2009.09.06 Lay Flat to Dry

We took four friends to the Carolina football game Saturday (Carolina 40, Citadel 6) and had a great time in great weather. The win didn't hurt either. We were a little concerned about having that many in one car but the Lincoln was comfortable for everyone. I didn't feel a bit crowded and everyone else came through comfortably also. We even had snacks and drinks each and still were able to handle everything just great. Lunch was great in the team's normal non-game-day dining area. There seemed to be a choice of three different meals at three different stations. I got one and then put a few salad fixings on the side of a plate. It was quite good.

On Sunday (the 6th), I washed the clothes I had worn on Saturday to the game and the top I had worn said to wash on gentle cycle and then lay flat to dry. So I prepared a place on my dining room table with clean towels and carefully laid my top out on the towels to dry. I spent some time making sure there were as few wrinkles in it as possible. Then, I busied myself with other things and, voila, pretty soon I spotted Milo all laid out on my newly washed top - wet though it was. What is there about this cat and his love of water?!!! I bet there are now some wrinkles in it, I told him, since he usually has to spin around a few times to get himself comfortable. He appeared to be trying to sleep on it. Since I had already been angry with him earlier over jamming my printer with his antics, I just had to laugh at this one. I told him I always tell people the outfit isn't complete without a few Milo hairs anyway. I wish I had taken a picture but I didn't. I could probably reproduce the scene merely by laying any article of clothing on the table as if I were trying to handle it with care. Evidently, he is even jealous over clothes - or he just loves me so much he wants to be a part of anything I have handled. I gotta love this creature and I do love him, by the way.

Another pet story - this one about Grayson. He has still been reluctant to move around much in the house and I have been concerned. He is getting a little age on him but I don't think this kind of slow-down is good for anything. Anyway, I had him up on my bed petting him Friday morning and picked up his right front paw and said something like "What a great foot! Even your feet are handsome, Grayson, so perk up baby." Well I felt a claw that was so long it had curved around and was sticking in the pad of his foot. No wonder he has been reluctant to move around. (I really hope this explains his lethargy.) I turned the house upside down looking for my cat nail scissors (which I know how to use) and could not find them. Don and I went to the pet store and I got a new pair, came home, and I did a little "surgery" on Gray. That tip of the nail came out of the pad really easy with this equipment and then the outer sheath which had gotten thick from disuse just crumbled right off the toenail. He has been out to lay in my lap for 3 nights in a row now and has been laying right by my bed in the morning when I wake up. I think these are good things, but not quite enough being out and about. I am trying to encourage him to "sharpen" his claws on a scratching pad I have for him. So far, he does a tiny bit of clawing on it but not enough to make me happy. So every now and then I make like I am grooming my own nails on it - believe it or not, this sometimes works! He wants to mimic my action. I am hoping if I can get him doing this regularly, it will keep his nails short enough that this won't happen again. I put a little catnip on the scratching pad this morning and that perked up his interest a bit in getting on the pad. Unfortunately, it got Milo's interest a lot. He is now in love with the scratching pad - literally. He lays on it and looks like he is hugging it for dear life. Until I can Gray more interested, I will try to do a once a week check on how long his nails are getting and keep those new scissors handy just in case.

Not much else cat-related. The main thing is I still love both my boys. Oh, and in trying to find the cat nail scissors, I found my long-lost address book. God does work in mysterious and surprising ways. I was VERY happy to see that book again and had feared it was gone for good. Now that I have started a second address book, I am going to try and keep them both. I have learned through losing two of these things within the last year that it pays to have a backup, at least for me.

2009/07/15 Milo's New Apartment

Milo raced to the clothes drier last night as I was removing some items and curled up inside for a great snooze. I looked in on him several times and he looked at me as if to say "What? Can't you see I've found myself a new place to live." I had to remove him from his roost before I went to bed. I just know that from now on, I'm going to have to look into the drier before I start running it to be sure the little scamp is not in there roosting. Although perhaps wet clothes fresh from the washer might be discouraging of this behavior. I think he liked the warm and cozy of it all. Interesting how we can go from the very wet environment of a shower to the very dry one of a clothes drier. But he is just so very cute and his antics are great fun to watch because he is having great fun coming up with new things to entertain himself. He especially likes it if he thinks it's behavior I would prefer he not do. I got a picture or two of him while he was in there or perched on the drier lid. I also got a couple of good ones of him inspecting the printer which is his very worst enemy, evidently.

