Just We Two - What Have We Done Wrong?

I have played quite a bit lately, as I am getting used to this place.  There’s not much room to play, but every now and then I can jump over Miss Patchy and sometimes somebody will help me to play with Ribbon.

Well, we are in prison.  No matter how you look at it, we are in prison.  That’s Miss Patchy’s conclusion, and I believe her.  Every time someone comes into the room or leaves the room, we are pushed aside, or told “No!,” and the human goes out quickly and shuts the door on us.  I’m not sure why we are in prison, but it’s not a lot of fun.  There are no bars, like you see on TV, but we are in prison, just the same.  I so much want to explore the rest of this house, and I did a little bit the day I hid in the attic, but since that day, we are not allowed out of our cell, I mean our rooms.  At least we have good food and water, litter box, and Mom to snuggle with at night and sometimes during the day, but it is still prison.  At least at home we could go out on the patio and watch the buzz birds and bugs, and smell the fresh air, and feel the sunshine on our bodies.  I always rolled on the cement as soon as I could get out the door.  Mom would always get a little mad, because she said I got dust all over my fur.  Who cares about a little dust?  Well, I guess Mom does.

What I need is some place to run.  I’m afraid my legs will get stiff or something if I don’t get to have a good run pretty soon.  Mom says that soon we will have plenty of room to run, but I have my doubts about that.  She keeps promising.  I think we will be stuck here for the rest of our lives.  We do have windows, but most of them just show us a wall.  One window shows us the back wall, a little place with some holes that are covered up (Mom says it’s called a tandir) with a little roof over it, some dead grass beyond the wall, and some other houses.  There are some birds flying around sometimes, and once in a while we can see a human.  We also hear some funny bird sounds.  Mom says they are roosters crowing, and hens cackling.  You could not prove it by me, because I don’t know what that is.  Mom says that they are chickens.  (Why not just say chickens?)  That makes Miss Patchy happy, because she loves chicken.  I don’t know what she would do with a noisy one, though.  If it is alive, wouldn’t it fight with Miss Patchy?  If you can live in a turkey, can you live in a chicken?  How big are they?

It would be nice, but very scary, to go outside.  There are a lot of strange humans, and we have heard other felines out there.  Sometimes the other felines have been in the house, because we have smelled them, especially in the basement and the attic.  I’m not sure why I like the attic so much, but it is warm and comforting somehow.

Another thing about this prison is that Mom’s computer is always here, so we have easy access to it when she’s not around.  Miss Patchy has learned how to get on the internet with Dad’s phone.  It isn’t always around, so we can’t go online all the time, but we can have fun playing games and writing stuff to publish online later.  Mom keeps the dirty clothes in here, too, as well as the detergent she uses to wash them.  After she washes the clothes, they smell like the outdoors.  Is the dryer outside?  There are a lot of things that Miss Patchy and I do not understand about this house, besides why we are kept in prison, but I guess it could be worse.  It is clean and dry and has lots of things from home.  I will try to like it here.

I hear mousey calling me to play, so I’d better go.  Miss Patchy is already asleep, since she got rid of a big hairball this morning, and her stomach was hurting her.  She’s better now, but she needs her nap.

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - Are Things Getting Better?

Naps are my life right now.  That’s about all we can do, since we are stuck in two rooms.

               I must say, though, that things are getting better.  Even though we have just two rooms, the food is good – Dad cooked it, and the closet is comfortable.  Mom complains about fur on the suitcases, but why is that a problem?  Anyway, both Mina and I are feeling better about everything.  Even the litter is good.  It does not smell at all like the stuff we had at home.  It doesn’t smell at all, so I never feel bad about stepping in it.  There are no lumps or anything to get in the way.

               I have been feeling a lot better recently.  My legs do not hurt so much.  Mom says she is putting something in my food to help.  I guess it is working.  She put stuff in the food at home, but it did not work as well.  Dad said he paid a lot for it, so he is very glad it is working so well.

               There are other cats around.  We can smell them and sometimes hear them outside the windows.  A little while ago, Mina and I were allowed out of our rooms, and we explored.  Mom said we could go outside in the garden, but we didn’t feel very secure about that.  It was a hot day, so I went down into the basement.  It was very dark and cool there, and I could smell the other cats, but they weren’t there when I went down.  I stayed down for a while, and Mom was really mad when I came up.  She said I was very, very dirty and she made me take a shower.  Oh, how I hated that.  After the shower, she said I was still very dirty.  I don’t like her saying that.  I take great pride in my appearance.  She still says it, but also says that I am getting cleaner.

