More than one anecdote (long)

Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted. We've been sick with strep three times
(me), croup (Sam), two flus (Fred and I), and a pneumonia (Jane). I can't
wait until we're all well and can actually leave the house! Also, some very
intense things for my daughter that required immediate attention. Who knew
being a parent would turn you inside out like it does?? I've been checking
in every day and sending silent purrs and encouragement to those who need
it.

There has been some cat excitement though.

In all of the ten years that we've had Otis, he's never, before now, brought
anything alive into the house. Last week, I opened the door and Otis shot
in with a fine healthy vole in his mouth and dropped it on the floor before
ignoring it completely. The vole spied the hot air register and immediately
dove down it. EEK!!!! The slick metal pipe goes straight down about 18
inches or so and then slopes down into the basement to the furnace. I was
sure that he'd end up getting stuck and frying down there. A while later we
heard a scurrying and the little guy popped back out of the vent! Yeah!
Fred trapped him in a yogurt container and released him, unharmed, outside.
It was kind of an ugly creature actually.

Otis has been a total sweetheart as I've been lying in bed sick. I've been
sitting propped up doing those Sudoku's (addicted) and he's jumped into my
lap and stuck his front legs on either side of my neck and purred and purred
and purred. He sticks his face within inches of my face so I can't even
focus on him. He's a good friend.

I've noticed that the universal friendly guesture of slowly closing ones
eyes while looking at a cat doesn't work with Otis. Chester loves it. Cats
for adoption at PetSmart love it - they get very interested. Otis just
stares. He wants you to stare and stare and stare into his eyes. Fred says
that Otis is really a d*g.

I had a hot bath today to try to stop the chills. Otis was sooooo alarmed
that he yowled non-stop, even putting his ears back and almost growling. I
was actually concerned he was going to hurt me. He jumped up on the side
and kept dipping his paw in and reaching over to gently scratch my face and
head. I have a scratch down the front of my nose now. So much for a
relaxing twenty minutes in the whirlpool tub! Fred often says that Otis is
a pain too :-) Which he is until he gets what he wants.

Fred also points out that Chester generally cleans his feet before coming
back in the house, which is true. Otis *never* cleans his feet. Then he
waits at the front door until we innocently open it and he shoots in and
takes a detour over the relatively new carpet. Big muddy foot prints
everywhere. A circle back around the table just to get as much mud on the
carpet is often in order too. He has a stunningly bad judgement.

But I love him and his sweet buddy Chester.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

Susan M wrote:
Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted.

I was wondering where you were. Purrs that you are all done with
illnesses now. That Otis is such a character! Scritches to him and sweet
Chester.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

Susan M wrote:
Hi all:

Hey stranger! ;-)

It was kind of an ugly creature actually.

I thought voles were cute. I also thought they lived in England.

and purred. He sticks his face within inches of my face so I can't even
focus on him. He's a good friend.

Awwww... Basho is like that. He gets really, really close to your face.
Then he nips your nose. He's my buddy.

takes a detour over the relatively new carpet. Big muddy foot prints
everywhere. A circle back around the table just to get as much mud on the
carpet is often in order too. He has a stunningly bad judgement.

I think he's cleaning his feet on the carpet. I guess he'd rather do
that than lick his paws clean! Smart boy!

It's good to hear from you. Hope things get better as spring gets closer.

Victor, who is finally experiencing winter in Texas.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Wow!! Strep, flu and pneumonia? All that illness must have wrung your
family out. Glad to hear that everyone is on the mend!

Otis sounds like such a sweetheart. I always envy people whose cats
will wrap their front legs around their human's neck, essentially giving
them a hug. My kitties are pretty affectionate, but none of them does
that. Oh, well. It does sound like a wonderful thing to have a good
kitty nurse when you're feeling that bad. And his wanting you to stare
into his eyes does sound very dog-like. He's a very unusual cat, he
certainly sounds worth all the trouble he causes you!

And as for his behavior when you were in the bathtub, do you think he
could have been trying to protect *you* from the evil wet stuff?

