Suspicious behaviour

We had such a great night last night. Mum made up a new game. She pulled the rug up in to a tunnel and threw balls down it for us to chase and we had the laser and everything.

Then there was cream. A little for each of us adn we love cream and then there was some beef and I love that.

Why was mum being so kind to us? This morning we have the answer = she is up early and the big bag is out. We do not like the big bag. I wonder if I'm going with her this time.

Boxes and plastic worms

My mum has been doing the internet shopping and we love this because we get boxes of interesting smelling things to look at and climb in. One came full of plastic worms and I thought that they looked like excellent toys but mum swooped them up real fast and closed the box down.

Turns out that Josie has form of eating the little white plastic worms and mum thinks that can't do her any good. I just think she is a mad kitty as they don't smell that good.

Naturally the boxes have included the odd present for us and we have been allowed one early. I thought it was a frisbee at first and if I'm honest just ignored it for days but suddenly I noticed that it is a round track with a ball in. I tapped the ball and round it went, I chased it and round we both went. It was good fun. Josie has had a go too but she doesn't love it as much as I do. We will get that ball out one day!!

Cool trick to play on mum

The results are short-lived but pretty spectacular. I always mooch about a but as mum is getting ready for bed and yesterday I noticed that the wardrobe doors weren't properly closed. When mum wasn't looking I slipped in and waited.

After a little while of reading she turned out the light and settled down to sleep. I counted about five seconds to let her feel really dozy then - CRASH - I flung open the wardrobe doors as if a person was hiding in there and was leaping out.

Do try this - it was very funny to see my mum's reaction. Like I said, short lived as she realised it had to be one of us cats, but worth it.

We had a happy weekend. Yesterday was another warm, sunny one and we were in and out of the garden enjoying it. Mum says we must cherish every day like that as there won't be many more - except they keep coming! It does get dark very early though now. It feels like dinner time when mum says it is a long way off.

Mum found my collar on Friday - when she stopped looking. She gave up and got herself ready for work which included making the bed and there, tucked under a corner of duvet, was my collar. I was really pleased with my hiding place for it.

Hide and Seek

This morning I have successfully hidden my collar and mum can't find it. Hoorah!! The other bonus is that she has been finding lots of my favourite toys while she's been looking. It's amazing just how many toy mice ended up right under the bed.

I am not allowed out but it's rather dark and cold looking out there so I don't want to go out.

I'm such a clever cat!

Yesterday I hid myself and that was fun too. We normally mill about while mum is getting ready for work but I hid. I heard her ask Josie if she had seen me but Josie was in on the game and looked suitably mystified as to where I could be.

Then mum looked in all my normal hang-outs but they were catless. I had guessed where she might look. She called me but I sat tight and quiet.

She started looking more and more frantically. She knew I was indoors but she started thinking maybe I had got out. I was thinking my chuckling would give me away.

In the end I took pity on her and just strolled by casually and got the biggest hug a cat can have. I don't think I was missing above ten minutes but it's good to know how much I was missed!!

What shall I hide next?

My Collar

I haven't mentioned my collar in a while so some people might think that I have accepted that I must wear it. This is not so. I have just got very good at taking it off.

Sometimes I like to take it off right in front of mum in a nice smooth movement so she knows I can; sometimes I take it off when she isn't around and hope she won't find it. Once I even hid it under a carpet tile. She is pretty good at finding it.

Her argument is that I must wear it if I want to go outdoors otherwise I won't be able to come back in again.

It is true that I like outdoors. I was worm hunting again yesterday. This is harder when the weather is dry and I only found one and mum took that.

From what everyone said about heating I am extra excited about having ours on. Mum is looking at the weather charts and says maybe Sunday will be cold.

Drizzle

Drizzle is my newest word. We have had it here for days. It isn't exactly rain as it is too fine to feel on your fur, but it ceratinly isn't dry either. The people who really enjoy hours and hours of drizzle are the worms. They come out of the ground to party.

I brought one indoors to play with and Josie said she wanted one too so I went and fetched her one. Then my mum came out (what could she have meant by "suspicioulsy quiet" when she came to see what we were doing?) and saw them and she threw them out the front door.

Never mind, plenty more where they came from. In all I brought six worms in, each one larger and more magnificent than the last and in all mum threw six out the front. She is mean.

