Back to before

Well, the girls have gone home and it's quiet around here now. Funny how you can get used to having dogs around in such a short period of time! Though I suppose the cats never DID get used to them...

We spent several hours today getting things together from the shed and the garage for the current theatrical endeavors. Annie & Sarah were very interested in the shed and investigated every inch. Once they had sniffed each nook and cranny, Sarah lolled in the shade of the nearby willow tree and monitored my progress while Annie jumped in and out of the car to "help" me load the props & costumes I was gathering from the shed.

After we finished all that, it was time to play some Wii (!) and have lunch, not necessarily in that order. So we did, and the afternoon passed rather quickly; I suddenly realized it was time to head off to rehearsal! After rehearsal, I dashed home to gather up the dogs and take them back home, where John was anxiously awaiting them. I'm not sure if John was more delighted to see the dogs or if they were more delighted to see him, but it was a pretty happy reunion.

When I got home, I found Pierre and Jasmine lurking at the bottom of the steps. Pierre looked past me when I opened the door, and when he saw no canines following me, he dashed upstairs. Jasmine stayed below; however, I soon discovered that it was only because she was anxious for me to bring her "puff" back upstairs. So up it came, along with Jasmine, and at this very moment Pierre is kneading the pillow next to me and purring madly while Triscuit is contentedly settled on my lap. Jasmine is happy out on her "puff," and I guess that means all is right with the world.

Day 4 and all is quiet

Triscuit did spend the night in her normal place on my bed, purring happily and occasionally licking my hand, my cheek, my elbow, whatever she happened to be near at the time.

This morning she allowed Annie to get on the bed with us, and seemed mildly interested in her overtures, but when Annie got a little TOO close with her kissing, Triscuit smacked her across the nose and hissed. It was a different kind of hiss than the others, though, it wasn't evil, it was very matter-of-fact, more of a "I'm going to tolerate you but I'm not ready for that sort of familiarity, missy," sort of thing. Annie backed off, but didn't look as crushed as she had earlier, so I think she got the idea, too.

We lounged a bit, and after breakfast (in bed - best way to have it!), Triscuit decided it was time to check out other parts of the house. (Probably the litter box.) She had a bit of dilemma getting off the bed, because it seemed that all ways out were obstructed by dogs. Triscuit finally decided the best way off was OVER the dogs, and so she opted to leap across Annie, who was stretched out full-length along one side of the bed. No mean feat for a 17-year-old obese cat! She then trotted down the hall; the dogs wanted to follow. I told them, "No," and Annie stayed, but Sarah went down after Triscuit. I didn't hear any repercussions, so I suspect that either Triscuit had already gone downstairs or else Sarah kept her distance; in any case, Sarah came back down the hall a few minutes later and resumed her napping position.

Guess I'll go see what Pierre & Jasmine are up to! Ah, the fun they miss out on by being scaredy-cats...

Triscuit the Brave

So there I was, playing Wii Tennis (and actually winning for a change), when all of a sudden a paw comes around the door to other end of the basement and pulls the door open and Triscuit walks through. I'm not sure who was more surprised, Annie, Sarah, or me. She kind of huffed at the dogs, who were sitting stock still out of pure shock, then sat down and stared at us all. Annie started to get a little wiggly and was looking at me, begging me to let her go over to the cat, but I just said warningly, "Annie..." and she sat down reluctantly. Sarah was just staring back at Triscuit in utter fascination. Triscuit then turned her back on us all and continued to sit there, probably contemplating her next move. She then nonchalantly wandered up the steps. At that point the dogs were both trying to decide whether or not to follow her, but I told them, "No," and they unwillingly stayed down with me (they listen very well!), but they watched with the steps with rapt attention.

I continued with my tennis playing (proceeding to lose after all) and since Triscuit had not reappeared, the girls lost interest in the steps and settled down to nap. Ten minutes or so later, Triscuit stalked down the steps, crossed the room and jumped on the futon. She stared at me accusingly and meowed, which caused Annie to jump up and dare to approach. Triscuit glared at her but didn't hiss and allowed her to get pretty close before she deliberately turned her back and climbed up onto the back of the futon, where she settled down.