I got a good picture of Grayson hogging my favorite blanket last night. I have told him if he wants it, then he can have it as he looks like it's just the only place he can be comfortable with his arthritis. But no sooner than I tell him this than he leaves the room entirely and there I am with another blanket, having sacrificed my favorite one to him. We'll have to post some of these pictures on the blog when I fill up my picture card. Such adorable lugs, these two.

2009/07/05 Sunday

Milo's new thing is to protect me constantly from the printer. Most times, if he is not in the shower stall awaiting my next shower episode, he is laying in front of the printer so he can protect me from this monster. He just goes beserk at the sound of the printer and will awaken from a sound sleep if he hears any sound from it. I just don't know what I would do without him and don't even remember what I did before him. Poor old Gray comes out every now and then asking for some attention and I am laying it on thick every chance I get. I think this encourages him to come out of hiding more and he needs to. I am giving him cat glucosamine for arthritis but he still seems to dread jumping up on things or down off things. I want him to have as good a life as I can give him as he was my mother's cat and she hand fed him from a tiny little thing (after someone abandoned him on her carport before he was old enough to be weaned). I tell him that makes him special for sure and he purrs and purrs over my foolish talk. Does my heart good. I am going to have to get a few Grayson pictures during his forays into the open parts of the house. He is quite a handsome guy himself and deserves to have a few photos as well.

2009/06/22 Milo's New Computer

My computer has been having daily issues of late and it got to be a scary proposition as to whether it would turn on or not every day. Don picked out a new computer and we got it in the house 6/19/09. Milo is fascinated with all the boxes of course. Yesterday, he went to sleep in front of the new monitor so he now feels he owns it as he has sat patiently during all the installation of programs, teaching Linda new tricks on this new powerful Vista, and coming up with Excel spreadsheets to list all the things the humans thought they needed to do still on this new P.C. Man, this thing is powerful and it turns on when you want it to!!!!!!!!!! That is a really great thing to me after the last few weeks of babying one along to get it on. It has 640 Gigabytes of storage and 7 Gigabytes of memory (RAM). It also can burn DVDs and CDs and has a 15 in 1 memory card reader (For my pictures, it can read 15 different memory cards with the pictures on them that I want fed into the computer.) It also has Microsoft Office 7 on it for 60 days until I need to buy it. These products convert to older products at the click of a mouse!!! I just can't believe it. All the things I was afraid I would be without for a time are here in the here and now. I'm having such great fun with it and I think Milo likes it too as he has had an additional admirer around now for a few days. He loves Don (he thinks he might be related since his first addoptive mom was Don's daughter) and Milo is very loving to Don. So he is enjoying his time observing all the goings-on with setting up the P.C. No, we're not done yet but it is getting there pretty fast. The problem we ran into was that there is a receiver in the back that was supposed to be in the box to make the wireless keyboard and mouse work but this receiver was not there. We had to use an old wired keyboard and mouse to do the startup on the P.C. and we are being sent a whole new receiver, mouse and keyboard by the manufacturer. But it works just great using the wired items. I may like that better as I might lose anything not connected to the P. C. No telling what Milo can do with a mouse sitting without connection of any sort to anything.

Anyway, both Milo and I are having fun with this great new addition to the household.

2009/06/18

Milo didn't make it through much of the shower today. He preferred to watch the water from outside the shower stall. Maybe he was tired because Don and I kept him up too late last night working on the p.c.

2009/06/17 Where's the Water?

The paparazzi (me, his human mom) has finally succeeded in getting a picture of Milo eyeing the shower head. It took days and mainly all I needed was to have the camera at the ready in the bathroom so I could strike while the shower was getting hot so to speak. Of course I don't blast him with the water but he does like to observe the water coming out at the beginning. Just after this scene, he gets under the shower bench for a while and then he gets out of the shower stall altogether. He has no intention of getting soaked or anything. What a cutey. I don't know why this post is underlined at least in draft form. I'll have to investigate that later.

2009/06/10

I almost got a picture of Milo staring at the shower nozzle this week. He sat and stared at it for literally minutes day before yesterday and it would have been the perfect picture of his love of dripping water. But the instant I got in there with the camera ready, he bolted. I now have the camera laying on the cabinet in the bathroom in case I get another chance at a similar one. He has been really jealous of Grayson lately and I wish he would stop it as Grayson is getting old and arthritic and I feel sure Milo's attacks aren't doing him any good. I protect Gray when I am home but what happens when I am not.

The above pictures show Milo in "my" new office chair. He loves it as a bed - day or night. I am trying to wait for him to find another spot that he likes better but so far, he is very happy that I bought him this new bed. The other picture is of him waiting under the shower bench for me to come take my morning shower. It is a daily sight and if I can't find him for breakfast, this is normally where he is. What a cutie!!!

