Mom Apologized!

            A nap is always so refreshing, so I take one as often as possible.  Mina says I am just lazy, but she is a lot younger and doesn’t seem to need so many naps.

            Well, my anger has cooled off now and I can talk about the incident.  I was so terribly angry with Mom.  I just don’t know how she can be so kind and loving sometimes and just so horribly cruel other times.  I expressed my anger in no uncertain terms.  I would not allow her to touch me and I would not snuggle in bed.  I stayed at the foot of the bed and just lay there with my eyes open, just staring into space and looking hurt.  Well, I was hurt!  My feelings were terribly hurt.  What did she do?  The unthinkable!  When she washed the dishes the other night, she actually closed and latched the kitchen door!  I couldn't get in.  How could she do such a thing?  And it was just before supper time, to add insult to injury.  I called at the door, but she paid no attention.  Later on, when she opened the door again, it was all I could do to eat the supper she put in my bowl.  I’m hoping she won’t do that again, because it is just beyond cruel.  Mom has apologized many times and she promises that it won’t happen again.  We shall see!

            I’m happy to report that Mom and Dad sometimes now talk aloud.  Only sometimes, though.  Mina says the reason I think they aren’t talking is because I am going deaf.  Hmph!  Of all the impertinence of that cheeky, little girl!  I don’t know why Mom brought her into the house anyway.  She says she brought Mina home for me.  Why on earth she would do that is beyond me.  Anyway, sometimes I can hear them talking and can even hear the muezzin once in a while.  It’s nice to hear their voices; I just wish they would keep on talking and not mouth what they are saying.  It’s so rude!  Deaf, indeed!

            Mom now leaves the balcony door open a lot.  I don’t actually go out, but I often sit in the doorway, enjoying the breeze or the little bit of sun that comes there in the afternoon.  I don’t dare go all the way out, with Mom’s penchant for closing doors.  I could get stuck out there!  Mina says it’s fun out there, but I’ll just let her have that kind of fun.  It’s all cold floor, with nothing soft to lie on, so I’ll just stick with the inside where I have lots of options.  She also opens the bedroom window a lot now, but leaves the see-through curtain over the opening.  She says it keeps out birds and flies.

            We just had some very loud rain last night.  There was a lot of what Mom and Dad call thunder and lightning.  It got so loud that it was scary.  Mom gave a little scream at one point, because she said the lightning must have hit something.  It was a very loud crack!  She hasn’t yet been able to find out what, if anything, was hit by the lightning.  I don’t like that kind of rain, but Mina says it is much louder than I think, because I just can’t hear it all that well.

            Mom and Dad got some really good food in a can.  They say it is beef.  That’s fine with me, as it is very delicious.  Even Mina likes it.  Mom says that Mina’s problem is that she likes only red meat, and not chicken.  We had a can of lamb and kidney before and Mina liked that, too.  Mom says she will get a can once in a while.

            Talking about Mom screaming, she growls.  She growls a lot.  They are just short little growls and come on at any time, whether she’s angry or not.  I don’t understand these little growls.  Why does she do it?  Sometimes there will be a lot of them all at once, and sometimes they are very loud.  Often, she holds her stomach after growling.  I don’t know what her stomach has to do with anything.  Maybe her mind is going and in her confused state she thinks there is something to growl at.  Oh well, just one more human mystery to not understand.

            Well, all this thinking has made me very tired, so I’m going to have to take a nap.  Maybe in a dream the answer to why Mom growls will come to me.

Yours,

Apache

Mom's Home!

            What a nice nap!  It’s warm and cozy here, and Mina and I snuggle under our comforter on our wonderful, comfortable mattress.

