Irene's Weblog

For the past year our cat, Puck, has been aggravating the crap out of me in the middle of the night. Sure, cats are supposed to annoy you, but he never did and Paul and I have never figured out why he started.

Our nights would go like this. Go to bed. Around 1am, Puck would start scratching at the wall. Then, he’d try to scratch my dresser. I’d shoo him away and try to go back to sleep. Next, he would scratch my legs and dig his claws into my toes, just enough to get my attention. It hurt, but I tried to ignore him.

Finally, I would cave in and get up. Puck would lead me to his food bowl where he would proceed to eat. If I went back upstairs to bed, he’d repeat the aggravating process. If I simply lay down on the couch, he would come and lay on the floor next to the couch and go to sleep.

I’d curse every night as this became routine. My bed is way more comfy than the couch. Then, two weeks ago, that all changed. I outsmarted the cat. Accidentally.

Paul and I had done laundry and my blue jeans were still a bit wet even after hanging in the basement for a day. I didn’t want them to get a basement smell, so I laid them out on the floor by my dresser in my bedroom. That night, Puck curled up on my jeans and went to sleep. He let me sleep all night. He’s let me sleep every night for two weeks now. Every night, he curls up on my outstretched jeans on the bedroom floor.

I’ve lost my jeans now. They were my favorite. But, I no longer have to follow him down to his food bowl and stay on the couch in order to avoid claws in my flesh. My favorite pair of jeans is a small price to pay, I suppose, and the sleep is wonderful.

After discovering that my old Sony CyberShot DSC-P32 finally stopped working properly, I had to save for a new camera.  I settled on the Canon PowerShot S95 after many hours of research.

I absolutely love my camera so far.  The below picture is of my cat, Puck.  It’s the first photo I took with my new camera.  Click on the photo to see the nice photos that my new camera takes.

Paul: Harvey stop clawing at my feet.

Irene: Hey, he’s allowed to do whatever he wants to you after last night.

Paul: I already told him it was all your fault and he accepted your apology.

Irene: Uh-huh.

Paul: And he knocked stuff over and pooped all over the floor.

Irene: What do you expect when you lock him in the room for five hours.

Paul: It was an accident. I didn’t seem him there.

Irene: He’s just mean, isn’t he Puck?

Puck: Yes, he’s evil.

Irene: We should throw him out of the house, shouldn’t we?

Cinders: Damned straight!

I was at my computer this morning when I heard Puck meowing in the basement. I didn’t pay much attention to him because he does that all the time, especially when he’s using the litter box. This time, however, I swear he was having a real conversation. It went a little bit like this.

Puck: Meow meow meow meow. [pause] Meow Meow Meow.

It sounded as if he was actually trying to get someone’s attention. Then, Harvey runs down to the basement and it got weirder.

Puck: Meow Meow rrrwoarw meow meow meow.
Harvey: Meow rrwoar rrwoar meow.
Puck: Meow meow meow nooo meow meow meow.
Harvey: wrrroar wrroar meow wrrroar.
Puck: MEOW MEOW.

Did Puck really say no? What the hell were they talking about? Yes, I know I’m imagining things, but they still could have been plotting my death.

So far, the kittens are working out. While we had agreed to adopt Puck, and he was doing fairly well, I really didn’t want another cat. Unfortunately, fate likes to kick me as often as it can and we ended up with Harvey.

The first day and a half, Harvey wouldn’t eat, drink, or poop. I figured that it was because he was nervous and scared. From the stories I heard, he didn’t seem like he came from a good home. Eventually, he ate. Then, he peed in the corner of the bedroom. Paul and I chalked it up to being nervous. After all, the first night Harvey was with us, he slept in the litter box.

At first, neither Puck nor Harvey wanted anything to do with each other. Then there was the hissing, mostly from Puck. Now, they get along, with bits of play fighting. The only time they actually fight is when Puck wants to play with the toy mouse that squeaks. Harvey acquiesces, probably knowing that Puck would hurt him if he didn’t.

Puck can also be quite the bully. I suppose he is just exercising his dominance, but, for a three-legged cat, he’s quite tough.

Harvey is also jumping on counters and every other place he’s not supposed to be. He easily jumps the length of our couch too. The other day, we came home to the trash spread all over the living room. We immediately knew the guilty party was Harvey.

When I was sick last week, Puck decided that sleeping on my chest was the best way to help me breathe. He also likes to wake me up by nipping on my toes (Great, now I’ve got the Red Dwarf theme song stuck in my head.). At least these guys let me sleep through the night. They pretty much know our schedules now and have been good about not waking us up in the middle of the night.

I think they are working out fine. Hopefully, we can eventually get a bigger place to live so they have more room to run around as they are never going to be outdoor cats.

I’ve got a few pictures and I hope to get them up on the site this weekend so everyone can see my ceiling cat and basement cat.