Poor Annie was about ready to jump out of her skin with excitement. She slipped onto the futon as furtively as possible and inched her way forward as far as she could toward Triscuit. She got within a foot, always expecting that hiss, and just as she leaned forward to sniff, Triscuit leaned into HER and sniffed! That, of course, startled Annie so much that she leapt back and missed her golden opportunity to finally give one of the cats a kiss! I cried, I was laughing so hard!

I'd gotten tired of playing tennis (had played 12 matches at that point, and actually won a couple), so I plopped down onto the futon and decided to see if there was anything worth watchinig on TV. (Yes, I know you're all shocked that I would even look.) Triscuit was utterly delighted. She climbed off the back of the futon to sit on my chest, purring very loudly. Annie climbed up onto the futon onto my feet, and I had no choice but to watch whatever was on the current station (I had dropped the remote). Fortunately it was on TV Land or something, so I ended up watching "Murder, She Wrote" and alternating petting Triscuit, Annie, and Sarah. (The other two cats hadn't come out of the other end yet.)

Last I saw Triscuit she had followed us upstairs and was sitting in one of her regular positions in the living room. Perhaps she'll work up the courage to come down and resume her regular sleeping position on my bed!

[Edit...probably 10 minutes after I originally posted this, Triscuit DID work up that courage, and is now very contentedly snuggled up next to me in bed.]

Day 3

Well, it's been quiet so far today. Bill got up this morning to head off to the Poconos for his brother-in-law's 60th birthday party. (I hope the weather holds...) The girls still barked at him when he emerged but it didn't last nearly as long and sounded somewhat more like a greeting today. Must be they're getting used to him!

Had a nice long visit with the kitties this morning; Pierre was all hugs today (he's actually a very huggy cat normally, anyway; he's been known to get up on his hind legs and reach up like a toddler does when he/she wants to be picked up) and Jasmine actually came out of her corner. Triscuit was all "I'm busy sleeping, go away," but the other two definitely were up for some company. So I gave them a can of cat food (a treat for them) and we did some brushing and petting and they did a lot of purring. I told them if they wanted to come upstairs I would keep the dogs away from them, but they passed on that. Maybe later.

So I threw in more laundry (I still have about 6 or 7 loads to go. Seriously. I'm still catching up on costume things from the last show at Broadway and from cleaning out the ELT building.) THEN - I decided to explore the Wii Play game that I also bought when I got my Wii. (Well, heck, I wanted the extra remote and this was only 10 bucks more. Such a deal.) Very fun. Not quite as active as the Wii Sports or the Wii Fit (which I do not YET have), but there are a few things that require a bit of activity. I like the Billiards game, though I did not do particularly well, and there's a game where you ride a cow and try to knock down scarecrows which is a riot.

So then, more laundry, and now we're sitting on the deck eating cheese and crackers and fruit and watching the hummingbirds and listening to the house wrens that are living in the martin house. They have a beautiful song. There's a nice breeze, and it's so quiet and peaceful...ah, the joys of living in the country!

Close Encounters

So, to continue from yesterday...during the entire time we ate dinner Pierre sat on the table just inside the sliding glass doors and monitored our meal. The dogs would occasionally go over to the screen and whine at him, but he either reacted by ignoring them with the utmost disdain or else by glaring at them with a loud hiss. (The hisses from any of the cats always appear to crush Annie, she gives me a "what did I say?" sort of look and slinks away most pathetically.)

[Note the bag on which Pierre is standing - he had discovered a bag of dog chews and was more interested in them than in his own treats. The grass is always greener...]


