I guess it has been a month since Rosie was found. Things seem pretty normal a month later. It is funny how quickly they assimilate.
The only downside so far is that Rosie is a heater and kicks in her sleep. I think she is chasing rabbits in her dreams.
Well- there is that creepy feeling you get when you have “overslept” and wake up to find three animals lined up along the bed at 6:30 am bitching for food and/or doing the potty dance.
Rosalita
Seems like it would be a normal for JRT to kick in their sleep, do they ever stop moving?? At least they are lined up next to the bed and not dancing on your head…my 15lb cat likes to jump on the bed and flop on me.
schrodinger's cat
How is Tunch and his ouchie boo boo?
superking
I think you mentioned when you found her that Rosie is pregnant? Was that right? Are you going to have puppies?
John Cole
@superking: Just fat.
Bill Rutherford, Princeton Admissions
At least they’re doing the potty dance and haven’t just relieved themselves in a convenient place.
schrodinger's cat
@Rosalita: That’s how my cat likes to wake me up. If I hide under the covers, she proceeds to throw everything on the night stand on the floor, if that fails, she taps on the blinds.
CatStaff
@schrodinger’s cat: When one of my cat brood, Alix, decides I’ve slept enough, she jumps on my pillow, takes a big mouthful of the hair at the top of my head, and pulls. And won’t stop until I actually sit up and start moving.
Pretty effective, actually.
jrg
My dog has nightmares sometimes. It’s kind of unsettling – she’ll do this breath-heavy “woof”, then she’ll whimper a bit. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is, but I usually wake her up and coddle her for a bit (unless I’m trying to sleep, then I ignore her). That seems to work most of the time.
stuckinred
Funny, I get up before my critters and send them in to wake up my bride when it’s time for the morning hike!
Butch
I suspected from the very first post that Rosie would become a part of the household. Glad she’s fitting in so well.
James Hare
I just added a second kitten. It’s been hilarious. Thursday the elder cat hated us and thought the kitten was the worst thing that ever happened in the world. Today they were sleeping together on one of the recliners between epic chasing sessions around the house.
If only PEOPLE could deal with massive changes like that so gracefully.
Kristine
What is it about 6:30am? if I’m not out of bed by then, King starts whimpering and pacing. Next thing I know, he’s stealing my slipper clogs in the hope I will chase him. If that doesn’t work, he brings in one of the food bowls and shoves it in my face. Then when I do get up, all he does is lie on the kitchen floor and watch me work. Then he dozes off. It isn’t even as though he has to go outside to pee or anything. He just wants me up and moving around. The Schedule Must Be Followed. Biggest worrywart ever.
Brian J
I’m not much of a cat guy–I don’t hate them, but they take far longer to warm up to me than dogs, and my nuclear family never had them–but my neighbors have a black cat named Shadow that wanders around the neighborhood. I’ve often found her lying on top of my car before I leave for work in the morning or taking a nap on my front lawn when I come home. I don’t mind at all, because I think she’s like a tiny little neighborhood patrol and keeps bad forces away. (I believe that’s what the ancient Egyptians thought about cats and being the guardians of the underworld.) This past Sunday morning, I found her wandering around with something huge in her mouth. I didn’t get that good of a look at it, so perhaps it was a toy that resembled a living creature, but if not, it was the biggest bird/mouse/rabbit I’ve ever seen in such a small animal’s mouth. I tried to take a picture to post here, but she wouldn’t let me. Suffice it to say, the look on her face was like, “Look at what I got. Yeah, you wish you could be me, that’s right.”
Chat Noir
@CatStaff: My big white cat, Sherman, purrs as loud as a burbling cabin cruiser and walks all over my pillow. And my tortoiseshell, Natalie, starts futzing with the electrical cord or phone cord because she knows I don’t want her doing that, and I get up every time to get her to stop.
My little black cat, Hobbes, now unplugs the box fan from the outlet on the floor.
SIA
@Kristine: That’s hilarious!
@schrodinger’s cat: Angel (aka “Big Boy”)knocked over everything on the table by my bed this morning. It’s not being clever, he’s just a big clumsy lug. Got me out of bed though. So maybe he IS clever…?
Daddy-O
The potty dance…! Perfection!
ha ha
cat48
@CatStaff:
One of my cats keeps patting me on the face with his paw until I open my eyes. It can be extremely annoying sometime.
