah wanted to associate mahself with this boolshiit.

[I almost pi'd on my pants this morning in the middle of trying to get ready for work. Gabriel got stuck on the handles of the empty Aerosoles shoe bag; if anybody's ever seen one, it's a big paper shopping bag in bright colors like red, yellow, green. ]

Another Bad Fashion Choice

This morning I was in the kitchen eating my 'nummy num' with some peace and quiet while Gabriel was busy somewhere "upstairs". All of a sudden, I hear this commotion and a whole lotta running. Next thing I knew, I see him flying down the stairs in this manic state I have never seen him in, never before.

There was no looking at me, there was no communication, nothing - Gabriel had gone crazy. Crazy with a lot of colors on him somehow.. they were all stuck on him.

This was worse than last time when he came in with that big thing stuck around his neck, I mean it looked so unnatural and weird!. This time there was this even bigger thing on him, and I think it was ... chasing him! That's why he went crazy and tried to outrun it. It was really bright with all kinds of colors and it looked like it was going to take over and gobble Gabriel up!

I ran away at once from all this madness and hid behind the couch. Oh my god, what is going on with this catman?

I peeked out from the back of the couch a little bit to see what was happening and then I saw Gabriel looking toward me from a few feet away, all calmed down now. The colored thing had disappeared and mom was sitting by his side. They were both looking at me each trying to coax me out of my hideout in their own way. Gabriel was concerned but at least he wasn't barrelling toward me like last time, he had regained his composure. Mom was telling me that it was "okay now" and to come out, that Gabriel is supposebly normal, to give him another chance. She was even scratching his head and stroking him. Nope, I wasn't gonna. This was just too much. First it was the drunken freakout and now this. I mean, does this catman just ... attract these things on him? Are they like... chasing him and then coming after me?

Eventually, I ventured out and went looking for mom upstairs; but I tell you, I was still spooked to no end, each step I took was careful and deliberate; I looked here, I looked there, took another step. It seemed back to normal I guess.

Running Interference

We are going through what I call the 'difficult phase'. This is when Princess is still young. In her young age she is really hyper, flitting about, scurrying back and forth, jumping on the kitchen counter when she knows it's a no-no zone, quickly flinging herself off when she hears me coming... I mean, it's a total circus. She's sharp as a tack of course. It's the same drill all over again, just like the original Princess.

She did something the other morning that really angered me. She was fast asleep on the bed but at the exact moment that I finally began to drift asleep she suddenly sprang up and came over to wake me up and walk all over me. Princess I used to do the exact same thing. At first I tried to teach her not to do it by pushing her away, even making her jump off the bed. But she is so stubborn, she would get right back up with the mission to keep me awake apparently. I got so mad, I lost my patience and took a swat at her butt. This was the first time she's been swatted at. And it definitely got her attention; she jumped off and ran down the stairs not to be seen again for quite a while.

She would reappear again later but not without an escort...

As I was in the bathroom area cleaning, I noticed that she entered with Gabriel by her side. They're normally on their own path as they follow me around - this time she kept close to him, standing by his side the whole time, her little face right next to his, looking up at him: "What do you think? Is it safe?".

We got over this bumpy part and everything was back to normal again. Last night, as Gabriel began to use the carpet again as his scratching post, I started to yell "No, NO! ". She heard it and sprinted across the room with vengeance just to get to him and force him to stop. ... Mother's little helper, I tell you.. :)

Yeah-Right!

I am going down the stairs to the rec room, on my way out. Gabriel and Princess follow and plop down on the floor, the one next to the other. They both look me in the eye, their attention focused solely on me as they watch me go through the usual steps prior to leaving the house.

"I'll be baaack.. :) ", I say. "I'll BE back", I try to reassure them, as I finally reach for the door.

In unison, their tails flip up and flap back down with some force:

"Yeah-right!".

Back 'N Forth

Ah just discovered somethang new the other day.. hey, there's this thang way up there in big-cat mom's room, and it's going round and round.. aw- wow man! Ah just stood there and watched it, Ah thought it wus pr'tty neat. Ah stood on the beed and tried to figure out how Ah could reach it, Ah mean hey! that's a pr'tty biig toy up 'dere. But couldn't quite get to it. [Ceiling fan was on.]