Triscuit stayed happily ensconced on my bed even when I came down the hall with both dogs at my heels. She glared at them when they came in, but didn't bother to move. I sat down on the bed next to her and Annie jumped up next to me, but she still stayed. So there we were, the three of us. Annie kept trying to inch her way closer and was desperate to give Triscuit a kiss. She got within inches, and Triscuit, who had been ignoring her up to that point, turned and gave a soft but evil hiss. Annie backed off apologetically, and Triscuit looked up at me with an expression that clearly said, "Please. Would I let a dog lick me?" I swear she rolled her eyes. It was hysterical!

[Note - I am NOT holding Triscuit down in the picture, nor did I use PhotoShop for anything other than to reduce the image size to post it on the Web!]

We were invited to Will's house to watch the fireworks at the airport (you can see them pretty well from his front lawn). Annie & Sarah had been invited to come along, too (Will's a dog person), but I opted to leave them for a bit, as I don't know how they react to loud noises. Triscuit seemed content to stay on the bed, even with them there; Pierre had long since hidden in the closet, and Jasmine has apparently taken up permanent residence in the basement.

When we got home, Jasmine was the only one I could locate immediately. Pierre and Triscuit were nowhere to be found. The dogs had come outside, of course, when we got home, and Bill stayed out with them while I hunted. I called around the basement for a bit, and came back upstairs to find the two cats sitting at the top of the stairs. We let the dogs back in; Pierre bolted downstairs but Triscuit nonchalantly strolled down the hall. I thought she went back to the bedroom, but she had parked herself UNDER the bed in Bill's room and was apparently not planning on coming out.

Bill reported this morning that she DID come out - about 1:00 a.m. - and went back downstairs.
Last time I went down all three were present and accounted for, for once.

I think I'll go visit them...

Ai Haz A Wii!!!

My favorite friend Sue called me this afternoon while I was bathing the dogs and left me a voice message telling me that she was at the Mall and had just walked past the GameStop store. They had a sign out saying that they had Wiis in stock! So I hustled myself up there (okay, it was almost an hour later, but only because I had to wait for Bill) AND - I now have a Wii!! So far I've played three games of tennis (I actually won one) and bowled two games (I got a 123 and a 185).

The dogs watched me, but were not impressed. They wanted to go outside. So after my two games of bowling and three games of tennis, we went out onto the deck so I could brush them and clean Sarah's ears. During this time, I happened to look over toward the sliding doors and discovered Triscuit sitting inside glaring at us, and Pierre was at the top of the stairs.

Bill came out to grill hamburgers for dinner, so I left the girls out on the deck with him and came in to have a few moments with my kitties. I'm not sure where Pierre went, but Triscuit has had a brushing and is now sitting next to me on the bed purring happily (it's HER bed, after all). I hate to break it to her that the dogs won't be staying outside indefinitely...

Burgers are done - more later!!

Bath time!

When I picked up the dogs from John, he said to me, "Does Bill have a sensitive nose?" (He knows I don't.) I asked him why, and he said apologetically, "Sarah is kind of strong...she needs a bath but I didn't really realize how badly until she got in the car this morning." So I allowed as how I could do that. He kind of frowned and said, "Well, Annie will be good for you, but Sarah..." at which point I said, "John, have you ever given a cat a bath?!" He laughed right out loud at that and said, "Of course, I forgot who I was talking to!" and reminisced about giving one of his cats a bath once.

So this afternoon I figured it was time. After his warning, the whole thing was quite anticlimactic. They were both VERY good, and as a matter of fact, Sarah was even quieter than Annie was. When it was over, they both wanted to run and play (I remember our dogs growing up always wanting to do that), so we went outside...where it was raining. They didn't care; they were already wet.

However, Bill had just mowed the lawn this morning...so now we have clumps of grass all over the house. Oh, well, it needed vacuuming, anyway!!

On the cat front...Jasmine has been seen moving from one room to the other downstairs. The other two are still sleeping in the front window. I suspect this will last pretty much till the girls go home...

Day 2...

It was a quiet night, but it was also a bit disconcerting to be awakened by an all-over facial wash by Annie this morning. Triscuit will sometimes give me a bath, too, but a cat's idea of a bath is much more localized. AND it was at 7:15 a.m.! Doesn't John teach his dogs that Saturdays are for sleeping in?! (Of course not, actually, he works on Saturdays.)