               Mina was gone all day and into the darkness.  Mom and Dad were calling for her all over.  They were afraid that she had panicked and run far away and was unable to find her way back.  Personally, I think it would be good riddance!  Anyway, they all were sitting at the table out front, on what Mom calls the front porch when evidently Mina showed her face.  Instead of the basement, she had spent all day in the attic.  It was dirty up there, too, but she didn’t have to take a shower.  Mom said she was dirty, but not as bad as I was.  I’ll bet!  The little sneak!  Because of the basement and the attic, we are no longer allowed out of our rooms, and we really don’t want to go out.  Too much happens then.

Mom tried to take me outside one day, but I got away and went up to the attic and got dusty.  She chased me out and down the stairs.  After that, the door was accidently left open, and Mina ran up to the attic.  Dad was angry, but he got her down pretty soon.  At least it’s quiet in our rooms and nothing bad happens.  We also haven’t been in the car for a long time, so that’s a good thing.

               Mina is feeling a lot better now.  She is eating more (actually, quite a lot), and she has been playing at night.  Last night, I did a little playing and explored up in the cupboard in Mom’s room.  She heard me jiggle the glass things and woke up.  She was blaming Mina until she turned on the light and saw that it was me.  I’m so glad I feel better.  It’s very possible that now I can do stuff and Mina will be blamed.  That sounds like fun!

               One thing that we don’t like here is the vacuum cleaner.  I thought the one at home was bad, but this one is very big and very loud.  I hate it when Mom or Dad uses it.  Mom says we keep getting fur and stuff on the rugs.  That’s it, blame us!  She gets stuff on the rug, too.  We aren’t the only ones.

               Today, I threw up on one of the rugs.  Just a little bit on the rug and a lot on the cardboard under our food dishes.  Dad cleaned it up.  He is very nice and does a lot of things for Mom, and she really appreciates it.

               Well, it’s still daylight, time for another nap.  I wouldn’t want to waste the daylight.  I also must get ready for the night!

Yours,

Apache

Constant Fear

I have played a little bit, but I’m not really feeling up to it much lately.

We have come to a place where we seem to be staying for a while.  It is nice not to be in the box anymore, but it’s kind of a scary place.  We are kept mainly in two rooms, with some air coming through and some windows to look out of.  However, there’s not much to see, mostly a wall.

Last night, the windows in the room where Mom sleeps were open and had screens on them.  Before, just a window on top was open, and we couldn’t get to it.  The bottom windows’ being open was very nice, as we could hear a lot more things.  That was not always a good thing, though.  Some time after dark, a loud man’s voice came in the window.  He was sort of singing, and it was scary.  Both Miss Patchy and I were scared, but Mom wasn’t.  Maybe the man’s voice is not so bad, but if I hear it again, I think I will still be afraid.  Mom says we shouldn’t worry about it, because the man, who she says is called a muzin [sic] is praying for us and everyone, so we should be happy to hear it.  I’ll have to think about that.  I’m not sure what praying is, but the way Mom says it, I think it isn’t a bad thing.

Miss Patchy and I mostly stay in Mom’s closet, because we feel safe there.  In the last few days, Mom has let us come out of the two rooms, and there is a kitchen, and another room where people sit and sleep.  There are also some bathrooms, although one of them seems strange to me.  It smells like a toilet, but it doesn’t look like a toilet.  It looks like a hole in the floor, and there is a water place there, too.

When we are out of the two rooms, sometimes a strange person comes out.  Mom says it is Dad’s mother.  She scares me, though.  The hair on her head has all kinds of colors on it that are sometimes pretty, and she ties it under her chin.  Every day it is different.  I have never seen hair like that before.  She always has glasses on, unlike Mom and Dad, who just wear them sometimes.  Her clothes come to the floor, so I’m not sure that she has legs, or what.  Also, her voice is scratchy and loud.  Sometimes in the morning, I have heard her head whistle and squeak.  Mom says that it is her hearing aid we hear whistling.  I don’t know what that is.  She is very frightening to me.  When she gets up, Miss Patchy and I go to the closet and stay there.

Mom found the other litter box yesterday – the one she calls portable.  She couldn’t find it before, so we were using part of my box.  Now it will smell all the time.  I hope I don’t ever have to get in it again, because I hate it, and the smell will make it worse.

Mom says that this is our new home.  I don’t know if I like it.  Maybe if I can get to know the rest of the place it will be better.  It smells funny, though, and neither Miss Patchy nor I like the smell.  It’s very strong!  Mom says it is mothballs that we smell.  Ugh!  There are a lot of other unfamiliar smells, too.  I need to investigate them in order to know what they are all about.