But Pipi here began to freak out. She looked at that darn thang and sprinted down the stairs. Anywah, Ah lounged with big-cat mom on the beed, kissing 'er and awl as usual, when Ah heard Pipi start to cry: "Ow! Ah can't come in! And I want to! I'm really afraid of this thing, help me!" So Ah jump down and run to her rescue. "Pipi, honey! What's the matter? It's just a big toy, can't you see??"... Ah tried to make her feel better; I sat with her patiently until she calmed down but she insisted on lying just outside mom's room. And then Ah hopped back over to be with mom and continue nuzzling her and kissing her. This is our quality taime, you know, after she's gone all that taime.

"Ow! Pleeease! Someone? Come get me! DO something!", Pipi cried again. Down Ah go agin - that female's gonna drive me crazy.

Ah tried to make her feel better again but she wus too scared to come in. After she settled down again, Ah run back up to mom for the second or third taime..

Ah mean, how many taimes am Ah gonna end up doin' thiiis?? Mah-mah, oh-mah...

The Scratching Post

Big-cat mom came in yesterday kinda late but Ah greeted her with Pipi downstairs as usual. It kinda used to bother me when she started comin' in later than Ah expected, and when she'd trah to pet me? Ah would shake mah shoulder free from her and turn mah back for a minute.

Anywah, Ah got over it... Ah guess Ah have had to learn that this is laife here.. So Pipi and Ah were still groggy from sleep but we sprang up the stairs raight behand big mom. When we get upstairs, Pipi laikes to run straight to the scratching post and she just scratches up a storm; she duez that every time. That leaves me pr'tty much owt... Ah am left to my own devices 'cause Pipi here thanks it's awl hers..

So, Ah go to a nearbah spot and start scratching up my own storm [right on the carpet!]. Ah'm thanking: Ah'm gonna put Pipi to shame. That's when big-cat mom sprints across the room raight at me, oh boy. Ah see her comin' at me and mah ears go down but Ah stand there waiting. She picks me up and next thang Ah knew, she moved me raight over to Pipi's scratching post. Bah that thyme Pipi was done with her scratch-feast so she places me raight on the post itseelf and says: "It's okay, Gabriel.. This is yours, too. It's okay, you can scratch right here. It's not just Pipi's you know.." And she took mah paws and made laike Ah wus scratching, "See? Like that, Gabriel".

Ah looked around to fand Pipi while awl this wus going awn and there she was, peering at us laike she was mad. Ah hesitated while Ah heard mom saying "It's not just yours! Princess..". And Pipi looked away, her ears bending down and moved further away to pretend she didn't care.

Aw, okay, Ah thought. Naw that Pipi retreated and with big-cat mom standing raight there above me, Ah guess Ah'll just get on with the program here. So, Ah started scratching in-earnest right awn the damn thang just to make her happy.

Tryin' To Keep Cool

For the first thyme, Ah begaan to feel kinda hot since yesterday laike nevah before. Ah don't really know what's going awn and awl but .. Ah had to figure out a way to keep kuel. So Ah thawlked Pipi into going with me and layin' down in that biiig whate flat bed upstairs where we could hide too. Pipi didn't thank it wus such a great idea, she told me that if mom found out she'll be mad at us. It's a biig, white bed but it feels hard and kuel and it's behand this thang hanging from up hiigh, hidin' the whole place. [This 'thang' 's called a shower curtain..]

So Ah slept in there with Pipi for a little while, not'ing or no one bothering us. Oh, it's the same place where Ah tried to do a little beat of poopoo a while back and mom got ahold of me and we had a fight right in there but it wus awl forgotten, Ah mean Ah got that message.

So naw, Ah'm in there snoozing instead when Ah seense mom coming upstairs.* So Ah get up and peek out the 'shower curtain' to get one up on mom, see what's going awn. But Ah came face-to-face with her instead, Ah reely wusn't plannin' on that. She laiike was standin' there already looking at me and Ah just froze and didn't move for a few moments, as Ah'm peeking from the 'shower curtain' [like a delinquent at a hippie party about to get busted].

Well, that went bah and it waws awright, Ah guess. And then mom moved closer and wanted to look and see what else was behand there, besides me. That's when Pipi bolted from the other side laike a bat outta hail 'cause she knew mom wouldn't be happy about it. Pipi just didn't give her a chance, Ah mean she just ran outta there as fast as she could.

Pipi did say that was a "no-no" place but Ah tawlked her into it anywah.

* [How he sensed it is beyond me because you cannot hear anyone going up the stairs..]

A New Lease On Life

As life continues with the cats on board, I still reflect on how I found them and I get amazed at the strong bond, the strong attachment that they have with me. I don't take that for granted.

