Grandperson Hangover

The Boy’s mom has returned to California. Kitten Thunder is exhausted. So much effort is involved in pushing out high levels of cute for five solid days. This blog is late because I had an Obi on my feet and an Oli in my lap for two hours tonight. I’d show you pictures to prove it, but WordPress seems to be taking tonight off…

And it is late…

So…

Good night.

 

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Puzzle Thunder

My grandma did puzzles. Lots of puzzles. She worked on them constantly and even did those impossible one color puzzles, puzzles with two sides, and puzzles with round edges. In a pinch she would do the puzzle brown side up. And, when the family visited, we did them with her.

Yay!

I love puzzles.

Yay!

So when The Boy’s mom and I were in the mall on her first day here, we picked one out. We did NOT pick a one color, rounded, difficult puzzle. But it has been a challenge all the same.

Yay!

Stop. I know you are all thinking “how stupid IS this girl, to attempt a puzzle with cats in the house?” Well we went into the situation knowing full well that a piece or two might never find a home in the puzzle. That a piece or two might show up next June with a sweep of the magic toy making stick under the couch. We were aware. We were prepared.

Yay!

"This thing was broken before I got here."

Actually, we are kind of surprised about how NOT disastrous the whole thing has been.

Yay!

Oliver has been through once. He spent a little time last night sitting on the new cat tree to supervise, but this project has clearly been assigned to Obi. Obi is doing all the heavy lifting as far as puzzle cuteness is concerned.

Yay!

Much of Obi’s efforts have been centered on holding down the pieces still in the box. If two boxes are stacked on top of one another, he will shove his arm down into the bottom box and dig. This is very helpful – it gives The Boy’s mom an opportunity to go back through and flip the  pieces right side up again.

Yay!

From the box, Obi is generally able to position his tail over the main part of the puzzle. Again, very helpful. Staring at a puzzle for too long complicates things, so the flicking tail keeps your eyes moving. Very helpful, indeed.

Yay!

On occasion a person just needs to change the part of the puzzle on which he or she is working. For these times, Obi would plunk on a section of puzzle. If a person wanted to rub his belly, well…two birds and one stone, they say.

Yay!

Puzzle plunking generally leads to Obi being held on The Girl’s lap. There he can put a paw on individual pieces of puzzle. Sometimes he moves them to the floor, where they can be saved for a later effort. Mostly he just moves them. Lap sitting also includes ear kisses. Ear kisses are good.

Yay!

Last night was one of those desperate times that called for desperate measures. The people were frustrated by the ugly flowered dress and wispy things. Pieces were not fitting no matter how many times we tried them in the spaces we KNEW they went. Obi once again stepped in to help by chewing on some pieces to get them to change their shape. The people didn’t share his long term vision, though, and stopped the chewing.

Yay!

The puzzle, as mentioned, has been frustrating. The people have been saying Yay! after any piece is fitted. The  Yay!ing has now moved beyond the puzzle table to all aspects of life.

Yay!

A Thunder Christmas to You All…

As requested, The Boy got The Girl a cat tree. The Girl, not being much of a climber, immediately gave it to Kitten Thunder. All she asked in return was that they sit still for a picture. Someone is not living up to their end of the bargain.

Happy Christmas to all of you, from the Thunder household – both the naughty and nice members of our family.

The woes of snow

We’re on our way south to pick up The Boy’s mom. And I’m blogging. Oh, the wonders of technology.

After this morning, Kitten Thunder may have to move to California with their grandperson.

It started with the five inches of snow we got last night. The light was reflecting off the white surfaces and the clouds, making it as bright as day all night. So Kitten Thunder was listening to their tummies to decide what time it was. Their tummies were off by about an hour.

First came the serenade. Oliver sang and cried and mewed from the reading nook. Finally I sat up a little bit to shush him. They took this as a signal that I was getting up and they thundered down the stairs.

Second came the assault on flat surfaces. Obi sat on our table and slid the water cup to the edge. Plap plap plap, it bounced across the floor. I heard him attempt to move my electric toothbrush over. No luck. Then the bottle of percocet started to scoot… I sat up a little to tell him to stop. Thunder to the bed to see if I was getting up.

Third came the stomp of Oliver. This is easy to stop. I pulled Oli down and kissed his ear until the purr made him forget that he’d been stomping.