Mum does not like the drizzle like the worms do but she says she can't remember it being so mild at this time of year. We don't even have our heating on. I wasn't sure what that meant and Josie says I will love the day the heating goes on. Warm pipes running under the floor leave nice places to keep your tummy warm and panels on the wall warm up and are pleasing tio sleep near. I can't wait!

Sleeping tidily

Does anyone else's mum tidy them up when they are sleeping? I was on the arm of the sofa when I felt my mum tuck my tail in neatly and then I had one paw dangling down and she stroked that until I tucked it right in. Then I was one neat ball of cat.

I thought this wasn't right but mum pointed out that when she is asleep I have her trained so she will slightly wake up and place her arm in a curve on my command. I like to be on the pillow next to her with arm all around me so if she isn't positioned right I have to wake her up and make her so.

Josie says our mum is so well trained that she did it when Josie mewed at her in the night. Josie tried out the round arm place and quite liked it but reckons under the duvet is still best.

Yesterday I asked my mum why my American friends celebrate in July with fireworks and we celebrate in November. Mum said that in July it is pleasant and warm to be outside watching fireworks so we wait until it is cold and damp and not very nice to be out and do it then. They celebrate their Independence; we celebrate a failed attempt. I asked if we aren't a bit odd and she said probably we are.

I think all us kitties around the world are agreed that fireworks are a bad thing. They should all celebrate by sharing large bowls of fresh fish with their cats and with party streamers. I do like to chase a streamer.

Being brave

On Friday, as soon as it got dark, there were lots of bangs and whistles from outside. I didn't like them and I looked at Josie to see what we should do. Josie said this happens every year about this time and it is called fireworks. It sounds bad but they don't come in so we are safe indoors.

Mum locked our door and we all settled down and as mum and Josie were OK I was Ok - even though it happened again on Saturday and a bit more on Sunday.

At night I cuddled really close to mum. Not because I was afraid but I thought that she might be.

On Saturday my mum had gone out on an outing, promising to be home before dark. She met her sister and nephews and they went on a train. My mum was telling her about our Norfolk trip. I did not like the bathroom floor at all; it felt funny on my paws so I would not go in there with my mum. I was quite happy to sit outside - as long as she left the door open. If she closed it I got upset.

So my mum explained, "I was creeping to the loo in the night, trying to be really quiet - and then from outside the bathroom door there was this plaintive meow, meow, meow waking everyone up." And she gave the meows a good deal of plaintiveness so her sister would know how it was.

Seconds later a small child opposite them repeated the three meows to his mum which made my mum laugh. He was pointing at my mum and obviously wondering why a woman had suddenly started talking like a cat. (If he knew my mum he wouldn't have been surprised- her nephews weren't!)

Mum reckons we are pretty much through with fireworks for now, thank goodness. And she reckons Josie was more brave than she has ever seen her so I think I was a pretty good role model for her of being brave.

I don't like rain

It is raining and raining and I'm not sure it will ever stop. Yesterday my mum came home and it was raining. She gave us our supper and then went out to sort the bins out. We heard her squeal - I had no idea she could hit a note that high - and then she laughed and a bit later she came in and told us what had happened.

A frog, out enjoying the rain, had jumped pretty much right over her foot and that startled her. Josie was upset with mum as she reckoned mum should have brought the frog in for us to play with. I wasn't sure that mum could catch a frog but Josie says she can.

Henry used to bring frogs indoors to play with and mum would join in the fun and chase them only she was very bad at keeping hold of them and they always escaped outdoors again so Henry and Josie used to have to try to catch them first.

We are having to play indoor chase games. We had the laser pointer out last night. We've not played with that in a while and I was half way up the curtains before I realised it. That has to be my favourite toy!

Letting Josie play

Yesterday I was on my chair and mum was on the sofa and Josie walked in. She jumped up next to mum and nudged her. She got a headrub for that but that wasn't what she was after. Another nudge and then Josie pretended to burrow through the throw.

Mum finally got the message. Josie's top toy is a large feather on a stick so mum got that and they played with Josie doing some really impressive leaping about.

Normally I prefer mum's attention to be completely on me but I let Josie have her moment and just stayed on my chair and watched and mum said I was a good boy.

To those who do good, good things happen and mum has given us some beef this morning. Josie just eats hers but I like flipping mine around a bit. It tastes so good I think the beef animal must be the natural prey of cats. Mum reckons the cow is rather larger than the cat but not on the evidence in front of me they're not!