Mom is Getting Smarter

            Ribbon is so much fun!  We play together so often that I have to take Ribbon into the bathroom so Mom will give him a shower.  I like Ribbon to be clean, like me.

            Well, Mom is finally starting to realize the beauty of litter, but she’s not quite there yet.  Whenever she needs to use the bathroom, she always sits on the white thing she calls a toilet.  I don’t see the point in it, but she always uses it.  Dad sometimes uses it, but sometimes he uses the place that Mom calls the Squatter.  Anyway, these days, when Mom sits on the white thing, she scratches with her foot in the litter at the same time.  Of course, she hasn’t learned to use the box yet and just scratches at the litter that is on the floor by the toilet, but she’s learning, and that’s always encouraging.  One day, maybe she will actually use the box, like she did way back in the summer when we lived one day at a little house.  She will be a little big for the box, though, so maybe she will get a bigger one so that all four of us can use it.  I’m not sure that Dad will ever learn, though.  He just doesn’t seem to get it.

            Mom also recognizes when the litter box has to be cleaned – not as soon as Miss Patchy and I know it, though.  She seems to smell when it is dirty, plus she sees that Miss Patchy and I refuse to use it after a while.  I remember when we had no electricity for a while, it was very cold and Miss Patchy and I had to go a lot.  Mom cleaned it in the dark one day, with the help of a flashlight.  She complained that it was much too wet and that she had just cleaned it, but we couldn’t help it.  It was the cold that did it.

            It’s amazing what humans can learn if you have patience and show them enough times how to do things.  For instance, I have trained Mom to give Ribbon a shower when he is in the bathroom.  I am also trying to train her to get up during the night and play with me.  However, she seems to be missing the point.  I bang the wardrobe doors together and, when she doesn’t respond, I bang even louder.  She finally gets up, but instead of playing with me, she goes into the living room and sleeps on the couch.  It is no use banging the doors anymore, because Dad never responds.  Anyway, last night I tried, and Mom got up and went into the living room.  However, this time I scratched on the living room door and meowed, louder and louder, until she finally came out.  Unfortunately, she had a trick up her sleeve and she opened all the wardrobe doors.  Well, I shut one of them and began to bang it.  She got up and used her final trick.  She put her purse in the way of the double doors, so I couldn’t close either one of them and I couldn’t bang them, either.  Rats!  I’ll have to see what else I can do. 

            Back in the house called Phoenix, there was a wonderful, big chain hanging down the wall in Mom and Dad’s bedroom, and I used to pull on it and let it go back against the wall.  That really bothered Mom and Dad, and they would get up and shut me out of the bedroom.  That made me mad!  However, I kept trying, hoping that they would get the idea and come play with me.  I thought that the wardrobe doors would be a great substitute for the chain, but no luck.  Mom says that I need to be up more during the day, playing, but that just doesn’t feel right to me.

            Well, I will continue with my training efforts and hope to see some results before long.  I am working so hard at it, that it would be a shame if nothing ever came of it.  Miss Patchy says to just forget about it and go to sleep, because humans are untrainable.  I refuse to give up!

            I am feeling as though I need to play, and I see Ribbon on the hall floor, getting cold.  Once I have finished playing, I will start to keep track of my training attempts and see how long it takes.

Regards,

Mina

Why Do These Things Happen?

Thank heavens it’s warm enough for a good nap.  I was beginning to think that naps were going to be cold forever.

            We have just survived a most terrible time!  Last week, I think it was, the lights went out when Mom was getting ready to bake something.  She was not happy about that, because, at the same time, the heat went off, too.  Anyway, she didn’t think much about it, so we didn’t, either.  Mom thought the lights would be back on fairly soon, but she was terribly wrong!  She went to her class, and when she got back, it was still dark and getting very cold in our home, but she didn’t turn on the heat.  She put on a lot of clothes and after eating a little something, we all went to bed.  It wasn’t too bad when we were all snuggled up together.  Mom put some extra blankets on the bed and she got so warm that she was sweating.

