Just We Two - Holidays

Well, the holidays are over.  At least, that’s what Mom says.  I’m not really sure exactly what a holiday is, but there is usually a lot of good food.  Also, Mom doesn’t have to work on holidays, although she used to.  I have never worked on holidays.  Of course, I have never worked.  At least not that I’m aware of.  Anyway, now Dad has to work on holidays.  Dad finally got a job!  He was very depressed about not having one, although I can’t imagine even wanting one, but he’s human – what can you expect?  He works at some place called Papa John’s and he has to work a lot at night, on weekends and on holidays.  We would rather have him at home on those days.

I am told that Thanksgiving is the name of one holiday.  It is probably my favorite of all of them, because we have turkey to eat.  I love turkey.  It is my favorite bird!  I like chicken a lot, but turkey is even better.  This year Mom saved the dark meat (neither she nor Dad like it) and cooked some other stuff, like livers and things, and mixed in the turkey’s dark meat.  She froze most of it and we ate it for a long time.  It is only just now running out, so Mom had to cook some more food yesterday.  It smelled wonderful in here.

I like Christmas, too.  Mom used to bring a tree into the house for Christmas.  It was a little bit scary, though.  She would hang things on it and it would be really sparkly.  Cherokee and I used to lie down under it, on the white sheet she put there.  I guess it was supposed to look like snow, but who likes snow?  I sure don’t, it’s cold!  Back in Massachusetts, Mom would let us out on the porch on cold, snowy days, and that stuff was just freezing.  After a couple of minutes, we would run back into the house and try to get warm, and lick the water off our paws.  Ugh!  Snow!  I haven’t seen any at this house, even though it is sometimes a little cold.    One time, there were some little white balls piled up out on the patio.  Mom called it hail.  I didn’t like that, either.  It was cold, too.

Anyway, the first year Dad was here, he and Mom had a tree in the house.  Last year and this year, though, they decided not to, because Mom was just too tired to decorate it.  Also, Mom said that trees are very expensive here.  I kind of hope they have one again, because it smells nice and reminds me of the woods where I was born.  Feline mother, where are you now?  They did put up lights outside, but I didn’t see them.  I just heard them talking about the lights.  There were also things around the house, like little candle things on what Mom called a sleigh.  Just before Mom put things away, Mina stole one of the little candle things.  Even I don’t know where it is.  Mom says that we will find it the next time we move.

Another reason I like Christmas is because Santa Claus brings things to us in our stocking.  I have never seen him, but Mom says that he is fat and wears a red suit with white trim.  He is supposed to come down the chimney, but we don’t have one.  Dad says that she shouldn’t talk to us about Santa, because he thinks that it’s wrong to try to make us believe in Santa.  Whatever!  All I care about is what is left in our stocking.  This year, we got two cans of sardines, two cans of tuna, and two pouches of treats.  Um-m-m-m-m!  Treats!  Mina loves them, too, so we always have a little struggle when Dad opens up the pouch.

Mom and Dad stayed up until midnight on what they call New Year’s Eve.  They watched some silly thing on TV where people were yelling and shouting and singing.  Mom and Dad kissed each other and not long after, they went to bed.  Mom cooked corned beef for New Year’s Day, but she wouldn’t give us any, saying that it wasn’t good for us - too much salt and seasoning.  It smelled pretty good, though, and Dad did sneak us a couple of little bits of it. 

Last week was another holiday, for Mom, anyway.  She said that banks and government offices were closed, and some other places, too.  I don’t know what all those places are, except that banks are where we get money from, but she didn’t have to work, so she was able to stay home with us again.  It was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  Mom was sorry that he hadn’t been born in March, so that the holidays could be spread out a little.  Now there won’t be another holiday for a long time.  It doesn’t really matter to me, since (as I mentioned before) I don’t work anyway.  The main reason I like some holidays is because of the food.

Well, I’m a little tired and think I should take a nap before supper.  It wouldn’t do to be too tired to eat!

Yours,

Apache

Just We Two - Mom

Nothing like a nice nap on Mom’s lap!  Absolutely the best!

I’ve been very worried about Mom for some time now.  There was a sort of funny smell to her and I stayed with her wherever she went in the house and always, always slept on her lap when she sat down.  Sometimes I even braved the closed bedroom door to sleep on the bed with her, or just be near her.  I just felt that something was not quite right.

