We've been building new shelves

But La Doof Kitton likes to consider them cat-cozies designed so he can stair-step between them.  (The picture doesn't give scale well but, do realize that the shelf he is currently on is almost 6' off the ground.)

I'd like to pretend that adding books to them has moved the cats away from the lovely stairt-step shelves.  But currently?  that shelf holds Lemony Snickett's books...and La Doof Kitton on top of said books.

I suppose it's an improvement over his other book obsession. For the last 3 weeks, at least every-other day, La Doof Kitton places himself on the other bookshelves (the ones that just look like bookshelves) and finds my old paperback copy of _Les Miserables_ (on the shelf about 4.5 feet high) and places one paw on top of the book...and flings the book from the shelf to the floor where it lands w/ a very loud thump.
And then he curls Scooter-the-Tail around his paws and looks pleased with himself.

I'm not sure what Victor Hugo did to my cat or if it's merely that La Doof Kitton resents Jean ValJean's transition to a model citizen but he *really* dislikes that book being on the shelf.
(while it screws with my book organization, for this week, we swapped _Les Miserables_ and _Shogun_ [since they're similar thickness] as an experiment--I'll let you know how it goes)

Recently, the G family toilet paper has looked funny.

The toilet paper in the house has looked like it belongs in a cartoon where the kittehs unroll all the TP. 

This, of course, is silly because for all their PITA-ness, our kittehs don't unroll the TP.  Oh no, the TP is shredded because La Doof Kitton decided he wanted to go to Narnia.  Now, the proper way to do this is to find a wardrobe which was carved from magical wood from the tree planted by the Magician's Nephew, but La Doof Kitton, not being literate (at least I don't *think* he is fully literate) decided that poking around in the back of the linen closet (since said linen closet has a small access panel to get to the bathroom plumbing--a kitteh who tried really hard could probably manage to make it into the basement ceiling, heaven help us) might be the best way to make it to Narnia.

Of course, he neglected to tell us that he planned to go to Narnia, so when he snuck into the linen closet, we wondered who had left the door open--and closed the door.
Now, trapped in a small dark closet with the dreaded vacuum (which was off but is still the scary sucking noisy machine of DOOM), he decided he needed to claw his way out.  He could have clawed towels or vacuums or soap or a wall or a door--any one of which might have made enough noise that we would have opened the door to let him out...but he thought that digging a hole in the toilet paper was still his best bet on accessing Narnia.

Several hours later, when we realized the house was to quiet, we opened the door and La Doof Kitton sauntered out.  I haven't yet decided whether or not he really found Mr. Tumnus but he did leave behind a mega-jumbo-gigantic pack of toilet paper--in which every roll has lost a battle w/ wee kitteh claws.
And I do think that he must have been successful--why else would he rush to trap himself back in the linen closet now, every time I open it?

But it is hard on the toilet paper.

Trying to get him to announce the news...

So, (as promised), I decided that La Doof Kitton, as abdication of his 'baby of the family' status, would announce that he was going to be a big brother...by wearing a t-shirt. (although forwarning now--there are no wonderful announcement pictures I love. They're amusing but the fates didn't cooperate)

Yes, for anyone not already in the know, we are adding our first 2 legged child to the mix.
The pets don't quite 'get' it yet--La Doof Kitton isn't sure he wants a new kitten in the house and El Gato is holding out on giving an opinion until after she determines how much milk is in the deal for her. And Dawg is still asking if it's a new puppy or a new kitten.
They'll understand eventually.

I 'made' a t-shirt (which is putting it very generously. I barely know how to sew. But I had a t-shirt I was using bits of for something else--I turned it inside out and sewed it 'smaller' and then painted "I'm gonna be a big brother" on it), pictured here:


Well, we put La Doof Kitton in the Mr's lap and showed him 'his' new shirt and he wasn't convinced. I tried my baby-sister's trick of telling him 'it will be FUN, I promise' and he wisely gave me the 'fun for WHO?' look in response (which is the only appropriate response).

So, we attempted to put the shirt on him.
I'm still forever confused as to how the bones of a cat turn into cooked linguine when you try to make them do things. I'm also forever confused as to how 4 feet and 1 mouth manage to make EVERY side of the cat pointy when you touch it.
(so, NO, there are no pictures of us getting him into the shirt--there were not enough hands)

So with the shirt on, La Doof Kitton decided that his legs no longer worked.