Fourth came the blinds. Obi climbed onto the headboard and rattled the blind while he tried to look out side. This was also easily stopped with a thwunk of one finger and a firm “stop.”

Finally, the alarm went off. There was just enough time for the bath mat to get it before breakfast.

***

It’s Thunder Thursday!  No picture because I am in a car. But here’s an update: every day I drive by the kitty in the window. The one who had a single chair in her sunroom? Then she got a second chair for guests. Well…now she has a dining table. And the view is so much better from there.

A letter to Kitten Thunder’s grandperson

The Boy’s mother is coming to stay with us for Christmas.  Kitten Thunder decided to take another try at a letter.

Dear Grandperson,

We are excited for your visit. The Girl and The Boy often forget to explain how things work around here, though. And, since it has been a while since your last visit, maybe you’ve forgotten.

First, feed us. It is expected of house guests. After all, our downstairs playland has been sacrificed in the name of “space to walk.”

Second, rub Obi’s belly. The Boy says he does this, but he doesn’t. And The Girl plays along with his delusion.

Third, feed us. We’re trying to store up fat for the winter. Tubbo the Squirrel says it is a good idea. The Girl gives him lots of food but she only feeds us once a day. And, yes, there are kitty crunchies but those aren’t really food. Those are just what you eat once or twice an hour to get up the energy for napping.

Fourth, tell The Boy to open that box already! We know you picked out that box for us. We want it.

And finally, The Girl bought us a special dinner for Christmas. But she only bought two containers! Doesn’t she know there are twelve days of Christmas? By the time you get here we will be way behind. Rather than hurt The Girl’s feelings, please sneak in 22 containers of special dinner. Remember that we only eat white food.

That’s it. We’re warming up our purr faces for you!

Sincerely,
Kitten Thunder

What’s the point?

How to point at a squirrel on the point window sill:

Step 1 – Note the location of involved parties: Obi, Tubbo the Squirrel and self.

Step 2 – Point at the squirrel and say “Obi, Tubbo is behind you on the window sill.

Step 3 – Realize that, like thumbs, the ability to follow the line of a finger past its end and across the room to another object is unique to humans.

Step 4 – Hold up your pointing finger like there is something interesting on it.

Step 5 – Wait for Obi to jump from the mantle to the couch.

Step 6 – Using your interesting finger, lead the brown kitten to the back of the couch behind you.

Step 7 – Position the interesting finger so it is directly between Obi’s eyes and the window on the other side of the room.

Step 8 – Hide finger in fist.

Step 9 – Watch with satisfaction as the presence of Tubbo on the window sill registers in Obi’s little pudding brain.

Step 10 – Duck as brown kitten launches across the room.

Step 11 – Point at self and say, “I’m number one.”

Sleepy face

The Boy is an early riser. When  we get up in the morning? Sleepy face, I has it.

Oliver works so hard in the morning, trying to convince us to feed him and his brother before they starve to death. So after breakfast he snuggles into my lap for a well earned rest. When I tell him I have to get up for work? Sleepy face, he has it.

"The awakeness, it pains me."

Obi has to be cute and fluffy all day long. He has to greet his people at the door, lead them to the belly rubbing rug, and then get said belly rubbed. This is exhausting. So when we finally settle in one location he gets to take a nap. If we move to another room and ask if he wants to go? Sleepy face, he has it.

"Be gone, vile human, until it is time for breakfast."

The Boy, being an early riser, is also an early sleeper. He almost always falls asleep on the evil couch before bedtime. When I nudge him and suggest he go upstairs to bed to get a decent night of sleep? Sleepy face, boy does he ever have it.

Zensai lives in a tank. He’s cold blooded, ten years old and he brumates for four months out of the year. Sleepy face? No, that’s his usual crabby face.

"If I can't eat it or drink it, it should get the heck out of my face."

***

It’s Thunder Thursday! Today I bring you Mutt and Jeff from Life is a Bowl of Kibble. This blog almost made me want a dog. Because sometimes, every once in a rare while, dogs are as entertaining as cats.

Anime cooking

I went in for my annual eye exam this afternoon. Nothing spectacular there – I’m blind, contacts fix it. But, as always, they dilated my eyes. Six hours later I still look like an anime character with the huge pupils and just a sliver of yellow iris around them.

