Meh. Ow.

We’re having a weird day here at the Thunder household. I’m feeling a little snarky. Oliver is a little whiny. And Obi is trying to help but I got off the couch, callously forsaking his foot snuggle. Now he’s laying in the condo glaring at me.

The Boy has been gone all day and has train club on Thursday night so he’s missed out on most the fun.

To cheer ourselves up, and because it’s Thunder Thursday, we went in search of a funny cat meme. We present to you: Business Cat.

We’ll return on Sunday, snark free and with cute kitten tales!

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A Normal Cat

Obi went in for his annual exam and shots yesterday. It didn’t involve the drama of a trip with Oliver, but Obi is learning to put up a little bit of fight.

He would not go into the carrier so I had to shove him in a decidedly undignified manner. It used to be I could just open the door and he’d go in to explore. He has also started to cry a little bit in the car – clearly Oliver has told him the car is a terrifying place to be.

Dr. Healey saw us. When asked if I had any concerns I told her that Obi seems thin to me. She told me that Obi is a perfectly healthy weight. Evidently Oliver’s assertion that you should not be able to feel where ribs are is mistaken. Apparently my grey kitten is more than adequately fluffy under the skin.

Moving on to shots, well, Obi doesn’t know he got them. He thinks the doctor just likes to pinch his shoulders.

I was left in the exam room while Obi and Tiff went for a weigh in. He has actually lost some weight. Is Oliver controlling about food? Do bears pee in the woods? Breakfast is the only time during the day that I am certain Oliver is still the alpha male. Perhaps, Tiff suggests, Oli should be encouraged to share more of the breakfast.

I told this to Oliver. He says Tiff is a quack.

Honestly, I don’t think Obi is suffering too much. There is always a little bit of food left on their plates in the morning and he eats that later. Plus he has a never ending bowl of kitty crunchies. But her point is still valid.

This morning I put Obi’s breakfast in the kitchen instead of the breakfast nook. Having to walk ten feet drastically cut down on the breakfast dance that Kitten Thunder usually does.

Oliver was exhausted from the extra effort; I didn’t get my morning “thank you for having thumbs” snuggle.

Woe is me. 

Cave Monster, Now with Lasers

I asked Obi what we should blog about tonight. He said he has been cute all day so the decision would be easy. Then he pointed out that his cave was bunched up against the couch.

This cave is super special. It is a sheet that we’ve tucked in around the arm of the couch. This means the cave has two entrances. It also has a box inside. Super. Special.

I pulled the sheet out for Obi and discovered how it gets bunched up. He went inside the cave. Then he ran to the end of the sheet and his head poked out. Then Obi ran around to the entry, sheet sticking to his back, and back inside. Sheet bunched.

A little while later, Obi was laying in the cave waiting for someone to come along and be unsuspecting. No one came. He’s given up and returned to the couch for a foot snuggle.

Poor kitten.

Lucky Girl.

IT Support

The other day I posted a picture of Kitten Thunder working on my computer on the business Facebook page. I titled it “KnowSocial’s IT department.” Little did I know today I would be doing real IT work and that Kitten Thunder would prove to be less than helpful.

I bought a laptop in December that is awesome, except one thing: it doesn’t work with the wireless in my house. So I’m stuck, every day all day, sitting in the corner of my office at my sad little corner desk. I could go elsewhere, I suppose, because my laptop works fine with the internet in cafes. But then I’d have to buy coffee.

Anywho, today I decided to tackle the wireless issue. First, I traded in my ancient modem for a new modem. This meant crawling under The Boy’s desk to unhook the power and untangle wires. Obi was all about that. He identified EVERY wire as the one I wanted to put through the hole in the desk. EVERY wire. Oliver sat on top of the desk and tried to step down onto my back whenever it was flat.

The easy part was driving to the cable/internet company and convincing them to replace a perfectly good modem.

Home again. Of course the plug was a different shape than the last one so Obi and I rearranged the power strip. Each time a plug came loose Obi was bumped in the nose by my hand. Eight times. Eight. Times.

Then began the process of turning on my laptop – sitting on the floor in The Boy’s office. There were twenty updates. Oliver scratched his chin on the corner of the monitor. Obi joined in and scratched his chin on the other corner. I held the keyboard down to keep my laptop from tipping over.

The wireless seemed to be working. I took the computer to the dining room. Kitten Thunder declared that, if the computer was on their table, they should be allowed to type. And to kill the portable mouse. KILL! Steal? KILL!

I turned on smell-o-vision to distract them.

A while later, just as I was finally getting some work done because Oli left and Obi was supervising from the new cat tree, the wireless abandoned me. We spent the rest of the afternoon at The Boy’s desk, computer plugged into the modem so I could download a new driver. Obi showed me all the places he likes to be while The Boy is working: behind the monitor, on top of the cupboards, on the scanner, in the printer nook…

What Kitten Thunder lacks in IT skills, they more than make up for in support.

***

It’s Thunder Thursday! Today we bring you Mr. Peaches. My friends from high school, Jack and Robbie, are the lucky owners of this gentleman. Robbie has been lucky enough to have cats most of her life. Jack is a recent convert, thanks in no small part to the charms of this little guy.

And no wonder, Mr. Peaches is one heck of a salesman. Here he is, blatantly plugging Jack’s newspaper.

I haven’t asked him, but I’m sure Mr. Peaches would insist that I also blatantly plug Robbie’s jewelry biz.

Good kitty.

Kitten Circus

The Boy started building the structure for his model train layout this week. Kitten Thunder thinks it is perfect for tightrope walking. They hope the trains never come.