Rosalita
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yeah, Blue will also dump the nightstand reading pile on the floor if he gets testy…
General Stuck
When I first got my dog, he was hyper sensitive to not displease me. If he was laying on the bed, all I had to do was just move a little sitting nearby at the computer, and he would jump off the bed with an apologetic look. Now I have to pick him up and move him off the bed, and he gives me a look of ho hum, you want me to move, I ain’t budgin”/
Chat Noir
@cat48: I get that, too. A gentle paw on the chin or cheek. It can start from 3:00 a.m. and last until I get up.
SIA
@General Stuck: Oh yes, I believe he’s got your number now General. That little guy has it made. :)
Nick
Cat 48: Yes, the face tap. Often with slight nails out, on an eyelid. So I yell and immediately feel guilty — but I AM up.
wonkie
My cat Jimmy could do a leap form a sit to the top of the highboy. That positioned him exactly in the right place to carefully knock coins on to the floor–one coin at a time, with pauses in between for contemplation. I never could figure out my my husband (now ex) felt compelled to dump coins up there in the first place. I have gone my entire life without leaving coins on dressers for the cat to mess with.
TaMara (BHF)
@schrodinger’s cat: One of my cats decided the best way to wake me was to tap me on the face with his little furry paw. Which is fine when his nails are trimmed, but that few days before I trim them again – yeowch. And now he’s taught the others to do it.
My mom had a cat that would bite my dad’s elbow in the middle of the night so he would roll over, wake her up and say “let the damn cat out.” Now that’s effective training.
TaMara (BHF)
@Brian J: You sound like you’re thisclose to being a cat guy. Just saying.
cmorenc
Your pets train you as much as you train your pets.
MattR
It really says something about the submissive nature of my Ellie that she will not make any kind of significant effort to wake me up. It is kinda unfortunate since one of the positive side effects I was expecting from having a dog was being forced to maintain a better routine. But if I decide to sleep in to 2 pm on a Saturday, Ellie will just wait for me to get up to take her out.
schrodinger's cat
@cmorenc: The kittehs have trained their staff very well.
PeakVT
@Bill Rutherford, Princeton Admissions: Convenient for whom? The pets or their humans?
Rosalita
@TaMara (BHF):
That reminds me of my childhood kittehs…we lived in a quiet area so they were indoor/outdoor kittehs. Only thing is when they decided they wanted ‘in’ in the middle of the night. Both would jump up into the window box outside my bedroom and tap the screen. I guess I ruined it for myself the first time I got up and obeyed by lifting the screen to let them in.
schrodinger's cat
@MattR: Get a cat or two and I promise you will wake up at the crack of dawn.
Punchy
Why do dogs, who dont need pillows when they sleep on their floor-beds, suddenly need your pillow when they get up on the bed? One of our dogs wont lie at the foot of the bed….oh no no no….she must find the pillow that’s being used and take it as her own.
Then the dog breath thing kicks it, and the leg movements, and the ears….
TaMara (BHF)
@cat48: @Chat Noir: @Nick:
Ah, so it is a conspiracy. A polite conspiracy.
Cliff
@Chat Noir:
One Week into the rescue of Molly, and I think she is settling in .. I had the 3am potty dance a few days ago, now its just a wet nose in my face.
6am seems to be her fav time, which is convenient, cause I have to be up then anyway.
Pics from morning walks and other Misc doggieness:
http://mollymaesden.blogspot.com/
schrodinger's cat
My other cat likes to sleep draped over my shoulder, purring. Its great during the winter but having a furry warm scarf around your neck and shoulders in summer, not so great actually.
Brian J
@TaMara (BHF):
That would be fine with me. Most animals seem to like me, even if it does take some longer than others. (It’s actually one of the nicest indirect compliments I’ve ever received.) You know, if I end up going to law school next year*, it’ll be in one or two cities that I’ve never been to. I might work, depending on whether it’s the part time program or the full time program, but I will still end up being kind of lonely, even if my day and night is filled. I am looking forward to living by myself, but it’ll still be weird, and probably made worse by the fact that I am way too timid with woman and not particularly social at first. I am a dog person, but unless I got the world’s biggest house dog, I don’t think I could devote enough time to one. And even then… So perhaps I’d get a cat, although that would probably turn out to be far more work than I realize.
Paul in KY
My cats are sleeping when the alarm goes off at 0610 & I have to end up rousting them up to put them out for the day. Guess I’ve trained mine right, huh?
SIA
@wonkie:
Same here. Must be a guy thing.
Cliff
@Punchy:
They want to bask in your smell, and your pillow is the most dense source, since they don’t get washed often.
Randy P
We get visited several times during the night (by our long-haired cat), especially if somebody gets up to use the bathroom. I think she gets anxious and wants to make sure there are still people in the house.
