Andy and Dougy rarely are on the computer desk at the same time. Probably best that way, too, because the peaceable kingdom settles into anarchy when they do..
Andy is a particular pest to his brother Dougy. I sometimes have to intervene when the boys can’t settle who gets to have his favorite spot without his brother batting him around from above…(Andy is a rascal!)
A really cool box arrived by UPS yesterday, full of new dinnerware. It took nanoseconds for Andy to claim the box as “his”, well before I finished opening it! You know cats…!
[NOTE TO UPS: Since you delivered this to my neighbor’s house, perhaps 100 feet away, an 81-year-old man finished delivering this very heavy box to me. Catch that: an 81-year-old man! I was home and my front door was open.]
If Dougy likes to stop by to be social, Andy usually stops by for another purpose. I never know until he settles down which it will be: social or kitty business.
Great! Looks like someone’s going to come for a visit!
Andy made up his mind, though…
Looks like he might be more interested in the birds…
He still might stop for a little visit, though. Maybe…! What’s it gonna be, Andy? The guy who loves and feeds you…or..”The Birds”?!
I should have guessed! Birds trump people every day!
That’s it, folks. Andy has his priorities.
Andy and Dougy enjoy bird watching out the back and front doors. In good weather, I leave the doors open for their pleasure and convenience. Those days soon will draw to seasonal close, so Andy and Dougy try to make good use of the remaining time.
Yummy birds outside, happy cat inside! Andy enjoys the scenery.
“That’s all.” Andy enjoyed the scene, but now it’s time to plan his morning nap.
=(^+^)=
I try not to overload people who read this blog with more than one blog a day, but I decided the kitty fix is the main reason most people stop by. I took the Andy photos today. It seemed a pity to hold off on posting them! Maybe I’ll make up for my extra blog today by skipping tomorrow.
Andy on an ordinary day.
Haven’t ye heard, Andy, what today is!
“Arrrr…! I feel the glow!”
Flashback to Andys kittenhood…
It became clear.
Me-Arrr! Andy is a pirate kitty!
I first learned about this day when I still worked at the hose factory. I’d spent hours trying to get formulae to work correctly on a spreadsheet I prepared to separate nonaccountable mandrel scrap from accountable scrap. I felt I was near to the answer when the Human Relations Manager showed up at my desk. He was wearing a tricorn hat and slashed the air around me with a toy sword.
“Arrr! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day!” he said, clearly into the fun of it, but oblivious to the effect of this unwelcome distraction, one that cost me a few hours progress on resolving my spreadsheet challenge. “You have to talk like a pirate all day.”
Disgusted, disturbed, delayed, but not yet defeated, I felt an urge that would imperil my future. I mumbled something in “pirate-ese”, but thought a more specific pirate thought, “[Blank] you, matey! [Blank] you!”
He was the Human Relations Manager afterall.
😉
On a different note, the Scottish independence referendum is complete, with a 55% majority voting to remain a part of the United Kingdom. I still don’t know what I think about the issues, but there appears to be some concessions that give additional autonomy to the Scots and, promised, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. It’s enough to turn one into a pirate!
Offered a single malt scotch, Dougy declared he prefers to watch birds. Arrr!
Andy needed a refill on his blood pressure medication today, so I called ahead to have the medication prepared in tuna flavor, the original flavor I got it in. The chicken flavor I had it made with the last refill didn’t agree with Andy or he just likes tuna better. Anyway, tuna it is for my little fuzzy prince!
I arrived at the clinic before the medication was ready, so sat down next to a woman with two carriers. It was the only seat left, but it turned out to be fortuitous: The person in the other seat was Tara, the veterinarian technician who gave me Andy and Dougy!
Tara doesn’t work at the clinic now, so she hadn’t heard in months how the boys are doing.
Oops! It’s “weggieboy”, not “weggyboy”!
I brought her up to date on Andy and Dougy, handed her my “business” cards, which feature the boys, and let her know she could watch videos on YouTube and read about the boys on my blog. (I just noticed today I misspelled “weggieboy” on the Dougy card.)
The surprise at the veterinarian’s? That I ran into Tara and we caught up on where the boys are? Well, that was nice, but the real surprise was in the two carriers with Tara. In one, a Birman queen who is the boy’s paternal auntie! In the other, a step sister, also a Birman queen! I’ve met the boy’s mother, and now a step sister and an aunt.
