If only readers liked newspapers as much as my cats

I've somehow started collecting photos of the cats with newspapers lately. Now that I'm getting the Washington Post seven days a week, it's a daily struggle to try to read it in the morning before Griffin or Loki decides to lie down on the story I'm reading and not move.

This was taken while he was in the middle of eating my newspaper.

Not a newspaper, but this is one of Griffin's new favorite places to sleep
while I'm on my computer. I'm still trying to figure out how this is comfortable.

Loki the Grinch

It's my annual Christmas decorating day! I also happen to be on duty for work (it's a holiday off for our office), so I figured this was a good day to sit at home with Christmas movies and decorations.

I bought salami, cheese and a baguette. I opened a bottle of spiced wine (warmed on the stove with orange and lemon slices). I pulled out the boxes of decorations and watched "Miracle on 34th Street" and "Family Man." (I've now moved on to another holiday tradition: football on TV.)

The cats were excited, too, except they wanted to eat the lights, knock over the tree and jump into the boxes of decorations. I'm almost done now, but I wanted to share this short video of Loki being Loki. I have a shelf that usually holds a bunch of stuffed tigers. He has a habit of throwing the tigers off the shelf, then tossing them in the air. I replaced the tigers with stuffed Christmas characters. So far, they have been up for about an hour and Loki has pulled them all off about three times. It might be a long holiday season.

The reward for misbehaving

As yesterday's post mentioned, I ordered a new water fountain when I thought the old one was broken (not just sabotaged). It arrived today — in the world's biggest box. Well, not the biggest. But one that was clearly more than four times the size of the fountain. Lucky for me, the fountain was actually small and light so the box was easy to carry upstairs.

Griffin quickly claimed the box. Then Loki tried to jump on top, too. However, the combined weight (especially Loki's excessive weight) caused the top to begin to cave in so I had to remove him. Then we opened it. The cats get very excited when I open a box because it means they have a new toy. In this case, not only did they end up with a large box, they got yards and yards of packing paper. It doesn't get better than this. My neighbors, however, might not be pleased by the ruckus caused when two cats bound in and out of a box and through loads of paper.

So, in return for them sabotaging the fountain, they got what appears to be the world's best cat toys. This doesn't seem right.

Water mystery solved

About two years ago, I became a crazy cat lady. Why? Because I bought one of those ridiculous and unnecessary cat water fountains.

At the time, it seemed the obvious move. One, my cats love water. Two, they used to spend all their time drinking out of my bathroom faucet — and I was getting a little annoyed that I couldn't brush my teeth without knocking them away five times. Three, Loki started this horrible habit of tipping his water bowl — just enough so that the water splashed out.

The water fountain was one of my best purchases. It solved all those problems. It's excellent!

Until recently.

First, Loki decided he didn't like the lid on it. He would nudge the lid up with his nose or paw until it fell off. Half the time it landed in the water stream and proceeded to direct water into a big puddle on the living room carpet. So I took off the lid and kept the top open.

Then, Loki discovered that with the top off, he could more easily tip over the back water tank. But when the water tank gets tipped, it messes with the valve that controls the water flow (keeping the water in the tank). The result: I wake up to a water fountain with water pouring over the sides because all the water flowed in at once. So I started only filling up the base of the fountain. (Unfortunately, this means I have to add water every day or two instead of once a week, but I was willing to live with it.)

Lately, I've noticed puddles of water again. But no discernible evidence for how it got there. I tried changing the mat the fountain sat on. I sat it on a towel. Then I thought there must be a leak in the fountain because I haven't seen the cats do anything to cause that much water to magically jump from the fountain to the carpet. So I bought a new fountain (set to arrive tomorrow). In the meantime, though, I noticed some oddities: an entire day in which no water seemed to leak out, plus other times when the area seemed dry. Hmm, if it were a leak, that didn't add up.

So, I blamed Loki. He's the one who sits by the fountain, staring at the water droplets. He's the one who knocked everything else off the fountain. He's the one who paws at the base all the time, causing it to move ever so slightly. I figured he must have some stronger pawing when I'm gone that causes tsunamis.

