Kitchen nest

Remember the hole in our kitchen floor?

We put a rug over it to keep stuff from falling down there, and our kitty has decided it's a prime little nesting spot to take a nap. She never liked it before the vent was removed, so we were a bit puzzled.


Of course, it's gone now. Our floors are 100% complete, and I just need to get myself organized enough (and the counters presentable enough for photos!) to take some photos and share them! :)

Pet Randomness

I.Don't.Ask.Questions.


This is as close and peaceful as they get. No hissing.

Lazing around the house

I don't get my cat. Seriously. She gets herself at an angle to sleep COMPLETELY on my purse-like-bag. Um ... strange.


And the dog. Well, she likewise wants to be on something soft. So when I cover myself with a blanket and put my feet up, if there's a corner, she'll find it. And when I toss the blanket off? All the better. :)

Napping

We painted a bedroom a month or so ago, and it's where the 'pack and play' hangs out, waiting for our nephew to visit. Or our friends with little ones to stop by. Napping is encouraged!


Since I took off the door nob/handle to paint the door, and haven't put it back on, the cat frequently will go in and make herself at home. After all, we *of course* painted the room for HER. It's lucky for US that SHE lets us live in the house with her. ;)


I found her hanging out there last week, and picked her up and tossed her into the pack-n-play to see how she'd react. I got some foam and my sis sewed a cover for it. Seems like a prime napping location.

Usually, the cat would hop right out. Primarily because it was MY idea, not HER idea to be in whatever location I placed her (my lap, on the bed, wherever). But she seemed puzzled. Liked it, but din't want to let on.


The next morning I was looking for her, and where did I find her?


You'll notice tape on the wall. I was trying to visualize the size of a book shelf, and oddly enough, the cat seems to like to align herself with the tape. Seriously strange.

Queen of the castle

Seriously, cat? On my towel, on my pillow?

This cat will seek out the most cushy, lush material she can find, and then sleep on it (the towels ARE pretty plush).

Oh, and last week ... let's not mention that she slept on my body pillow, then puked all over it.

I discovered this right before bed. *sigh* ... THEN when I was putting cuticle oil on my toenails ... guess what happened? Yup, bottle squirted open, out of control and all over the sheets. :( And mattress protector.

So into the wash it all went. And since we only have one Mat Protector, it was up late for me.

Sheesh.

The upshot? The mattress protector protected the mattress from the oil, and it's still looking great underneath. So, even if you think they're a waste of $$$, I am here to tell you to think again about them.

"New" furniture

Alright ..... be brave here, folks. The first photo I am going to show you is how life is .... which is messy. Not pristine or organized. it's our living room on any given Tuesday.


EEEK.

But this has a purpose. It's to show you that after we moved out Erik's original couches ("original" sounds nicer than "old," right?), we had a lack of seating in our living room. To remedy this, we pulled in some lawn chairs. This was the height of fashion and classiness, let me tell you.


I wouldn't call our current setup overly fashionable, but I feel it looks less "college dorm room" than before. Besides, the rocking chair is great for reading the paper in the morning.


Or for cat naps whenever you feel like it. Because clearly we purchased this for the cat, right? ;)

"Sniff that tail"

We've always known the dog likes to sniff the cat's tail, but of course the kitty wants no part of that. Well, over the summer Erik learned that if he lets the kitty outside, she is so focused on going out, that the dog could practically lick her and she wouldn't care. Kitty wants out, and nothing else matters. Of course, sometimes he isn't nice and doesn't let her out. Just lets the dog get a good sniff.




Evidence of a tail fetish.


Every once in awhile we'll see them this close. Which is as close as they will ever get in a peaceful manner.

Ceasefire?

Looks that way.

Pet pix

Bailey is learning to not lunge at and harass the cat too much. In fact, they have learned to "share" the storm door. Sort of.


As it's warming up, even after a short (25 min walk), Bailey will collapse on the kitchen floor. News flash, dog: it's gonna get hotter.


As I am working more, Bailey gives me a lot of the "mournful dog look" ... sorry I'm so boring, pupster! (Although I think Erik actually took THIS photo!).


