Friday cat blogging, plus some stuff about a dog

The cats have to be separated to eat, because Grendel eats fast and Gray eats slow, and then they will disagree about the remaining cat tidbits which Gray is still individually examining prior to nibbling. And getting hungry cats into adjoining rooms is your classic herding cats problem, unless you are crafty and plan ahead, hard to do right after you get out of bed and are besieged by the small dog who wants to be fed RIGHT NOW and is jumping up and down and twirling in tight mad squealing circles, more excited than a game-show winner on TV, as if the interval between the opening of a can of dogfood and the dish getting put on the floor was emotionally unbearable, I guess maybe like the time between drawing the winning lottery ticket and being handed the check.

So, I open the can of dogfood and now Bella is snarfing her food like a starving animal, which, I hasten to say, she is not, and I can attend to the cats, who have to be tricked into different rooms which takes a couple of feints because each wants to eat the first bowl I put out and if I put out two bowls at once they will be in the same room, not good, and then I will have to move a cat while it's eating, not good. But with lies and promises I get them, finally, into separate rooms, and everyone is happy.

They eat.

Then Gray wants to go out onto the back porch, and it's cold but he doesn't know that and you can't tell a cat anything, and he thinks Grendel wants to go out too so he rushes thru the door, like he is escaping, instead of his usual dainty smelling of the door and considering life while I hold the door open. Now then, he's out. Comes to a dead stop--like, what am I doing here? And because it's chilly out there he will soon be back at the door demanding a refund.

In the meantime Grendel sees Gray is out and wants out too, but because there is now no competitive urgency he does the dainty smelling of the door routine while I hold it open except I have other things to do and boost him out with my foot while he tries to brake with his front feet, but now he's out too and instantly recovers his self-esteem using the amnesia cats quickly apply to memories of indignities like being boosted out the door. The cats explore opposite corners of the porch. They know they have caught lizards out here, so they are optimistic, unaware of the seasonality of lizards.

In about 5 minutes, as I predicted, they are back at the door wanting in, insistent and impatient, and enter in a formal two-cat procession, tails vertical, with a certain offended haughtiness like they're thinking well it's about time and you just can't get good servants any more.

This is why we have cats.

Grendel checking for danger before he gets a drink


Gray ignoring the bad behavior of the servants