Watersports

Had some more fun in the bathtub. I stayed out of it, but left some water running fro Frankie and Benjy to play with. Which they did rather hesitantly. So I raised the excitement level a bit by plugging the bathtub so the water level slowly rose. They tried to run. But somehow they alway managed to - err - jump onto my hand and from there into the water again. Very funny sight, they scrabbling around in the water and getting all their little paws wet. And their bellies a bit. So when they were finally done in the bathtub I stepped in to take a shower, and they stepped out to sit on the toilet and lick themselves dry again.

But it was a good thing they washed their feet, because they left shitty little footprints in the bathroom again. And I had to show Frankie again how to cover his heaps in the litter box with the sand. I don't think he really wants to know, he just keeps trying to get away from the stinky stuff as fast as possible.

On the plus side, I bought an air purifying thingy yesterday. Just a piece of steel that should be left lying half immersed in water and which magically removes all the smell from the air. Sounds stupid, right? I'm not usual the type who buys such scientifically unproven stuff, but, well, I was desperate. So I placed that thing in the bathroom, and guess what? I actually think it works. I didn't smell as bad this morning. Lets wait until they next use the litter box...

Bathing time

Almost had them in the bathtub today. After a whole day outside in the wind and rain today during a safety driving course, l didn't feel to well, so I decided to take a bath.
Frankie and Benjy spent the whole time wallking around the bathtvb edge and dipping their paws into the water, but they actually managed not to fall in. Even though I made the surface wet and slippery...

Did I mention I got my wireless LAN working? I can now surf the web and blog on my Palm in bed. Ain't technology great?

Out of here

Last night Frankie found out that the half-open window could be a way out of my apartment. I took him out to the balcony once, and ever since then he's been buggering me to let him out again. I should have known that before... Anyway yesterday he realized that opening of the tilted window is much bigger higher up that at floor level, so he just climbed up the window frame. Quite an amazing sight, too. Too bad I was to busy ripping him off my window so I couldn't take a picture. We repeated that little play a few times (Frankie: "Meow" - jump - climbclimbclimb --- Me: grab, "NO!", throw), then I got the water spraying bottle and sat next to the window and whenever Frankie would try to climb up the window frame, I'd hit him with a spray of water. After the first time, it didn't even bother him anymore, so I had to resort to closing the window. So no more fresh air for us, we have to live in the stench of the litter box nox.

By the way, my camera went on strike this morning after I switched batteries. The power light blinks once when I try to turn it on and that's all. Don't expect any pictures soon (or come by and take some!).

And I always thought cats don't like water... Doesn't seem to bother him too much, though. Benjy played with running water in the bathtub as well. They are definitely not afraid it seems.

Is that normal cat behaviour? I mean, I know they are bothers and all, and care for each other, but doesn't that go a little bit too far?

Cars are nice...

Freeclimbing TV addict

Frankie is currently trying to climb his way to Hollywood. He obviously knows that a good way to get there is being on TV. Problem is he takes the "being on TV" very literally and I've seen him on top of both my TVs in the last days. Yesterday he found a way to get into my open kitchen rack, crawl behind the TV and then somehow emerge in the small area above it, wondering how get down again.

And today he tried his luck in the living room, first sniffing his way up to my DS9 collection and then taking the leap onto the TV. From there he found out that the next level of my cupboard was only a cats length away and he tried his luck to get up there as well. From you to me, I don't think he's understood the concept of slipperyness of painted wood and glass any more than that of being on TV. I dind't see it happening, I just heard the dull *THUD* when he hit the floor from about one and a half meter height. I guess there are some lessons that have to be learned the hard way...


Frankie goes to Hollywood

Chill!

I've always wondered what they do all day, wehn I'm not home. Now I know: they don't do anything. Eat, sleep, drink, sleep, sleep and then sleep some more. At least today I had some time to share these brainbusting activities with them...


The day is too short to waste it with running...

