Hee hee! I guess that little chat I had with Otis worked then. I
told him he's got a good thing going in your gorgeous house and he
should really stay in more. Better to have a midlife paunch than to
roam all the time ;-)
I'm sorry to hear about your sleep deprivation. Vino used to be worse
in Vancouver but here he starts at 6:30 am and only goes on for 5-10
min. He stops sooner if we absolutely and totally ignore him. He has
another crack at it about an hour later but that's when I usually get
up anyway. I hope things improve for you guys in the sleeping
department!
Purrs for your life to slow down a bit so you can get more time on the
NG. Purrs for Archie too. I hope you guys have a nice Christmas :-)
Take care,
--
Britta
Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's
covered in fur!
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album



"Susan M" smawdsley remove @shaw.ca wrote in message
news:wkuud.457334$Pl.347208@pd7tw1no...
Hi all:

I don't get to read the ng as much as I'd like. Such great folks
and
stories that cheer me up and can also make me cry in shared pain. I
read
Baha's thread on not feeling very merry and was awed by how so many
of the
group have survived such horrible circumstances - not only survived
but are
loving kind caring people. I am inspired by their strength and I
sent lots
of telepathic hugs out all over the world when I read your stories.

Reading those stories sure put my ridiculously hectic and chaotic
few months
in perspective. They were busy but good months and I have two
lovely furry
creatures to cuddle at night that make everything alright.

One of those cuddly boys, Otis, is getting FAT!!! Seems that his
long
escape on our holidays made him appreciate the comforts of home that
much
more. He was nice and slim when we got him back and has been eating
constantly since his return. I've had to put him on a diet for the
first
time in his life. He'll also be 9 yo on January 19th so maybe he's
getting
his midlife paunch :-)

You can tell that its getting cold again since Otis sleeps under the
covers
every night now. Hops up on the bed, burrows underneath the covers,
and we
spoon the whole night - just his little pointed head sticking out of
the
covers and resting on the pillow beside me. It's really lovely.

Otis also has a new habit. Before, he used to just tap me with a
paw as a
first warning at night, usually on the face. If I didn't respond
immediately, then he'd break out a claw and apply light pressure
until he
got my attention. Now, he *starts* with the claw. I'm walking
around with
what look like acne on my face. They're not zits, they're little
tiny cat
scratches. I've got three of them right now. Just add that to the
list of
annoying, disruptive and destructive habits of my dear boy.

I've decided that sleeping with the cats is leaving us chronically
sleep
deprived. One or the other gets up at 4 AM. If its Otis, he opens
the
closet doors and tries to lick the plastic drycleaning bags on my
clothes.
Either that or he jumps up on the dresser under the windows and bats
the
wooden shades around. If its Chester, its harder to be mad. He
jumps up
with his Kramer entrance and starts purring so hard we think he's
going to
explode. He'll either present his head to Otis for a grooming, in
which
case we are awake to the sounds of cats slurping for another 5 - 10
minutes,
or it jazzes Otis up and he hits the closets. We've tried locking
Otis 2
floors down in the basement but he yowls so dramatically, that it
wakes us
up anyway. We've tried locking Chester out of the bedroom but,
since he's
discovered his inner cat, he scratches and makes a scene until we
let him in
anyway. G*d forbid we forget to close the door to the ensuite.
Chester
will fish around in the garbage can until he gags from the way it
rubs on
his neck. This is crazy! Do you *all* have such a time
sleeping???? Are
we all sleep deprived crazy people??

Otis now also defers to Chester at the food dish. Some kind of
battle has
been won somewhere - Otis sits back patiently and waits for Chester
to have
the first crack at it - even if Chester hasn't yet arrived at the
dish.
Weird.

And Chester - still a total angel. He really is.

OK - my 3 hours a night of sleep this week has caught up with me so
I should
go and tumble into bed.

Thanks for listening to my cat ramblings.

Susan M
Otis and Chester
Who'd better sleep tonight!