I Found Zoe!

Here she is burrowed inside of a blanket.

Big Lump Under The Rug

I fell asleep in the easy chair, and when I got up, I saw this.  It took me a while to realize that it was probably Zoe under the rug.

What Is It?

I was weeding the garden, and I looked closely at the soil.  I've never seen this before.  Maybe they're little, tiny mushrooms!

Run, Rabbit!

For this first time ever, I saw a rabbit running down the highway along side of oncoming traffic.  All I could think of while watching him run was, "Stay on the side - don't get in the street!"

Cat ESP

How does he know?  My gray cat, Henry, has some kind of crusty stuff on his ear, so I made an appointment to bring him to the vet.  I don't know of any cats that like going to the vet.  As soon as my cats see the kitty carrier, they scurry away and hide under the bed, so it's a major commotion trying to pull them out from under the bed.

Henry was curled up in his little bed on top of Walter's kennel.  I went through the utility room, closing the door, so he couldn't hear me getting the kitty carrier in the garage.  I pulled the carrier off the shelf, and then I put it on top of the washing machine.  I walked back into the room, and Henry had vanished.

How does he do that?  How do cats know that you're taking them to the vet?

Well, I tracked Henry down:  he'd run to the bedroom, and when he saw me, he bolted, running under the bed.  Luckily, I could reach him by grabbing his legs and pulling him out from his hiding place.

I swiftly deposited him into the kitty carrier and brought him to the car.  He uttered one long meow, but he was silent for the rest of the trip to the vet.

When we were led to the examination room, I took him out of the kitty carrier and held him.  He crawled up onto my shoulder and sat right behind my head.

This visit, no shots were involved.  The vet just gave me a cream to put on Henry's ear.  He said it was vasculitis.

While the vet was explaining how to apply the medicine, I started having a hot flash, and I grabbed the newspaper I'd brought with me and fanned myself.  The vet asked me, "Are you OK?  Do you need some water?"  I said, "It's just a hot flash."  He patted me on the shoulder.

All in a day's work....

A First

I caught my cat drinking my coffee.  That's a first!  I know better than to leave a glass of milk or water on the counter or table because  the cats can't resist taking a "sip."  Actutally, they'll stick a paw in the liquid and lick it off the paw, or if the liquid's high enough, they'll lick it from the top.  What I caught Harry doing this morning was licking the top of the coffee in my coffee cup.  I never thought my cats were interested in coffee.  Now I know...

The Sound

Everyone who lives with cats knows the sound: a cat upchucking.  It's what made me launch from the coziness of my bed this morning.  I saw my little gray cat, Henry, crouching at the foot of the bed, down on the carpet, throwing up, and a dark stain appeared on the carpet.  I got out of the bed quickly telling Henry, "Don't eat it!"  Yes, people who live with cats know about this lovely habit, too, though in this case, it was a hairball or hairlog, and Henry didn't seem to be interested in eating it.  But that didn't stop the other three cats or the dog from investigating the mess on the carpet.

There is a certain way to clean up vomit.  DO NOT RUB IT INTO THE FIBERS!  Get a knife, and delicately scrape the mess into a paper towel.  You can almost avoid stains if you do it this way.  You can learn from my experience.  I have LOTS of stains throughout the house.  That's because I'd sop up the mess with a paper towel, which just pushed the detritus further into the carpet fibers, thereby, forever marking that spot with cat vomit.  No matter what cleaner you use, for all their promises, this method guarantees that the carpet will retain the mark.  Oh, well.

So this morning, although I wasn't fully alert, I ran for the paper towels and butter knife and tried out the gentle technique of scraping rather than smashing.  I was pretty happy with the result.  It also helps that the color of the carpet is gray...