So we got up and went outside, and then I went down and threw some laundry in. While downstairs, I checked on the cats. Pierre & Triscuit were happily snuggled on the cat bed in the front basement window, but Jasmine was nowhere to be found, still. Hmmm.

Went back to bed for a bit, but was awakened by the girls barking madly at Bill. Seems like anytime he walks around the house they bark at him! And they are quite protective of me...they won't let him near me. It's quite amusing, actually. So I decided to get up after a bit and make breakfast, which pleased them all immensely.

After breakfast Bill went downstairs and came back up to announce that he had seen Jasmine; she was in another window in the basement. I felt better knowing she had been sighted! But I have not been downstairs since; I think that perhaps I shall go down and see if I can find her, too.

Maybe some catnip is in order...

Cats and dogs update

Well, Annie & Sarah seem to have settled in quite nicely, thank you. They are currently snoozing on the floor next to my bed. The cats, however, are still not very happy about this.

Earlier this afternoon, Triscuit confirmed that she had been in my bedroom closet (which is not an unusual thing; she sleeps there quite regularly, so that was not necessarily on account of the dogs) by wandering down the hall when I was sitting in the living room with our canine guests. She stopped short when she saw them, apparently quite surprised. I don't know if she was sound asleep when they arrived and didn't hear them, or if she just forgot they were there. In any case, we had a staring match amongst the three of them, then she nonchalantly slipped downstairs. Annie & Sarah weren't sure if they should follow her or not, and by the time they decided they should, she had disappeared, so they came back and settled into the living room again.

A few minutes later, Pierre slunk down the hall and followed in Triscuit's steps down the stairs. So we had two downstairs! Jasmine was still sitting next to the computer, apparently not having moved for several hours. I took her some food and water, but she wasn't at all interested. Oh, well...

Came back and fell asleep (naps are good!) and was awakened by Sarah barking. Pierre had decided to brave things and had come back upstairs! Pierre, our resident 'fraidy-cat, of all things. He lay down under the piano and dared the girls to approach him. They declined, and a long staring match ensued. Annie lost interest pretty quickly, but Sarah was fascinated by him. (Well, he is almost as big as she is.)

During this time it was pretty quiet, so Triscuit must've figured the dogs had left, because she came back upstairs and stopped short once again to see them there. They, of course, immediately were all tail-waggy and happy to see her, which caused her to turn around and go back downstairs in alarm. That in turn freaked Pierre out and he abandoned the staring match to follow her down.

When Bill got home, Annie and Sarah were not at all sure about him. They raised a ruckus, and it wasn't till we were actually sitting down to dinner that they finally decided that it was all right for him to be there. I don't think he was very sure about them, either!

After dinner I went back down to the bedroom to find Jasmine in the same position she had been in for the past 8 hours. This began to concern me; I figured she MUST need to use the litter box by this time! So I figured I'd carry her downstairs...

Suffice it to say that I now have some scratches on my left shoulder that sting quite a bit. I had to get Bill to take her downstairs while I took the girls outside.

So all three are downstairs where there are litter boxes and some food and water. I believe I'll take them some more and see if I can visit with them for a bit. Poor kitties!

When cats and dogs meet

About a month ago, I agreed to dog sit for my friend John, who is going on a family trip this weekend. This morning Annie and Sarah came to visit until Monday!

I was, of course, a bit concerned about how my three resident felines - Pierre, Jasmine, and Triscuit - might feel about these house guests. After all, they've run this house for 9, 10, and 17 years, respectively. And though I've been trying to prepare them for weeks for this visit, I don't think they really believed me.

