She's Completely Crazy

I submit these photos as evidence. The first is Harlie's picture from Petfinder. It's the first picture we have of her. Clearly you can see how she was just so cute and stole our hearts, but do you see the crazy eyes? She's crazy. We have picture after picture of her during kittenhood and even now (though she's still technically a kitten) exhibiting her crazy eyes. We've always known she's crazy, and love her for it, but today was just more proof of her craziness. The morning started out kind of rough. Mom saysHarlie yelled and yelled and yelled in the car all the way to the vet. Then when she was near the barking dogs in the waiting room, hid UNDER the towel in the carrier. This broke Mom's heart, but we all know it's for the best obviously. Harlie behaved typically during her exam (scared and hidey) and then Mom left her at the vet knowing she was in good hands (it is the same vet who did my very own hoo-ha-ectomy).

Mom and Dad both went to pick her up this afternoon. She was awake and alert, but silent the entire car ride home, so they knew she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. The vet said that we should be separated because they were worried I might act a bit trollish towards her (to use William's word) because of the vet smells. Then Mom mentioned how I bathe her a lot an the vet said we should be separated until the morning. Mom knew we would not like that one bit, but that it should be done for Harlie's good.

I was taking a great nap on the bed when everyone got home so I didn't even come to investigate Harlie at first. So Mom and Dad took her in the office where Mom set her up with a litter box and everything. Harlie got right out of her carrier, and even though she was still stumbling all over the place from the leftover medicine, she was trying to jump and explore and then get out of the room. I heard her start crying and woke from my nap to investigate, and in no time we were crying for each other on each side of the door. Mom explained to me why we had to be apart, but you know how you just want to see and smell things for yourself, right? Harlie was trying to climb the slatted doors of the office and Mom and Dad got worried she would hurt herself so they shut her in the bathroom with all of her stuff since that's the only real door in the whole apartment. While Mom was doing dishes Harlie was CRYING and CRYING... then she started throwing herself against the door, Mom could hear her scratching the floor trying to dig out, then she her her scratching the door with lots more thumping (and things falling in the bathroom). She was supposed to be groggy and sore the rest of the day!!! Instead she was flailing about like a madwomancat!!! So this got me all upset and I started talking to her through the door (in my coos and chirps), then meowing at Mom to let me in to see her. Finally Mom decided that it would be safer for her to just come out and they would watch us closely to make sure Harlie was safe. (Mom's note: When I was growing up, we never gave all this special treatment to our cats after being spayed or neutered. We just brought them home and let them loose. So I figured if Harlie was trying to hard to break the door down, it would be better just to let her out in the house). SOOOOOOO... Mom went to open the bathroom door and couldn't. Why? BECAUSE HARLIE LOCKED HERSELF IN THE BATHROOM!!! Why? BECAUSE SHE'S CRAZY! So then we had 20 minutes of Mom and Dad removing the door handle and all that... to no avail. Our apartment is pre-war (whatever that means... oh Mom says it's pretty old)... and the lock to the bathroom is a bolt operated from the inside only... no outside control. So Dad had to chip away at the outside of the door and door jamb until he could get a screwdriver in to push the bolt. (Now we have repairs to do before our lease is up). Harlie was eventually released, but then there was 20 minutes more dedicated to putting the door back together and cleanup.

ANYWAY.... Harlie proceeded to get up on counters and in the sink. She was running and playing and finally knocked the garbage can over twice trying to get food. So even though she wasn't supposed to eat for a few more hours, Mom had to feed her because it's no good for kitties to eat out of the garbage or to keep expending the energy to knock garbage cans over on the same day they have surgery! (And mommies get extremely frustrated when they can't get anything done because they have to keep chasing a kitten around the house to make sure she's not hurting herself or causing more trouble.)

In the 7+ hours Harlie has been home she has slept maybe 45 minutes. She had another meal (because Mom only feed her two spoons of food the first time to see how she would take it), and we've played quite a bit. Mom has realized she doesn't need to worry so much though. Harlie will not let me play rough at all... she keeps walking away when I want to wrestle. And then when I was bathing her earlier, she was loving every minute of it until I got near her belly and then she said "NO!" and walked away. So she knows what she has to do to protect herself and that's good. But she does not act sore... or stiff (I was groggy when I got home and moved "gingerly" Mom says for several days)... or tired or anything. Maybe it will catch up with her tomorrow... but today... she's just crazy.

Hopefully she can blog for herself tomorrow, but for now I will say thank you on her behalf for all your kind words and well wishes for her surgery today. (This just in... she is now sleeping in the cat carrier that smells like VET!!!).

Locked herself in the bathroom.... sheesh....

Wow!

Thanks everykitty for all the comments! You really know how to welcome a fella back, and I wasn't even gone that long! Thanks so much to Skeezix for making a post about me! I've made a lot of new friends already! I have decided to go ahead and let Harlie do an introductory post. I'm not necessarily going to SHARE my blog equally with her, but I am going to let her post from time to time when she has something to say. Right now we are just so proud of the great cat that she is growing in to. Harlie will blog in pink because... well... she's a girl.

Hi Everykitty!! My big brother Mattingly is going to let me blog from time to time. I have some interest in it now that I'm able to sit calmly on laps and stuff. At first I was so excited about the computer desk that I just wanted to chew things and paw at things and run and jump and knock things off the desk that I just couldn't even pay attention to a blog! But Mom and Mattingly have been patient with me and have been showing me all about the great kitties out there that I want to blog sometimes too. They have showed me some other great black and white kitties like Josie, Millie, Mia, and so many others. And I want to grow into pretty lady cats like them!