            When we got up the next morning, it was colder than ever!  How horrible!  I hardly felt like eating, because it was so cold.  Mom said that Dad couldn’t get a train to come home, so it would be at least Monday before we had any lights.  I think that was two night times away, so she was not at all happy about it.  Mina and I spent all day under the comforter, so we could keep warm.  We all snuggled again that night (Mom says it was Saturday night), but the next morning was even colder!  I told Mom time and again that I was cold, but she didn’t do anything about it.  Why didn’t she just turn on the heat?  Why did Dad have to be here to get lights?  There are so many human things that I just do not understand!  Anyway, we ate breakfast and spent that day under the comforter, too.  That night, we all snuggled together once again to keep warm.  It would have been much easier to just turn on the heat!

            The next morning, which Mom said was Sunday, it was colder yet and I thought that we all were going to freeze to death.  I complained to Mom a lot, but still she did nothing.  When she came home from her night class, she brought a stranger upstairs with her, using a flashlight, put us in the box, and packed up our food and litter box.  We all rolled off in the stranger’s car to her house.  We were let out of the box in a place that had furniture (couches and chairs), lots of plants, and clothes on the drying rack.  It was warm!  Mom was out with the stranger for a while and then she came in and lay down on the couch and covered up with a comforter.  Mina and I let her sleep for a while, but we just had to talk to her about the new place and ask her if we were going to live there now.  How many moves can a person make?  Anyway, she kept telling us to be quiet and go to sleep, but we just couldn’t do it.

            In the morning, Mom spent some more time with the stranger and then a man and two boys looked in to see us.  Very soon, we were put into the carrier and everything packed up.  The stranger dropped us off at our place and left.  Mom carried us and everything else up the stairs to our apartment.  Oh, it was so cold!  We immediately went under the comforter.  Mom went out for a little bit that day, but then she got under the covers with us and spent most of the rest of the day there.  Finally, after dark, Dad came home.  It was warm in our bed that night, with the four of us in it.

            In the morning, as soon as he could, Dad left the house and came back quite a while later and said that we would have lights that night.  It would be better to have heat!  We spent the day under the comforter once again.  After dark, the lights suddenly came on and, coincidentally, so did the heat.  It has taken a very long time to get warm in here, and it’s not really all that warm, but it’s better than it was.  Mom and Dad are still cold, but they don’t complain too much.  Mina and I are not complaining, even though we would like it warmer.  At least all four of us are together and able to keep each other warm.  Mina and I always have the comforter, although sometimes I do sleep in the furry bed again.  It was too cold before, but now I have my heart cushion on my suitcase right next to the radiator and Mina sits on the kitchen radiator.  I’m so glad things are back to normal again.  Mom says it will get warmer, but it will just take a little time.

            Why did the heat go off at the same time the lights went out?  Mina and I could do just fine without lights, but Mom and Dad seem to like them a lot.  The heat, however, is a much different matter.  We were so cold!  How could Mom do that to us?  At least she could cook, but that didn’t do much for us, only for her.  She kept using a candle and a flashlight and she kept boiling water.  It felt a little bit warmer in the kitchen, but nowhere else.  Also, why didn’t she watch TV or something so we all could have cuddled together to keep warm?  Mom is very strange sometimes, always thinking of herself instead of us.

            Well, I think the comforter needs me, so I will be off for a nap.

 

Yours,

Apache

Home at Last?

Whee!!!  What fun there is here!

            We’ve been here in our new home for some time now, and it’s really beginning to feel like home.  The floors aren’t getting any warmer, but if I run fast enough, it’s not too bad.  I can really get up some speed running down the hall, and we have been joined here by Ribbon, Mousey, and others.  It’s great.  There is no one here to be scared of Mousey, and Ribbon has been very happy here, too.

