Toby and the Baton

Since it has been so long since I have posted anything about Toby, I figure I'll share this video of him playing with that mysterious foil-ended baton that is always perched above the door frame between our two front rooms. 

Amazing! Many of you have seen Toby but may not believe that he actually does more than just wander in and out or flop onto his side or lounge splayed on his back in the middle of the room or meow loudly when he's hungry! Well here is your proof.

Also, I'm working on another book post coming soon but I didn't realize it had been like 6 months since the last one so the list is rather long and daunting for me to work through. Hopefully this will hold you over until then.

Crochet Stuff and Funny Toby

Last year I crocheted a lot of toys, which I mostly gave away as Christmas presents for my nephews. Most of them are just free patterns I found online but some I made up or modified. My friend, Mary, inspired me with the her cute crochet animals. Here are pictures of some of my crocheting.

Elephant

Tractor

Tiger or maybe lioness

Hippo

Dragon - this was one of my favorites because I made the whole thing up myself. 

Lion

Giraffe

Parrot

Wolf

You might recognize this next one!

Motorcycle

And this is obviously not crochet but I think it's been a long time since I posted about Toby and I really like his whiskers in the picture below. One day I was sitting on the couch using a laptop and he started going crazy - looking all around the room and chattering like I hadn't heard him do in years. Eventually I figured out that there was a CD near me that was reflecting the light from our five recessed lights and whenever I would move, the reflections would bounce around on the ceiling and walls. I don't know why this gets him more excited than squirrels and catnip, but it seems to be one of his most favorite thing. I recall now that a similar thing actually happened one other time while I was working and the light from the window was shining on my ring and making a light spot on the wall dance around. I obviously didn't notice until he started meowing and jumping at the wall. Funny cat.

30 Days: Day 13

Day 13: A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Dear Toby,

I'm sorry we had to trim your claws again yesterday but you are frightening to play with when you haven't been recently trimmed. Somehow you have figured out what many cats fail to grasp: that the movement of the waggling string or crazy laser originates in the hand, not the toy. I know you are probably just showing off how smart you are and that you aren't fooled, but remember, no one wants to play with a prosaic cat. Especially one with long sharp claws.

Mindy

Crazy old Toby... He's always good for a laugh

We have started to let Toby go outside sometimes. In the past, he has been, depending on circumstances, either obviously avoiding any open door or else in a big hurry to sneak outside and run away and be hard to catch. Since we have started allowing him to go outside, recently he has been taking a different approach. He loves to be outside. But only JUST outside the door - and only if the door is open and he can run inside if he gets nervous. If he's enjoying being outside, watching birds, stalking squirrels from the front sidewalk, laying in the sun, or chewing some grass, he will come running in a panic if you close the door so he can't get inside. And then he mewls and whines incessantly! And either the walls are not thick enough or he is a very loud meower. I usually go open it for him because I feel bad that he might disturb the neighbors.

What a wimp... when we had Diego also, Toby used to be the brave one (albeit, the cautious one). I think the bravery was all a show. For some reason, it reminds me of a time Jeran and I went backpacking with some friends. I was so tired and worn out, I didn't think I could make it and had to keep resting and telling Jeran how hard it was, etc. Then Jeran stayed behind for a little bit while I went on with our friends. I complained so much less when there was no caring husband to listen to me complain! The hike seemed more doable, I was less tired. Now let's not psycho-analyze me here, because this is about the cat, but I think of Toby like that. He was either showing Diego that Diego was a wimp to be so scared, or trying to get away from him, or else Diego made him more confident. No there is no one to show off to? Or something. Somehow, Toby's changed attitude and that story seem related to me.

Anyways, some days we've been leaving the door ajar. When it gets warmer and more buggy, something is going to have to change.

Look what the cat dragged in

So I was sitting outside on the back porch enjoying the nice sunny weather. The back door was open (the bugs aren't too bad yet, the A/C and heat are both off, and our kitchen can't look any worse). Toby had been poking around the back yard area for a while. He is a wimp when it comes to the great outdoors so he would look around and then when he heard a car motor over on the next street or a neighbor outside talking, he would run back inside for safety. Well, one when he ran in, I saw him going crazy over something on the floor in the kitchen.

I dropped my book and ran inside in time to see Toby pick something up in his mouth and dash down the hall and into the living room. When I got there I saw that he had a lizard! Not just a tiny little reptile, but a decent-sized, bona fide lizard. In my living room! He kept setting it down and letting it run a ways before running over and (usually) gently picking it up in his mouth and carrying it to the middle of the room.

As he was doing this, I was trying to make sure it didn't get under any furniture where it would be harder to catch and finding something to catch it with. I finally found a metal bucket and a wrapping paper roll. It took a while and a few tries, but I finally managed to herd the lizard into the bucket without Toby scaring it off in a different direction. I took the lizard out back and let him free in the woods.

Poor little guy. He didn't look too worse for the wear so hopefully he makes it.

Random Cat Pictures

All I can say for these pictures is that Toby is a weird cat. And also good old Diego, since he is in one of them.

Farewell My Friend

So I have some bittersweet news to share. In a previous post I mentioned that our cat Diego wasn't doing too well. We took him to the vet for a follow up visit after a rocky week of ups and downs after our Sunday trip to the emergency vet.