Then, tonight. Griffin walks over, dips his paw in (as he often does) and licks it off. Nothing abnormal. Then, he puts both paws in and goes to town. Tsunami waves. Imagine dirt flying as a dog digs in a garden, trying to uncover a bone. Except this is water flying. All over my carpet. We're talking a half cup to a full cup of water straight onto the floor in less than five seconds. And then? Griffin lies down in the water-soaked carpet and starts licking water off his paws.

So, I felt immediate shame. (I'm a horrible cat mother, blaming the wrong "kid.") I apologized to Loki (in whichever way you apologize to a cat), and I had some words with Griffin (or general angry yelling at the walls).

And now I have no clue how to get this water-loving cat to stop flooding my carpet.

Note the paper covering the food bowls. Loki will dig and dig until the bowls are covered up by something, or until they completely tip over. So now we keep paper or newspaper next to the food bowls so he can cover them up.

Snow patrol (again)

What's possibly the worst part of constant snow for 36 hours?

Loki sitting in the windowsill and jumping and pawing at the flakes and meowing because he can't catch them.

I'm hoping during the strongest snow (expected to be overnight), he'll take a break and sleep.

That crazy cat

Griffin has a tendency to try to jet out my apartment door when I return home. His favorite times to do this are when it's late at night or when my hands are full. He goes through spurts when he is worse about this and insists on getting into the hallway. Once he does, he's a bit unsure of what to do but generally bounds down the hall, turning around every once in a while and doing his best to avoid getting caught. (I'm thankful I haven't yet run into a neighbor while I'm chasing him down the hall.)

Early this week, I came home after stopping at the grocery store. I had a couple bags of food and mail in my hands, so Griffin decided it was the perfect chance to push past me and into the hallway. I let the door close behind me and set down my bags right inside my door (as I usually do), then turned and opened the door to collect him from the hallway. Except this time, when I opened the door, he turned right around and ran back into the apartment. It was very out of character. I'm not sure if he saw somebody or frightened himself in that two seconds he was alone in the hall, but I thought that might have done the trick for good.

No such luck, as he jumped out the door a day or two later.

However, he might have learned his lesson last night. I was heading to a friend's place to watch a movie. When I moved toward the door to leave, Griffin ran to the door and sat facing the doorknob side, knowing he was ready to sprint out. I nudged him out of the way, and he satisfied himself with peeking out the hinge side of the door as I opened it and slipped into the hall.

As I closed the door,  I heard a loud, painful shriek. I opened it to see Griffin running off into the apartment, stopping to lick his paw. He must have had his paw under the door or near the hinges as it shut. I made sure he was OK before heading out, but since then he has kept his distance from the door.

Picky eaters
A few months ago, Griffin began playing with his food – and his habits continue today. When I first put the food dishes down (with a small bit of wet food on top), he eats out of the bowl. After that, he mostly refuses to eat from the bowls. Instead, he tips the food dish with his paw until a portion spills onto the floor. Then, he eats the dry food off the floor. (Loki doesn't appear to care where the food is. He'll eat it out of the bowl, off the floor, or wherever.)

This leaves the carpet by their food littered with bits of cat food all the time. I also noticed tonight that both cats were eating while lying on the floor. They didn't even bother to sit up a little bit while eating off the floor. This is a new definition of lazy and might be a contributing factor to the vet's concern that they both "need to lose a few pounds."

Snow patrol

Of the two hours I've been awake so far today, Loki has spent at least one and a half hours pacing by the window. It's snowing, and he's VERY concerned about the white stuff that's falling from the sky. He has been pacing back and forth, pawing at the window and voicing his warning meows constantly.

He has seen snow before (and even walked in it), so I'm not sure why he's so concerned. But he's patrolling the window to keep the rest of us safe.

The wrath of the cats

Last year I was cautious about putting up Christmas decorations in my apartment for fear Griffin and Loki would destroy them. So I did a test run, and when they passed that, I finished lightly decorating. And they did great, leaving the garland alone and doing little more than chewing a bit on some tree branches.