Milo also hit the master switch for the p.c. day before yesterday. He got gung ho about attacking the printer and cut everything off. He is a pistol when he has something in mind to do and he is so very fast, there is no stopping him. Don also put a new handset cord into the phone in the p.c. room and it is quite long. Milo thinks it is a snake or a new toy for him so he is now attacking that also. I have it up off the floor right now so I can have a little peace as I sit here typing.

By the way, Milo is into eating the cat grass now. He goes out every afternoon and munches on it. I told him I knew he would grow to love his salad and he has. I have replanted it into real pots that have a wider rim and we'll see if it fills the pot up. I can tell you it is certainly some tall stuff.

2009/05/29

Mr. Milo missed out on the shower this morning and he regretted it greatly. I tried and tried to find him to let him know it was time but Mr. Stubborn would not let me know where he was. Just as I was stepping out of the bathroom after the shower, he came racing down the hall only to be met with disappointment. I will have to go run him some shower water before bed so he can get his daily shower "fix".

I did run the shower water for Mr. Milo. He sat right at the nozzle which I let dangle almost to the floor so I aimed it away from him. He was fascinated by the water coming out of the nozzle. Then he ran for under the shower bench. He stayed there the whole 90 seconds or so that I let the water run. I also made the nozzle put water out near my little cat and he started to attack the edge of it. Then I would make the water retreat by backing up where the nozzle put out the water. I believe he was so proud of himself for finally pushing the water back. We'll try again tomorrow. Such a great baby.

2009/05/24 Milo's Food Strike

Milo raced to the shower first thing and refused to come out to eat. I even took food to him IN the shower and he just looked at me like I had 2 heads. He sat very calmly at the edge of the stall with his front feet curled up under himself so he looked like the Sphinx in Egypt. No way was he eating until I took a shower and he got to fight the water. Sometimes I am tempted (or even do) to take 2 showers a day because he seems to enjoy the game of it so much.

He is also disgusted that Grayson is coming out of hiding more often and EVEN has the AUDACITY to try and sleep on my bed (which Milo thinks is just his and mine - no Grayson allowed). Gray has fallen in love with the blanket Julie gave me for Christmas. Trouble is, it is my favorite as well so I am trying to get him to understand he can have another blanket, just not that one. I am having to move him off it every night which makes me feel bad. Gray asks for very little (except a 3 a.m. feeding every now and then) and I don't like to deny him what little he does ask for. I will likely try and find myself another blanket to love and give in to him before it is over. But for now, I am trying to maintain that I get to own something in the house.

Milo jumped up on my lap the other night as he does often, but this time he missed the mark by a hair and his hind feet (with claws) skidded down the side of my right thigh. HURT, I do say. I put peroxide on the wound for the first day or two and now I am putting Neosporin and bandages on the scratch every day as I can't stand for it to rub against my clothes. It is feeling a lot better now but cat scratches hurt exceedingly bad. Poor baby, he didn't know what he had done and he certainly didn't mean to do it, but now I am a little wary of him when he jumps on me. I am watching out for those hind feet with their claws, for sure.

Thursday, I knew I wanted to print something that was 28 pages so I closed the door to the "pc room" and told Bertha we needed to let something print before letting Milo in there. I went to pick up the document and there sat Milo staring into the guts of the printer fully ready to attack. I told Bertha I had locked the fox in the hen house and was probably lucky the little scamp still had his feet as he tries to stick them into the printer so he can stop all the lights, movement, and sound (I reckon).

All children should be so loved as these two cat-boys.

2009/05/03 - Milo's Latest Picture - His Best Yet

Milo's latest Picture:

04/26/2009 Cat Grass

I bought a couple of little kits at the grocery and hardware store for growing grass for the cats to eat. This came AFTER Grayson ate so much of my shamrock that it went on to heaven. I didn't have much hope that I would succeed in getting the grass to grow from seeds but folks, let me tell you, it did. In one week, I have gone from having seeds in a little white bowl to having 1 to 2-inch grass. I bought one kit about 3 weeks back and IT HAD NO SEEDS whatsoever. I went and bought 2 more (after peeking to be sure there were seeds included) and spread the seeds among the 3 containers of dirt. The directions said to put the freshly planted seeds in a dark area for 3 days and the seeds should sprout. Well, I forgot about it for a week and when I went to look yesterday, there was tall grass - ready to eat I would say. Grayson has already "discovered" his new plant and started eating on it. I put some right in front of Milo tonight and told him I was going to start serving him a "salad" as an appetizer. He smelled of the stuff but seemed disinterested for now. Wait 'til he sees Gray eating on it. He'll change his mind, I am sure. Anyway, so much for growing grass seed indoors. It really works. I'm going to try and put it in a larger planter and see if it will spread for me. From the way it is thriving, it might not be that hard a trick.