Still alive

You may have noticed that the posting frequency has gone done a bit. Don't worry, we're still here and alive and well. Well, of course if you listen to Frankie and Benjy they are barely alive at all and I'm the worst can opener in the whole wide world (in which, admittedly, I'm the only can opener, so I incorporate the best AND the worst can opener in one person), because they only get a tiny amount of can food in the morning and otherwise only dry stuff, and it's barely enough to keep them alive. If you listen to me, be told that they've grown quite heavy in the last days, so I cut their rations a bit today. So they yell even more at me when I'm in the kitchen.

If we're not in the kitchen, we are in the living room. And no, not what you think: me at the computer and them trying to jump up to me is not the default setting. We have introduced couch hour in the late afternoon, where I sit or lie on the couch and they snuggle up to me and let themselves be petted. So far I haven't been able to bring a camera and when I get up later to get one, they wake up and start running around again. So no pictures from the 3 Men And A Couch events...

couchkuscheln

Fighting for every inch

The war continues. We literally fight for territory, every inch of my flat is under dispute. Current hot zones are the counters in the kitchen. Ever since they found out how to get up there there's been pawprints all over the counter and they threw down some things (unbreakable ones, lucky me). And I removed the plants from the apartment, so the only place where they can get their little paws dirty is in the litter box. Go figure why I don't want them where I make my meals.

Anyway, Frankie tried to expand catland into my territory again. Went up onto the counter. I went at him, intending to pick him up, yell at him and throw him on the floor ('firf ten purschen tzu poden!', for those who watched Monty Pythons Life Of Brian in German), but he was faster, backed away from me and fell backwards into my open washing machine. Knocked his head on the metal wall quite good too. To complete the lesson, I picked him up by the neck fur, yelled at him and threw him back down on the floor.

Harsh measures, I know, but that was Sunday and since then the counter's been clean.

It's war!

Well, since they constantly seem to fart when they are around me, I found a way to retaliate: when they misbehave, I belch at them. Confused the hell out of little Benjy this morning...

Jumping Cat Flash

Oh no! More than one day since the last post. Oh, so much to do, so little time...

Well, not much happened anyway. I still have to trickfeed them their dry food, I think whenever I grow soft and open another pack of juice stuff for them, they decide to ignore the dry food completely. How do I make it clear to them that sometimes dry stuff is all they get?

Yesterday they looked extremely thin when I came home. Hadn't touched their food bowl at all. Had to hand-feed them and then realized that they actually eat the dry food off the carpet. Creepy.

Today they even ignored the new dry food from my colleague which they had happily wolved down yesterday. So I put out some food on the carpet again and placed they bowl in the middle, that worked. They ate something. Then they wanted milk again, just water is not good enough. Sometimes I seriously ponder the advantages of tube-feeding...




This morning we played chase-the-cat-toy again. As usual. Now I have to admit that running around with the toy, tapping it here and there and alway trying to find a long clear path for them to run get tiring once in a while. So? The longest possible path within a confined space like my apartment is obviously a circle, even of half a meter in diameter, and they can run it forever. So I managed to have Franky chase the toy for about 10 or 15 rounds and then I lead him away in a straight line. He ran after it and after a step and a half he just fell over. No graceful toppling down (that's more business for tall people like me) but went smack down on his side. Nice try Franky. I almost fell over myself laughing.

You may have noticed by the pics: they learned to jump to reach something.




And they learned something else: the boxes that I put between the kitchen cupboard and the washing machine is not only an annoying obstacle that keeps them from getting behind the machine, but it's also a stepping stone to get on top of the machine and from there onto the kitchen counter. Had to throw them off a couple of times in the morning and if they have been up there in the meantime, they were smart enough not to leave tracks.

A New Career Path

I think Franky is unhappy with his life as a playful dryfood-resistant dung-producer. I think he feels the call to higher work. I'm pretty sure he wants to become a journalist when he grows up. Today he has shown all the inquisitiveness needed to get to the bottom of something (like the gap behind my desk which is filled with cables) and the expertise in his use of a computer keyboard, where he produced worldshaking lyrical outbursts like

eeeeeg,

and

,

My chat partners, with whom I was discussing the future of our EVE corporation, were duly impressed.

Anything else? Benjy peed on his scratching post last night. Just a little bit and I washed it off (not before a solid dunking of course), but he still smells it and tries to avoid lying in the area. So while Franky is stretched out over the top platform, Benjy is cowering below on the left half of the available space. Maybe I should just leave his puddles until he has nowhere to lie down anymore...