Joyce

Wow, you guys have really been sick a lot! I hope it's all over with
soonest. I don't know, but I think there's something about the weather
in Calgary that really gets people. Dennis' sister's family is
constanly sick too and so is his mom. Mind you, his sister can't be all
that sick considering she's managed to get herself pregnant with her 4th
child. This will be her last one but Dennis and I feel that now we are
well and truly off the hook in the kids dept! ;-)
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album


Susan M wrote:
Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted. We've been sick with strep three
times (me), croup (Sam), two flus (Fred and I), and a pneumonia
(Jane). I can't wait until we're all well and can actually leave the
house! Also, some very intense things for my daughter that required
immediate attention. Who knew being a parent would turn you inside
out like it does?? I've been checking in every day and sending
silent purrs and encouragement to those who need it.

There has been some cat excitement though.

In all of the ten years that we've had Otis, he's never, before now,
brought anything alive into the house. Last week, I opened the door
and Otis shot in with a fine healthy vole in his mouth and dropped it
on the floor before ignoring it completely. The vole spied the hot
air register and immediately dove down it. EEK!!!! The slick metal
pipe goes straight down about 18 inches or so and then slopes down
into the basement to the furnace. I was sure that he'd end up
getting stuck and frying down there. A while later we heard a
scurrying and the little guy popped back out of the vent! Yeah! Fred
trapped him in a yogurt container and released him, unharmed,
outside. It was kind of an ugly creature actually.
Otis has been a total sweetheart as I've been lying in bed sick. I've
been sitting propped up doing those Sudoku's (addicted) and he's
jumped into my lap and stuck his front legs on either side of my neck
and purred and purred and purred. He sticks his face within inches
of my face so I can't even focus on him. He's a good friend.

I've noticed that the universal friendly guesture of slowly closing
ones eyes while looking at a cat doesn't work with Otis. Chester
loves it. Cats for adoption at PetSmart love it - they get very
interested. Otis just stares. He wants you to stare and stare and
stare into his eyes. Fred says that Otis is really a d*g.

I had a hot bath today to try to stop the chills. Otis was sooooo
alarmed that he yowled non-stop, even putting his ears back and
almost growling. I was actually concerned he was going to hurt me. He
jumped up on the side and kept dipping his paw in and reaching
over to gently scratch my face and head. I have a scratch down the
front of my nose now. So much for a relaxing twenty minutes in the
whirlpool tub! Fred often says that Otis is a pain too :-) Which he
is until he gets what he wants.
Fred also points out that Chester generally cleans his feet before
coming back in the house, which is true. Otis *never* cleans his
feet. Then he waits at the front door until we innocently open it
and he shoots in and takes a detour over the relatively new carpet.
Big muddy foot prints everywhere. A circle back around the table
just to get as much mud on the carpet is often in order too. He has
a stunningly bad judgement.
But I love him and his sweet buddy Chester.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

Susan M wrote:
Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted. We've been sick with strep three times
(me), croup (Sam), two flus (Fred and I), and a pneumonia (Jane). I can't
wait until we're all well and can actually leave the house! Also, some very
intense things for my daughter that required immediate attention. Who knew
being a parent would turn you inside out like it does?? I've been checking
in every day and sending silent purrs and encouragement to those who need
it.

There has been some cat excitement though.

In all of the ten years that we've had Otis, he's never, before now, brought
anything alive into the house. Last week, I opened the door and Otis shot
in with a fine healthy vole in his mouth and dropped it on the floor before
ignoring it completely. The vole spied the hot air register and immediately
dove down it. EEK!!!! The slick metal pipe goes straight down about 18
inches or so and then slopes down into the basement to the furnace. I was
sure that he'd end up getting stuck and frying down there. A while later we
heard a scurrying and the little guy popped back out of the vent! Yeah!
Fred trapped him in a yogurt container and released him, unharmed, outside.
It was kind of an ugly creature actually.

Otis has been a total sweetheart as I've been lying in bed sick. I've been
sitting propped up doing those Sudoku's (addicted) and he's jumped into my
lap and stuck his front legs on either side of my neck and purred and purred
and purred. He sticks his face within inches of my face so I can't even
focus on him. He's a good friend.