Brat attack!

You are mostly treated to stories of Obi and Oli being well behaved and cute. Usually they love each other. And it is cute. But sometimes they are bratty. And, well, that’s cute too.

***

This morning Obi was up on the mantle watching TV up close. It is cute enough that I don’t mind him sitting in front of the TV for a couple minutes each morning. But then he started batting at a decorative ball.

“Obi. Stop.”

Bat bat bat.

“Ah! Stop.”

The ball was abandoned temporarily and then pushed back into place when The Boy delivered the life-giving coffee. I’d have done it myself but Oliver and I were snuggling.

***

I was hard at work at my desk and Oliver was in the condo. Obi arrived and jumped up to the condo. In an unusual move, Oliver refused to share his space. Obi tried to lay to the right. Then the left. No dice.

Then Obi got the last laugh.

Obi stood on the ledges of the condo over Oliver. He closed his eyes and basked in the sunbeam. After a few minutes, Oli opened his eyes. Where was the heat from the sun? Being soaked up by the brown kitten.

Ha.

***

I was laying on the couch after work, waiting for a grey kitten to appear. Eventually, he did. He jumped up and the couch and Obi snuck up and bit Oliver on the butt. Oli turned around and I pulled the blanket up over him.

Brown kitten! Obi leapt from the middle of the room and belly flopped onto the lump of brother.

Snuggle canceled; thunder on.

***

It’s Thunder Thursday! I think it’s only appropriate to show the latest Simon’s Cat film. Just like Obi – only Obi does it all on purpose.

***

And on an unrelated note: Mr. Bear is on the move again. After seeing him spend months laying face down on the rug in The Boy’s office, I finally took pity on the poor bear and set him, sitting up, against the book shelf so he could at least look out the window. That small action set him off. He has since moved into the kitchen, checked out the fridge, and moved into the hallway. He seems to be headed toward the living room.

Coffee Cake

The lesson of the day, boys and girls, is how much kittens like coffee cake. The short answer is: a lot. Let us take a moment, though, to explore a couple case studies.

Obi
Obi was first to notice the bag from Starbucks sitting on my desk. I was typing and didn’t think to protect my food from the kitten.  Usually he would not disturb a package. This time, his nose went right in the bag. I pushed him back and said “mine.”

Normally that would be enough. The nose went in the bag. Again and again and again. Hoping to myself that I will someday be more firm with human children, I broke a piece of coffee cake off for Obi.

His glee resounded through the house, alerting a grey kitten to the availability of food.

Oliver
Oliver jumped up onto the desk and shoved Obi to the floor. I glared at him and figured he deserved what he was about to get.

Nothing. The coffee cake was gone.

Oli pushed his head all the way into the bag, then raised up to shower his face with crumbs. As he took a step back I removed the bag so he wouldn’t fall off the desk. I set the bag down. He shoved his face in. Repeat until I decide to put the bag on the floor.

Shortly later, two kittens were laying on the bed in the office washing each other’s face. Mmmm, coffee cake flavored brother.

Blogging one-handed

Happy cats, not to be disturbed.

Milk ring!

The house is a mess.

This evening I finally got sick of the disaster that is our house and I grabbed a garbage bag and started throwing things away. A lot of things the cats consider to be toys – like wrapping paper from Christmas. At first, Kitten Thunder was less than thrilled.

As I was cleaning off the coffee table in the living room, though, I found a ring of some sort for Obi. It was a vicious ring that required him to leap and run and pounce!

Then it escaped into the coat closet.

The Boy opened the door to the closet and liberated not only the ring but several other toys. Including a milk ring.

Milk rings, in case you don’t know, are Oliver’s absolute favorite toy. And this milk ring was feisty! He leaped. He ran. He threw it in the air and caught it as he rolled across the floor.

Obi looked on from the dining room, holding his toy and watching his older brother play. Who was this kitten, posing as Oliver? Then Obi tackled him.

Rings forgotten. Thunder on.

***

It’s Thunder Thursday! This week I was kitten sitting Goblin while Lori was away at training. There was a whole bunch of purring going on.

And some weirdness. I walked in to the house and found throw blankets. Everywhere. Apparently,  when left to his own devices for too long, Goblin will redecorate. Or maybe he just wanted to lay on a blanket in the sunbeam. Can’t blame him there.

The Return of Smell-o-Vision

Ah, springtime in the Rockies. Today we enjoyed sixty degree temperatures, sun and no wind. Tonight the cold weather will return with snow through the end of Wednesday.

I decided to take advantage of today and opened up some windows. New air poured into the house. It was glorious.

"Whose tail is that?"

Obi didn’t notice the open windows at first. He was walking across the room when he heard the birds. Were they in the house? No. I grabbed the brown kitten and set him on the dining room bookcase. The sun warmed his face; his eyes closed. A breeze wafted in; his nose lifted to catch it. The twitter of birds sounded; his ears swiveled.

Glorious.

Oliver was already laying in a sunbeam in the office condo. When I opened the window he only had to turn around to take in the smells and sound.

Glorious.

The previous owners of our house had a big husky. When the air gets stale the second floor still smells like dog. I’m looking forward to sleeping in a non-doggy room tonight. It will be…

Glorious.

"There is no better pillow than a sun-warmed brother."

Note: It probably looks like Oliver is getting the good part of this snuggle. But if you look closely you’ll see that Obi’s arms are wrapped around Oliver as well. It’s this type of sweetness that forces me to get out the camera and take their picture again.