The Meowee East: Storms both Physical and Metaphorical (or Pathetic Fallacy by Haley teh Cat)

This video looks like a skit from The Muppet Show. I kept expecting to see people clinging horizontally to street lamps.


It's an exciting morning here in the Meowee East. It's 9 degrees Celcius (warm) and a thunder and lightning storm just passed through. I've got the balcony door open and wild winds are - a - blowin' through. Minion is acting like a FREAK. I wish you could see the look on Haley's face, but I only have my laptop for taking photos.

At first she was down here enjoying the storm, but then Minion went running up along her back...

 so she retreated to Wolverbean Towers.

Watching the rain and wind.

Rain and wind got up in her face so she LEAPED to her window.

"You're a freak and an idiot."

While Minion has to take the high spots from Haley all the time, in reality she only has one high spot she likes; otherwise she prefers the floor. This desk in the livingroom is her cave. Notice how she's hooked up her tunnel so that it leads into her cave.

She naps under the curtains, tucked under the heater. 

I suspect she discovered it one day when she fell off the heater, but she admits to nothing.

I've had to lock Minion in my bedroom, cause Haley wanted to come down and check out the wind. The window in my room lets out on a bird-filled tree. I tried telling Minion this, but she was all "No no no I wanna be with you!" [aka terrorize Haley.]

Perched on the Elizabeth Box, as regal as the Virgin Queen herself.

UPDATE ON THE COUSSIN DE POUVOIR (from yesterday)


Since moving it lower, Haley's been *allowed* to sit on it a lot more. But Minion is sensitive to her reputation cause right when I take a picture...
 

"You look entirely too comfortable on that coussin. OFF!" Takes coussin. Pretends to look like she's going to take a long nap.
  

Haley indifferent because though she's lost the coussin, she now has the high ground.

 

Minion soon realizes this is a losing proposition and leaves the coussin.

Living With Cats & a Meowee East update (Is there rioting in the litter boxes too??)

Living with cats is like living in a library. If you make a sudden noise everyone stops what they're doing and STARES pointedly at you. You apologize in a hushed voice and hunch your shoulders and continue your work as quietly as possible.

 

On thing I like about cats is that when you talk to them they usually twitch their tails in response. If there's a cat stretched out nearby, I say: "Who's a pretty girl?" And she will give a little tail thump that says: "Well obviously: Moi."

MEOWEE EAST: Now below is a little scene called Minion Wakes Up and Espies Her Best Friend...

Look at the way she's stretched out on her back, belly totally exposed.

You wouldn't think this was the dominant cat.

She's not attacking Haley, just stretching out towards her, and Haley is hitting her. "Don't touch me on my side of the bed!"

 And Haley moves away. I suspect it was a jackass move. Something your brother does that's calculated to drive you nuts, but not bad enough that you can get him in trouble for it. Well look at her. She does look obnoxious.

That's how things are in this Meowee East. If it'd modeled on the Middle East then Fernando and I are in trouble. Nibblet riots! "More Snappy Toms! More chin scratches! More Snappy Toms! More chin scratches!"

A song and a cat

For most of my teen years and I think college I kept a diary, and I almost always picked a song of the day. Sometimes meaningful, but often just the song stuck in my head that day. Where did this tradition go? It was excellent!

Song of the Day: "the only thing that I did wrong, I stayed in Mississippi a day too long"



I released Minion from captivity this afternoon. She was very restless yesterday when I had to feed her smaller amounts in case she was nauseous. Now that she's getting normal amounts, she's calmer. Seems to be resting a lot.


Minion's incision.



She hasn't done any crazy acrobatics yet, and though she's excited to see Haley ("ooh right where I her!") she's kind of taking it ease. No leaps onto her back yet. Haley's not buying this new Innocent act, though. Growlygrowlygrowly.

The last moments of One and Only Remaining Cat time.

Meneeeer! and other tails

Kitty Stories:

1. Haley has a new hidey-hole somewhere, and so far Minion hasn't found it. But Fernando and I haven't either! I couldn't find her before I went to bed this morning (though when I woke up she was sleeping on my pillow, next to my head.)

2. Yesterday Minion was chasing a wasp--she put her hand down on it to capture it, and it stung her. Funny thing is, it just set her on a course of revenge. The wasp flew up to the overhead light, and she was jumping all over the place, trying to get at it. "Wasp! WASP! WAAAASP!!!!"  All the while occasionally licking her little stung paw.

3. These days I have to lock Minion up when she eats, so she won't take Haley's food. Minion gets a larger portion (growing toddler) so in the beginning Haley was finished her food before Minion, and it was safe. But now Minion eats a bite or two of her food, then RUNS over to Haley's dish and tries to suck it all up in record time. If you want to know what Haley sounds like when she's growling and eating at the same time, watch this video and listen to the tauntaun noises.


4. Kitty Song: Fernando and I tend to take whatever song is in our heads' and adapt it to the cats. Yesterday I was singing:

My cat bad!
My cat hood!
My cat does things that your cat never could!

Also, my old roommate and I used to adapt the Old Yeller theme to every animal we owned. (My dad taught it to us.) I need to compose Minion's.

Nombly's
Old Nombly was a mongrel
A little straight-eared mongrel
Fancy free, without a family tree
But he could up and do it
Just like there's nothing to it
And that's how a good cat should be.

Here Nombly! Come back Nombly
--meh! meh! meh!--
Beeeest doggone caaat in the Eaaast!

(He was saying "meh" before it was fashionable.)

