My Tail of Devotion for Basil

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What Time Does

Can you believe it? You give me six months, and everything changes. We moved again! At least my mommy is always with me now, she doesn't leave me. In fact, just this morning, she got out of bed before it was light out and picked me up and carried me to bed and cuddled with me like I was a stuffed cat. I got out of there as quick as I can.

But there are tradeoffs to having my mommy around all the time.

I live in a small place with a little cat named Mocha. She's a nice cat, but I don't want a nice cat. I want to be in charge. She likes to play. All the time. And if she doesn't want to play, she wants to lick me. So I remind her that I'm in charge by making sure she doesn't take my places. My mommy calls me a bully. I say that I'm in charge.

The other big tradeoff is that I don't get to go outside very much at all. We live in the city, and there isn't many places to roam around. Sometimes we'll go for a walk, but my mommy has me on a leash. I don't care about that, except when a dog goes by. Did you know that the dogs that live near me, their mommies and daddies don't think they poop? There's alway poop in the grass near the street. You have to watch where you step. At least I cover mine up! [Most of the time.] Anyway, I miss going outside all the time, but I really like having my mommy's lap to sit on and a cool daddy person who likes to say nice things to me and rub me too.

I know I want to go outside again, but I also know that I'm pretty happy where I'm at.

My New World

I love my new world. There are two new people who love to play with me. They call me Basil E. Boy or HE, like not she. I get to go in and out all day because the guy stays at home all day. He sits in front of all of these TVs all day. Like five of them all in a row. I think he just likes to look at them, except he keeps hitting this board all day with buttons. And then there's Otto, the dog. He's sniffy and stuff, but he's pretty cool. He sat with my mommy all the time when she was sad. He likes to play with balls and this thing called a frisbee. All the time. When he's excited, he likes to hit me with his nose or chase me, but it's not a problem because I'm still a strong leopard. I like him well enough. There's also a garden. It's a place where my mommy and the lady who lives here go to a lot. There are lots of pieces of trees to walk on and things that are growing to sniff. One time, my mommy closed the gate and locked me in! She came back like five hours [ed. five minutes] later, and it was okay. I also like that there are a lot of birds. Otto knows that, though, and comes to help out. But that scares the birds away. I haven't caught one yet.

My mommy's bed is a lot lower to the ground than before, so I can get right in her face without jumping. I get up earlier though, and I want to make sure she's up. It's fun, except that she keeps yelling at me to be quiet. I don't know what her problem is. It's best to eat before it's light out. She should get used to that like I have!

I still miss my Pip and my dogs from the other place though.

Transitions

My mommy moved us to another house with a dog who is really big and sniffy. He likes to chase me around and sniff me. I don't really like that. But he's getting used to me and I guess I'm getting used to him so it's getting better. But I miss my dogs and my kids and my Pip.

My Job

I have a job in my house. It's a good job. I get to wake my mommy up. If she's not awake by the time that thing by the bed makes noise, I make sure she's up. I meow and stand on her. She usually grabs me and cuddles with me. I don't think she wants to get up. But I don't mind it when she wants to cuddle with me. She's always warm after sleeping under the covers, and she's always happy to see me.

I like my job, because it means that I have something to do to help my house.

Cold Toes

I love to go out and play. Mostly, I like to be outside with the dogs or my people. But I also like to hunt and play with toys that move by themselves. I don't mean to kill things, but I sometimes do. Like this bird one time. I wanted to play with it. I brought it into the bathroom. And it was so fun. But then I killed it. So I got worried that my mommy would get mad at me. So I ate it. But then Russell found me. And he had to clean it up. I don't mean to do it. I really don't. I just want to play.

When it's cold out, I still like to play. And when it's wet. I don't like that. So I come inside to warm them up on my mommy's lap. Or my daddy's. But they don't like it. I'm either wet or I make them cold.

The Head Thing

My mommy got something in a box. It smelled really good and it made me want to roll in it and eat it and be with it forever. But it also had something that she put on my back. It was gross. I wanted to lick it off and be clean again. But Mommy said no and put the head thing on. It's hard to do anything with the head thing on. I can't tell when I'm going to hit something and I can't see when things are sneaking up on me. I don't like it. But Mommy put more of the stuff I want to eat on my scratching post. And I felt okay. Mommy said I was high. But she kept laughing at me when I couldn't tell what I was going to hit. She kept calling me "conehead." I'm mad at her. I hope she's nicer to me, because I'm not going to be nice to her until she stops laughing.

My Idol

My hero in the world is my big dog Kozmo. I think he's great because he is so strong and tough, but he also knows when it's a good time to cuddle. He does everything great, like making sure Sandy knows who is in charge. I try to do this too, but she is a lot bigger than me. He doesn't let anyone tell him what to do, and he knows how to hide when he's been bad. I admire that. Except I never get in trouble, so I only need to know how do it a little.

I think Kozmo is the greatest.

White Stuff

Ah! Yesterday, the air got all clouded with this stuff in the air. Everyone was out. When they came home, Gena took the dogs out and I put one foot out of the door and my feet got cold because all the white stuff was cold. So I went inside. Then Mommy came home and picked me up and threw me outside. Well, she didn't throw me, but I landed outside. Then Sandy and Kozmo came out, and Sandy ate the snow. That's what Mommy called it. She looked happy. I wasn't. I went inside again. But it was interesting anyway, so I looked and watched the birds. Then this morning, Mommy opened the kitty door and I went outside...slowly. And then I decided it wasn't so bad if I found spots where it wasn't so white. Now, this snow stuff is still no fun, but at least I know how to deal with it.

Non Conformist Kitty

I got to walk with my mommy and Sandy last night. She didn't run away from me like she usually does. On the way home, a woman asked if I belonged to my mom. She said I did, but she knows better. I belong to no one. I just hang around because they feed me. Anyways, the woman thought it was so cool that I walked with them. She hadn't seen that before. I like to do things other cats don't do. Though Tiger does scoff at me when I do stuff like that. She says any dignified cat wouldn't follow a human around unless they needed something, like food or water or for them to scratch an itch. But she doesn't know anything. She just sits around the house and watches. I do stuff, so I know more.