Esse has found a new favorite place to hang out. She loves to "hide" ... even though we can plainly see her. I guess in her mind, there is something over her so she's "undercover." Whatever.


From time to time we'll give Bailey peanut butter as a treat. We've also found that once we scrape the jar clean for people consumption, Bailey gives it the once over dog cleaning. She loves the treat and we don't have to soak the jar. It's win-win.

But she is always a bit unsure about what to do with the actual jar.


Of course, she eventually figures it out. She likes peanut butter too much!

Standoff

They both want out.

It wasn't happening. :)

Pet randomness

One of the dog's biggest offenses is sneaking into our master closet and eating the cat's food. So, I guess the cat figured 'what goes around comes around' and decided to check out Bailey's dinner one night.


Erik tries to stir up conflict. By placing the bone near the cat. Oh brother!


Esse has a thing for soft/silky/nice fabrics. Evidently so does Bailey ... whenever the silky pillow is on the floor, you can bet she'll be leaning on it.

Thug

Oh yes, this is Erik's gangsta pose.

Esse seems thoroughly unimpressed.

Preparing for puppy

In order to get Esse prepared for Bailey's arrival, we got one of the pup's toys for her to sniff around.

We put turkey around the toy and she got a little used to it.

We then had to prepare the yard a bit. Bailey is pretty good about not running off. We just wanted to have a little something to visually discourage her from running around the side of the garage or house.








Of course, a little attitude. *sigh*

New couch :)

Out with the old:

And in with the new:

(Erik takes it for a test drive)

Long story short, we acquired a new couch for the basement. It's another sectional. More oversized than I'd get for upstairs ... but it's super-comfy and great for downstairs. :)


Esse, of course, takes it for a test drive, too.

This is a pretty amusing series of photos of Erik + Esse.

Jekyll/Hyde

I.Don't.Want.To.Know.


Theodore's come up a few times to visit us. Esse, of course, is sure to check out the situation.


This is all of the sniff of Theodore that she wanted.


Theodore keeps asking me to teach him how to play poker, but he settled on the colors/numbers of Uno.

We got a dog

Well, it's happened. Our cat has been unseated as the "only pet" ... she's not thrilled about it, but taking it better than I expected. She hasn't clawed our eyes out or attempted to slit our throats as we sleep. She even goes outside to run around and then willingly comes back into the house!


Meet Bailey. She's 13 months and FULL of energy.

We were fortunate enough to adopt her from friends in town who just didn't have time to take her on long walks and such.


For the longest time, I have resisted getting a dog. Erik grew up with dogs, but I don't have much (read: any) experience with dogs on a long-term basis. With the cat, she went into the litter box once and that was the beginning and end of training. It was SO easy. I wasn't sure I had the patience to do house training and puppy training.

We lucked out with Bailey, though. She came potty trained and with all of the basic commands.

This actually reminds me of the book "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" .... it's been called "the next great American novel" and I have to agree. It's fabulous. It's about a boy and his dogs ... well, I won't bore you. But the dogs are "Sawtelle dogs." They come fully trained. Seriously, I could go for that! Get the dog a little older, but they have already been well-trained. SIgn me up! Oh wait, we already have that! ;)

I have a little more time and have a LOT of catching up on blogging to do ... so stay tuned!

A few more kitty photos

Our cat has a knack for losing her collar. Granted, it's a "break away" collar. And it means she didn't get strangled when she got caught up, but a few times every year, we have to get her a new one.


Erik came with me to the pet store to get the tag ... and decided she needed a little Powercat love to go with her purple collar (which I get at Dillon's, because they seem to be cheapest there).

Just no one tell her it's in the shape of a bone, ok?


Kitty likes our new bedside tables. She fits under the one on Erik's side of the bed. She seems to like to hide out. Like we can't see her if she's under there. Sheesh.


Last one is a nice, graphical photo of a cat nap in the afternoon sun

Random summer kitty

I'm not sure why our cat likes to sleep with her face on the window opener. It doesn't look particularly comfortable.


A few days it was nice enough to eat outside this summer, though. :) Usually we have the table cover on. And usually Esse isn't on dining tables. But it's outside and there was no food yet, so we were a bit lax.