Snow Alert.....Again.

< sigh > Looks like Pennsylvania isn't finished with winter yet. Another snowstorm is headed our way for tomorrow. It's been a particularly snowy and cold winter this year. Although, to be honest, I'm kind of excited about getting a "snow day" from work. I have some major cleaning I've been putting off, plus it would be nice to be able to sleep in a little, especially since actually getting to sleep with the two furballs has been a bit of a challenge lately. I think the time change is to blame: Percy starts pestering me around 4, which would have been 5 before the change. Cats are smart - she seems to know when it's getting close to wakey-wakey time, since my alarm goes off at 6. I'm hoping in a week or so she'll get on the new schedule and leave me the heck alone!

The Future Looks...?

I indulged in Chinese takeout today. I was so hungry for chow mien that I could not resist. (Although I am sure I will regret the cabbage and sprouts later this afternoon....) My favorite part of any Chinese meal, whether it is a buffet or takeout, is the fortune cookie.

Fortune cookies are serious business. When partaking with others, this is the way you do it: everyone cracks open their fortune cookie and eats the entire cookie without looking at the fortune. After everyone has finished, all may read their fortunes out loud to the table. Some of my dearest friends also add, to the end of every fortune, "...in bed." Makes for some interesting conversations.

Regardless of whether you add that last part or not, this ritual is absolutely necessary to ensure your fortune comes true.

So imagine the complete and utter shock I felt today when I cracked mine open....and it was empty!!!



This post was originally posted in March 2010 on one of my other blogs.

The Hazards of Owning a Kitten...When You Already Have a Cat

Rasta (AKA "The Little Shit") came into my life last August, despite me having made a vow 20 years ago to never take in another kitten, no matter how cute it is! A friend of mine found him wandering with his mother and siblings in her development one day. He was definitely the runt of the litter and had the looks to prove it:

Awww! Poor wittle ting!

He was malnourished, had some sort of respiratory infection, and just had an overall sickly look. She cleaned him up, got him healthy over the course of a few months, got him vaccinated, and eventually he came home with me. My 8 year old cat Percy wasn't too thrilled: 

Meh.

Since I have an extra bedroom, I kept them mostly separated for several months. While Percy is a very playful kitty and came from a large rescue, she hadn't lived with other furballs in a number of years. She showed very little interest in him, and really only paid attention when she could hear him raising a ruckus in his room. In the very beginning, I had her feeding dishes on one side of the door to that room and his on the other. She seemed annoyed that the bowls had moved, but hey, she ate anyway. After a week or so I put a window in the doorway so they could see each other at mealtimes. She decided at that point that she didn't like it and wouldn't eat until I closed the door. < sigh > Rasta, on the other hand, ate, and grew, and ate, and played, and ATE, and put on the charm every bit that he could:

Yes, I AM a handsome boy!

The routine was that I'd actually get up an hour earlier every morning, sit with him in his room and play, and then go about my regular routine to get ready for work. When I came home, I'd play with him some more and then put the window in the door and feed them both. Eventually, we got to the point where she'd tolerate his presence enough to wolf down her food. After an evening of doing whatever, I'd have another playtime with Rasta before bed, the door would close, and all was well with the world. 

When the weather was about to get colder (and he started to get big enough/smart enough to get over the window), I had to start getting them acquainted, since his room doesn't have good heating and I just couldn't stand the thought of him in there all alone at night in the cold. We started off with a couple hours in the evenings after work. Percy hissed at first, but guardedly tolerated him, because he was smart enough to keep his distance (at least the first day, anyway....) She didn't seem to mind if he ate her food, drank out of her dish, or used her litter box. If he played, she watched, but she didn't join in.

They both LOVED the Undercover Mouse game
(...to the point where it no longer works, thanks RASTA!
I was SOOOO hoping they'd bond over it...) 

Over the course of a few weeks I let their "playtime" together grow longer, which, by this time, had turned into the little shit chasing around his three-times-bigger sister until my nerves couldn't take the racket anymore (how my mother managed to raise four kids without going bat-shit crazy I will never know). Unfortunately, Percy was declawed by whomever owned her originally, and since Rasta is not and will not be declawed, sometimes things can get a little out of hand. After a few weeks I was really starting to despair that they would never "get along." I didn't really realize, though, that sometimes she seemed to really be "into" it as much as him. By that I don't mean fur-flying, alley-cat fighting, I just mean that SHE chased HIM back, and then she would turn tail and run.

Then one day I was short on time and I decided to feed them together rather than try to corral him into the spare room:

Yes, they have matching smiley-faced collars.

...and I realized, "Hey, they probably really DO get along together!" From that day forward, we were fully integrated, 24/7. I won't say it's been all sunshine and roses - Percy has put on a few pounds because she eats her meal and then waits for him to get distracted (and believe me, he does) so she can finish his, too. She also gets pissed at him quite often and lets the whole house know it - some nights Rasta even gets to sleep in the bathroom so that I can actually get some shut-eye! (There's nothing more distressing than being almost asleep with a 15-pound cat purring away on top of you, and then out of nowhere this little black shadow pounces on top, all claws and teeth, and the yowling starts. Repeatedly.) I'm going to need new blinds (thanks, RASTA!), and my trendy chair and footstool from Tarjay are shredded almost as much as his scratching post. I'm down one African violet, and my parakeet has seen the little shit's tushie on top of his cage more times than I care to mention. I will probably also need to get the carpets cleaned (Percy pukes a lot), but hey, that's life with two cats.