Feral Friday: Orangies Rule!

Sherbet writes:

Orangies rule!  At least I think so, because I'm one!  I rule my box, at least.  I love my carrier box, and I don't let anyone else poke their head or paws inside it.  If they do, they get hissed at or growled at.

I'm getting much braver now, too!  See me peeking out at Mommy?  She came to check on me, and I was watching her like this.  I hiss when she gets almost to the food, though, unless she has the food scoop.  I hiss at Daddy, too, when he gets close.  That doesn't stop them from coming in to talk to me, though, and I'm glad about that.  Grandpa was here last night, and I thought it was interesting that someone else was here!  I kept looking and looking at him while he was talking to me from the hallway!

I've even gotten brave enough now to come out of my carrier to eat, drink, and even use the litter box when the door is open!  Mommy surprised me the other day when she walked down the hallway.  I was out of the carrier, sitting on my side of the food plate, eating!  I ran back into my carrier when I saw her, though.  If the door's closed, I walk all around the room and even lie down in some places.  Mommy and Daddy can tell because I'm shedding, so they see orange fur where I've been!

A very scary but very funny thing happened earlier this week.  Mommy was getting some people fur from the top of the dressers next to me, when all of a sudden something black came flying off the dresser toward me!  I was watching her, and I hissed at the flying thing a few times, especially when it landed in my food plate!  Mommy was surprised, too, but then she started laughing.  It was one of Daddy's socks!  Freya came to investigate and wanted to take off with it, but it wasn't one of her socks so she couldn't have it.  Mommy got it off the plate and put it in the laundry hamper.  I'm glad it wasn't really a monster, but I'm glad to have hissed at it anyway!

Heimdall's Phone Conversations

Heimdall writes:

Two years ago, when Mommy was talking with Grammy on the phone, I asked to purr my motorboat purr for her, and then hung up on her by pawing the phone!  I've only done that one time since, and it was when I was purring for Great-Grandma (Mommy's dad's mom).  She heard my purrs, and all of a sudden she was listening to the dial tone!  Mommy called her right back and explained what happened, and everyone got a good laugh out of it.

I love to purr for everyone on the phone!  If Mommy's talking with someone, I immediately hop up onto the desk and start purring, then reach for Mommy's hand or for the phone itself.  She holds it for me and I purr, sometimes listening to the person on the other end talk to me.  When I'm listening to the person talk, I stop purring, then I start again when it's my turn to "talk".

Sometimes, if it's Mommy's dad, he talks in Norwegian to me.  I don't understand many of the words he uses, but I understand his meaning.  Then he purrs back to me!  I back away from the phone and look at Mommy, telling her that he's making that weird noise again!  I guess it's purring, of some sort, but he's a human so he shouldn't be purring.  That's my sound to make to him!

Caring for Daddy

Daddy has the flu!  He's been sick for a week and a half now, so we've all been taking turns caring for him.  In this picture, Autumn is on the footrest and Panther is behind Daddy's back.  Autumn, Missy, and Starla have been Daddy's main nurses, with Freya and Panther also taking turns sometimes.  At one point, all three of his main nurses were snuggling at one time!  Daddy's getting a little better, but scared us all last night when he started to not breathe like normal.  He had to go to the emergency room, so Grandpa took him.  He's back home now with us and getting some more of our healing snuggles and purrs, and breathing better again.

Have a happy & safe Fourth!!!

 


Wow!  Happy Independence Day, America!  We're thankful that we live in this great country, where our people have so many freedoms!  That means they also have the freedom to be our purrents, and we have the freedom to live and be chosen as their fur family.

Today is very special for Mommy and her parents (our grandpurrents) every year, because before Mommy was born, she jumped around in Grandma's tummy when the big booms went off during the firework show!  She wasn't supposed to be born until September, but she was just too excited to come out to see what all that racket was about!  Her birthday's not for a little over a week, though.  So she waited a little while.  Growing up, Mommy's parents told her that story as part of the 4th of July celebration each year, and everyone still smiles about it now.  So for her, it's part and parcel of what the 4th is all about.

Enjoy the food, festivities, and fun!  Don't get too scared of the fireworks, make sure your purrents give you a safe place to be during the big booms, and keep your collar on (and keep inside) with all the excitement!

Of Vishus Deer, Birdies, and Visiting

Tabby writes:

We've had a crazy week here at the PDX pride!  On Monday, Auntie Diane had back surgery at the same hospital where Daddy had his back surgery.  That meant that I could go visit her!  Mommy and Daddy took me there on Tuesday.  I snuggled right by Auntie Diane on her bed, purred, and got lots of petting.  Auntie Diane was so impressed with my visiting skills, and so were the nursing staff who came to take her for x-rays.  This was a special visit because it was for a family member and I could ride in an air-conditioned vehicle (not the bus).  My regular visiting schedule starts up again next month, when it won't be so hot out.