Understandably, as we live a complicated two-city existence and she spends a lot of 48-hour periods alone. I spend a lot of time picking her up when I get back to reassure her she’s still a pet.
Chat Noir
@Cliff: Molly is lovely.
jrg
@SIA:
I think it’s a purse thing.
mainsailset
dog doors are nice…and kitties can use them too
SIA
@Cliff: So glad to hear she’s settling in. That’s a beautiful area she’s walking in. Good for you, and her!
John Cole
@SIA: I have a big two gallon jug by the front door that I dump my change in to every time I walk in. Every year or so I dump it and buy myself something nice with it. Going to buy an XBOX 360 with this year’s booty.
SIA
@jrg: I never keep change in my purse – too much weight. But, yeah, you’re right! :)
SIA
@John Cole: How much $ does that accumulate? Bet you didn’t know you’re also creating some very good feng shui energy by doing that! :D
wonkie
@Cliff:
What a wonderful life you are giving Molly! BTW do you live on Orcas Island? The picture of the lake with the rounded mountain in the background looks like a place on Orcas where we take our dogs.
Kristine
@SIA
That dog knows how to get me to move. If I don’t pay attention to him, he will go rummage in the bedroom and bathroom trashcans VERY LOUDLY, then come out with a tp tube or wad of tissues or something else he knows I don’t want him to have. Then he will lie down in front of me and start to eat it. Of course I don’t want him eating that stuff, so of course I get up to take it away from him, and then the chase is on…which was what he wanted in the first place.
That dog has me well-trained.
arguingwithsignposts
since it’s an open thread, and I’ve been known to bash the shrill Glenn Greenwald at times, it’s worth a read of him punching Marc Thiessen re: neo-con support for Israel.
Sentient Puddle
@SIA: I used to do something similar in college, and I usually managed about $100 at a CoinStar after convenience fees. Of course with this being college, my spending was fairly low, so that figure would probably be inflated if I took up this practice again (which I really should).
And crap, $110 in coins weighs a lot.
ally
LOL. love the cats/dogs comments.
I currently have laptop on bed – and a purring cat smushed up next to me – her favorite position. Cat owner bliss.
Cliff
@wonkie:
its Here: http://www.neclimbs.com/index.php?PageName=weather
R-Jud
One of our cats snores so loudly that I’ve sometimes wrongly blamed my husband for the racket. This cat also likes to sleep in odd nooks and corners. We hadn’t seen him for about 24 hours the other week so went on a “listening tour”– walking into different rooms listening for the snore. I found him behind some camping equipment in the garage.
On our flight back from the US last Thursday I pacified the kid by parking her on my lap and watching “Singin’ In The Rain”. I am afraid she now has a crush on Gene Kelly. She bounces up and down when he’s on screen. I don’t blame her, but I’m not looking forward to the conversation where I have to explain that he’s dead. Or to the day she decides she wants to watch Xanadu.
SIA
@Sentient Puddle: I’m the OCD person around the house so every so often I insist we lug it all to the bank, and you’re right it is heavy! Don’t think the winger idea of switching to gold currency is very smart, eh? It does always feel like “Free Money”.
@arguingwithsignposts: Thanks for the link, no amount of Thiessen bashing is enough to satisfy, but this will help. BTW how is Lady Smudge?
burnspbesq
New Crowded House record out today. Squeeee!
pragmatism
My cattle dog gets starts staring at me at 5 a.m. I can feel him boring a hole into me when I’m sleeping. Its rather off-putting.
Hob
Once I cat-sat for some friends who warned me before they left: “You probably should shut the cat in the bathroom overnight. No, seriously. He’ll be OK, you just better keep him in there.”
So I thought “Oh that’s just mean, they probably think my allergies are worse than they are. I’ll let him sleep wherever, and get on his good side that way.”
Next morning, I woke up at 5:00 with the cat jumping up and down on my head.
That night, I put him in the living room– “Here, have the rest of the apartment, I’m not locking you in the bathroom”– and I shut the bedroom door tight.
Slept like a baby, woke up at 8, the cat looked peaceful.
Didn’t notice till later that he had taken all the paint off the bedroom door…
merrinc
Hhm. I tried twice to post an update (with photo link) about the kitten I took in a couple weeks ago but my post is nowhere to be found. Am I in moderation hell or just having a really, really bad day?