            The bathroom is different from any bathroom I’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty neat.  It is all hard, both the floors and walls.  Mom has put our litter box in the bathroom, so now we are almost just like humans.  All we need now is to eat at the table, but I don’t think that is going to happen.  I like to go into the bathroom, even if I don’t need the litter box.  There is a funny curtain hanging by the shower, which is just part of the floor.  I often go into the shower and go around the curtain, since Mom leaves it open on both ends.  I can also watch her and Dad take showers.  Since it was pretty dusty and dirty at first, here in this new place, Ribbon kept getting dirty, so I took him to the shower and Mom washed him off and hung him outside to dry.  Now he is always clean, and I don’t have to keep putting him in the water bowl, except when Mom forgets to wash him.  I like to go up on the sink, too, and lick the water out of it.  I do that in the shower, too.  For some reason the water in the bathroom tastes good.

            As I mentioned earlier, it is easy to run fast down the hallway.  The floor is tile, so things (like Mousey) slide very easily and quickly.  He squeaks and squeaks as he speeds down the floor.  What fun!  The floors are awfully cold, though, so we spend a lot of time in the bedroom.  The floor there is not so cold, because it is not tile.  Also, our mattress and comforter are in the bedroom, as well as our furry beds.  Miss Patchy sleeps in the furry beds a lot, but I always prefer the bed.  Sometimes I jump up behind the window curtains and look out the window.  There are lots of people outside walking around, and lots of cars and trucks.  Lots of things to watch!  Sometimes small humans play with balls (just like me) and other things.  These small humans look pretty much like big humans, just smaller.  Miss Patchy is beginning to think that maybe there are baby humans after all.  She has not seen much herself, since she is unable to jump up on the window because of her back legs, so I have told her all about it.  She has looked down from the balcony and, I think, from the couch room, so she has seen a little bit.

            Speaking of the couch room, the door to it is almost always closed.  I would love to spend some time in there, but we can go in only when Mom is in there, and then she won’t let us get up on the furniture.  It is white and kind of furry (I was up on it once) and doesn’t look like any other furniture we’ve ever had.  It’s funny-shaped and has big pillows on it.  I think I could love it a lot.  At least the floor in the couch room is not cold, because there is a big rug on the floor.  The furniture looks very nice and comfortable and I would love to spend some time on it, but I haven’t figured out how to do so without Mom’s knowing that I’m doing it.  There also is a funny kind of curtain on the window, and I keep getting my claws caught in it.  That used to be all there was on the window, but Mom complained that the people across the street could look right in at night, so now there is a big, white curtain behind the funny one.  It keeps us from seeing into the windows across the street, so I guess those people can’t see in ours, either.  Mom likes that, because she is working a puzzle.  I don’t know why she likes to do that, as it means sitting in a chair for a long time, looking at little pieces of cardboard.  She picks some up and then puts them down, then picks up some more and puts them back down, until once in a while she smiles and says something and puts a piece somewhere else on the table, hooking it to others that are already there.  In a way, I like puzzles, too, but I like to pick up the little pieces that are hooked to the others and take them down to the floor to check them out.  I don’t see anything great about them, but since Mom keeps working with them, I keep trying to figure out what is so great about them.  Who can explain why Mom (or any other human) likes certain things?

            There is another room in this house, but it is very small, and Dad goes in there a lot by himself.  I am almost never allowed to go in there, but I want to check it out.  It smells good, and there is a hole in the floor with water in it.  Mom keeps the bucket and mop in there, too.  It also is all tiled, like the bathroom.  Mom calls it a squatter.  I don’t know what that means, but Mom says she will not ever use it, except for storing the mop and bucket.

            Well, it’s getting late, and I have a lot of playing to catch up on, so I will be back later.

Regards,

Mina

New Beginnings

Well, I’ve had a good, warm nap.  It’s so nice to have a comfortable bed with warm covers.

