Double-Vision

Mom came in the uther naight and she spent time stroking me raight bah the steaps [steps].

She had a bunch of little tiny round thangs on her, and they were all hanging and moving back and forth on her and Ah kept watching them, wondering if Ah should pounce. But then, some movement caught mah attention on the UTHER side, on mah right. Ah turned mah head to look, and what do Ah SEE? Ah see the same kand of little round thangs just like they waus on mom? But naw they were moving in the same way to mah RIGHT.

Ah kept moving mah head back and forth - to mah left, Ah could see them clearly on mom. And then to mah RIGHT, Ah could see them, but Ah could nawt TOUCH them. But they were moving just as muuuch.

What in the world's going AWN here? !!

Ah never could quate take action - Ah literally did nawt know WHICH one to pounce awn!


[Gabriel noticed my long necklace which made a shadow on the light-colored carpeted steps thanks to the light behind us. And he was totally confused about why or how the real necklace could also appear to be moving on the steps! Good point.. ]

The Closed Door

It is sometimes hard to comprehend how a tiny cat, weighing less than six pounds really, can manifest so much mental energy... Or is it soul energy? Does it really matter what we call it?

Here we were, all in bed lounging, and then I decided to close the bedroom door to keep the smoke alarm noise out. I figured the cats were deep in snooze so what would it matter?

Wrong, I was. The moment I closed the door to within half an inch of the jamb, they both sat up suddenly alert to the fact that, 'oh, NO - the door's closing!'

"It's okay, you can open the door if you want to. It's okay.", I tried to reassure them, and I repeated the fact that they could open the door. Next thing I see, Princess who had been watching the door like a pointer, jumps down and walks over to the door. Within seconds, she opens it back up again, as Gabriel is looking on and comes back to the bed. And she didn't just open it - she then pushed it all the way open back against the wall.

Did he somehow order her to go do it? Did she take my reassurance literally, like she HAD to open the door? Is she just a really obsessive cat who just has to have things HER way?

You take your pick. :) Use the Comments section, let's see if this works!

Nightly Thuds

It almost became a nightly ritual that after I turn in, after that bedroom door closes and I shut the lights out? I will hear thuds and bumps against the door. At which point I jump back up and open the door to find them both just having separated from a melee of sorts.

They stand there then, literally ruffled, standing still.. as if neither really wants to be the one to get in trouble.

"Stop fighting", I beg. It's interesting that the one who always ends up walking away after I say that is Princess. She's the one who reacts and stalks off. Gabriel then composes himself and retakes his post near the door.

One can only bang one's head against the door for so long.. :)

Not To My Standards

They don't call me Princess for no reason. I mean, besides the fact that I am, and always have been, a Princess, I do have my standards. And they run pretty high.

For example, I will not drink the water from the water bowl if the water is not completely clean and transparent to me.

And even if I am really hungry? And mom has just served me with my dinner? If I spot a little fly-thingy actually landing on my food? It's over - I won't have anything to do with it.


[Yep, that's what she did - she had lowered her face to the bowl ready to eat, and she spotted a small fly on or around the bowl and instantly backed off and walked away. ]

Cat-ichisms: Bag Phobia

This morning we had something unpredictable happen: two handbags I had hanging from a hook on the bedroom wall suddenly dropped. What I find interesting though is that, just seconds before the actual drop both cats suddenly focused on that spot on the wall even though I could not hear anything. Princess bolted away first and then Gabriel jumped.

An hour later, what do I see - Gabriel is standing by the foot of the bed, staring at the spot where the bags fell. I mean, staring as in a trance, waiting for something else to happen. He just couldn't get over it. He was keeping vigil by the fallen handbags, apparently fearing they might resurrect in a life of their own. (Well, one shopping bag DID ... a couple years back when he got his head stuck inside its handle and as he started to run the bag kept ..appearing to follow him right next to his body. He couldn't figure out that it was really an inanimate object simply stuck around his neck -- You don't all wonder by now whah he's gawt a Southern accent, do you? ) :))

So now, minutes later after this random bag drop, he is walking around in the same area on the floor. Maybe he didn't know I was standing right there practically next to him. Suddenly I shuffled my foot on the floor and the cat jumps two feet high in an instant relfex reaction.