Every single day, no matter where I am in the house and what I do, they're right there alongside with me. As I move about from one room to another, they follow me. As I open the bedroom door every morning, they're right there, camped out by the door waiting for me. I finally moved their fluffy mattress bed there so they'll be more comfortable. This morning, they were sleeping on each other, much like the time when I first found them at their adoption cage; but as soon as they heard that door open, they sprang up to greet me. ... They greet me every day when I come home, as I go through that garage door into the rec room.. there they both are, standing up and waiting. Always.

I look back sometimes, just for a moment, on how utterly sad I was over losing Princess in August. That awful day. And how I tried to continue living in this house without her, feeling the unbearable emptiness every time while the universe kept sending me the same message through several people: "When are you gonna get another cat?", they would say or suggest. I had to be led, literally, to that pet psychic... literally following a stranger by happenstance on that day, October 5th, where the message fell upon me that my poor cat in spirit wanted to come back. Soon. Before Christmas even, "at a place like a Petsmart". She said I would know, that she'll be "this tiny little kitten". She picked up that my poor cat 'had to be put to sleep', and that there was a problem with her kidneys or liver. And that I called her "my baby". I know that perhaps this nickname may be common for many pet owners; but I did call her 'my baby', all the time, in a special way. The fact of the matter was, this pet psychic was 100% correct about Princess's life and passing.

It would have to happen that I would get that sudden urge to steer the car to the Petco one day without giving it a second thought. Where I could not at first find a cat in all the cages that 'called' to me. Until I found this tiny tabby kitten with a foreign name tagged on the cage but who I later learned was nicknamed... "Princess"... Who would know her way around the house, and show me that she'll jump all the steps "upstairs" to "beddie bye" as soon as she heard it, who would run over to me the first time she would hear it was "time for [dinner]".

It has been a miracle. In more than one way.

And Gabriel.. well, it was love-at-first-sight with him too...Both of them were in the same cage along with two other orange cats. When I first touched Gabriel and held him, I knew immediately he was special. I mean, when this cat touches you, you literally feel the heat emanating from his huge white paws ... He is definitely a healing cat.

The arrival of these cats has created a kind of good luck, a kind of ... new lease on life for me. I began to sleep better as my sadness was replaced with amazement in my heart. And then I suddenly got recruited for a new IT job just a few weeks after their arrival. In the dead-of-winter, something that has rarely happened to me in my entire consulting history. Everything has cruised on peacefully ever since.

This is a ...furry miracle.

Lipstick On A Cat

By now, Princess's heat cycle has subsided; there's no more ... hedonistic rolling and twisting on the floor, no more posing and posturing and other obscene gestures. :)

Except Gabriel's 'bahind', right now, who decided to park right up against my laptop's screen - and for his parting shot before he jumped off the table, he reached out with his huge white paw and swapped the laptop one.. (Yep, apparenly he doesn't like this new 'thang', taking all my attention.) *

So when Princess went through her first heat cycle something new emerged, a new physical characteristic that I am guessing must be a result of the hormonal changes: All of a sudden there was a dark spot under her tiny little mouth forming a kind of lip-like appearance. I looked and looked closer... somehow, the area under there has simply gone dark - as if she's got black lipstick. Who knew? A cat in heat develops ... lipstick-mouth.

(Much better look than lipstick on a pig, I'm sure.)


* [I have finally given in to in-home internet after resisting it for so long... I am hoping it's not going to keep me home longer than normal or curtail my overall physical activity.)

A Bit of an Embarassment

Ah'm gonna mike 'dis short 'n sweet... well, Ah actually wouldn't even want to admit it, really. But here Ah wuus agin, lounging on the bed 'dis mornin' with mom and Pipi, having a really nice thyme stretched out by the saide of the beed. And mom had her back turned away from me, Ah thank she wus napping. Anywah, next thang Ah knew, Ah feel her hand stroking the tips of mah legs, Ah guess she was trying to find me .. And so, Ah oblaaiged as usual and tried to turn awl mah attention toward her... but mah belly somehow got caught at the edge of the beed and next thang Ah knew Ah wauus goin' down feet first. So here Ah am, holding on for dear laiife god-darn it .. Mom sat up and realized what wauus happenin' and got me bah mah shoulders... But Ah was so heavy, it took a whaile to get me back on up agin... And 'den Ah realized mom was actually... laughing at me. Mah ears went down and they usually never go down laaike that. Soon as Ah made it back up to the beed, Ah turned mahself around so she wouldn't see mah face... she could see mah butt, though.. And mah tail swinging raight and leeft.

This wauus kind of embarrasin' to me, y'a know.. Ah just don't laiike to be laughed at.