After trying repeatedly to stand him up...and failing (I'd pick him up, he'd be limp. I'd set him down on his feet and he'd give me the 'but MOM, there's a SHIRT, they don't WORK' look and flop down), I went to the craft cupboard to grab a poofball...

Ah, yes, the legs they work to get poofs.

Poof in hand (er, claw. Er, accurately, mouth), La Doof Kitton stalked about the office for a few minutes as the shirt proved to fit him less and less well...and he couldn't decide what to do about this new level of stress I was causing. The poof was wonderfully fun and needed to be played with--but the shirt was still causing his legs not to work. So he carried the poof the dark cave under the desk to hide his embarrassment.


At this point, I took pity on him and went through quite a struggle to remove the shirt without having him turn all pointy again. The fact that he got multiple poofs out of this ordeal is the only reason I'm not going to be sleeping with one eye open tonight.

So I think La Doof Kitton is beginning to understand what it may be like to be a big brother. It means weird upsets to routine and being dressed up. But does result in poofs and attention too.

Although he's still not as excited about the prospects as Mr. G and I are.

Sewing with cats

I should once again apologize for being lax in my posting...but that would be redundant because I do that much to often. So you'll all just have to assume I'm a jerk.

But I am a jerk who recently sewed her first-ever-project from a pattern.
And La Doof Kitton helped. (El Gato helped too but not nearly as much)
The project turned out OK, and the story isn't very entertaining (except the point where La Doof Kitton tried to get his wee paw run over by the sewing machine, I panicked in trying to rescue him, and instead, I thumped myself with the pressure foot and thought I broke a finger) but the pictures make me giggle :-)


Where's the kitteh? And where did this lump come from?


At this point, El Gato decided to pounce the lump in the pattern...of course she wasn't picking on her baby-brother, she just was pouncing the lump for me. And, of course, La Doof Kitton pounced from the other side. And left his tail [Scooter] hanging out so that Scooter could flop around angrily)

At that point, they started damaging the pattern so I took it away. La Doof Kitton instead positioned himself to be able to pounce the thread tails as soon as I started up the machine. (He did eventually get himself locked out of the room until the project was done)

The demise of the treat-dispensing-toy

Fairly recently, an admirer sent La Doof Kitton and El Gato some toys (really. Apparently there are people who like my pets. Even if Dawg is still not allowed to visit the houses of some relatives after nearly destroying them). There some of these toys are still around the house (under the fridge, in the toy basket, or hiding in the basement) but the treat ball didn't make it.

The treat ball was a fairly straightforward toy--a hollow ball with a hole in it. So you put treats/catnip/etc in the ball and as they bat it about, the good-things-inside fall out of the hole. Genius I tell you!

So, I broke out this shiny new treat ball and, when it came time for the kittehs' bedtime treats, I gave them each ONE and put the other stinky little bits of tasty bad-for-kitty-ness into the treat ball and set it on the floor (on the side of the baby gate that Dawg can NOT get to--Dawg also likes kitteh treats) and I went to bed.

I heard the hubbub of kittehs trying to get to treats for a while and then I heard the *thump, thump, thump, thumppity thump thump thumppity* of a treat ball bouncing down a flight of steps. And then I heard silence. And then I went to sleep.

When I got up in the morning, the ball was lying in 2 halves at the bottom of the stairs, sans treats. While that's not ideal, it was still forcing El Gato to exercise for her treat and it was fun (Okay, *I* thought it was fun. La Doof Kitton seemed to be enjoying himself. El Gato seemed to think that I should be beaten with sticks for making it harder to get to her treats) so I was game to keep doing this.

We repeated the "treats in the ball at night" several more times before I realized that I quit hearing the sound of kittehs trying to get to treats...apparently ONE of them (or both...but my money is on one--La Doof Kitton) figured out that taking the ball to the top of the stairs and shoving it down = ball in pieces and, YAY TREATS with less work.

So, the next day, I decided that I would put catnip, rather than treats in the ball. La Doof Kitton is mostly indifferent to catnip while El Gato is all for the reefer madness. and hits that bong pretty hard. I put a large pinch of catnip in the ball and put the ball in the library (Dawg doesn't like the library--the floor is lava) and watched El Gato sniff at it. A few minutes later, I heard a noise in the living room that sounded less than promising; I forgot that, as indifferent to catnip as La Doof Kitton is, Dawg is not. I don't think Dawg gets a 'rush' from it, I think she just likes eating El Gato's toys and she associates the smell with fun-to-eat kitteh toys.