It happened one night.  Dad bundled Mina and me into the box and packed all of our stuff in a big car with lots of seats and all those boxes that smell like Mom.  The ones that were in the basement at Office.  Mina has been so terrified and depressed since Mom left that she can’t even talk to me.  Anyway, there we were in the box in the big car and we began to roll.  Memmet [sic] was driving (Mom says he is a better driver than Dad) and Mina and I fell asleep.  When we woke up, we heard Mom’s voice!  Hallelujah!  She’s not dead after all.  She got in the big car with us and told Memmet [sic] where to drive.  Pretty soon, we were stopped on a street.  Mom and Dad tried to unlock a door, but their keys didn’t work.  They tried to wake someone up, but that didn’t work, either.  Mom left, and the rest of us stayed behind.  Dad and Memmet [sic] took all the boxes and things (including us) out of the big car and he drove away.  Dad and we spent the night on the sidewalk with our boxes.  When it got light, the door opened and someone who lives on the street helped Dad to get the boxes and things up some stairs.  Mom came later and was so glad to see us, almost as glad as we were to see her.  When everything was up the stairs, Mom and Dad let us out of the box and there we were in a place with several rooms.  We were scared, but there really wasn’t any place to hide.  There wasn’t any furniture or anything.  There was a refrigerator and a washer, but no furniture.

Our furry beds were there, so we napped, while Mom and Dad left.  We were lonely and scared, but at least we felt pretty safe.  When Mom and Dad came back, they put the memory foam mattress on the hard bed and tried to sleep.  Dad was successful, but Mom tossed and turned all night.  It was hard to sleep with them because of that and the hardness of the bed.

The next day, Mom and Dad were gone all day again, and we explored and slept.  They came back off and on, bringing things that they had bought.  The next day was pretty much the same, except some men brought a big mattress that they put in the bedroom.  It was nice and comfortable.  Sometimes they really do think of Mina and me.  It was very thoughtful of them to buy us such a nice mattress.  Mom put sheets, blanket, and comforter on it.  Oh, how nice it was!  She had a pillow, too.  Then Dad brought a small table for the kitchen, and then a white thing for on top of the counter.  Mom said she will cook on that.  The man who helped Dad bring things up from the street came back and did something with the washer and the cooker thing.  Is this finally home?  Mom had her coffee maker and her electric tea kettle and a few frying pans, but how were we to live here without more furniture?  Actually, Mina and I had enough for us, but we didn’t see how Mom and Dad were going to live with it.  Of course, it turned out to be just Mom and us, as Dad left as soon as the man was done with the washer and the cooker thing.

Some men came a few days later and did some things in the kitchen.  They made the heat thing stop leaking and did some things to the kitchen cabinets.  Mom cleaned and cleaned, because there was a lot of dust in the house.  She calls it an apartment.  She calls it home.  Dad came to visit once and it was really good to see him.  We thought maybe he would stay, but he had to go back to his mother’s house.  Mom says that he will come to live with us when the business is settled, but then he will go to Europe for a while before he is here all the time.

Mom has gone out sometimes and has been gone for a whole day sometimes.  She says she is teaching English at a school.  I’m not sure what English is or, for that matter, what a school is, but if she can teach it, that’s fine, as long as she has time for us.  Most days she is home with us, but on the weekends she is gone most of the time.  She bought some big kettles, and cooked more food for us which, by the way, is very delicious, although Mina doesn’t eat it.

The mattress is very comfortable.  We usually spend most of the day under the comforter, as this place is not always very warm.  There are heat things, but Mom doesn’t always turn them on, so it gets cold sometimes.  Also, they usually go off at night and Mom has to start them up again in the mornings.  It is not a bad place, but the floors are very cold sometimes and make my feet and legs hurt.  I sleep in the furry bed a lot, too, not just under the comforter.

Speaking of sleeping, I think I hear a nap calling my name.

Yours,

Apache

What Now?

I’ve just had a much-needed nap.  Things have been hectic and I get so tired.

Mom has been packing, packing, and repacking.  Now she says that she will fly home by herself and Dad will bring us later.  Plans keep changing over and over again.  She says she has her ticket and will be going home on September 11.  I don’t know when that is, but it must be soon.  She says she doesn’t want to leave us here, so why will she?  Why doesn’t she just stay, too?  We don’t want her to go.  It’s not that we don’t love Dad, because we love him a lot, we just need both of them here with us.

Now there has been another change.  Dad got a call the other day and said that someone wanted to give Mom a job.  There is that job thing again.  At least they don’t want to give me a job!  She and Dad went away early one day and came back at night.  They seemed pretty happy, now they say that Mom will not be flying away.  Well, that’s okay with me, but I’m not sure what has happened to change things.  We are still here in these two rooms, both Mom and us, and everything seems to be the same.