Finally, she went to see a vet, or as she calls it, a doctor.  She came back smelling even odder, so I stuck by her some more.  She said they poked a hole in her.  Awful!!

Last week, she went to a place called a hospital for the day and came back smelling even stranger, if that’s possible.  However, the first funny smell seems to be gone.  She has been wearing some unusual pieces of clothing (as if they all weren’t strange!), but I stayed with her.  The smell seemed to come from her left milk holder and the under part of the arm near it.  I smelled both those places thoroughly and then rubbed against them and curled up on them to keep her warm.  I purred to help her heal.  I think it is working.  Mom says that she really appreciates all I do for her and loves it when I come up in her lap and do the purr cure, and says that she is healing very well.

Please, Mom!  Don’t leave me.  I need you.  I love Dad, and I even am fond of Mina, but I love Mom the most, since I have known her for so long.  What would I do without her?  It was bad enough losing Cherokee, but I would not survive losing Mom, too.  Mom keeps telling me that she is going to be just fine, that they took all the bad stuff out and she is healing well and will be as good as new very soon.  She says that she still needs to do more stuff to be sure she will stay okay for the rest of her life.  Will there be new strange smells?  I will keep purring the cure as long as it takes to make her healed and well.

I don’t think Mina has even noticed the smells.  She spends more time with Dad and certainly hasn’t known Mom as long as I.  Of course, she would miss Mom, but she would get over it before long, especially if she had Dad.  She is young and is still capable of handling all sorts of things.  I, on the other hand, am not.  I am no longer flexible, either in my mind or in my body.  Maybe if I lost a little weight . . .

Mom got up real early this morning to go see the vet/doctor, and she says she has to get up even earlier tomorrow – something about a balloon.  I think Mina had a balloon once.  I just can’t figure out what a balloon has to do with Mom’s milk holder.  Perhaps I heard incorrectly.  I also heard another new word from her – radiation.  What is it?  Mom says she is afraid of it, but feels she must do it (whatever it is).  I guess maybe we shall see.

Well, I think it’s time for another nap, once I have finished eating my supper.  Dad is home and will be feeding us soon.

Yours,

Apache

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

Just We Two - Curiouser and Curiouser

Well, I had a nice night, even though I slept through most of it.  We had a great breakfast, and I will be playing soon, although I need a little rest first.

A new thing happened to me the other day.  I was just minding my own business and looking around for something to do when I began to cough and I felt something in my throat.  It was a little odd feeling, so I tried to ask Mom about it, but she didn’t seem to understand what I was asking, even though she knew it was a question.  I coughed a little more, and suddenly, something came up my throat, out of my mouth, and fell onto the floor.  I was very surprised.  I had seen Miss Patchy do that, but it had never happened to me before.  I asked Miss Patchy about it and she said that I shouldn’t worry; it was just a hairball.  I asked her why it happened, and she explained to me that I have been shedding, with lots of my beautiful, long fur loosening up.  I have been having to groom myself a lot lately, and she said that I have been swallowing my fur for a long time and now it was time for it to come up.  She said it happens pretty often and that now I am an adult.  No more kitten, even though I still feel quite kittenish.  Mom says I play like a kitten, too.  Why do I have to be an adult?  Actually, though, I don’t really see any difference except that I now have hairballs.  At least it doesn’t hurt!

The lights went off again, just a few days after the last time.  It was daytime, so we didn’t need the light stick or the candles.  Later on, Mom said that a car had hit a utility pole (whatever that is) and that turned our lights off.  What does a car hitting this pole have to do with our lights?  They weren’t off for very long, which Mom said was good because it was pretty hot outside and the cold air machine didn’t work, either.  I’m glad it hasn’t happened at our meal time, because Mom says we shouldn’t open the refrigerator when the lights are out, so that it won’t warm up inside.  Our food is in there!  It’s scary to think that we might not be able to eat because the lights go out.

Dad has been going away every day for a few days now.  He says that he has a job and has to go away to it.  It’s very lonely here when both Mom and Dad are gone.  Mom has a job, too, but she goes away mostly in the morning, while Dad goes away in the afternoon and evening, so most of the time we are not alone.  When Dad is home, he spends a lot of time on the computer, so I go up to the office to help him.  Sometimes I watch him from the second chair, sometimes I watch him from on top of the desk.  Sometimes he plays with me and sometimes he strokes me.  I like Dad a lot.  I like Mom, too, because she is also very good at stroking me.  They both spend too much time stroking Miss Patchy, though.  Sometimes I get a little mad and just lie there and glare at them while they are stroking her.  I’m not sure they even notice me.  I always feel as though I shouldn’t let them stroke me any more when they do that, but then they start doing it and I have to let them.