I arrived in the living room to find El Gato, perched on the back of the couch looking VERY upset while Dawg lay under the couch (that's where she goes when she's chewing on things she oughtn't be chewing on) , surrounded by flakes of catnip and purple and green plastic bits.

So the treat ball didn't make it--the kitteh's are back to just having their bits of partially-digested-animal-by-product-meal (ew) placed in front of them at bedtime. And La Doof Kitton seems disappointed that he doesn't get to push things downstairs. And El Gato is quite content with the return to the status quo--and easier access to treats.

Halloween wine foil anyone?

La Doof Kitton perched in the window and investigated the trick-or-treaters...he actually tried to slither out the front door to get to them so I locked him in the office, where he watched vigilantly for the ghouls and goblins (this window looks right out onto the front door):



I heard noises in the kitchen and went to investigate...
La Doof Kitton was sitting in the middle of the floor with the cork from my bottle of Halloween wine.

I decided the possibility of staining was to great and took it away from him and came back to my computer.

I heard noises and returned to the kitchen...
La Doof Kitton was sitting in the middle of the floor with the foil top from my bottle of Halloween wine.

I decided this was more-or-less safe. So I got the camera and watched him play with this for the next several minutes--and eventually El Gato, in typical pushy older sister fashion, came and nosed in. She fiddled with it for a minute and then decided that such things were beneath her (more like she didn't want to fight her brother for it--seeing as he tends to win).

The night's favorite toy:

(wandering away with it held firmly in his teeth)

Oooh, maybe it will go down the stairs

El Gato inspecting this 'toy'

I'm not quite sure where the wine foil is now, but I gave them that as a 'treat' so I get no tricks, right?
(ETA--Initially, I had given them some plastic kid's fangs as their Halloween treat...but apparently, La Doof Kitton fed them to Dawg earlier today. So I can expect glowing green flecks in the back yard this week.)

Of yogurt lids and things

(I actually started to post this tale a week ago...but our DSL modem fried itself mid-post. Literally. And it took a while to get a new one. But AT&T was pretty gracious about the entire thing and didn't charge me for this new piece of plastic attached here, so I have no room to complain)

If you didn't know, Yoplait runs a thingy where sending in lids provides donations to Breast Cancer research. Given how much yogurt this house goes through on a weekly basis (the critters eat it. I eat it. Mr. G eats it), we are saving up a pile o' lids to send in soon. Since all lids must be clean, the pets do their duty every time I open a yogurt at home by volunteering to clean the lid off for me. It works well--they clean the lid off, I run it under water to get anything they miss (HA, like that happens!) and then I stick the lid into a baggie that is attached to the very top of the fridge by a strong magnetic clip.

Well, recently, the Mr. and I left to go about our days...and came home to find yogurt lids strewn about.

APPARENTLY *someone* in the house had managed to climb to the top of the fridge, reach down inside the baggie (the baggie was still firmly magnet-ed to the fridge), and fish out lids. There was a breadcrumb trail of lids that lead from the kitchen to the office and then from the office to the living room. And the next day we found several tucked inside the blanket that's on top of the couch. And a few days later we found several inside the towel that sits on the exercise bike.

He seemed to thoroughly enjoy creating a scavenger hunt--although I believe he was disappointed that the lids lacked yogurt for him to eat (not that he eats it--he only eats it if it irritates the other pets. He likes to play with the lids and steal them from the other pets; he's indifferent to yogurt as a food--he prefers it as a plaything).

So, since it was apparent that the kitton could sit on top of the fridge and dig out yogurt lids, we moved them. We stuck the magnet smack in the middle of the fridge--it wouldn't be reachable from the top OR the floor. or at least we didn't think it would.

We came home to find 1-the baggie o' lids, with teethmarks in it, on the kitchen floor and 2-magnets and a few of the bits of magnetic poetry spread about the kitchen floor. The magnetic poetry was well chewed--I'm not sure who did that, although there was a dog-centric set as a part of the poetry that said 'treat' which is gone altogether--I can only assume Dawg ate it.
Best guess is that La Doof Kitton positioned himself on a counter/the back of a chair/the microwave cart and launched himself at the fridge--grabbing the bag and dragging it downward and scattering magnets as he slid down.

With that sort of determination at play, we gave up and the baggie o' lids is IN the fridge, on a shelf.

Just to remind us that he's boss, however, La Doof Kitton DID apparently climb up and steal the dry erase marker off the magnetic dry-erase board earlier this week. We're still not sure where that went.
(I believe the score for THIS debacle is Pets 3, humans 0)