Bantha's (the roommate's rottweiler)
Old Bantha was a purebred
A big old lop-eared purebread
Fancy free, but with a family tree
And he could up and do it
Just like there's nothing to it
And that's how a good dog should be.

Here Batha! Come back Bantha
--rowr! rowr! rowr! [deep gravelly voice]
Beeeest doggone dooog in the Eaaast!

Haley:
Young Haley was a calico
A little straight-eared calico
Fancy-free without a family tree
But she could up and do it
Just like there's nothing to it
And that's how a good kitty should be

Here Haley! Come back Haley
--hiss! hiss! hiss!--
Best doggone cat in the East.

Mum's dog Sassy:
Old Sassy was a mongrel
A little lop-eared mongrel
Fancy-free without a family tree
But she could up and do it
Just like there's nothing to it
And that's how a good dog should be

Here Sassy! Come back Sassy!
--Sassy! Come back! SASSY!! COME HERE!!--
Best doggone dog in the East

How's this?
Wee Minion was a calico
A little orphaned calico
Fancy-free without a family tree
But she could up and do it
Just like there's nothing to it
And that's how a good kitten should be

Here Minion! Come back Minion
-- meneer! meneer! meneer!-- [she has a teeny tiny whiny squeek]
Best doggone cat in the East

Curtains, and the Meowee East

Productive day again. I did a bunch of laundry, hung the curtains in the cupboard doorway, hung the livingroom curtains, and changed the ones in the kitchen.

The kitchen ones were a lovely bright yellow, but we've had them over 10 years and they had a million kitty-nail-snags in them. I think the cats liked to bat at bird shadows through them. I hung up some white-with-wee-roses curtains that I had once bought for the livingroom but never used.

Minion enjoying the new couch. She has slept on every section of it today.

Me enjoying the new curtains.

Haley enjoying her new High Ground spot. Haley first came up with her two original high spots, as a way to escape the boys, who were most times too oldy to attempt the jump. But Minion regularly kicks her out of them! Now she's trying to establish a third spot on top of my kitchen shelf.

Uh oh. I think Minion's spotted it. Yesterday I locked Haley into a back room for some aloney-on-her-owney time, and soon after I found Minion sitting on a box outside the room, trying to turn the door handle. "How can I play with my favourite toy when you keep locking it up!"

escape holes in the Meowee East

I have this big box that my new cat boxes came in, and I've left it on the floor for the cats to play in. Haley likes to play hide-and-hit games, where you hide somewhere, and then bat at the other cat through an opening. But Minion doesn't play right.
She bats for awhile, and then runs into the box WITH Haley. You then hear "MROW!!" , you see the box move a lot, and Haley comes shooting out.

So I've now cut an escape hole onto the back, and some little peep holes on the sides.

In other Haley news... I'm afraid I really freaked her out at the last false fire alarm -- the one when a woman screamed, and for the first time Haley went running under the bed and I had to pull her out in order to get her in her box and out of the apartment.

Today they're testing the fire bells and people's smoke detectors. The fire bell goes off once in awhile, just briefly, and it's spooking Haley. When the dudes came to my door to check the detector, she ran under the bed and wouldn't even come out for Snappy Toms!! I had to put the Snappy Toms in a bowl under the bed, and then closed to door to make her feel safe.

Just now there was another short ring, and Haley jumped and started to run off. But I see her prowling around, so she hasn't headed for the bed yet. She keeps looking suspiciously at the door.

Cuddles in the Meowee East

My father asked about Haley. Well, Haley doesn't come hang on the couch when Evil Minion is out and about. When Minion isn't frolicking, she's cuddling, and Haley doesn't want to catch her eye ("AH! It's my favourite toy Haley!!!!") So she sleeps on a pillow not too far away.

But when I lock up the baby, Haley comes over to get her due.

And here's Minion Minion Minion as we continued our Sports Night Fest.

The rarely-ending Pursuit of Finger Suck.

And the occasional calmer Cuddle.

And Sleep.

Something cutesie this way comes

minion was sucking on my finger, laying on my arm, and fell asleep. i can tell b/c she's doing that twitchy-asleep thing. but my finger pad is still between her teeth and she keeps biting down. she is so obnoxious and cute.

things have gotten stormy in the meowee east. the problem is minion's idea of a good time is to jump up in the air and land on haley's back. over and over. it's not appreciated.

[She's off my hand! She almost punctured the skin of my finger! The rotten bum.]

She also doesn't respect Haley's high up hiding places, so there's no way to escape unless I lock Minion up.

I read that little kitties are often inappropriately aggressive in play and their mothers have to teach them to play more gently. So I've been teaching her the meaning of NO! And often: MINION!!! I've been successful enough that I was able to get her off Haley's perch, without having to get up and physically remove her, for the time today. Since I've started this, things have settled down a little.

I have all these Cutesie pictures of Minion, and not Haley, cause she likes to sit on the couch with me. So Haley doesn't. (Except during Minion Lockdown.) Though since I've been taming the beast, Haley's been hanging around a little more.

So much for not being dominant. Interestingly Haley never gives Minion the smackdown I suspect she's fully capable of. She yells, she hisses, she swats--but I have personally been on the receiving end of a Wolverbean, so I know she can do more. I don't know if she holds back because Minion's a baby? Or she only believes in savaging humans, and not fellow cats?

Ah well, here's the latest pics.

Happiness is a warm kitty on your lap, on a chilly night.

It's hard to take a picture of a cat when she keeps chasing the camera strap.