            It was so great to see Mom and Dad.  They came home early in the morning and fed us right away.  Then we all took a long nap.  We were so happy!  Mom came home with a lot of suitcases, and they were full of things that she brought from away.  One of the things she brought home was treats!  Oh, we haven’t had any treats for ever so long.  They are so delicious!  That’s our Mom!  Always thinking of us, as is only right.  Mom had some familiar smells on her, but also some very unfamiliar ones, too.  I smelled other felines, but none that I have ever met.  I also smelled Mom’s daughter and grandson.  They weren’t in the suitcases, though.  I guess maybe they wouldn’t fit.  It would be nice if they were here, but not their felines.  That would be too much. 

            There were all kinds of other smells, too, some that made me sneeze, Mina, too.  Mom brought more of that coffee stuff that she likes to have every morning.  I don’t know why she likes it, as it smells bad to me.  There were no meat smells, so I didn’t spend much time sniffing her suitcases.  I just want to cuddle and snuggle and let her know how much we missed her.  Sometimes we snuggle with Dad in the living room.  That’s always nice, because we get to lie on the couches that they bought.  When the couches came to the house, we thought that Mom and Dad bought them for us, but we aren’t allowed in the living room unless they are in there.  We have to lie on blankets on the couches, which is not bad.  I don’t especially like the feel of the material on the couches anyway.  Dad watches television a lot, so I get to cuddle up next to him, lying on the nice soft blanket.  It is so warm and nice.  Every time he gets up, I move over to the warm spot he has left.  It’s funny, but he never appreciates this.  Mina always just lies on the other couch and glares at us.

            Ever since Mom got back, she has been sleeping a lot.  She said something about jet lag.  I don’t know what it is, but if it makes her snuggle with me in the bed, there is a lot to be said for it.  Again, she mentioned flying.  What can I do to disabuse her of this delusion?  She has no wings, so she cannot fly.  Why can’t she see that?  She said that Mina and I flew, too, some time ago, but we have no wings either.  I guess if that’s the only thing wrong with Mom (and Dad, too), I can accept it.  It kind of bothers me, though.  Mina just says that she wishes she could fly, so that maybe she could catch one of those birds that are constantly flying around.  She can catch the flies, because they come into the house through the open windows, but the birds never do.  Mom keeps telling Mina that the birds are about as big as she is and that she might have trouble catching one, no matter what.  Mom says that they are called pigeons, doves, and magpies.  Hmmmm!  Mom loves to eat pie, but what kind of a pie is a magpie?

            Life is almost back to normal now, except that Dad keeps talking about moving to a stand bull.  What is that?  Now we are going to live in a bull?  A turkey wasn’t enough?  I will never understand these things, so I might as well go back to sleep and have a nice nap.

Yours,

Apache

Where is Mom?

            I have been napping a lot now.  It helps with the loneliness.  I’m just tired all the time, and now I’m cold, too.

            One day, Mom brought out the suitcases.  That is always a bad sign.  She put one suitcase inside another one, and then brought out a small one, too.  She put some clothes in them and a few other things that she said she was not going to bring back.  It was very strange, why two suitcases in one?  She said that she was taking one back to the person who owned it.  Why was it here if someone else owned it?  I sometimes have trouble understanding the human process.

            Anyway, Mom and Dad left the house one evening with the suitcases and Mom’s large purse.  It was dark already, and they fed us before they left.  I don’t know where they went, but they didn’t come back.  Some strange woman wearing a scarf came into the house and gave us food.  Is she Dad's mother?  Mina was scared and hid, but I’m just too tired to hide anymore.  I hide only from the vacuum cleaner because it is loud.  It is cold now, and the heat does not come on.  Mina and I snuggle under the comforter on the bed.  Thank goodness for the comfortable mattress and the nice, warm comforter they bought us.  We would freeze without them.  It is very quiet in the house.  Where are they?

            A couple of days later, Dad came home, but Mom was not with him.  Where is Mom?  I fear that she is dead, or she would have come back.  She would not leave us if she were alive.  Oh, how we miss Mom.  At least we have Dad.  That is enough for Mina, but to me Dad is someone new in my life.  I have lived with Mom for a very long time, long before Dad came into the picture.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Dad, but I need Mom!  I wonder what they have done with her.  She has been gone for a long time.

