Dead Kats Can't Post...

First, I overslept.  Maybe partly due to the fact that I took a sleeping pill last night (which I'm supposed to do on a regular basis but don't  ::sigh::) and partly... ::flings out accusatory finger:: it's all the cats' fault!!  Yes!  That's it!  It was a catspiracy!!  Zaphy, Oberon, Star... even Thomas was in on it!!  All of them!  All of them, I tell you!  They wanted to make me sleep.  Those vicious evile cats just kept laying around me, on me, over me, near me... purrrrrrrrrrrrring.  All part of their diabolical plan to make me wake up, look at the clock, freak out when I saw that it was past time for my daughter to be at the orthodontist appointment that I had rescheduled for October, and then for them to laugh their little kitty heads off... except when I was looking, of course.

I think they did it in retaliation for my not going to bed early enough to please Their Majesties/Highnesses (titles vary as they go in and out the door or as the cat guard changes... don't ask me, I'm not in charge here, I just feed them).  Star just realized that I'd come into the office for more than a few minutes and suddenly poof!  here he is on the chair beside me.  That's okay, I'm going to shut down as soon as I post this and he can come cuddle up on the bed.  We're still working on his skittishness.

It never fails to amaze me how cats can change in their lifetimes.  But even more so with feral/rescue cats.  If anything happens to put them under stress, they often revert back to their early behavior.  So it's like winning their trust all over again.  You have to show them that you are a member of their pride.... their family.  Show them that you are not going to go away, not going to leave them to starve, to shiver, to die.  Now in some cases of rescue cats, it wasn't the owner's fault, death and/or illness and/or job loss can make a bad situation happen and if there isn't someone to immediately take the pet.  ::closes eyes::  I've had to say "I'm sorry, but I have all the cats I can handle right now" to friends and it hurts like hell doing it (pardon my french).

Back to what I was saying, sorry got off track there a bit, but when something traumatic happens in a cat's life (which may or may not be visible to the cat's companion) it's back to the beginning, do not pass GO, do not collect 200 cloth mice.  So, now I am patiently trying to restore the confidence and love in Man in a little skitty black cat... carefully.  Not that I won't always worry about him.  I worry about all of my cats, but he's a black cat and some people, quite frankly, are... strange... in a bad way.

Good night/day... and may it be a quiet one.

Work? What Work?

And that was on both fronts... now normally when I'm working on graphics for the shop; I end up going nuts, making a ton of them all at once with husband, kids, and cats all going, "Hey!  Hey! You're not only in pain but you haven't  eaten anything in hours!!  This is Not A Good Thing™!!"  Today there was evidently an Evile Cat Conspiracy™ to head that off.  I ate lunch with Star beside me.  As soon as I put the plate down beside me (I eat sitting up in bed so my legs are resting), there was a Changing of the Cat Guard™, with the Kitten Oberon, putting in a surprise appearance (he'd been upstairs bugging my sick daughter all morning). Oberon proceeded to plop all 15 pounds over my lap.

Now mind you, as my husband never fails to point out, I could always pick the cat up and move.  But I often feel that it's a sign.  Even more so now that I have a chronic disease.  Because I'll start to make moves to get up and the cat(s) will make themselves heavier.  As the Lord is my witness, this is so.  Fifteen pounds becomes twenty... twenty-five... Oberon?  What did you do?  Swallow a dwarf star?  At any rate, I made three Santa graphics this morning.  And one gray cat holiday graphic this evening.  At this point, I'm going to follow their continuing advice and get off the computer but I'll give you a little preview.

The Changing of the Sleep Guard

While Star skipped a night, being a skittish kitty, he did join me last night.  This is a Good Thing™, since I sleep sounder when I have a cat beside me (or on top of me).  It seems that Star has learned that I truly need to turn over at night.  Several times I came up enough out of sleep to feel Star, not so moving, as flowing over me.  It was a very distinct sensation.  Not one that I have ever felt from any other cat.  I've had cats keep up with me turning, but never one that felt like this.

If you've ever read the Honor Harrington* series by David Weber, then you're familiar with treecats.  He felt like what I've always imagined treecats to feel like when they flow into someone's lap or onto their companion's shoulder.  It was wonderful.  My husband says that about 5:30 there was a Changing of the Sleep Guard™ and Thomas actually came in and laid beside me!!  He hasn't done that in ages and it was nice waking up with him beside me, even if he has a purr muffler.

What is a purr muffler you ask?  My husband teases and says that Thomas has a quite effective purr muffler these past few years because you can feel his purr or hear it if you get very very very (make that very) close to him but that's it.  OTOH when I lived in my old house with my children (long story), he had a very very very (make that very) loud purr.  So loud that you could hear him across the room.  Ergo, purr muffler.  A serious purr muffler.  I think that he switched his purring for more talkativeness.  Especially because he's now saying "ooouuuut!!" a lot more.  ::grin::

Sometime I will tell you the story of my cat, the late Christopher T. Cat, who was rescued at the age of about six weeks old with a broken hip.

*You'll need to scroll down to see the books.  This is the publisher's page.  The treecat url also has information about Honor Harrington.  If you like good science fiction, written with reasonable tech, good character development, in the style of Horatio Hornblower, then this is for you.  I have over 2,000 books in my SF/F library and have read many more.  I rate authors by how many times I want to reread their books/series.  I read all of these books whenever a new one comes out as well as at other times.  I think that speaks for itself.