The aunt is very sweet-natured, and I see the family resemblance to this aunt in Andy more than Dougy. Andy has a rounder face, whereas Dougy’s is classic Persian, that owl-like disc face. Both boys, though, have faint, very subtle hints of their Birman father’s markings, which is similar to Siamese cats. The boys are much darker, of course, so those features show only in certain light or if you are looking for them.
I didn’t have a lot of time with the boys’ relatives, but I was enough to appreciate how beautiful and sweet-natured Birman cats can be! Watch out boys. I want one!
Whew! Dougy does not like his photo taken! That makes him a true member of my family. I did, however sneak one of him at the back door, resting on the little red chair, a favorite of both boys.
“What!? I didn’t say you could do that!”
I pushed his button, but don’t think Dougy doesn’t know how to push one or two of mine back…!
“Nyah! Nyah!”
You wee fart! You know you aren’t supposed to use the furniture as a scratching post! I’m scandalized, Dougy, scandalized!
>CLICK!<
I got another shot of you, Dougy! And I’m bigger than you, too!
🙂 > < 🙁
On a more positive note, Andy and I had an uneventful time this morning. Continuing the no-scruffing rule, I had no problem picking Andy up and medicating him in short order. A few minutes later, when I was making my breakfast, we exchanged blinky-eyes with each other till our eyelids hurt.
Oh, yeah, and I rubbed his ears, scratched his chin, stroked his head and ran his fine tail through my hand, saying those words he likes to hear, “What a purrrdy tail, Andy! Purrrrdy! You’re the kitty with the purrrdy tail!” And he is.
The ongoing challenge of giving Andy his blood pressure medication has taken on a new twist. Instead of offering up resistance to capture, Andy’s decided to fight me when I try to wrap the towel around him.
Not that Andy is any less suspicious when I come around looking for him…!
So, I have a new plan, too: Catch him, hold him unwrapped, then stroke his tummy, head, and ears. I tell him over and over in a low, calm voice how he’s a good boy. When he starts to relax, maybe close his eyes, then I wrestle him into the towel. Whew!
Yes, the new plan is simple, too. I try to get the medicine down him as fast as possible so I can spend the rest of the time holding him and reassuring him all is well.
Soon enough, Andy decides he’s ready to move on. It’s encouraging, though, that it takes longer and longer before he wants let down.
I think we both secretly look forward to this special time in our day. One of these days, he might even purr when it’s medicine time.
Whew! Then you turn the inmates loose, you shouldn’t be surprised that things go downhill fast! So it goes.
Here’s how we observed Black Cat Appreciation Day at our house. It isn’t pretty…!
Each day has its own challenges when it comes to Andy and giving him his medicine.
Suspicious….
I try not to alarm Andy when I stalk him to catch him to give him his medicine. Many times, he loses track of events and comes up to me, begging for treats or play time: I snatch him right up!
“I see you!”
Other times, when he doesn’t come around to me, I try to catch him unawares. Unless he’s in deep sleep, he generally senses me coming and skedaddles before I can snatch him up. (He’s a western kitty. Yes, he “skedaddles”!)
Not today, though. I caught him unawares, deep sleeping on top of the blue carrier he uses for his daytime outpost. Curiously, he doesn’t struggle when I catch him, then carry him to the medicating chair cradled like a baby in the crook of my arm.
That is, until I reach for The White Towel, the Object of His Oppression. Ever try to wrap a struggling cat in a towel? Five hands isn’t always enough, though I somehow manage to do it with two.
“I won’t like it!”
Awww! Poor Andy wrapped in the towel. He becomes quiet, a little oppressed victim of The Man! Because the medication is for hypertension, I rub his ears and try to calm him.
(What stress is there in an indoor cat’s life, other than his brother and me giving him blood pressure medicine? Hunh!?)
“Why!? Why!? WHY!? I’m just a little kitty!”
Dougy watches the process. He may feel sorry for his brother, though I suspect he’s more concerned that he might be next.
“Brother, are you OK?”
I give Andy the syringe full of chicken-flavored medicine in small mouthfuls. He slowly gags it down. Then I tell him what a good kitty he is — and mostly he is — while rubbing his nose (which he likes) and scratching his ears (which he also likes).
I put him down. Well, he struggles out of the towel when I loosen my grip and he “escapes” with a bound! I give him some treats. He gets over the indignity of medicine squirted into his mouth, and things return to normal for the rest of the day.
“Did you see what the human did to me, Dougy?”
Poor kitty!