Mom cooked some food for Miss Patchy and me last night.  I heard her tell Dad that there is chicken, beef kidney, and chicken hearts, gizzards and liver in it.  It smelled very good, but I would rather eat the dry food.  Miss Patchy would rather eat the wet food and the stuff Mom cooks, so we often exchange our dishes.  The whole house smelled really good, and Dad was hungry when he came home from work and he ate some of our chicken.  It takes Mom quite a while to make the food.  She cooks it for a long time, then lets it cool off, and then she has to chop it up.  She mixes some of the cooking juice with it and then puts it in little containers that she keeps in the freezer.  She is a very good Mom and Dad is a very good Dad, because he gives us treats.  While our food was cooking, he took a chicken heart out of the pot and chopped it up and gave it to us.  I liked that.

Well, it is getting late in the morning and I haven’t played yet.  Lots of playing to do, lots of toys to play with.  So many toys, so little time!

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - Strange Times

I haven’t yet had time to play today.  I just finished breakfast a short time ago and had to take a little nap before playing.  I lay in the office window and slept off breakfast.

I would like to talk about something strange that happened the other night.  We were all sitting in the living room, watching television.  I can’t remember what was on, but I think it was just changing all the time, the way it does sometimes when Dad has the little box in his hand.  Anyway, we were just sitting there and Mom and Dad were talking, when all the lights went out.  The television went out, too, and the ceiling fans stopped.  It was a little scary, but Miss Patchy and I could see okay.  I’m not sure about Mom and Dad.  Dad stayed on the couch, and Mom walked slowly into the kitchen.  When she came out of the kitchen, she had some sort of a stick in her hand.  When she made the stick click, light came out of it.  It made a little circle of light on the floor, or on the wall, or wherever it settled.  When Mom got back to the living room, she lit a candle and there was some light in the room then.  I found it all very odd.  Why didn’t they just turn on the lights and the television?  There must have been some sort of reason why.

After a few minutes of sitting in the light of the candle, Mom told Dad that she was going to go upstairs on the roof to see if everybody’s lights were off.  The little circle of light from the light stick went up with her.  I ran up after her and managed to dash out onto the roof before Mom could stop me.  It was very exciting!  There was a really bright light coming down from the sky.  Who needed lights?  Mom looked around and said that everybody’s light were off except for some way off, where she could see some lights.  I couldn’t see, because of the wall.  I was going to go up on the wall to see what I could see, but Mom grabbed me and took me back inside before I could do so.

We went back downstairs and Mom and Dad talked some more.  Mom said they might as well go to bed, since they couldn’t watch television or read or anything.  She said they could talk in the dark in bed just as well as in the dark in the living room.  It had been dark for quite a while by then, so they went upstairs and got ready for bed.  Mom turned off the switches on the cords in the office, turned off the cold air machine, and turned on the light switch for the shower light.  They weren’t in bed for long before the shower light came on.  Mom got up and turned on the cold air and turned off the shower light and the two of them went to sleep.

Why did the lights go off?  Will I ever find out?  Did Mom or Dad do something?  Why were all the lights off when Mom looked around from the roof?  Where does the light come from anyway?  All I know is that someone clicks a switch on the wall and there is light.  I have asked Miss Patchy, but she doesn’t know either.  She also said she didn’t really care, just as long as there is light and she is comfortable and gets good food.  I certainly appreciate all those things, but I am really curious about the missing lights.  Mom said something about electricity and power.  I don’t know what that is, but it must have something to do with the lights.  I guess I will have to let it go for now, since no one seems to be able to explain it to me.

Another strange thing happened yesterday.  I found the balloon.  It didn’t run away after all.  It was just hiding, probably embarrassed because it was getting small.  It looked as though it might be fun to play with since it was smaller, so I jumped on it, intending to pick it up.  Well, it made a loud noise and turned into a little piece of plastic.  That scared me.  What happened?  Another mysterious event!  The world is just full of strange, unexplainable things.  Dad threw what was left of the balloon in the garbage, along with the string that was attached to it.  Maybe another balloon will come to visit us some day.