On another day, Mom packed up her two big suitcases and she and Dad left the house.  They were gone several days, but only Dad came back.  Where is Mom?  Has she actually flown away?  Mina and I are very concerned.  Mom has escaped from prison, but we are still here.  It’s true that we have Dad, and sometimes he sleeps on the bed where Mom slept.  In fact, sometimes he lets us come out of our rooms and sleep with him in the couch room.  Dad’s mother sleeps there on the couch.  I know that her knees hurt her a lot, so I decided to go and lie on them to keep them warm for her, but she didn’t like it very much.  Sometimes humans just have no sense at all.  Anyway, we can go into the couch room at night, so that’s some improvement over our two rooms.  Why couldn’t we have done that sooner, when Mom was still here?  Life is just a big mystery sometimes.  We do not see Mom at all, so maybe she has left us for good and we will never see her again.  That would be horrible!

I miss Mom so much!  Where can she be?  I’m sure she wouldn’t just leave us, but what else can I think.  Dad is gone most of every day, and his mother goes with him, so we are all alone in our two prison rooms.  I think I will go crazy.  There have just been way too many changes in our lives, and too many people coming and going, and Mom going away a lot.  What if we never see her again?  Mom, Mom, wherever you are, please come home to your babies!  We love you and miss you.  Please come back!  Dad says that we will be with her soon in our new home.  Right!  Where have we heard that one before?  A new home.  Sure!  Maybe Mom is dead!

I have to sleep now.  If I don’t, I think I will go over the edge!

Yours,

Apache

Back Again

            I haven’t felt much like playing lately.  We spent a couple of days at the new place to live, but we didn’t like it at all.  I found a cozy place in the half kitchen room, right behind the cabinets.  It was a little hard to get out of, but it was worth it.  No one could get to me there, or so I thought.

            We didn’t like the place because it smelled bad and had some gritty dust all over it.  The dust is what was smelling bad.  There were lots of dogs around outside last night, and we didn’t like that either.  All the windows were closed, too.  It was awfully lonely without Mom and Dad.  We’ve stayed alone before, but in our own home, so it wasn’t so terribly bad.  We still had familiar things around us for comfort.  Miss Patchy says she thinks that they don’t love us anymore.  I’m not so sure, but she could be right.

            Before they left to go home the second day, Dad got me out from behind the cabinet and put me in the carrier with Miss Patchy.  We were both pretty mad about that, and then riding in that car again.  The car stopped a couple of times and we thought that we were going to have a long trip again, like before.  However, the last time we stopped, we all got out and they took us back into the house again.  We’re not crazy to be back where Dad’s mother is, but it’s better than that awful new place to live.  They apologized to us and said we could stay at the house.  We will have to watch Dad’s mother, though; she is sneaky and always leaves the door open.  Sometimes I think she wants us to go outside, but I’ve been out there and it’s not all that great.  It was fun to chase the cat Mom calls Little Bit, but it’s a little scary out there, too.  There are lots of dogs barking all the time, especially at night.

            I would like to check out the kitchen, but when I am allowed out for a few minutes, the kitchen door is always closed.  I know it’s the kitchen, because I can smell food in there.  Miss Patchy doesn’t seem to care a lot, because she sleeps most of the time.  When we do go out of our rooms, most of the other doors are closed to us, so we really can’t explore at all.  I’m so bored in those two rooms.  I know every little tiny place and everything that is in them.  I have looked out the back window and the side window uncountable times.  There’s really nothing much to see out the side window, except for a wall and, occasionally, Little Bit or one of her friends as they walk through there.  Where will Little Bit live in the cold weather?  Mom says it will get very cold here.  Then I will be glad to be in these two rooms instead of outside with the outside cats.

            Well, I’m getting sleepy from boredom, and there’s nothing much to play with.  I can’t find ribbon, and Mom says that Dad’s mother doesn’t like my squeaky mice because they scare her.  She thinks they’re real when she first sees them.  She doesn’t like mice, I guess.  That’s too bad, because Miss Patchy says they taste pretty good.  Oh well, I guess there’s no accounting for tastes.