2009/04/23 - Milo Misses Out on the Shower Again

I got up and ran shower water for about 3 to 4 minutes this morning. I knew I was going to work out today and would take my shower later so I did this just for Milo's benefit. He tried to pounce the edge of the swirling water around the drain. He still thinks it is some kind of prey and he wants to catch it or conquer it in some way. I just told him "ataboy" and let him continue to try. He finally gave it up and sat outside the stall and peeked in.

Bertha came later and Milo slept through her cleaning of the shower area. He usually takes that as a second chance to observe the water-monster. Bertha missed him being there and I told him it was okay because I would take a real shower later so he would have yet a third chance at it.

Ever since I started his blog, Milo has slept more than usual. I haven't had as many mischievous happenings to tell about. I hope he perks up soon, but I really think he may have seasonal allergies that are getting to him a little. I love my sleepy little boy but I want my scamp back. Grayson, however, is loving it. He is taking this as an opportunity to catch up on all the petting he has been missing and now that he is clean, I don't mind letting him sleep next to me where it is easy to scratch his head and under his chin. He self pets the sides of his head on my hand if I hold it out for him. Right now, both boys are lying here next to me sleeping away. Gray is on the floor looking like a fainting goat - just laid out on his side. Milo is in a chair that is right next to mine and he appears to be sound asleep as well.

Good night all. If I tiptoe, I might get my bed to myself for a while - that might be an interesting turn of events.

04/19/2009 Milo on a Sunday

Milo got all wet in the shower this morning. His tail looked completely pitiful when he finally got out of the shower stall. Why would he let himself get that wet without making a move to get out of the wet? Don worked some more on the slideshow and some of the blog design. I am happy with the slideshow as it is but we keep learning as we go so we might have something really slick before it is over. I'm having fun with it already although the writing has been the least of it so far. The pictures and slideshow have taken up a lot of time, mostly Don's with getting the slideshow to work from another web address.

04/18/2009

I told Milo I am going to start calling him Sneezy since that seems to be the order of the day. Bless his little heart, he sneezes like crazy and it is not just a sneeze, it is a dozen or so in a row and really strong ones. The vets say this is a typical complaint for little pushed-in-nose Himalayans. Unless he gets badly congested along with it, I try to ignore it but I really don't want him sneezing all over my bedroom while I am asleep. We went through a round of antibiotics a month or so back and it helped for a while but I can't keep him on medicine for life. The vets also say to try and bear with it as they can't just keep prescribing antibiotics every time it happens. He might get really sick someday and need them to help out with something worse. So, why am I up at this hour? I believe Milo had a sneezing round at the same time someone ran a car motor outside and I hoped the newspaper would be here. Instead I wound up feeding Gray (and Milo got offered) and coming to the pc to see if there was any email last night. I hope the sneezing is over for a while. I am going back to bed. Milo seems more interested in aggravating Gray right now than he is in me. I am getting a few breaks from his being glued to my body here lately. I needed a break but of course, I liked his attention also, just as he likes mine.

Milo completely missed the shower today because he was asleep in the living room and must not have heard the water running. After, I went in and said, "You missed out, bud. Are you going to be all right about that?" He got up, raced to the bathroom and talked to me about it the best he could. I turned on the water and let him observe the nozzle for about 2 minutes and turned the water off. That will have to replace the shower fix for the day. At least he got to see the water come out which is his favorite part.

I also brushed on him some which is NOT his favorite thing - so he bit at me after a while and I quit brushing. I guess a man's got to do what a man has got to do. We put a slideshow of Milo on this blog today and I hope to do some more writing about his history as time goes by but the slideshow took up such a chunk of the day that I will wait for another time to do that.

04/17/2009 Friday - Milo's Day

Now, here are a couple of contortionist photos of Milo (3rd and last) and even one of him in the tub in the days before his showering obsession began in earnest. The fourth photo is of Bandit (God rest his soul), who was even larger than this at one time and the first picture is one of Grayson in his outdoor days. He could go out until he came home with a screaming bird one day. No more for me. He can look but not touch is all I have to say about that. My neighbor was kind enough to get the bird away from him and once that incident was over, I put the cat in the house and he stays in the house. I think he thought he was bringing me a prize. Silly boy!

