Be careful what you wish for

What can I say? Perhaps Be careful what you wish for would be a good place to start. I spent the past two months waiting for the weather to get decent. I have been moping like the rest of you in Washington, done with the rain, the gray, the never ending 60-degree days.

Then suddenly the temperature shot up from 60 to 92 last week. Whoa! I said I wanted nice weather, not heat stroke. And for those of you who may not understand: no one in their right mind would purchase A/C in this part of the country. Why waste your money? For what, one week a a year? So last week we suffered. Scruffy Gray hid under the guest bed all day for 3 days in a row and was so stressed from the heat, the frightening overhead fans whirling overtime and the open windows letting in the sounds of barking dogs that he threw up his dinner all three days.

And me? Come on, I'm a long-haired kitty. Half Maine Coon. Do you think for a second that I enjoy baking in my fur? So we suffered.

But there are many positives that have come from the heat wave:

1. Summer's finally here! Believe me, everyone's mood improved.

2. Now I am happy that it's 60 degrees and gray outside today. I could use a little sun break.

3. The garden is finally taking off! And biggest bonus of them all: I got to go outside and play!!!

With the leash on, dang it.

Tuna

Today was supposed to be a special treat day. Scruffy and I needed a treat, not kitty treats, like we get whenever we do something special or look cute, but a REAL treat.

Why? I think Heather realizes how hard this gray weather has been on us too. We might live inside, but us kitties know when it's gray and depressing weather outside too. We see it in the lack of sunny spots to bask in, we sense it in the humans around us. The weather is getting to everyone, no doubt.

But where was I? Treats! So Heather was making herself a little lunch and dropped a bit of tuna on the kitchen floor. It might not have made a sound, but Scruffy can hear a drop of food hit the ground anywhere in a five mile radius, I kid you not. His head whipped around and he stared at Heather, hoping, praying that for the first time since he's lived here that she would allow him a tiny bit of tuna. And she did! She took the dropped piece of tuna over to him (and walked right past me without even noticing) and he almost ate her finger in his rush to devour the tuna.

So Heather decided I was next. She took a big chunk of tuna, stuck it on her finger, and brought it over to me. I sniffed and walked away. So she placed it in a small cup, knowing that I will not, under any circumstances, lower myself to eat out of a human's hand. And I walked back over, sniffed the cup and attempted to bury it. And that's when she got it: I don't like fish! I don't know how many times I have tried to bury the salmon and tuna dinners she places in front of me, but Heather has never understood that I am just not a fish kitty. Finicky, yes. Fishy, no.

Hopefully that means she'll start buying more of those tasty chicken treats instead... Have you figured it out yet, Heather? And maybe roast a fresh chicken and drop a piece or two on the ground... A kitty can hope!

Pretty Please Mother Nature

I can't take any more rain. Please make it go away. That's all I have to say.

Except I think that everyone who lives out here feels the same.

NO MORE RAIN!!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

That's it! I can't take any more of this weather. I don't care if I'm an inside kitty or not, there's only so many days a week I want to stare out at rain. Pouring rain.

Whatever happened to spring and walking outside on a leash with my Craig? Nope, no way. If you think that the two of us are going to stand outside in the cold, windy, pouring rain so I can sniff the tree frogs, you are mistaken. I don't like to get wet. I'm a cat, not a dog.

So, here I am waiting for a vacation. Let's go somewhere sunny, ok? Somewhere with lots of birds to look at and maybe some tree frogs to sniff. I'm packed and ready to go!

The overwhelming "to-do" list

Phew, this Friday's been rough on me and it's not even noon. First, I had to take a well-deserved after-breakfast nap, but Heather and Craig just wouldn't let me sleep. They kept coming over and rubbing my belly and then finally Heather started photographing me, so I knew I had to get up.

I sent Scruffy over to do the laundry while I helped put up Craig's newest Hike of the Week up on his site. So much work for a little kitty! After Scruffy was done warming up the laundry (napping across a pile of Craig's clean shirts), he and I had a long philosophical debate on the nature of stairs. We discussed metaphors and the meaning of life and whether Craig and Heather would bug us less if we napped downstairs on our couches or if we stayed in our snuggle beds.

Hopefully this afternoon will be less taxing, I can't imagine being this busy all day.