Dad cooked us some food, but I still just prefer the dry food.  It smells nice, but I just don’t like it.  Miss Patchy has trouble eating the dry food, because she doesn’t have a lot of teeth left, so she needs to eat the wet food.  I think that’s funny!  I have all of my teeth!  Does that make me better than Miss Patchy?  I think so.

I miss home very much, but I think it is gone and we are now here, and will never see home again.  Mom says that we flew.  I don’t believe it.  I think we came in a great big car.  Miss Patchy and I were in our boxes in a little room, and it vibrated a lot, but we still did not have any wings, so how could we have been flying?  Birds fly, and bugs fly, but felines do not fly, neither do humans.  Silly Mom!

Mom says that we are now living in the turkey that she and Dad have been talking about for a long time.  That’s another silly thing she has said.  It doesn’t smell like a turkey, and I don’t see any meat.  How could we be in a turkey?  Mom is strange sometimes, but I love her anyway.  I love to lie on her chest and put my paws around her neck.  Then I purr a lot and she pets me.  It is a wonderful time.

Well, I need to think about playing.  Ribbon has come here, too, and so has mousey, so not everything is strange.  Mom also brought the furry beds.  It’s too warm for them now, but maybe it will be cold here, too.  It’s time to think about playing.

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - Oh, No!!!

At least I have had a nice nap!

Well, it was as I suspected, we were unceremoniously put into our boxes and put in the car.  Off we rolled and got out in a very noisy place.  We went inside where there were way too many humans, making way too much noise.  Mom talked to someone and gave her the two suitcases she has been packing and then we had to go somewhere else, to a quiet place.  We waited in a narrow hallway for a while, then someone came with a flat stick (Mom called it a scanner), and Mom had to take each of us out of our boxes and hold us tight while a man put the stick inside our boxes, then by us.  We were both glad to go back inside the boxes, as they were not nearly as scary as the hallway and the man with the stick.

After that, Mom said goodbye to us and walked away!  We were terrified!  Where was Mom going?  We were with strangers!  Later on, someone came and took us in our boxes outside, then into a little room.  Mom was nowhere around.  Mina was a little panicky.  A little while later, the little room began to vibrate and there was a lot of noise.  The room continued to vibrate and, since I was very sleepy, I went to sleep.  I think Mina did, too.  We woke up when someone picked up our boxes, took us outside again, and put us into another small room.  This one also vibrated and made a lot of noise.

Finally, after sleeping for a while, the vibrating stopped and someone came and took our boxes outside again and then into a big, noisy place.  Our boxes were on a rolling thing.  All of a sudden, there was Mom.  She appeared to be very happy to see us, almost as happy as we were to see her.  We thought we would never see her again.  She told us that we were in Brussels (Brussels sprouts?).  I don’t know where or what it is, and I sure don’t know how we got there.  Anyway, before long, there was Dad.  We hadn’t seen him for a long time, and it was nice to see him again.  All the suitcases were piled on the rolling thing with us and we rolled outside, to where Dad’s car was.  We were packed into the car with a whole lot of other stuff.  Mom said we had flown here.  What delusions!  I still don’t have any wings.

After rolling for a while, the car stopped and we all got out and went into one of those little houses again.  Mom put down the litter box, although we didn’t know that’s what it was at first, because it smelled funny.  Dad put some dirt in it, but we still weren’t sure, so Mom peed in it a little, and then we knew.  What a relief!  We had some food to eat, and water to drink.  Not much like home, but it was not bad.

In the morning, everything was packed up and off we rolled once again.  We stopped several times, but kept right on rolling through the night and all the next day.  Mom and Dad ate, but we didn’t!  Not that we were all that hungry.  All that rolling just makes us sleepy.  We continued to roll through the next night.  Mom said something about beljum, luxburg, frans, switz . . ., itali.  We stopped at a place and waited for a while, then the car drove onto a boat.  They called it a ferry.  We went upstairs on the boat and there were lots of people, none of whom seem to know how to talk.  It was just gibberish coming out of their mouths, although I could tell that a lot of them liked us.  After dark, we went to a really tiny house.  Mom and Dad slept on tiny, little beds and we just explored the tiny bathroom and that was pretty much it.  At least we had food and litter box.