Milo's day today has been his usual: eat a little, sleep a lot, get in the shower with mom until the water starts to hit him too much, then out of the shower and look in every now and then. He has become utterly obsessed with being in the shower with me when I first get in. I usually go turn on the water for a minute or two so he can be in there by himself in the beginning. He started to get obsessed with showers after I had been away too many times at the end of the year and he didn't like it. He started following me around like white on rice and even had to sleep with his body against mine. Then one day I saw the shower door moving while I was in the shower. IT WAS MILO pushing the door with all his 9-pound might. I could not believe it but it was true. He wanted in and came in. Ever since, he has joined me in the shower every single day. He hates to be left out of this big event. Even the lady who cleans for me every other week says he gets in the tub and shower when she runs water in them. The first time, she reported that she had "baptized" herself because she was in such shock at seeing a cat in the tub while the water was running. How could you not love this creature who loves me so much and has such endearing little habits. Although....it is difficult to shower and not drench the cat, which I worry about somewhat but am less and less worried. He does know what he is in for after all.

We are having a normal peaceful day and I am not running all over creation for a change. Mondays thru Wednesdays are the most filled up days of my week and Fridays I try to stay home with my two boys. Milo is resting through this day mostly. He is sleeping right where I lay at night and I may want to use that spot in a minute so I may have to move him to Milo's spot on the other side of the bed.

04/17/2009 Friday with Milo

I know some of you followed another blog I have about myself and know that Milo missed me so much during a 3 day hospital stay I had at the end of the year that he started wanting to be close to me all the times - up to and including having his body against mine at night. Then 4 or 5 weeks ago, I saw the shower door moving while I was in the shower and looked around to see this little 9 pound cat's foot in the door trying to move it with all his might. I opened the door for him and in he came to my great surprise and shock. Evidently, he wants me in his sight AT ALL TIMES including when I am drenching myself in water. It is very difficult to shower with a cat present without getting the cat very very wet. He does leave at the first sign he is not going to be able to stay reasonably dry but he parks just outside the shower and wants the door open enough that he can peer in every now and again. Needless to say, I have no pictures of Milo in the shower during the shower. He now races to the bathroom at any sign I might be going to bathe as he doesn't want to miss it. It has become his favorite thing to do all day and if I am late doing it, he stays awake so he can race to the bathroom if need be. I had company one day and closed the bathroom door before he got in and he sulked all day over missing out. So now, I make sure he is involved no matter what. Some days I run the water about 2 minutes for his benefit only. That way he feels he witnessed the water event and feels okay about going to sleep.

When my cleaning lady comes in every other week, she has to run water in the tub and shower stall in order to wash things down. Milo races to the bathroom to witness this as well. She said the first time it happened, she looked around and there sat Milo in the bathtub and she said she was so shocked, "I baptised myself." I told her he has become obsessed with running water in bathrooms and he will likely be in there every time he hears her running water to clean. How on earth could I not love this creature.

More of THE Milo Pictures and Some Grayson Too

The first two pictures are of Grayson and the next two are of Mr. Milo himself in some restful poses. Grayson is Milo's "brother (adopted)," of whom he is very jealous. Milo does not appreciate sharing his space or his mom. We'll get some contortionist pictures somewhere along the line also, as Milo can twist himself into a pretzel sometimes. Enjoy as these are two very handsome cat-men and I would go so far as to say that Milo is absolutely gorgeous in a manly kind of way. Gray looks really good too especially after his bath yesterday. He feels really silky and clean.

Man, I sure did get in my practice with posting pictures. I lost bunches and then "found" them later and deleted. We'll play with this some more over the next few days.

04/16/09 Milo's Work is Never Done

Milo has been sleeping mostly for the last two days, thanks to the trauma of a bath on the 14th. He must not have slept at all that day. The groomer said he let her know when he had had enough and let her know even more when it was MORE than enough. Such is his attitude toward life. He puts up with nothing that is disagreeable to him. But after all the showers he has wanted to take with his "owner," Linda, who would guess that he would hate bathing so much.

His "brother," on the other hand is the one I would have predicted to put up a fight out of panic from the dunking. But no, he was a golden boy, sitting there and taking it like a brave little man (or maybe a cowardly little statue). His groomer bragged on how easy a time she had bathing and brushing him out.

More later to catch everyone up on Milo's showering habits. For right now, I just wanted to get this blog started and Milo and Grayson introduced.