I've noticed that the universal friendly guesture of slowly closing ones
eyes while looking at a cat doesn't work with Otis. Chester loves it. Cats
for adoption at PetSmart love it - they get very interested. Otis just
stares. He wants you to stare and stare and stare into his eyes. Fred says
that Otis is really a d*g.

I had a hot bath today to try to stop the chills. Otis was sooooo alarmed
that he yowled non-stop, even putting his ears back and almost growling. I
was actually concerned he was going to hurt me. He jumped up on the side
and kept dipping his paw in and reaching over to gently scratch my face and
head. I have a scratch down the front of my nose now. So much for a
relaxing twenty minutes in the whirlpool tub! Fred often says that Otis is
a pain too :-) Which he is until he gets what he wants.

Fred also points out that Chester generally cleans his feet before coming
back in the house, which is true. Otis *never* cleans his feet. Then he
waits at the front door until we innocently open it and he shoots in and
takes a detour over the relatively new carpet. Big muddy foot prints
everywhere. A circle back around the table just to get as much mud on the
carpet is often in order too. He has a stunningly bad judgement.

But I love him and his sweet buddy Chester.

Susan M
Otis and Chester


Wow, sounds like you've all been through the mill, hope you're feeling
much better soon. Love from Marcia & English Otis!

Susan M wrote:
Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted. We've been sick with strep three times
(me), croup (Sam), two flus (Fred and I), and a pneumonia (Jane). I
can't
wait until we're all well and can actually leave the house! Also, some
very
intense things for my daughter that required immediate attention. Who
knew
being a parent would turn you inside out like it does?? But I love
him and his sweet buddy Chester.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

So glad you hear from you again and know that you are all feeling better.
Understand about loving your cats, a day without Mr. Pumpkin would be like a
day without sunshine.
Charleen
Mr. Pumpkin
Aggie Marble
Victor Marble

badwilson wrote:

Mind you, his sister can't be all
that sick considering she's managed to get herself pregnant with her 4th
child. This will be her last one but Dennis and I feel that now we are
well and truly off the hook in the kids dept! ;-)

LOL. I have two sisters. Neither I nor one of my sisters ever had kids,
but the 3rd sister had 3, thereby getting the rest of us off the hook.

(Though I have to admit that my parents weren't exactly on our cases to
produce grandchildren OR get married, or any of that. Probably because
they had had such a bad experience doing the same. But my grandparents
were always asking me "Do you have a fella yet?" ... Dream on! )

Joyce

Susan M wrote:

Hi all:

It's been ages since I've posted. We've been sick with strep three times
(me), croup (Sam), two flus (Fred and I), and a pneumonia (Jane). snip
But I love him and his sweet buddy Chester.

Susan M
Otis and Chester



I'm so very sorry to hear you and your family have been having so many
health problems. I do hope you will all start feeling much better really
soon.
I'm so glad to hear Otis is being such a good nurse.
Lots and lots of purrs and best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek (who actually does not like me slowly closing my eyes
while looking at him either)

wrote:
badwilson wrote:

Mind you, his sister can't be all
that sick considering she's managed to get herself pregnant with her
4th child. This will be her last one but Dennis and I feel that now
we are well and truly off the hook in the kids dept! ;-)

LOL. I have two sisters. Neither I nor one of my sisters ever had
kids, but the 3rd sister had 3, thereby getting the rest of us off
the hook.

(Though I have to admit that my parents weren't exactly on our cases
to produce grandchildren OR get married, or any of that. Probably
because they had had such a bad experience doing the same. But my
grandparents were always asking me "Do you have a fella yet?" ...
Dream on! )

Joyce

My parents have never bugged me to have kids. They think the world is
overpopulated anyway. They're glad I'm married to Dennis and happy and
all that but would have never bugged me to get married either.
Dennis' mom is a whole nother story though. She's super into grandkids
and all that stuff, so it's a good thing she lives close to Dennis'
sister and all her kids.
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album