            Dad is very good to us.  He feeds us and he cleans the litter box.  He plays with Mina, and he snuggles with me in the living room.  What more could we ask?  I want Mom.  We both miss her so much.

            A few days later, Dad left again, with that woman coming in to feed us.  Now where is Dad?  Why did he leave us again?  What are we going to do?  Maybe Dad is dead, too!  It is cold again, quiet, and lonely.  Food is definitely okay, but we need Mom and Dad.  I am shivering now with cold and fear.

            Maybe a good, long nap will help me to feel better.  Maybe Mina will cuddle up and help to keep me warm.

Yours,

Apache

Why Must I Learn Something New?

            Lately, it has been very hard to get up from my naps.  I would rather just nap all the time and forget about anything else but eating.

            However, instead of being allowed to do that, I now have to learn something new.  Mom is insisting that I learn to read lips.  I have no idea why, but she keeps moving her lips just the way she does when she talks, but no sound comes out.  It’s very frustrating, even though I am beginning to learn some of the things she is saying.  I have learned to read Mom’s lips when she says:  “Patchy, I love you.”  That’s nice to know, but I would love to hear her voice again.  She just refuses to make sounds, though.  She is even cruel enough that she no longer calls me for supper, so I have to be vigilant about the time, or I might miss my meal.  Sometimes I can hear her talk, but very softly; she must forget that she is teaching me to read lips.  For some reason, Dad has joined in this cruel behavior, as well.  I don’t even think that Mom and Dad make sounds to each other anymore, either.  I see them moving their lips to each other, but no sound.  When I talk, Mom always puts her finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet or to talk more softly.  I just don’t understand this whole thing.  Why are they doing this to me?  It’s funny, but Mina says she hears them.  I think she is just lying to me.  How could she hear them and I cannot?

            They also sneak up on me all the time.  Whenever I have my back turned, I will turn around and there is one of them coming toward me.  It makes me jump because I am so startled.  Sometimes, I feel the air move when they are passing by, and it really bothers me that they are sneaking up on me.  Why are they doing this?  Don’t they want me to know that they are there?  Are they trying to avoid me?  So many questions, but no answers.

            At least Mom has been cooking some good food lately.  The last batch had what Mina said Dad calls Hamsi in it.  It is very obviously fish and it tasted very good mixed with the chicken, livers, and hearts.  Mom is a great cook when she wants to be.  Dad cooked some of the Hamsi for himself, too, because I could smell it very strongly.  Mina told me that Mom said it made the whole house smell for days and she hated it.  I smelled it, too, but I thought it smelled very good and I was sorry when it was gone.  Mom didn’t eat any.  Some people just have no taste.  She doesn’t eat livers or hearts, either.  Very strange!  How does Mina know what they are saying?  Can she already read lips?

            Mom has started something new with me.  She hates it when I scratch the rug in the bedroom and it always wakes her up.  I thought it would be a good way to get her to wake up and feed me my breakfast early.  I guess I was wrong (for the first time ever).  Mom now gets up and chases me into the small bedroom and shuts the door.  I was pretty mad about it this morning, and left her a little present on the floor.  She noticed it right away when she opened the door to let me out for breakfast.  I saw her wrinkle her nose.  Well, she fed us and then cleaned up the mess.  She flushed what she could pick up, then used a wet paper towel, and then mopped with the smelly floor cleaner.  When she put the mop away, she stepped on our water dish and flipped it over, getting a lot of water in her slipper and all over the floor.  I laughed a lot.  That should teach her to lock me up!  I hope she isn’t thinking of doing it again.

            Dad has gone away again.  I don’t know when he’ll be back, as they never tell me anything anymore.  I feel so hurt and unloved now that they are not talking to me.  Will it ever end?

            It is time for a nap now.  Writing makes me really, really tired, as does thinking about my problems, so I will say goodbye for now.

Yours,

Apache

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