I have to admit that I'm a little nervous because on Monday I have to go to the vet all by myself. Anytime before that I've been out of the house Mattingly was with me... and even though he was nervous himself, he was able to comfort me some. But now I have to go all by myself and stay all day at the VET without Mom or Dad or Mattingly or anyone else that I know. I know everyone loves me and won't let anything bad happen to me, but I'm still nervous a little to go by myself. Mattingly says I'll sleep through all the scary stuff and I'll be a little sore when I come home, but that Mom and Dad and he will treat me really gentle and loving. So wish me luck on Monday. Mattingly will let you know how it goes. And it's so nice to meet all of you! Oh and I'll leave you with an example of how nice Mattingly is to me. He really is a great big brother!!

I'm Back!

Fortunately (and also unfortunately in some ways), Mom isn't going to be able to finish her dissertayshun by December. It's not her fault... other things happened. She is both frustrated and relieved. But now she can take the writing process a little slower and has agreed to start helping me blog again! I can't make this post too long, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'll be around more. I'm trying to decide if I should allow Harlie to post every once in awhile now that she is calming down a little bit (not much, but a little).

I'll leave you with some pictures. We are VERY happy that it is finally cooling off around here and we can be more snuggly!

LUNA IS HOME!!!

We are crying tears of joy in our house tonight!!! Everyday we have been checking Luna's blog and holding our breath as we click the button to see if she is home or not! We are so happy for Luna and her Mom!!!

A sort of official break

Hi Everykitty. There's been a lack of posts again on our end, and I think it's going to continue for a bit. My Mom is working on getting her dissertayshun (or something like that) finished by November for defense in December, and it's been very hard on her. Her time with us has been limited as it is so when she actually is at home, I would rather have her spend time giving attention to Harlie and me than helping me to blog. We may post occasionally, but it will probably be sometime in December before we can do any regular posting or commenting. I still have a backlog of stories to share and I'm sure more will develop in the coming months. Please don't take me off your link lists because I am not shutting down the blog, just taking a little break. Meezers we are so sorry for your loss. We hope Luna finds her way home. We are sad to hear the Lucas is gone as well. But so happy to hear all about the new rescue stories and wonderful beans making room in their homes for new kitties. Hugs and purrs and headbutts until next time!

Weird things!

Yay I got tagged by two different kitties! My good friends Derby and Edsel asked me to participate in this game. Sorry it's taken me so long. I have to blame Mom as usual. And this time Harlie a little bit too since I always want to put pictures in my blog entries, but now Harlie has chewed through the special cord that helps put the pictures on the computer, so we have to wait for Mom to buy another... which means it could be years before we can upload pictures again. But anyway, I can at least post something even though it's all words.

I think pretty much everyone has played the game at this point so I won't bother with the rules and everything.

Here's 5 weird things about me, Mattingly:
1. I have a funny sounding meow apparently. And I make all sorts of different noises that mean different things like cooing and chirping.
2. I would prefer to eat Harlie's kitten food over my own grown up food any day.
3. I used to be a very cuddly kitty, but have decided to do it only on my terms now. I'm still loving, but much less than before.
4. I hide immediately when someone comes to the door, and sometimes even when I just hear the gate open outside. I usually stay hidden for the entire time someone else is in our apartment. If someone stays for a very long time, sometimes Mom and Dad will be kind enough to bring me my dinner under the bed so I don't have to go hungry.
5. Thanks to Kukka's suggestion, I know that I love having the inside of my ears rubbed. And also Mom has recently discovered that scratching at the base of my tail nearly sends me into fits of ecstasy.

I suppose I should put up a few about Harlie too:
1. Harlie would rather eat grownup food than kitten food.
2. There is one particular blanket that Harlie will knead and suckle anytime it's on the couch. She acts just like it's a Mommy kitty, starts going crazy with her paws, closes her eyes real tight, throws her ears back, purrs like the engines she's named for and just sucks and sucks until there's a wet spot on the blanket.
3. If she's laying on any type of surface, Harlie prefers to have at least one paw, preferably two hanging off.
4. When sleeping, no matter how tired she is, she moves around every two minutes or so. She never sleeps in one spot for very long. Just before this post Mom noticed that I on the other hand napped in the exact same position for over two hours. She's weird, right?
5. And Harlie loves to have her face touched constantly. One of her favorite things is when Dad puts his hand on her face and rubs backward so that her lips and eyelids are all stretched out. She'll ask him to do this over and over and over again.

Mom and Dad are super weird in general but I'll see if I can come up with a few specific things for them:
1. They insist that Harlie and I eat out of our own food bowls, and will stand over us while we eat constantly shuffling us around. Don't they have anthing better to do?
2. They call us any number of ridiculous names. I'm not quite yet ready to reveal those names, as so many other kitties did recently in a string of posts. But maybe I will soon. Anyway, all they are doing is embarassing themselves and Harlie and I in the process.
3. They are constantly calling each other into different rooms to look at where Harlie and I are standing/sitting/laying/playing/bathing... because apparently they think every single thing we do is adorable.
4. Mom goes positively nuts whenever any of our back feet (Harlie's and Mine, not Dad's) are curled up. The feet get pictures taken of them and sometimes even end up in her mouth somehow.
5. Invariably, if either Harlie or I expose our bellies, Mom or Dad's face will end up in there blowing and nuzzling. It's really irritating and rather disturbing. I keep my face out of their bellies, but they can't resist ours.

So that's our weird little family. We have the fish too, but he doesn't do too much that's weird. Except that he's supposed to be a bottom feeder but will ONLY eat flakes of the surface of the water. I don't want to say too many bad things about him though because he provides us endless hours of entertainment. Best not to hurt his feelings.

Hi to all my kitty friends out there. I'm going to try to make more updates!