Josie
@Brian J: My son is in law school in Houston and, after two years, has convinced me to keep his dog for the fall semester. It is quite a drive from his apartment to the school and going to take her for potty walks at regular intervals is playing havoc with his ability to study on campus and work as an intern. He figures it could make a huge difference in his grades if he can leave her with me for a while. A cat is more independent in many ways, but that cat box always needs to be cleaned or it can stink up the whole apartment. Consider these things carefully. On the other hand, he met his fiance in class and made some great friends in study groups.
SIA
@merrinc: Hopefully neither, cuz we want kitteh pictures!
merrinc
@SIA:
Just tried again (took out the html code for the link and included it in the body of the post) and nothing. I give up!
cckids
@cmorenc:
Yes, my tortoiseshell, Hermione, likes to sleep on my stomach. If I’m on my side, she comes up behind me, puts her mouth right by my ear & makes that irritating “rrreow” sound. I don’t even truly wake up anymore, just flop over onto my back, she settles into place & is happy.
Svensker
My giant Siamese (known as The Fat Lady) would wake me at 6:30 by draping herself across my face and purring loudly. If I didn’t start suffocating and sit up right away, she’d start kneading the top of my head with her blue eyes crossed in ecstasy and her pink tongue sticking out. She was such a love. Her favorite thing in the world to eat was cantaloupe. Silly kitty.
fordpowers
Theres that. but just think of the joys of waking up to doggie diarrhea all over your house. Plus the added bonus of stepping in it because you don’t have your glasses on yet.
don’t worry. that happened to me this morning. FML.
no more rawhide chips for the ladies.
Eddyed
My cat Gunks at the crack of dawn would get right next to my ear and give a short and loud enough ‘Meow’ to wake me up, which it did. If I did not get up, the paw taps would commence ending with with a tap with a claw extended that always succeeded in getting me up to feed him
Cliff
@fordpowers:
ya, I fell asleep after giving molly a 10″ rawhide roll, woke up not that much later and there was 2″ left.
Luckily I caught the “posture of misery” (sitting staring at the ground with slightly arched back) the next morning before it morphed into urk uurrrk… etc.. dragged her out into the yard with 3 seconds to spare… it was close.
trollhattan
@jrg:
Same here. Mine twitches and huffs and half-barks and creepily exposes blood red inner eyelids that make her look like a demonic rug. Naturally she’s not telling us what she’s dreaming about. Squirrels? Intruding neighbor dogs? The garbage truck? Those mysterious three years in Fresno?
asiangrrlMN
@Cliff: Aw, Molly is beautiful!
@merrinc: Want kitty pic! You try again! Or send the pic to Cole and he can put it on the front page.
@Hob: OK, I know I shouldn’t laugh at this, but I did. Cat was determined to have at your face.
I don’t let my boys sleep with me because of my allergies. However, when I nap, it’s on the couch or downstairs. If I’m napping on the couch, Raven will curl up by my legs, and Shadow will flump onto the pillow I have on my head. As I’m sleeping. Then, he will deliberately raise his leg and groom his butt. On my head. Then, he will saunter down my body and rest on my stomach.
ruemara
A cat touches me in the morning and he may start to comprehend the concept of flight + acceleration. My babies know to settle in and nap with mum & dad until a respectable 7:30 am to 9 am. We don’t really allow them in if they are misbehaving, so good behaviour = nap time with humans & fairly quick breakfast. Batting, head jumping, yowling outside the door=water spray, sleeping human flailing at mysterious thing on head and no breakfast, just time out in the yard. All in all, we’ve had some good luck with sensible kittens.
bemused
Three animals doing the potty dance is bad enough. It’s a real crisis when the human is feeling just as desperate. Everyone is moving fast.
kindness
We have it easy at our house. We leave the food bowl filled and they don’t over eat. We have a critter door built into our garage door which goes to a big fenced back yard so they can let themselves in or out when ever they please (we leave the kitchen to garage door open in spring/summer/fall). Winter is the only bummer time for the kid’s freedom out here in sunny California.
tatertot
My friend had a cat who weighed 23 pounds – Paddy would sit on her chest in the early a.m. and pat her face till Trish got up and fed him (which didn’t take long, cause 23 pounds of cat sitting on your chest would keep awake, no doubt). One night, Trish heard a kerfuffle in the kitchen and there was Paddy’s 23-pound ass coming in backwards through the catflap, with a baby rabbit in tow. I don’t know the fate of the rabbit, but it probably was ugly …
Jackie
You haven’t lived and come close to heart-stoppage until you’ve had a dog howl in his sleep. I had one who did a few times. It was like a scene from The Hound of the Basketballs. Chilling. Truly.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
Win.