As funny as it was, I have to wonder: just how deeply is this poor cat imprinted by whatever sudden events may have happened around him, or to him, as he was rescued? I mean, I adopted him when he was two months old... But after two years, he is still very jumpy at ANY sudden noise he did not expect.

Not to mention about having a ... handbag phobia. :)

Princess' Birthday

Princess has reached her second birthday by now. The date was October 7th
(and, unfortunately I never got the chance to post it on time given that 'mom' now has an actual job that she has to trek for every day right into the downtown DC area.)

But yes - she has now reached the 2-year old mark. And just as petite, although she is slowly gaining some more weight and more muscle.

Hey, at least I'm not one of those people who plans birthday parties for my cats! :))

(You know who some of you are! LOL)

Acrobat Cat

Gabriel turned out to be quite a cat, allright. I've been leaving this one thing out for two years but he's definitely got it into a pattern by now.

He likes to rush into the hardwood kitchen floor, slide, jump onto the kitchen rug, and knock himself against the kitchen door. Kinda like ... wood-luge. He loves to slide on the rug for that last foot before he knocks into the wooden panel of the door.

Definitely an athletic cat, he's got so much body energy, he needs to release it somewhere, somehow, and he's found a good way to do it. Nothing gets knocked off, nothings gets destroyed... Well, except the rug.

Oh, the rug. I bought that small, rectangular rug two years ago with the intent of setting it vertical, leading to the door. I wanted to cover the space across the wood floor where I walk the most. They wouldn't have it. Every time I entered the kitchen, what did I see? The rug was moved to horizontal, parallel to the wall.

No matter how many times I changed it back, they simply insisted in their own quiet little way. They were convinced that rug was all about them because it was placed in what they consider their territory, near their feeding area, and therefore, they took total ownership.

So now, the rug is in tatters thanks to Gabriel's 'slide 'n knock' games.

Things Are Heating Up Around Here

Okay, I admit it: I could write this from Princess' perspective, as I have watched her behavior consistently the same in this certain scenario - but I don't know what she's thinking.

All I know is that many times, she doesn't appear to want to share the bed with "Googie" while I'm still laying in bed. She's okay only if I'm up and out of it, and then she and Googie lay around together on it. But when I'm still under the blanket, and Googie jumps up to nuzzle me and circle around me, she consistently jumps down if she's on the bed already. I don't know what the deal is - but I think I can take a guess:

We have our usual routine with mom every morning as she opens the door: Googie and I come into her room, and if she's not already up, I jump on the "beddie-bye" to see her first thing. I walk around her carefully, I try and gauge her mood, I try to give her a "massage". I even tip my nose to hers, as much as I can. But you know what? If that sloppy boy finally finds his way and thunders up on the bed? I'm outta there - on the double.

I will NOT share my time or mom with Googie, okay?!! I just WON'T. Especially when he starts his shenanigans, like the other day: He all of a sudden started going crazy just because mom was moving her legs underneath the blanket. I just had to jump down and I was sooo relaxed, I was actually snoozing.

Things just got too heated for me, up there.

New Cat Reincarnation Links

Just to let you know that I have researched cat reincarnation stories and have posted them on the Princess Diaries blog.
We're not the only ones!

:)

Pipi Continues to Freak Out

As we noted before, Princess continues to carry this fear of the sound of scrunchy bags. Just like the original Princess did throughout her life, up until her last few years. Every time I put away a grocery bag she always bolts like a mad cat. She was snoozing ever so blithely by the foot of the bed next to Gabriel, the other day. Without thinking, I tidied up some bags to put away in the bathroom, right across this whole lounging scene. She bolted.

As she jumped down like a fire alarm, Gabriel woke up with a start himself getting that look in his face again like: "What in the hale? ..."

I stood there, facing the bed talking to my cat: "She's crazy, Gabriel... She's just being crazy, that's all." (Gabriel looked right at me trying to understand.)

I looked to my right and Princess had stopped in her tracks halfway down the hall, looking back at me, back legs extended, her neck craned over looking right at me: "That's right, Princess! Y-o-u a-r-e C-R-A-Z-Y ".

She stood there for a few moments, pondering the word. Her ears kept going back and forth like antennas again, while eye-balling me. She looked a little lost, a little confused: Is this good or is this bad? She turned her head the other way now, ears going a little flat, eventually disappearing quietly from view.

I don't think she liked that word much.