family visits | WEGGIEBOY'S BLOG by Doug Thomas

I took my brother to the airport this morning. After five weeks of family visits, I am home alone. I enjoyed the visits — good thing — but I am happy to get back to routine, too.

The cats are less certain, though. When I returned from the airport, Andy and Dougy looked for my brother, seemed a little confused and concerned he wasn’t with me. Need I say my brother is their favorite “uncle”? Of course not! He’s great with animals and kids, and they know he likes them, too!

Dougy was especially concerned, and I had difficulties catching him in frame and in focus. On the other hand, this photo gives you a good sense of how agitated he was…!

I finally did get a decent photo of Dougy. He settled down, but I think he and Andy miss my brother. My brother is lots of fun! Sure, I played with them after I got home to help them decompress, but they were less engaged than they normally can be.

“Where’s Uncle…!?”

Andy wasn’t as agitated as Dougy, but he kept looking back from his perch, toward the kitchen and door area, possibly in hopes of seeing my brother.

“Something’s not right…!”

Both boys seemed to understand something was going on this morning because neither my brother nor I generally wore anything but shorts and short-sleeved shirts while he was here. We had bare feet unless we were headed out or — Andy acted like he thought there was interest in catching him — getting ready to take the cats to the groomer or veterinarian. Today, we even had on shoes! Oh my! The boys like to sniff feet, so they notice these things!

As of this report, things have begun to return to routine. But a nap would be fine. I’m exhausted.

It’s been fun having all of my siblings here for a visit at the same time, but the end of visits must begin. Today, the first of my sisters leaves. She flies to the West Coast this afternoon. My other sister, who has to leave herself in a few days, is treating us all to lunch, then we all load up the buggy (as we say in Western Nebraska…!) and take her to the airport.

The cat brothers will especially miss all the added playtime my siblings give them. Lots of pets in my family, so the boys are an appreciated part of the visit, I think. I know my sister can’t wait to see her cat Sox later today when she arrives home.

Sox didn’t want to share his toilet paper tube toy that day…! He growled, but later “apologised” to my sister for his faux pas.

Of course, I understand what it’s like to miss my cats when I’m gone for even a few hours, so it’s hard to imagine leaving a pet for a week or longer.

Sox recently had a grooming session, and we all were surprised he looked like this with his shorter hair! He’s a beautiful cat either way, but I think we all like him in full tuxedo cat splendor. His white chest is especially beautiful.

Of course, it’s only fair to show Sox in his full glory in this favorite photo of him my sister e-mailed me some time ago. Sox is one handsome kitty! His hair’s growing back, too, so don’t feel sorry for him! Cat hair grows very fast.

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

Here I go again. What started out as a post about my sister leaving turned into another cat post! Speaking of which, she took several photos of my boys while here, and I can’t wait to get the e-mail she promised me with those photos attached. We tried to download them onto my computer from her camera, but ran into a technical snag. They are very good photos — I viewed them in her camera, of course — and they capture the personalities of Andy and Dougy quite well!