My normal routine for such a day is to make myself cozy on the couch and try to convince someone to give me Purr Therapy. Therapy, I should point out, does not HAVE to be applied directly to the impacted area. So Oliver, Obi and I caught up on all the television waiting for me on OnDemand. Because my doctor saw me quickly, my eyes were not fully dilated until I arrived home so my TV became more blurry as the show went on. But then it got less fuzzy. The computer screen right now? Very fuzzy.

Also welcoming me home after my appointment, besides the kittehs, was the smell of pork cooking in the crock pot. Cranberry pork. Mmmmmm. So while I was laying on the couch, I was also contemplating the sweet potato on the counter and how well it would go with the cranberry pork. Cranberry pork. Mmmmmm. So, after confirming the fabulousness of this flavor combination with The Boy, I ventured into the kitchen to prepare it.

Obi was NOT happy. He cried. He paced. He reached for the steak knife I’d picked out of the drawer for slicing the sweet potato. He evidently thinks that The Girl should be able to see in order to cook. Other than picking a way wrong knife, though, I did okay with the slicing. Obi watched most of the process from The Boy’s arms, where at least they would be ready to give first aid.

"Please, Girl, put down the knife!"

Then…we cooked. I heated up my sweet potato chips in some butter, olive oil and cinnamon to complement the flavors of the cranberry pork. Mmmmmm, cranberry pork. The cinnamon turned the chips brown almost immediately. Then, seconds later, they were black with the burning. And, just as Obi suspected it would, the smoke detector went off.

I maintain our smoke detector is a) very sensitive and b) in a spot that attracts smoke.

The chips were, by the way, perfect. And perfect with the cranberry pork.

Cranberry pork. Mmmmm.

Every cloud has a beige, rubbery lining

Okay, well maybe not clouds. But our cabinets came with a brand new set of brown, rubber linings when we moved in. I don’t really get the point of this stuff. We had it at the coffee shop where I worked in high school. It feels gross; it always looks dirty. At least in the coffee shop it made sense because it kept the wet dishes from trapping moisture underneath. But why is it in our cabinets?

Regardless, we have theses linings. And it has turned into a game for Obi.

In previous posts I told you about Obi’s habit of pulling the cabinet door in the upstairs bathroom open and letting it bump bump bump shut. I’ve also told the tale of Oliver and Obi getting into said cupboard and then finding their way into the wall through a hole in the back. And how this resulted in baby locks on the doors.

The baby locks don’t keep the doors from going bump bump bump in the night. Obi can still get the doors open far enough for this. And now, he’s found a new challenge for the activity: the lining.

Lately, each morning, we have found the beige rubber lining hanging out the cabinet door. I can’t imagine how long it takes Obi to manage to get ahold of the lining and work it out of the crack allowed by the baby locks.  Keep in mind that he has no thumbs so the initial grip would be a challenge on its own. Then he has to keep working it out. By the time we come along, the whole right side of the cabinet is unlined.

Every morning, The Boy relines the cabinet. He thinks it would be funny to put something heavy on that side of the cabinet to see if Obi could still tease the lining out. That bit of torture hasn’t been instituted as of yet.

***

I saw Jeff, star of the Jeff Channel on OutTV, at a party last night. They tell me the Tubbo the Squirrel runs up and down their roof. Loudly. We compared notes on where he lives (in the tree across the street), what his preferred meal is (anything), and how big we think he’ll get (he’ll explode any day).

***

And on a final note, Iron Chef has tilapia as the secret ingredient. I’m glad I’m not a judge. As mentioned before, eating tilapia is like licking a fish tank. Nothing can fix that. Though I would like to try the tequila and lime sorbet. Yummo!

Paper Playland

I thought  the blog tonight would be about wrapping presents. I had a “how to” planned with the joys of kitten interference.  Clever observations about hairy tape were planned. But, as always, Kitten Thunder refuses to perform according to MY script. Oliver and Obi dutifully accompanied me to the basement for wrapping. But after sniffing the tape and finding out I wouldn’t let them run the scissors, they decided Paper Playland was way more fun.

Sorry, I know it is Thunder Thursday but it is also very late because I’ve been fighting with my new computer and I want to go to bed. And it’s my blog, so I’m gonna.