Just We Two - Opposable Thumbs

I have been napping quite a bit lately, mostly to keep warm.  I even welcome Mina’s proximity, since she has some heat to share.  It is mutual, I guess.

Anyway, to get to my subject.  Opposable thumbs are highly touted, but I think perhaps they are highly overrated, too.  Mom used to tease Cherokee and me about not having opposable thumbs.  She would show us how she could pick up things and then laugh a little at us because we couldn’t do that.  Well, we have sharp claws and sharp teeth that do a pretty good job of picking things up, believe me.  No, we can’t pick up a book or a piece of furniture, but they would be too heavy for us anyway.  Also, why would we want to pick up those particular things?  They are of no importance to us.  Well, maybe a little importance, as we do sleep on the furniture and occasionally we do read, but we have no reason to pick up anything like that.

Lately, Mom has been complaining that her wonderful opposable thumbs are hurting a lot, because she picks up a lot of heavy law books in her job.  I don’t know what law books are, but she says they are very heavy, as books go.  She has to pick up a lot of them with her wonderful opposable thumbs when she is at work, and now those very same thumbs are hurting and she doesn’t like to pick things up much right now.  Ha!  So much for opposable thumbs!  Now she is pretty helpless, since she doesn’t have sharp claws or sharp teeth.  Are cats superior, or what!

Actually, we do have a little bit of a thumb-like appendage on each leg, but they just don’t work quite like human thumbs.  They are not long enough to be very useful for things other than scratching something or someone.  At that they do a nice job.  Unfortunately, Mom and Dad get mad when we scratch stuff with those claws or any other claws.  They just spoil all the fun in life.

I have been spending a lot of nights sleeping on the bed with Mom and Dad.  I usually end up being shut in the room with them, because Mina can’t manage to behave herself and keeps playing with their feet, or getting up on the dresser and knocking the big chain against the wall, so they throw her out and shut the door.  She doesn’t like to sleep all night, because she just wants to play.  Well, too bad for her!  I love sleeping with them.  Cherokee wasn’t much for sleeping all night, either, but he would just leave the bedroom and play somewhere else, except for the last couple of years.  Then he would sleep peacefully at Mom’s feet every night.

Right now, I’m a little worried about Mom.  She smells funny and all I want to do is stay close to her to help keep her safe.  I don’t know what’s going on, but she has been telling me that she will be fine.  She tells me that she will go to the hospital (whatever that is) and when she comes home she will be just fine.  Can I believe her?  I hope so.  I don’t want to lose Mom.  I’m sure life with just Dad would be great, but I have been with Mom for a very long time, and I think that maybe losing Mom would be worse than losing Cherokee, if that is possible.  I will continue to worry about Mom until she can prove to me that she is fine.  We will find out next week.

Well, I’m tired again.  This cold weather just takes it all out of me and I find I must nap a lot.

Yours,

Apache

Just We Two - Am I Growing Up?

It’s so nice to be awake these days.  Miss Patchy insists on sleeping a lot, even though I try to get her to play.  She does play a little sometimes and it is fun.  Now, when Mom opens the windows and the patio doors, a lot of cold comes in.  Before, it was hot, but now it’s cold.  I just can’t figure out why that changes.  Miss Patchy says it happens all the time.  Anyway, it is so cold at night that both Miss Patchy and I often sleep on the bed to keep Mom and Dad’s feet warm.  We also just snuggle up together during the day and keep each other warm while we nap.  I am doing a lot more napping during the day now.  What does that mean?  I have also been spending a good bit of time alone, lying in the office window or in one of the office chairs.  I never used to want to be alone, but life seems to be changing.

Well, I think I have finally figured out the window!  I saw Dad open the door and go outside.  I immediately jumped up on the window sill , and there he was in the window.  I had sort of noticed this before, but I have realized that it is some sort of hole in the wall, with a clear barrier over it.  I wondered before if I could be in the “television” (actually a window), and I think that I am in it when I am up on the window sill.  Mom and Dad can see me when they are outside and I am looking through the window.  I know that they can see me, because they talk to me.  I guess you can see through it from both sides!  There are so many amazing things in life.  Will I ever learn about them all?

Mom and Dad are very worried about money right now.  I’m not even sure what money is, but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it, or anything else.  Mom says that money is what gives us food to eat and a roof over our heads.  However, I see Mom make our food, so I’m not sure what she is talking about.  This “money” has never been at the stove cooking our food, as far as I have ever seen.  Is money a person?  Is it fun to play with?

I was told by Mom a little while ago that I am now one year old.  Hm-m-m-m!  Just what does that mean?  She says that Miss Patchy is about twelve or thirteen years old.  Why does Miss Patchy have more years than I?  Mom says that she (Mom) is retired, because she is old.  How old is she?  What does retired mean?  Will I have to retire some day?  I remember Mom and Dad talking about getting new tires for the car.  (I think that’s the thing that takes us to the vet.)  Did the car retire?  This is puzzling to me.  Miss Patchy doesn’t seem to know the answer, either, and she says she doesn’t really care about it.  Sometimes she is very curious, but other times not at all.

Mom says that she gets Social Security now.  I don’t know what that is, but she is glad to have it.  Will I get it when I am old?  Miss Patchy says that she does not get Social Security.  I thought she would be old enough for it, but she says not.

Closets are not my friends.  I just can’t resist going into closets, but bad things often happen when I do so.  I think I told you (or Miss Patchy told you) about my experience in the coat closet when I was very little.  After that, I always let Mom know when I was going into the coat closet.  When I got shut in the garage for a long time, I started letting Mom know when I was going out there, and made a little game of it, just daring her to catch me and take me back inside the house.  Well, I love to go into the clothes closet off the bedroom and bathroom upstairs.  It is full of Mom’s fun clothing.  She has a lot of clothes with things hanging off them.  I just love to play with them.  Mom hates it when I do that, so she always keeps the clothes closet shut so I can’t go in.  Well, the other day, I pushed on the door, and it opened.  I went in and had some fun and then went to sleep.  When Mom got home from work, she came upstairs and changed her clothes in the closet.  She was surprised to see that the closet door was open and she looked around for me, but didn’t see me.  When she was done changing, she left the closet and shut the door.  Oh-oh!  I couldn’t get out.  For a long time I tried and tried to get the door open or to get out some other way, but there just was no other way.  I got a little scared and panicky and I tried to climb up the door on Mom’s housecoats.  One came off and fell on the floor.  I climbed a little way up the other one, but there was no way out by going up.  Then, I tried to dig my way out under the door.  I got the edge of the carpet up and pulled inside the closet, but the opening was too small for me, and there were sharp things there.  I heard Mom and Dad calling me, but I couldn’t answer loud enough for them to hear me, because they were watching television.  Finally, when I didn’t come down for supper (I always do!), Mom looked all around and finally found me in the closet.  I will have to be sure to let her know when I go in there now, so she doesn’t shut me in again.

I know some toys that need to be played with now, so I will end for today.  I hope that you will enjoy your toys, too.

Regards,

Mina