Rude

Tonight I wanted to go outside.

I know, I know...I ALWAYS want to go outside.

The thing is, the weather was fairly decent.

Mom repeatedly went outside, but she kept leaving me inside!

I could even hear her greet Felix now and again.

Of course, all Felix and I could do was watch her.

Then FINALLY Mom actually let me go outside.

Well, I rushed right over to visit Felix.

Much to my disappointment, however, he was not in his window.

I waited patiently for him to return.

Then I started calling to him.

Then I gave him a few words that expressed my opinion

about how rude he was being.

No matter how I pleaded, he wouldn't come

to the window for so much as a 'how do you do'.

Eventually I got so miffed that I went right onto his patio

to give him a piece of my mind.

Well, that did it.

I didn't get Felix's attention, but I sure did get Mom's.

She was none to pleased that I had gone outside my boundaries.

I got yelled at.

So I returned to MY window.

Apparently that wasn't enough.

Mom picked me up and carried me into the house.

Rude!

Everyone is rude to me and I'M the one who gets in trouble?

WELL!

I just decided to go grab a bite to eat and maybe tell

Mimzy all about my sorrows.

I hope the rest of my night goes better.

That is to say, I hope I get my way from here on out.

>^.^<

Holidays and Other Noteworthy Events

As you well may know, I haven't written a new blog post

since before Christmas.

Well, I suppose I should fill you in on things that have
happened in my life since then.

I'll begin with Christmas Eve.

Mom, Daddy, and I went driving around looking at all the

pretty Christmas lights people had put on their houses.

It was a cold, but mostly clear, night with snow on the ground.

I enjoyed my nighttime car ride.

When Christmas morning came around, I couldn't

 wait to see what Mom was going to get that I could steal.

Top of the list...a new fuzzy blanket!

(Thank you, Sneaky Girl!)

I got plenty of catnip in my stocking.

So, after all the presents were unwrapped,

I went into a nip induced frenzy!

I had a lot of fun!

The days that followed were cold.

It seems 2016 wanted to have a high temperature of 16ºF, (-9ºC).

So I was stuck indoors for-e-ver.

I came down with a severe case of cabin fever.

The symptoms?

Long periods of moping around, outbursts of hissing,

and sudden fits of trying to find ways to entertain myself.

At some point, Mom unstitched my toy, McQueen,

and stuffed some catnip inside.

I was pleased with the improvement.

There was a rare moment when I got to go outside

to find out exactly how cold it was.

I didn't like it.

Now, I have been known, on occasion, to steal water

from Daddy's cup.

Well, I decided to begin the new year by increasing the frequency of this.

You must understand, when it comes to Mom's glass,

I simply lick the condensation from the side.

When it comes to Daddy's cup...well...I claim the whole thing.

I lick the rim and stick my face in to drink the water.

Daddy is not happy about this.

Something about allergies.

So, in an attempt to get me to leave Daddy's cup alone,

the humans gave me my own cup.

I do appreciate it.

Still, after drinking from my cup, I'll walk directly 

over to Daddy's cup and try for his water as well.

I blame the cabin fever.

It's turning me into a special sort of crazy.

Mom even put a cup of water next to my food bowl.

Well, just when I thought my cabin fever couldn't get any worse...

...a monster showed up outside.

It's days like that when it's just not even worth getting out of bed.

At least the monster keeps human work hours.

So I can still enjoy my cat hours.

Mom also rearranged my room.

Now I can sit next to her and play with Mimzy

while she works at the desk.

So now you're all up to date.

Today was 35ºF / 2ºC.

So I thought it was a good day to get outside to try to

shake off some of my cabin fever.

Because of the recent monster activity,

my yard currently looks like this:

At least I get a temporary deck out of the deal.

I went to see if Felix wanted to visit.

His human greeted me and tried to get Felix to come

to the window, but Felix had other ideas.

So I went and mourned the tasty plant for as long as I could.

Eventually, Mom complained about the cold and made me go inside.

I hope all of you are having better luck fending off the cabin fever than I am.

>^.^<

The Road Trip Before Christmas

Recently, as you may know, I went on a trip.

When we got up to get ready to go, the weather looked like this:

By the time we were on the road, however,

it looked like this:

We had to put chains on our wheels so we could avoid 

ending up like this guy:

Or worse, like THIS guy:

Fortunately, Daddy handled the driving very well.

We made it safely to our motel where the weather

was much more tolerable.

Then, after a good night's rest, it was back on the road.

After 2 days of driving, we ended up at Mom's aunt's house.

We arrived after dark, but waited until daylight to snap this photo.

It was a nice house.

There was just one problem with it.

It REALLY belonged to my "cousin", Millie.

She was NOT happy that I was in her house.

She sat outside my bedroom door growling at me while

I tried to explain that I didn't have a choice in the matter.

After all, it was my humans' idea.

Fortunately, I only stayed there at bedtime.

During the daytimes, I stayed at Grandma's house.

At first, it was strange to not have Duchess there.

Once I got used to it, however, I claimed the house as my own.

So when the neighborhood cat, Willie, came around...

I stood my ground.

He was a large alley cat, so I'm a little glad he stayed outside.

When my first morning at Millie's house came around,

I made sure she had gone out for the day.

I couldn't shake the feeling that she was lurking around 

the next corner.

Mom assured me she was outside, but I couldn't relax.

I checked the windows to see if I could see Millie out there.

I couldn't.

All I could see was a strange new world.

I was happy to get back to Grandma's house;

 Grandma was happy to have me there.

I can't even begin to tell you how many birds there were

to watch in Grandma's backyard.

So many!

I just wanted to run out there and watch them all fly!

And, of course, maybe catch one!

Her front yard was equally full of birds.

Birds of all kinds!

I couldn't even begin to list them all.

The air was filled with their chatter!

I even got to hang out in the front yard off leash, but supervised.

There were even convenient bushes to hide in.

I could get used to this!

Tons of birds...

nice yard all to myself...

no snow!

Yeah, this was the life!

I didn't mind if we never went home.

I could easily hide where the birds would get so close to me!

Can you see me?

Here I am!

Then came my last night at Millie's house.

Come morning, the entire

 household had to get up early to move

cars out of the shot for this random film crew.

Once the hullabaloo died down,

we went back to Grandma's house for one last visit.

Mom and Grandma sat out on the porch to watch the birds

for a bit.

Then Daddy helped Mom get me ready to go.

We got back in the car again for the long haul.

I don't mind road trips so much.

I just don't like the semi trucks.

We did get a nice sunset along the way.

We stayed in a different motel in a different town on the way back.

I thought it was pretty decent.

When we got back into the car the next day,

I began to suspect we were on the home stretch.

We just needed to gas up the car one last time.

Sure enough, we drove by a familiar mountain.

It was still early in the evening when we got home.

It was good to be home.

Well...

...except for all the snow.

I guess I'll just have to hold onto my warm memories of 

Grandma's house to help me through the winter.

>^.^<