In the morning, we got into the car again and rolled off.  Where to?  Who knows?  Mom said there were lots of trees and said something about grease.  We could not see the trees or the grease, since we were pretty well packed in.  They finally let us out of the boxes, so we could move around and see stuff, but it was a little scary.  Things were moving by the car so fast!  We sat with Mom for a little while, but it was better just to find a comfortable place and go to sleep.  When the daylight was gone and it had been dark for a while, we stopped again.  We stayed there for some time, while Dad went into places and handled a lot of papers.  Then we went to another place to stop and we there even longer, with more papers.  Finally we were able to roll again, and we found another little house to sleep in.  Mom says we are in the turkey now.  Somehow it's just not what I expected.  I thought there would be a lot of meat and bones.  Maybe Mom is just kidding me.  This just doesn't look like something to eat, since there are trees and houses and stuff in it.

The morning brought more packing up and we rolled off again.  Before too long, we came to a place where we parked.  Mom and Dad went off somewhere and left us in the car.  They came back a long time later (long after dark), opened the back of the car, and showed us to some people.  Finally they got in the car and we rolled off again.  Fortunately, it was not too long before we stopped at a little house again.  Those stops are always nice, though small.  Dad did not stay in the little house with us. 

In the morning, we rolled off again, and then Mom and we stayed at another little house, while Dad went somewhere else.  It was all a little confusing to us, but bearable.  After all that, we rolled away again in the morning, but just a little way.  We went to an actual house, where we were put into a room with our litter box and some food.  The door was shut and we were alone.  We looked around a little, but then slept.  Mom and Dad came back later, but then things were packed up once more and off we went, rolling down the road at night.  All the other stuff was out of the car, just a few suitcases and us, plus four humans.  When we stopped (after a long nap), the air smelled different.  We went into a place they called an apartment.  It had two rooms and a bathroom, with some outdoor places with screens on them.  Sort of like the patio at home, but up off the ground.  It was nice there, even though Mom and Dad, Dad’s brother, and mother came and went a lot.  One day, Mom slept most of the day, because she was so tired from all the rolling we had done.  She was tired?!!!!  What about us?  The next day, they all came back smelling different again.  In fact, they were wet and it smelled like funny-type water.  Mom said they were at the beach and that we were in a place called Alanya.  After two days, we went back to the house and our room.  Mom slept in the next room, and she opened the door between us so we could have a little more room.

All of these memories are making me very tired, so I must go and take a nap.

Yours,

Apache

Just We Two - Will it Ever End?

Thank heavens for restorative naps!

We went to the vet again.  No shots this time.  They looked in our ears, rubbed some stuff on the back of our necks, and made us eat something.  How awful!  I tried so hard to get away, but nothing worked.  They got the towel again, so I couldn’t really use my feet and legs.  Mina usually doesn’t struggle much and lets Mom hold her for those nasty people.  Mom got some papers and then we came home.  This afternoon, she had to go see USDA.  What a strange name!  She got some papers there, too.  She says it is for our trip.  She says now that we are flying to Brussels.  Is that a food, also?  I’ve heard of Brussels sprouts.  Mom says they are delicious.  What’s going on here anyway?  Dad is going to pick us up at the airport in Brussels.  I think I’m very confused.  Mina, too, but she just goes along with everything, as long as she can play with ribbon.  It is her favorite toy.

Mom has been packing all her clothes in suitcases.  She says that she can’t fit everything in the smaller one she has.  Linda brought her a big one, but not everything fits in that one either, so she is packing both of them.  This is looking very serious.  She has been packing stuff for us, too.  I think I’m getting a little scared.  The last time she packed, we spent many days in the car and slept in the little houses at night.  Will this be like that?  She still talks about flying.  I think she is seriously deluded, but what can I say or do?  Mina just plays with ribbon and doesn’t worry about anything else.  Silly thing!

Life goes on here.  Linda works in her garden – she is growing vegetables!  Why not something useful, like meat?  I heard Mom say that meat grows – why not have a meat garden?  I think I would be tempted to help in that kind of garden.  Linda has planted peppers, tomatoes, even potatoes.  What a useless waste of time.  Mom says she wishes she could be here when things get ripe, but she will be in a turkey by that time.  So strange!  It’s as though she really wants to live in a turkey.  I guess we’ll see, I’m afraid!

Not too much else has happened around here.  That’s probably a good thing, since most of the things that have happened have not been good, at least from my viewpoint.  Books have come in the mail, and Mom has packed them.  She says she will need them to read in the turkey.  Turkey, turkey, turkey!  I’m getting really sick of hearing about it.  What kind of human would want to live in a turkey?

Well, I seriously need a nap now, because things are getting very worrisome and I would rather just not think about this stuff.  Hopefully, I will have some good dreams.

Yours,

Apache