Mom got mad at me yesterday.  She went into the office in the morning and found that I had pulled a skirt off a hanger.  She has several things hanging on a hook on the door.  I just can’t resist her clothes.  Also, it’s fun to make her mad.  Anyway, she picked up the skirt and looked it over carefully to make sure I hadn’t put any holes in it and then put it back on the hanger, saying that she must iron it.  What is ironing?  Maybe I will find out soon, if she irons the skirt.

Well, I think I hear my toys calling me to play.  I’ll just finish a short nap first and then be off.

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - Lots of Fun

Whee!  I just had breakfast and I’m feeling fine!  Time to play before I take a nap!

I just wanted to say how much fun I have with Miss Patchy.  When we finally get Mom to get up out of bed to feed us, we run down the stairs.  I usually jump over Miss Patchy at least once on the way down.  If I miss, I go back up and try again.  It’s just so great to run up and down the steps and jump over her.  Then, on the way into the kitchen I leap over her at least once more.  It’s just so much fun!  She doesn’t seem to mind too much.  Mom gives us such a great breakfast!  We both eat pretty fast, but once Miss Patchy finishes up her wet food and homemade food, she pushes me out of the way so she can finish up mine, too.  Fortunately, most of the time Mom is standing right there and she says “Patchy?” in a loud voice and gently nudges her back to her own dish with her foot.  Once the good stuff is gone, it doesn’t really matter who eats out of which dish, so I usually let Miss Patchy eat from my dish, if she wants to.

Miss Patchy and I wrestle a lot, but she doesn’t want to keep going for very long.  She gets grumpy and starts to growl at me.  What fun!  I always like to see how long it takes to make her growl.  Then we can switch our tails back and forth, as if we were angry, and glare at each other.  I usually jump on her a few times before she gets really mad.  I then move on to play with my toys.  I’m always finding new ones, too.  Just the other day, I found a flat, round toy on the dresser.  It had a little hook-like thing on it.  For some reason, it didn’t play very well, so I left it on the bedroom floor.  Dad picked it up and showed it to Mom who said it was an earring.  She put it away in the closet.

That’s another thing. When Mom and Dad were gone last week, Dad left the closet door open.  It was a lot of fun playing with the things hanging down from Mom’s clothes.  I also cleaned off the top of the little cabinet in there, except for a few heavy things.  There were more of those earrings hanging on a thing on top of the cabinet, but I couldn’t get any of them off to play with.  Darn!  They looked like a lot of fun.  Another great toy is what Mom calls twister ties.  Dad almost never remembers to close the bread bags and leaves the twister ties on the counter.  Of course, Mom and Dad don’t want me on the counter, but I go anyway.  What harm can there be in it?  Anyway, I want to go on the counter.  I always grab those twister ties and play with them all over the house, although sometimes I put them in the water bowl.  Mom finds them and then talks to Dad about closing the bread bags and keeping the twister ties away from me.  What a spoil sport!

A couple of days ago, Dad brought home what they called a balloon.  It was round and red and, at first, it hung out on the ceiling.  Mom pulled it down and showed it to me.  I didn’t like it at all and I kept backing away from it.  She tied it to a chair leg so it wouldn’t go up in the high part of the living room ceiling.  The next day, it was hanging out on the floor.  Mom took its string off the chair leg and bounced it around on the floor.  I watched, but I still didn’t like it.  This morning, I don’t know where it is.  Maybe it ran away because I didn’t like it.  It seemed kind of sad, since it wasn’t up by the ceiling any more.

Lately, I have been spending a lot of time in the dining room window.  What wonderful things, windows.  I’m not quite sure how they work, but there are a lot of things to see in a window.  Sometimes there are buzz birds in the window and sometimes there are other things.  Sometimes, even Mom is in the window.  Hmmmm!  I wonder if I could ever be in the window.  Is it like the television?  I’ve never seen a buzz bird or Mom in the television.  When Mom opens the door and goes outside, I can see her in the window.  I must try to get outside to see if I can get in the window.  Who would see me in the window, though?  I’m the one who looks at it.

I’ve also been watching television a lot with Mom and Dad.  Sometimes I lie on the floor under the comfy chair, and sometimes I lie on the couch next to them.  There are so many people and other creatures in the television.  I have gone up on the cabinet that holds the television, but I can’t figure out how to get into it myself.  This is very puzzling.  Miss Patchy says not to worry about it and to take a nice nap, but I need to figure this out.  I’m a little tired now, though, so I guess I will think about it later, after a nap.

Regards,

Mina