When I first got here to the house, I pulled into the garage but left the overhead door open. We got out of the car and Annie & Sarah enthusiastically investigated the side yard, the front yard, and the driveway. After they'd done their business, they turned back into the garage and expectantly waited at the door. (Smart dogs - how'd they know that went into the house? They've never been here before!) So we went in, and I expected that Pierre and Jasmine would be on their "puffs" at the top of the stairs as they usually are at that time of day, and that would see the girls and instantly go flying off somewhere.

Instead, nothing. Not a cat in sight, anywhere. Sarah immediately went downstairs (which surprised me, because John said she might have trouble with stairs) and investigated the basement, followed closely by Annie and then by me. No cats anywhere. In fact the whole house was eerily silent. Knowing how well cats can hide, I decided that probably I would see them sometime later in the day and shouldn't worry.

So I was very surprised upon entering the bedroom after Annie to hear a very loud hiss. I followed the source of the hiss to find Pierre waiting with VERY big hair and fire in his eyes huddled under a chair. Jasmine was sitting next to the computer with very big eyes but was otherwise quiet. She did, however, lay her ears back and glare when Annie jumped up onto the bed.

Annie and Sarah tried to sniff Pierre, but he continued to sound like an air mattress with an intermittent leak. They kind of glanced at Jasmine but for some reason didn't bother to approach her.

Triscuit is still nowhere around. But this is her best sleeping time, so she's probably somewhere curled up. I think Pierre just went into the closet. Maybe she's in there, too.

Uh-oh...It's awfully quiet around here...I think I'd better go see what's going on!!

Monday, Monday

School's almost out. For me, that means a lot of end-of-the-year questions, like which reports should be run for final statistics and that sort of thing. Other than that, it's fairly quiet, which is why I thought today would be a fine day to take as a vacation day and recover from a VERY busy weekend.

Here's the thing...I'm working on two shows at once. Well, actually three. Our kids' theatre group had 67 kids audition, so we split them into two groups and are doing two shows. It's kind of mind-boggling...I'm not so sure we should've done it, but there you are.

The other show doesn't go up till this fall, but we're getting a head start on it now; it's "Evita" and that's a pretty massive show. Had auditions this past weekend, and between the three days of auditions for that and an all-morning rehearsal for the kids' shows, I was pretty beat. So, as I said, I opted to stay home and sleep.

I should have known better. It seems that every time I think it's going to be quiet and I can take a day, something happens. Today it was server issues. Had to log on via VPN to reset a server. Of course, I always foolishly check my email, and there was a pretty full inbox today, even though when I left last Friday I had it down to three.

So I've got plenty to do tomorrow. First thing I need to do is make that the troubleshooting sheet I left with Kelli is up-to-date and that she remembers to actually use it! :-)

Phew!

It is HOT. Hot isn't so bad; it's humidity that really gets us here, and it's also humid. Yesterday we had some thunderstorms go through, and that helped very briefly, but here we are today, back to 95 degrees and 36% humidity. Poor Miss Triscuit Cat, who is 17 years old, really minds the heat, and it was pitiful to watch her over the weekend as she just stretched out on her side in a position strategically located between two open doors and didn't move for hours. Bill finally was able to get the air conditioners in, and she's now back to normal! The other two cats don't seem to mind nearly as much...

My sister and her husband came to visit this weekend, and brought their Nintendo Wii. I need one. I NEED one. And no place around here (or anywhere else, from what I can tell) has any. So I now have a nifty little gadget on my Google homepage called "Nintendo Wii Tracker." It keeps track of when the elusive Wii comes into stock online so I can check to see if I can actually get one. You've gotta love gadgets!

Rich just handed me an article called "Wii Love Learning" from the June/July 2008 issue of "Edutopia." It's a short article on some classroom teachers in Indiana who use the Wii in the classroom. Now, I can see that entirely. My sister brought her Wii Fit component, too, and it tricked me into actually exercising. Here I thought I was just playing computer games, then all of a sudden I realized that the muscles in my legs felt like I had really done some exercise, and I was sweaty and out of breath as well. So if the Wii can trick a couch potato like me into exercising, why couldn't it trick kids into learning?

Sounds like fun to me!