New Toys and Walks on the Leash

Oh boy! My he-person came home from the store bringing new toys for me. Of course, since I wasn't born yesterday, I know that it is important to look this particular gift horse in the mouth because when he comes bearing gifts, there's usually a catch. This time he brought a new feather toy and a long tube with holes at each end and one in the middle. I guess I'm supposed to tunnel through the tube, but there has to be a catch somewhere.

In the first place, the tunnel is made of fabric that cracks and crinkles when it's touched, so the noise kind of scared me at first. But I finally got brave and worked up the nerve to crawl through it, and what happens? Something attacks my behind and I can't turn around to fight it off! Grrr-r-r-r.

So now I know why he bought the feather toy -- so he could entice me into the tunnel, then attack me from behind with the feather. Humph! There's one thing he didn't count on, though. I'm so long when I'm stretched out that I can almost reach the far end while I've still got my back end out the other side. Now that I've smartened up, that makes it hard for my he-person to get me all the way inside the tunnel. Nah nah nah nah nah nah. I'm sure I will enjoy playing in the tunnel all by myself, but I do appreciate an audience that will laugh at me. Maybe I'll make up my own games with the tunnel.

My people have also started taking me out for walks again. We missed a few weeks while traveling, then when we got settled in here there were too many ants, and so spray was used all around the outside. Now it is good and dry, so my time has come to get trussed up in the harness and hauled out the door. We did this a couple of days ago, but I didn't get very far.

Last night it finally hit me how much fun this actually was, so I took a long hike. Of course, I was encouraged by my he-person pulling straight up on the leash so I couldn't lie down on the ground. My method of operation up to now has to been take two steps, lie down, chew on the grass, get up and take two more steps, and so on. So my walks were always short since it took me about 20 minutes to take half-a-dozen steps. But last night I walked in the grass and found out I really did enjoy being outdoors and walking. I even went across the road to another grassy area. Heck, I might want to do this every day! Purr-r-r-r.

Shady Sites, Wonderful Weather and Travel Plans

Well, we moved once again! One month in our site in Verde Valley, and my people weren't happy that there was no shade on the RV. They wanted a site up in the pine trees, which are way bigger than the deciduous trees and provide lots of shade.

It does get hot in V.V. every day before the clouds come in and cool it down. Sometimes that happens by 2:00 PM, but sometimes it gets up almost to 100 before the rain comes in about 4:00 or 5:00 PM. The air conditioner keeps it nice and cool inside, but I like my windows open so I can enjoy cool breezes, plus it's easier to see everything going on. I keep an eye on the neighbors who have a cute little dog. I met it a couple of days ago, but I was a little shy and only got within a couple of feet of it.

Now we're in a nice, shady spot and the windows and door can stay open until almost noon. We haven't had rain in a couple of days, so it has gotten up in the high nineties in mid-afternoon, but it's nice in this site and we always have really cool nights.

The rain should be back tomorrow. Yippee! I love the smell of the grass and trees after the rain. And now my people are thinking we might move again to the site where they were parked when I moved in with them. If only Dixie, the yellow lab can come back and park next door. I just love her and her people! They're the ones who rescued me one cold, dark night.

My people are threatening to haul my furry behind to California in a couple of weeks to meet all my human "aunts" and "uncles" who live there. We will be traveling by car instead of in the motorhome, so I'm not at all sure I will like that. I might raise a ruckus the whole way there to annoy my people.

Should I purr or growl?

Birthdays - When Is Mine?

Well I've certainly learned about a new reason to celebrate this week. My he-person had his birthday, and it appears that the focus of it is about eating good food. He came in reeking of something yummy two times this week, and I want to know, when will we celebrate my birthday?

I'm afraid mine will be skipped because my people don't know what day it was. That's because I was abandoned, and my old people didn't leave any information about me. I want a birthday, too!

What am I, pond scum?

I guess I'll have to figure out some way to let them know that they can pick a date. Maybe celebrate the day they took me in? After all, that's when my new life started. I can accept that as long as I get special treats and presents! I would be happy with some fish and those catnip-filled mice that they've got hidden from me and that I accidentally found one day.

Let's celebrate!!! Purr-r-r-r.

This Spot is All Mine!

Well, I've finally won at least one argument in our household. I've claimed one soft, comfy spot as all mine!

First of all, I tried to get comfortable in my peoples' chairs, but they would always run me out by almost sitting on top of me. I mean, sometimes I had to jump for my life if I didn't want to be squashed flat as a pancake. I don't want the sofa. I mean, if my people don't want to sit there, why should I? And the back of the sofa is only appealing when the window behind it is open. That is one place I like to stretch out on my back and let the cool breezes ruffle my fur. But make no mistake, I really prefer inconveniencing my people, and I've never seen them climb up on the back of the sofa to take a nap.

But I did happen to notice that sometimes my she-person puts her feet up on her footstool and sometimes she doesn't, so that's where I decided to claim MY space. Now, anytime I see her feet up on it, I put my front feet on it and squall at the top of my lungs until she has to notice me. And if for some unfathomable reason she doesn't understand or hear me, I climb up on the arm of her chair and squall in her ear. And yeah, I give a really piercing, loud meow when I want to get her attention. She jerks her feet off that stool so fast it makes my head swim, then I jump on it really fast and give her another snarky meow and dirty look to show her who is boss.

There's only one problem with my footstool. It is a glider stool that matches her glider rocker. Sometimes I wiggle around too much and accidentally get it swaying back and forth, then I roll off. I even managed to scratch my she-person one time because I was rolling around on it and went flying off the side next to her bare legs. As I stuck out my claws to try and get some traction before I hit the floor, I clawed her. Oops!

She didn't get mad at me, but she does steer clear when I'm relaxing on it now. Better not no one mess with me and my footstool.