So I wasn't worried about decorations this year. The cats are a year older (and thus, calmer, better-behaved and more mature, right?), so I figured if I put up the same level of minimal decorations, they shouldn't be a problem. I excitedly decorated Friday, putting up garland along with my tree with lights and an angel on top. (I skipped the ornaments again, figuring they might attract unneeded cat attention.) Thursday night, they woke me up multiple times as they were pawing at the tree, knocking off the angel and tipping over the whole thing. And yet, I hoped it was a short phase they would get over.

Saturday evening, I was out watching Mizzou sports for a while. When I returned, I was met by disaster. The tree was on its side, lying across the cat bowls. The branches were smashed to one side. The lights were partly pulled off. I even found a bulb pulled out of its socket, which they had carried down the hallway and pushed under the closet door. (See a picture of the sad site — after the tree was placed upright again — above.)

How did the cats regress so much in the past year? Is this the end of the Christmas tree, or can I salvage it (and save it from the wrath of the cats)?

Feline flu?

A cat in Iowa caught swine flu. How long will it be until my bad cat luck catches up to me and I'm buying flu medicine for my crew?

Halloween has gone to the pets

An early tribute to Halloween ... The Huffington Post reports on inappropriate pet costumes.

And, no, I don't think Loki and Griffin will be dressing up this year. Once scarred them enough ... and I'm not sure where I stashed their costumes. However, you can check out my post from last year's "operation costume" with them.

Trouble cat

I was getting ready for work the other morning when I suddenly heard my microwave turn on. Then I remembered I had a metal 13X9 brownie pan stored in there (to avoid cats). Yikes! I ran into the kitchen and turned it off. Then I was dumb enough to open it up and touch the pan. HOT!!! Luckily, the burn on my finger was the worst of it. But it made me a bit nervous. Loki was the culprit. He either put his paws up against it and pushed the buttons, or hit the buttons as he jumped on top of the cabinets.

I'm now very careful not to store metal in the microwave. And I'm contemplating unplugging the whole thing when it's not in use, but I haven't actually done that yet.

Mid-week adventures

Congress was on recess this week, so I finished work early and had long, leisurely evenings (in other words, I got done at 5 like the rest of the world instead of 8).

Games
Monday night's plan was bowling, but when we reached the lanes, we discovered a Google party had taken over the entire place for the night. So, we headed across the street to a bar with "reindeer games" (as Andrea would say) and played pool for a while. And before all that, we took advantage of a great happy hour special: 34-0unce drafts for $8.

Postal Museum
Every day to and from work, I pass the National Postal Museum, located near Union Station. I've often considered stopping in to check it out during my lunch break, but I didn't do so until this week. (It's free and close, so I figured I could break it up into small trips on different days.) It is slightly more interesting than it sounds. It's located in part of the old City Post Office Building — a beautiful place. I spent my chunk of time looking through one exhibit: Alphabetilately. I thought it might be about fonts or text on stamps. Instead, it was an A-Z of stamp terms. But it turned out to be kind of interesting anyway. What other exhibits are in the museum? Stay tuned for future visits.

Like cats to water
My cats have always liked water. Mostly, I think Griffin likes water and Loki tries to do whatever Griffin does, but they're always at the sink when I turn it on. I let Griffin check out the bathtub (with water) when he was young, and to my surprise, he happily walked around in paw-deep water. After that, taking a relaxing bubble bath became more difficult, so I haven't done it very often. I decided to give it a try again tonight. This time, I hoped, they were older and slightly more sensible about staying out of the water. I also kept the door closed (their meows weren't too annoying) most of the time. But when I was done, I let them check it out. Loki peered over the tub, but only looked. Griffin, on the other hand, perched over the side and stuck his paws into the water. He didn't just dip them in; he stuck them in and let them soak in the water. Finally, I got too nervous that he would jump into the foot or so of water and bubbles, so I drained it before he could "explore" more.

End of Week One

By request, I'm going to try to update this more often to keep everyone apprised of my D.C. life. If you want any juicy details, though, you'll have to talk to me since I can't post everything online.

Week One of work is over, and things are going well. I'm already much more comfortable with what's going on in Congress and find editing stories easier than it was on Day One. I've also gone through a lot of my "curriculum" -- learning software, etc. I know the basics of Web posting, but I still have to learn a bit more about the process of posting stories in five places and sending out alerts.

