Success at last!!!!

Baxter tries to sleep with me sometimes. Thankfully, not under the covers! He'll cuddle up into a ball and lay close to  my body on my side. When he's being a quiet little boy, it is rather endearing and even keeps me warm in the winter. Lately, that's not the case. He'll sleep peacefully next to me for about an hour or so, and by this time I am sound asleep. Then, all of a sudden, he jumps up and wanders near my head (the only exposed part of me!), and starts poking me with his paw. I am not sure why he's doing this now, or for what reason. More than likely, it's hunger that motivates him. It's what usually motivates him. He would eat all day if I let him!

The only way I could seem to get him to stop this annoyance was to rush downstairs and actually feed him a bit of dry food. Not good, I know. I was giving him exactly what he wanted and perpetuating the problem. I know, I know. Bad Mommy.

So I determined that I had had enough. Enough of the pounding on my head and the waking up at all hours of the night only to rush downstairs and give in to the little bugger. Not any more. No sir.

So two weeks ago I closed my bedroom door to Baxter. And he cried, and he cried outside of it. It really broke my heart to hear him. Eventually, he'd go away only to come back again awhile later and cry some more really pitiful cries. But......I wouldn't give in. I had to teach my little guy that I wasn't going to put up with his shenanigans any longer. No sir.

Then I started to hear him jump up and try to open my door. I have the lever kind of door knob and he is a big fellow and could reach it. But try as he might, he couldn't seem to accomplish his goal. Whew! What a determined feline he was. All this nighttime activity was exhausting me!

Then last Thursday night as I lay sound asleep, curled into a ball in La-La land, I felt a large lump jump onto my bed and proceed to paw at my head!!! I awoke startled to say the least. "Could it he he had finally figured out how to open my door???? Is that possible?" I wondered to myself. "Can cats really be that smart and unrelenting?"

I wandered into the hallway thinking perhaps my husband had opened the door on his way to the bathroom. Maybe he saw how sad Baxter looked sitting outside my bedroom door and felt sorry for him. Nope. He was sound asleep. Not a chance.

I marveled at his tenacity and proceeded to run downstairs and give in to his needs again. Satisfied once more, he left me alone the rest of the night.

It was a good thing too. This time, I locked that blasted door!!!!!

He gets even with me!

I just finished trimming Baxter's front claws, and he wasn't too happy about it at all.
I am not sure why. He should be used to it by now. I've been trimming them for over a year now, and about every three weeks or so. So why should he be in such a nasty mood afterwards, is beyond me. He's a cat - that's the explanation!

My feline buddy kept trying to bite me while I was clipping away, but I learned long ago to cover my exposed arm with a heavy towel beforehand. He tried anyway.

I spoke softly to him as I usually do while trimming his claws, encouraging him and telling him what a good boy he was. Wrong. What could I have been thinking? Did I think he was like my sweet tempered dog, George, who would have let me do just about anything to him without a fight. I could even take a dog biscuit right from his mouth and he wouldn't seem to mind. I tried it once or twice just to check it, and he would just look at me with woeful eyes as if to say, "Did I do something wrong Mom?" I would always give him an extra treat just for that.

But nooooooooooooo, not this not so little guy!!!

As soon as I finished I gave him some treats and continued speaking encouraging words like, "What a good boy you are! See now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

A few minutes later I was sitting in my favorite chair reading, when all of a sudden I felt a presence right next to me. Thankfully, I had a pillow in my lap to use as a shield, because the next thing I new his ears were pulled back (you can always tell they're ready to attack when they look like this!) and he lunged at me as if to bite me. Whew! Sure glad I had that pillow to protect me.

I kept holding that pillow for protection until he scampered away. When he got tired of waiting (for the pillow to move!), he walked over to my shoes perched by the front door and attacked them! I guess he figured if he couldn't have my flesh he would have the next best thing - my shoes!

All is well again. He is laying at my feet as I type these words - docile as a lamb.

All is forgiven (eventually!) in the world of Baxter!!!!

Last week was Take Down the Decorations and Tree Day at our home. I must say, it was a rather depressing day, yet somewhat joyful as I am glad to get rid of the clutter.

Moving the tree away from the wall where it sat for just over a month, I started removing the red garland beads first. Round and round I went removing each strand actually getting dizzy from it as if I had just gotten off a Merry Go Round (which I have never liked!).


Next, I started removing the 31 year old decorative glass balls I had placed far away from Baxter's curious paws. As I turned to softly place them down, a large clap and subsequent shatter shocked me out of my somewhat impatient but organized mood.  There I saw the culprit with his front paws just hanging off the nearby lounge chair he draped across. Oops. I had forgotten the little bugger was now closer to what he had longed for these past five weeks.

I couldn't help but laugh at the curious fellow. I couldn't scold him, even though he looked at me with eyes wide with guilt. It was, after all, my fault for having moved that blasted tree to make it easier to remove everything.

Hubby ran in and grabbed him and held him tight, as I ran for the dust pan and broom hoping to catch every last bit of shard glass he could possibly hurt himself on.

Success at last! Moving the chair, I continued my quest without any other incidents.

It always amazes me just how curious cats are. I lived with a large dog for 14 years and he was never very curious. Well, maybe once in a while he would go around in circles if he saw how busy we were moving here and there and up and down the stairs to the attic where we stored all our Christmas decorations. But never, not ever, did he jump up on the tree and disturb anything. Really, he could care less.

I guess that's what makes me love my cat - always something interesting going on with him.
Who would have thought??