Miss Marble climbed a tree to go blue jay hunting on Thursday!  Yep, all the way to the top of our dead apple tree out back!  Of course, by the time she got to the top, the jay was long-gone.  Bummers.  I was watching out the kitchen window, and chattered at the jay as it flew off.  Miss Marble yelled for Mommy to come get her out of the tree, but Mommy said she could do it all by herself.  And, guess what?  She did!  She turned herself around and went back down the branch to the trunk.  By that time, Tigress had woken up.  Tigress bounded over to the tree, then put on the brakes when she realized that her sis was up there.  They talked for a few minutes, then Tigress shook her head at her crazy sister and went off to hunt her own food.  Miss Marble came the rest of the way down the tree.  Can you see her in the pics below?  I'll give you the two big pictures, then close-ups of the pictures.

Friday, Daddy looked out the back window and saw Tigress with a baby birdie in her mouth.  It was still alive, and Tig was playing with it.  She let it go, then batted it, then caught it again.  She brought it up to the deck to show Daddy, but he didn't want her playing with it up there.  He opened the door to make her drop the birdie, and in it came!  We had a baby birdie in the house!  We all were so excited, but Heimdall and Little Bit were the most excited.  They started to hunt it, stalking it as it ran around the house looking for a way out.  Daddy got down on hands and knees, trying to capture it, and finally succeeded.  He took it out to the back fence and let it go, telling it that it had better run away quickly.  It ran for a little while, then took off flying.

Yesterday, Daddy, Mommy, and I went to Goble to see how Auntie Diane was doing.  I met her mom and their new doggie, Timber.  Timber barks very loudly!  He's just a puppy, and was doing his best to guard his people from us.  Auntie Diane told him we were ok, but he didn't agree, so he got crated.  I, however, was very calm and curled up on the couch between Auntie Diane and Mommy.  Everyone was so proud of me!  After the visit with them, we went to Gramma and Grampa's.  They live in the town where I was born:  Clatskanie.  I wasn't born in their yard, but that's the same town.  I got pets from Gramma while she and Mommy talked.  Grampa and Daddy did stuff on the computer.  I saw two of their kitties:  Elizabeth and Eeyore.  Pinky was around then, too, but he didn't come out to be seen.  They are all three 12 years old!  That's really old for kitties!

When we left, it was dark.  Daddy knows to drive slower in the dark around there, because there are deer that can run onto the road.  Well, guess what happened?  Yep, a deer ran in front of the car.  He ran to the middle of the road, then just stood there.  We thought we were going to be safe and drive past him, since he was facing away from us and the other side of the road was clear.  Nope, he turned around and came toward us again.  He ran right into Daddy's side of the car!  He hit the door and the front of the car, leaving a big dent.  He also pooped on the car!  It was really scary, and I saw the whole thing because I was standing on Mommy's purse!  Can you believe that deer got back up after it hit us and ran into the woods?  We went back to Gramma and Grampa's so Grampa could check on the car.  We ended up switching the car for the truck (since Grampa owns both vehicles) and drove back home in the truck.  We were all so glad to be back home again safely!

Tabby and Mommy visited Daddy in the hospital

Tabby writes:

I got to go with Mommy and Grandpa to visit Daddy in the hospital!  I didn't know where we were going, so I got scared that they were taking me back to the vet.  Nope, we went someplace called a hospital, which is a bigger version of a human vet.  I cheered up a lady in one of the waiting rooms, got petted by two little girls, and surprised one of the intake nurses.  The intake nurse asked Mommy all kinds of questions about me after learning about my important job of visiting Daddy.

Then, we finally got to see Daddy.  He was in a strange bed with a couple machines hooked up to him.  He was napping when we got there, but woke up for a bit.  He was still very groggy, and threw up a little since he got woken up.  I wanted to sit in his lap, but I couldn't find his lap!  I headed for his tummy instead, and got warned off.  Mommy put me on Daddy's legs, so I snuggled there.  I wanted to be closer, but they wouldn't let me.  I knew I was helping Daddy by being there and purrrrrrrring on him, though!  We stayed about 20 minutes with Daddy, then went back home.  Daddy gets to come back home tomorrow.

I had another drooling episode tonight, but not for very long.  I may need another anti-nausea injection next week.  That helped me the last time!

Therapy Cat Tales from 6/20/10

Tabby writes:


Yay, we got to go visiting again last week!!!  :)  >^..^<  I sooo missed seeing all my friends!  We took the bus & MAX light rail there, but Mommy said we were going to get to ride with Grandpa for going home.  I love my grandpa!  He always wears a special shirt when he comes to visit so that our fur doesn't get snagged in it, which means that he can hold us and pet us more.