The vet said he isn't looking good and it is a great concern that he hasn't wanted to eat for a whole week and such and such. Long story short, after a very hard morning, we decided to let Diego go because it was going to be very expensive to treat him and even if he recovered fine this time, it is something that could recur at any time and be so expensive throughout his lifetime. We said goodbye to our poor, sweet Diego. It was so sad. All I could think about after leaving him at the vet was how his little paw would reach up and touch your cheek every morning when you picked him up for the first time.

After we got home, we got a call from the vet. They said one of the veterinary technicians there wanted to adopt Diego and attempt treatment. Hooray! I hope he made it through it and is happy at his new home. It really softened the blow of losing our little kitty. Thank you, wonderful tech person.

Things I will miss about Diego:

• He's got such beautiful markings.
• He was a good lap cat and would sit and sleep on you.
• In the morning he would reach up and touch your face with his paw.
• Jeran "symbiosing" with Diego, (Toby sucks at it).
• He meows back when you meow at him.
• Finding him in closets - he opened doors and crawled in to sleep in peaceful darkness
• Sticking your head near where he is sleeping and he gives a startled but questioning "Meow?"
• Seeing him and Toby wrestle.
• Hearing him chatter at the birds and squirrels out the window.
• Having him patiently pose for pictures however we want.
• Having him roll like a rolling pin back and forth.
• Intellectual conversations about the complexity of the mobius strip.
• Watching him watch the birds of paradise on planet earth. What a hoot!

Things about Diego that didn't make the previous list:

• Worrying about him scratching up the carpet all over instead of the scratching pole.
• Waking up to him scratching the carpet under our door.
• His scratching the furniture so that we will pay attention to him.
• Having to watch for anything left on the ground that he might want to pee on (victims included a blanket, towels, Jeran's backpack, grocery bags, shoes, newspaper, disassembled cat carrier... he wasn't doing so well his last few months with us...)
• Having to close the door every night so that he wouldn't walk on us and wake us up at 2-3 in the morning.
• Getting a cold, wet nose on your face at night if you didn't close the cats out.
• Having to watch very carefully how much/when you feed the cats because Diego won't let you forget and will eat any and all food available.
• Paw-kneading on people.

Diego, we love you and miss having you in our family. Have a long and healthy life!

Go Diego Go!

For a while, Diego has been exhibiting signs of urinary tract problems (If you don't want to know, don't read on). In the last few months, we have cleaned up a few wet spots and wet things when he decided the litter box didn't seem near enough. His discomfort has come and gone over the last few months so we have just been keeping an eye on the situation.

On Saturday, Diego was acting moody and really uncomfortable. That night he seemed to be in more pain than usual and meowed plaintively a lot during the night. The next morning we got to clean up more wet spots but this time add blood and vomit to the urine. We took him to the vet and he seems to be doing a little better now. He is on medicine and seems to be recovering. Unfortunately, he will probably have to be on a special diet for about the rest of his life. The vet gave us special food that will help him and he won't touch it so far so that should be interesting.

The poor guy has been banished to the kitchen until he starts using the litter box again and stops bleeding. Hopefully it won't be long before we get the goofy old Diego back! He was up and moving about for the first time this afternoon. Go Diego go!

Other thoughts:

• All that practice I had over the years getting cats to swallow pills really paid off.
• I am pretty good at guessing average healthy weights of different dog breeds.
• I hope Jeran was joking about making Diego walk on a cat treadmill.
• It is tough to decide what dollar value you place on your pet's life.

Funny cat pictures

I saw these picture and thought they were funny. Enjoy!

I couldn't resist...

I was at Target and they had these silly little pet costumes for really cheap. I got a penguin with a bow tie and a Santa's elf costumes for the cats. The penguin head thing is super smal and won't even fit their heads. I think these were meant for a Chihuahua and cats are a bit bulkier than that.

This one of Toby makes me think of Toby from The Office. I love that.

I think this last one is my favorite. "Bond - James Bond" he says.

Crazy old Diego, he's always good for a laugh

We recently got one of those little hand-held back massager things that vibrates and much to our surprise, after massaging Jeran's legs for a few minutes, Diego got curious and we tried it out on him. At first he was a little shocked but soon after that, you could hardly get a minute to use it on your own sore muscles. Crazy cat... (I do have to warn you, this may be a little anti-climactic if you're expecting much - it's just to show how strange he is.)

Also we had to put a video of Diego being weird on our blog to be fair to Toby.

The missing water mystery

So for a while I have been trying to figure out why I have to keep refilling our two cat's water dish. It is a big one, the water cooler style so they always have water (or at least that is the idea). It is very convenient when we go away for a few days because we know they will have water for that long (before we got this I used to leave the toilet lid up, just in case). Anyhow, recently I have noticed the dish is completely empty very frequently. I finally found the cause. It was kind of funny. Hence the video:



The floor was obviously too wet for Diego's liking. And there was nothing in that dish BUT water. Yep. Toby is a crazy cat. I decided if he liked water so much I would put a little in the bathtub and give him a bath, which we have never done (cat's are so nice like that). That didn't go over so well, and while I didn't force the issue enough to get scratched, it didn't seem to have much effect on the water fascination. They have a regular water dish until the ground around it stays dry for at least a week.

This post makes me laugh, btw, because everyone else's blogs are full of pictures of their kids or whatever and this is about the same idea, just we just have cats... shrug. Also, please don't ask why I didn't notice that there were probably a few liters of water on the ground when the jug was empty. The answer is I don't know.