Renaming the kitties

Heather swears that if she knew Scruffy well before she and Craig named him she would have called him Bilbo for the old Hobbit. I think that's because she struggled for months to get through the Lord of the Rings and she would enetertain herself by playing with Scruffs in between attempting to finish another page. She says Scruffy Gray looks exactly like she would picture a hobbit creature. Especially when he's on his back playing with his stick (he ate the attached feathers the first day so now it's just a stick).

So I asked her, what would you have called me? I don't think I can tell you Heather's answer. Sigh, OK: Dingleberries. Completely unfair! It's not my fault I'm a long haired kitty! See what I call you when you're not around, lady!

Worn out

I don't know how Heather and Craig do it. With the improved weather they've been on the go constantly and it's all I can do to keep up. Just hearing about their adventures makes me exhausted.

Craig's hiking tons of miles every day trying to finish the research for his upcoming Day Hiking Columbia Gorge book. Every time he calls to report his daily hike, he sounds beat. He even hung up on Heather mid-sentence one night because his mind was toast.

And Heather has a big event coming up - a half ironman - so she's been constantly out running, or swimming at the lake or going for long bike rides. She comes home looking so tired that Scruffy and I have to keep an eye on her to make sure she remembers to feed us before she passes out.

It's enough to make me want to curl up in my snuggle bed and take a long nap. Hmm, that sounds like a great idea! I think I might do that - if Heather's snoring doesn't keep me awake.

My new camera!

I couldn't believe my good fortune today - Heather came home with a new digital camera! I liked the old one, it took decent shots. Though it was hard to operate since I have no thumbs. But the camera was never the same after it rolled off the side of a mountain last fall. (Oops!) I had been trying to convince Heather to buy a new one but she wanted to wait until the old one died. Well, RIP old camera.

It finally passed away last week. Heather was taking photos and the viewfinder showed a grid on the screen and then turned itself off for good. But now we have a new camera (still not easy to operate without thumbs!) and I've been learning all the settings. Here's Scruffy Gray posing for his first portrait on this camera! Ooh, we're going to have a blast with this baby!!!

Meet Scruffy, the Tweaker

I'm not sure who came home with Heather yesterday, but it wasn't the Scruffy Gray I know. That Scruffy Gray likes to sleep all day and lie across Heather and Craig's laps as much as possible.

So who's this guy? Scruffy came back from the vet (after getting a tooth surgically extracted) and was a completely different kitty. According to the post-op info sheet, he was supposed to want to stay in his kennel for a few hours and sleep off the morphine. Uh, no. That's not what happened.

Scruffy was thrilled to escape from his kitty carrier, even though he could barely stand. He was swerving around like a drunk trying to walk from room to room. He fell partially into the litter box and then couldn't figure out how to get out. I watched him trip over his own feet and fall over trying to squat down in front of his food bowl. And his pupils were HUGE. Scruffs finally had to resort to lying on his side to give himself his post-dinner bath because he realized he couldn't have three legs on the ground and stay upright to lick the fourth.

He somehow got the hang of walking up and down the stairs (sideways!) and began doing laps around the house, like he was coming down off of a drug high. That started around 5 last night and here it is 8 a.m. and he's still doing laps.

Scruff's attention span isn't so good, either. Just like a tweaker. "What was I doing? Oh yeah, I was hungry, I'd better beg for some food. Oh, the food bowl is full and right in front of me? OK, I'll eat. Wait, what was I doing? I'm hungry, I'd better ask for some food." Last night Heather sat in front of his dinner bowl and tapped it every time Scruffs forgot what he was doing so he could eat his meal.

Me? Yeah, OK, I admit it, I was glad to see him come home. I was pretty worried about Scruffs. He is my brother, you know. Now, it's time for my post-breakfast nap. Watching Scruffy do all these laps around the house is tiring me out.

Positive thoughts for Scruffy Gray

Thank you for all of your positive thoughts and encouragement. Yes, you know who you are. You people on facebook who told my human that after their kitties had teeth pulled the kitties then hated them. And so now Craig is super freaked out that Scruffy Gray will hate him after tomorrow's procedure.

That's right. Tomorrow Scruffy Gray officially goes under anaesthesia to have two broken teeth removed. Sounds like fun, eh?

Scruffy Gray, I'll be thinking of you. As I'm eating breakfast and taking my nap in my soft snuggle bed. Good luck, ol' boy! I'd have your share of breakfast too, but I'm too busy snubbing my own meals.