As it turns out, almost the entire copy desk is originally from the Midwest (Midwest including Ohio and Michigan). Everyone's really great and helpful.

Also, on my second day, we ran a file photo by Wayne Crosslin of the Post-Dispatch. So there are reminders of "home" everywhere. (And a couple of co-workers and I shared some buckets of Bud Light at the bar tonight ... but of course Bud Light is everywhere.)

The cats are settling in. They have already learned how to open one of my closets, so child safety locks might be needed again. For the most part, though, they haven't knocked too many things off shelves, so I consider that a victory. Their major problem right now is that they're shedding like crazy. I'm going to be vacuuming my couch on a daily basis for a while.

Griffin's rough life

Since Christmas, Griffin has been through a lot. He was having "issues" again and went to the vet. First, he had an infection. Once that was cured but the problems were still happening, the vet examined him again. ... and found a testicle inside him.

In case you're wondering, yes, he was neutered when I got him. Supposedly. The animal welfare group had him neutered just before I picked him up. In fact, that doctor said he had a testicle that hadn't descended. So he had to make an incision to get them out.

Except he didn't get all of them. Or Griffin is regenerating testes. Or something.

So, he went back under the knife (this time with his current doctor whom I trust) and had another testicle removed. He's recovering well and, despite hating the world for a day or two, has been surprisingly sweet to me through the whole ordeal.

Now I just hope that cures all his other issues. :)

Loki steals snowman

Loki has decided my stuffed snowman decoration is really a toy for him. The day after I put it up, I noticed it ended up on the entirely opposite side of my apartment. I knew he was the culprit. So I returned it to its original location in the living room. The next morning, it was back in my bedroom. This time I put it on a different shelf, thinking he wouldn't notice it. An hour later, I'm brushing my teeth and Loki comes tearing down the hallway, chased by Griffin. What's in Loki's mouth? The snowman. (I should note that this snowman is at least 2/3 his size.)

So now the snowman is tucked away in a closet, and Loki has resorted to playing with his own stuffed animals.

Christmas in the apartment

The cats passed the first holiday decoration test, so Sunday I finished decorating the apartment. I still kept decorations to a minimum, as I don't completely trust them. But I decided they would just have to learn to leave some decorations alone.

I also gave them their Christmas present in hopes they would stay busy with it instead of chewing on the tree and garland. (It's a toy box. You put balls and small toys in it; then the cats push them around and try to get them out.)

Cats + bubbles = crazy

Awhile back, I discovered the cats enjoy chasing bubbles. So I bought a container and use them as entertainment in between. Adam was blowing bubbles for the cats Sunday when I decided to do my best to get some action shots. The results were decent.

Both cats like to stretch and leap to pop bubbles high in the air.


Loki leapt for a bubble that happened to be right above me. I narrowly avoided him landing on my head, and I snapped this picture of his back legs mid-leap.


Loki also likes to snap at the bubbles. Yes, he gets mad when they land on him and then he tries to eat them. Sometimes he growls a little too.


See a full album of cat bubble and holiday pics here.

I spoke too soon ...

I came home from work today to find my Christmas tree knocked over. Luckily it's small and not near anything breakable.

Christmas way early

I don't actually have Christmas decorations up yet, but I did get out my tree last weekend. I did so with one thing in mind -- acclimating the cats to it. I was hoping that if I put it up early and let them get used to it without lights or ornaments, that I could AT LEAST have a lighted Christmas tree up for the season. So far so good. It's a small tree (5 1/2 feet tall, but skinny), and they've mostly left it alone. They tend to chew on the lower branches, but nothing too horrible. I might actually have Christmas decorations up this year!

Halloween cats

While at Goodwill a few weeks ago, Adam and I saw pet Halloween costumes for $1.50 each. What a deal! So I couldn't resist buying a devil and an angel. We tried them on for a photo session today, and here are the results.

First, we brought them both in the bathroom (the only room with no place for them to run or hide). Griffin was surprisingly calm and just sat in the corner and on the counter as he watched us struggle with Loki. Loki, the usually lazy one, was in full fight mode. We finally managed to get a few glimpses of him in his cape and horns. There wasn't much chance for a group shot.

See the full shoot here.