            I will take a nap and try to find something to play with later.  If I take a nice, long nap now, I can be awake when Mom is sleeping and maybe I can get her to play with me then.

Regards,

Mina

A New Place

            I can’t seem to nap very well, but I did sleep last night.  I’m tired though, and a little scared.

            Well, it actually does exist!  We came to the new place to live yesterday.  I’m still a little afraid of it and its strange noises and lots of human voices, but Mom says I will get used to it.  Dad’s mother comes here during the day, and I don’t like that, but at least we can get away from her and hide.  Mom fed us before she left, but she was here for quite a while after she fed us and then I was very hungry.  They came this morning, but it was pretty late, and I was half starved.  Mina always has her dry food in the dish, so she almost never gets hungry.

            Mom and Dad found us in the basement this morning.  It is cooler down there, but they were upset because our paws were so dirty.  Why all this concern over dirty paws?  I will get them clean.  Why isn’t the basement clean, anyway?  I don’t get it.  My paws would stay very clean if the basement was clean.  However, they say they don’t want us in the basement.  I don’t know why.  It’s a very interesting place.  There are lots of things down there that smell very familiar, lots of boxes with stuff in them.  They smell like Mom, so I like it there.  Mom comes down to the basement and does stuff with the things in the boxes.  I like it that she is there, as it is very comforting.

            Besides Mom, Dad, and Dad’s mother, there is another person here.  I think Mom and Dad said that he is Dad’s nephew.  He seems okay, but I’m just not sure yet.  Mom gets upset because I hiss at her, but all this is just so new and frightening.  Mom says that later on Dad, Mina, and I will fly back home.  There is that silly delusion about flying!  We still have no wings!  Very strange ideas that humans get into their heads!

            Dad took me upstairs to eat breakfast, but I didn’t feel all that hungry.  I ate a little and then went back to the basement.  I saw Dad’s mother on the way down, and I almost turned around to go back up.  However, she just stayed on the couch and didn’t wave any cloth at me, so I eventually continued on down to the basement.  There is a door to go outside on the way down, but I don’t think I want to go out.  We heard dogs last night, and I think they are always right outside the door.

            We found the litter box.  Of course, yesterday Mom let us out of the carrier right by it, so it wasn’t too hard to find.  It’s good to have all the comforts of home; I just wish we were really home.  Mom says we will go home – I can hardly wait!  Where we are living now is called Office.  That seems odd to me, because in the house called Phoenix, we had a room called Office.  Mom kept her computer and stuff in that room.  There is a computer here, but other rooms, too.  It’s confusing.  In one room, there is a big couch and a closet thing, but not much else other than bags and boxes.  When we go upstairs from there, there is a sort of bathroom.  Mina says that she thinks she could use that instead of going down to the litter box, but I don’t know.  There is a big hole in the floor and I could slip.  Lots of water in that room, too.  The room where I hide is sort of like part of a kitchen.  There is what looks like a counter top, a funny round sink, and some cabinets.  Then there is another room where there is a refrigerator and some cabinets.  There are some windows in that room, but they are up high.  Mina will be able to get up there, but I don’t think I will be able to.  There is also a window in the couch room.  That one I can see out of.  The door downstairs from there was covered from the outside, so we couldn’t see out at all.  This is a pretty strange place.

            In the big couch room, there is something that looks like a chair lying on its back.  I’m not sure why it would be like that.  It’s much easier to sit on when it is standing up.  I don’t think that Mina and I can set it up, so we will have to wait and see if Dad or Mom will do it.  I think it would be nice to lie on.

            Well, Mina is back behind the cabinets in the part-kitchen room.  She can get out on her own, so no one is worried about her.  I’m sure I couldn’t even get down into that space, let alone get out, so I’m not even going to try.  Lying in the cabinet is good enough for me.

            I think it is time to take a nap.  I got tired eating and coming back down to the basement, so I need this nap.

Yours,

Apache