The Sleeping Tower

Peemachine does it again

Well, after almost two weeks of exemplary litter box usage, Benjy has done it again last night. We were all sitting or crawling on the couch, I was trying to share my attention between both of them, he move a step or two away from me and instead of lying down again just outside my reach he starts to pee. I got him before he could do too much harm and locked him in the bathroom for 10 minutes until he started to complain. Then I opened the door and waited until he stepped into the litter box to empty his bladder before I let him out.

Tried to wash out the blanket as good as I could, but they still could smell it, because whenever they went on the couch they started scratching. Not in a claw-sharpening way, but more of the It-Smells-Like-A-Loo-So-I-Have-To-Move-My-Feet-In-A-Scrabbling-Manner sort of way. So today I put the blanket in the washing-machine and drenched the couch in vinegar, hope it'll work.

Franky has managed to explore the computer desk. He tried until I got tired of shoving him down.

And I lured them into the bathtub. Was empty of course. But they were crawling along the rim until they fell in. Took them a while to figure out that they have to jump instead of climbing the white, slippery surface. But they managed.

Oh, and by the way: I listened to all the complainers who said you couldn't feed cats on dry food alone. Gave them another one of the cans yesterday. Today Frankys diarrhea is back. Great. And he already stepped right into it, of course AFTER I cleaned the entire floor.

Is it a loo? Is i a bed?

Just cleaned up the litter box and as usual, it was the signal for Franky and Benjy to take a close look at what I was doing. A very close look. So I'm digging in the sandbox and they are walking on top of it, oblivious to the shovel under their feet. Franky took the opportunity to leave an extra present to clean up and Benjy, always the more placid cat, just lay down in the sand for a little nap.

So far they haven't offered to buy my brain yet (that's an insider joke...). Might be because they are still to clumsy to handle the knives to cut it into little slices. Or, on second thought, maybe they are just trying to rip it out through my skin.

I'm afraid their favorite toy, the stick with the feathers, is loosing it's appeal. I dread the day when they become bored with it, because so far I haven't seen anything that captivated their interest in a similar way. Except, of course, each others butt, which seems to be a great thing to sink teeth into.

An hour of playing calls for two hours of resting...

Little Hunter

Growing up

Just looked at the pictures of the little devils. And OMFG, they grow fast. If they increase in volume at the current rate, my apartment will blow up on May 25th 2006...

Little sleepyheads

Nice quiet weekend

Spent a nice weekend at home. We finally collected all the paperwork for last years tax declaration and I didn't pee in any inapproriate places.

I started the second round off the worm treatment yesterday. Went quite well, they were trying to fight me off, but it seems I'm getting the hang of it. I also tried to weigh Franky and Benjy by placing them in a big bowl on the kitchen scale. They were both around 1200 grams, although Benjy wouldn't sit still, so the measurement might be a bit off there. He certainly looks heavier than Franky.

My cousin Jenny, her husband Fiaz and their kids were here Saturday. After the initial hideaway, both, even Benjy came out to play for a while. But they quite soon had enough and then always went somewhere where the least people were. Much to Nirmals, my cousins son, dismay.

By now they have fully included my couch in their playground. Probably because their new scratching post stands next to it. So they race and jump all over it when they are playing. Quite a sight. I don't mind with the old couch, but what do I do if I ever want to get a new one?

I listened to the advice in my cat owners manual and put up a second water bowl in the living room. Quite a success, I think they just doubled their daily water intake. Which verifies my theory that they don't do something out of free will, but more on a "Oh, look - water. Lets drink"-basis.

Tried to play soccer with their toy ball today. Kicked it from the kitchen in the general direction of the living room, but it hit a wall in between. I could make that out from the loud *THUD* before the ball rebounced back to me. And I think Franky was sitting quite close the balls trajectory. Could make that out from the shocked look on his face. Well, I just hope that the *THUD* sound really came from the wall...



Benjy found a nice new toy


Oh, and scratch that "nice and quiet" headline. It's race time now. Nowhere near quiet...