We had some extra time downtown Portland, so we stopped at a store.  Mommy bought some cute Hello Kitty pajamas that were on sale, pink leopard-patterned ones!


At H., I hopped out of the stroller and walked to the office door, then turned around and lay down to wait for Mommy to finish signing us in.  That's become my new habit now!  A couple of the residents stopped to pet me, and the receptionist walked over to pick me up and hold me.  *Purrrrrrs*  Then she let me in the door, and Mommy followed with the stroller.  I walked in and said hi to S., then we got our list.  Mommy showed S. the pajamas, and S. took them to show a couple other people, who all thought they were cute too.

I strolled into the elevator this time.  On the way to the elevator, we saw R. and another lady.  The other lady was afraid of cats!  The receptionist took my leash while Mommy was showing R. the pictures of the new kittens, and I wanted to go into a room with lots of boxes on shelves.  The receptionist said it was called a mailroom and the boxes were people's mailboxes.  They looked like good sleeping spots to me!

We only had time for a short visit, because we were going over to Mommy's grandparents' house afterward to visit for a while.  It was her uncle's birthday on the 15th, so we were going to go see him and them.  I got to see three friends at H., though, and visit with one other new friend there!  The new friend, I., loved seeing me, and talked with us about her experiences growing up on a farm.  She had pet pigs and pet calves, along with the other animals!

It took a while for Grandpa to come pick us up, and I got bored waiting.  R. came by just before Grandpa came, while we were still in the lobby, and was surprised we were still sitting there.  Traffic was terrible, so it took about twice as long as Grandpa had thought it would to come get us.  I knew we'd had a short visit and not seen everyone that I normally see, so I tried to go back inside when we went to get in the car.  Mommy and Grandpa said we were leaving, so I turned my back to them and sat down facing the door to H. until they got the stroller folded and in the car.  Yes, I was pouting!

I was fine once we got going, though.  I love riding in cars!  Not buses so much, because some of the bus noises scare me, but I love cars!  I usually sit on Mommy's lap in the passenger seat and watch through the side window.  If I'm really tired, like I was on Friday, I lay down on a lap and rest.  Traffic was bad on the way back, too, so we sat a while.  At one point, we were sitting and there were people with signs on the side of the road.  Grandpa said they were asking for money.  They were looking at the people in the cars because they were bored, too, and then one of them saw me.  Grandpa's window was down, and they were on that side, so the man called to me!  I flicked my ears, but I was so tired that I just stayed put.  The man asked Grandpa and Mommy a couple of questions about me, and the lady thought it was cool that I was riding in a car so calmly.  Then it was time for our car to move again.

When we were almost to my great-grandparents' house, I suddenly perked up and looked around, sitting straight up in Mommy's lap.  What did I smell?  Was that a creek?  Wait a minute, why was the water on both sides of the road?  Grandpa told me that we were crossing over the creek.  I sniffed toward one side of it, then the other.  Nice!

At my great-grandparents', we weren't sure that I could go in right away so Mommy and I went out to the backyard first while Grandpa asked if it was ok to bring me in.  There were some lovely flowers, but I stuck my nose right in them and then sneezed!  Some blue jays were taunting me, so I was very glad to go in the house rather than be outside.  Not nice, birdies, when I can't chase you!

I walked up the steps into the house, then stopped to sniff.  A carpet!  Purrring, kneading the plush carpet with my paws/claws, total luxury!  We used to have carpet at our old house, but it was torn up.  Besides, it wasn't like this:  thick, nice-smelling, great on the paws!  I tipped over and rolled on my back on the carpet.

I walked all the way in to the living room and met my great-grandma and great-grandpa, then Mommy took my leash off so I could explore without it following me around the house.  I investigated the hallway and two of the rooms, then went back to the living room to get more pets from Great-grandma.  Great-grandpa was in a huge chair that made funny sounds when it moved, because it was all electric, so it took me a while to go over on my own to him.  I finally did, though, and he petted me and told me what a good kitty I was.  They both did.  I love them, too!  Then my great-uncle and Grandpa came in from the yard and I went right over to Great-uncle to be petted.  He sat down on the couch, so I hopped up there too.  I thought, since I'm allowed on the couch at home, that I would be allowed on the couch there, too.  Nope, I wasn't, but I was allowed to sit on Great-uncle's lap.  I really, really wanted on the white couch, though, so he had to keep putting me back on his lap.  After a couple times of that, I cooperated.

After a while, I hopped down again and went to get pets from everyone else.  Uncle D. decided to sit down on the floor so that he could pet me better, and I loved that!  He did, too!  Everyone loved my visit.  :)  >^..^<