Turkey Fat and Ashes

I had a religious experience this weekend, my furry brothers and sisters. Evan cooked a couple of turkey burgers on his George Foreman grill. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of grill, it has a little plastic receptacle for the fat and/or juices to drip down. Evan very kindly left this receptacle out for me on the counter while he was eating his burgers. So naturally, I leaped up onto the counter and licked the whole this dry. It was so incredibly delicious and filling that I didn't have to eat until much later that day.

On the subject of eating, Evan dropped some egg on the floor on Saturday morning as he was making breakfast. Now, they usually give me a raw egg yolk every once in a while. But this was different. It was "cooked," whatever that means. I sniffed at it but was not interested in it at all. Evan seemed incredulous. I tried telling him it wasn't a big deal, it's ok for me to not like egg cooked in butter, even though I'm a cat. I think he's still confused about that.

When I was a kitten, I used to climb up the backs of chairs and perch precariously on them. I've always loved climbing, and chair backs provide a great vantage point over the other, lesser, beings in the household. I stopped doing that for a while, I'm not really sure why. But recently I've started the practice again. I try to climb up there as stealthily as possible, and then swipe at the backs of Evan and Sudha's heads as they are on their computers.You can see an example of this here on the left. As you can see, my human's office chairs have nice, soft backs, and are very comfortable to perch on.

I've been observing how my humans sleep lately. They tend to lie on the bed under the blanket. I, personally, have a nice thick fur coat, so I haven't needed to lie under anything to keep warm. However, I decided to try it last Sunday. I crawled under a corner of the covers on Evan and Sudha's bed and fell asleep there. I have to see it was indeed a pleasant experience. What was even more pleasing about it is that both of them freaked out when they couldn't find me! Evan accidentally almost sat on me, giving up my position, however.

Speaking of warmth. Evan and Sudha have been setting fires in this thing called the "fireplace" lately. I find this fireplace oddly fascinating. I sit there and stare at Evan while he's cleaning it out, and while he's setting it up. In fact, the other day, I went so far as to climb into the fireplace itself while he was cleaning it out. Unfortunately for my dignity, the humans tackled me and wipe off all my paws to prevent "sooty" footprints. The nerve of those lesser creatures sometimes.

It was an exciting couple of weeks, my friends, so until next time!

She Who Must Not be Named

I have narrowly survived a harrowing weekend, my furry brothers and sisters. There were four strangers staying in my house, making lots of noise, and deliberately intimidating me. But I am getting ahead of myself. I realize I haven't posted for nearly a month, so I will take this moment to say that it has been a month filled with excitement, intrigue, love, abandonment, betrayal, sleep, and most importantly, scratches behind the ears.

Sudha and Evan left me alone for a whole week starting on the 17th of December. They had my neighbor come in and feed me twice a day. He seemed like a nice enough man. But as all people, he is expected to earn my trust and respect. I will give him credit, he gave me wet food twice during that week, that is certainly a point in his favor. It was a cold week. Evan insists on setting the heat down low while they are out. He generally mutters something about my "built in fur coat" as if that were sufficient excuse to put the thermostat below 70 degrees. Cats are desert creatures, in case you didn't know, and we like the warmth!

Anyway, after about a week of all this, I finally let the neighbor start petting me. I suppose he was pretty good at it. Maybe I'll start letting him pet me a little earlier next time.

Evan and Sudha returned on the 26th, and I pretended to be extremely happy to see them. I was very cuddly for a couple of days. That was until SHE arrived.

I will only utter this person's name once because just saying it gives me nightmares. Jane (Yane, for those of you who are Spaniards) is Evan's sister. She showed up last Tuesday and had the nerve to not only try to pet me, but pick me up! She tackled me! I tried to remain calm, I politely explained to her that she had not yet earned my trust and therefore did not yet have the right to touch my divine person with her common hands. However, she only seemed to understand everything I said as "meeeeeeeeeow and *hiss*"


To make matters worse. The day after "she who must not be named" arrive, three more people arrived. Fernando I already tolerate, but Rachel and Kate I had not seen in a long time. My precious, calm house had been invaded! As if their mere presence wasn't enough, Rachel deliberately stepped on my paw as she walked by!

Little did she know that I left an especially large portion of cat hair on her pillow the next day.

This invasion culminated on Friday night, when a whole swarm of humans entered my home for a new year's party. There were just too many people. I stayed downstairs as long as I could, but then had to retire upstairs and hide under and bed. I periodically came down to check on everyone and to grab a cub of home made eggnog. At one point Evan and Sudha's friend Tara lay down on her stomach under the dining table attempting to pet me. She had obviously had some eggnog of her own, the alcohol content of which was enough to cause me to start inadvertently shedding.

Finally the horde of people left on Saturday morning, leaving me with just the six. "She who must not be named" flew out early on Saturday afternoon. That evening the remaining five people had some cheese fondue and lit a nice wood fire in the fireplace. And finally, Fernando, Rachel and Kate departed early on Sunday afternoon.

I will say this now, but I was never Happier to snuggle up in Evan's lap than after all my house guests had departed. I think I may show some more appreciation for Evan and Sudha now that I know how many crazy friends and family they have.

Until next time my furry brothers and sisters!