Kitty Travel Companion

Whassup peoples!

I had to attend a cousin's wedding over the weekend, so the blog is a bit delayed due to traveller's fatigue (yes, I made that up, so sue me).

Anyway, as it was an extended trip, we decided to make a drive out of it. So the missus and I, bundled with the princess, made our way south in my trusty automobile. All pics courtesy of Fiona, my valiant photographer!

Ooh, I haven't been here for awhile!

It took Maxie a good while to get her nerves under control before she ventured out of her bag, and onto the cushion mat. The little kitty really does detest being brought out of her comfort zone.

What's on the left?

What's on the right?

Do I know you?

We sped merrily along, and in time kitty got over her jitters. As was her wont, she started complaining when cars overtook us on the fast lane...

Go faster!

Daddy, you do know that EVERYBODY is driving faster than you, right? RIGHT??? (inset: Fiona's hand calming the irate kitty down)

"Daddy! You're embarrassing me! Go faster, please?" whined Maxie forlornly.

"Maxie, I'm at the speed limit. I can't go any faster or I'll get fined!" I protested indignantly.

"Fine!" mrowled Maxie.

10 minutes later...

Are we there yet?

Fiona and I ignored her sulks and mutterings as best as we could, making conversation to ease the boredom. Undeterred, the intrepid feline sought to engage our attention using some acrobatics.

I am tiger, hear me roar!

Rawr!

Are you not entertained, hoomanz?

We ignored her, and no doubt this triggered the next set of antics.

Old MacDonald had a farm...and on his farm he had a cat.

With a meow meow here...

...and a meow meow there

Here a meow...

...there a meow

Everywhere meow meow!

"Maxie, that's enough! You're annoying me!" I snapped, annoyed.

"But I'm bored!" she replied.

Seething, I put on some songs, choosing some nice slow ballads to try to lull the cabin fevered kitty to sleep. This was a mistake, as she decided to sing-along with off-key mews, making a tragic comedy of the situation. In desperation, I put on some rock songs instead...

Me likes rock songs....

So soothing and relaxing...

Zzz

 
Okay....so that was interesting. When I dropped Fiona off at the customs, this sight greeted us:

Too much rock..can't wake....say...bye...zzzzz

It was in this comatose state that I brought kitty home to mum's, and unloaded everything and cat into the house. Right before I tried to settle down for nap, I heard a plaintive meow.

Daddy, can we go for a car ride again?

Maxie Loves New Stuff!

Maxie finally got used to the new stuff at home, and was able to settle down on the floor mats without trying to "make sure" they're dead.

Soft floor mat

However, poor kitty was not allowed any respite, as I popped open the box of toys that her godmother Rainbow sent and out came a replica of one of her favourite kittenhood toys: a fluffy tail wand! (The original one did not survive kittenhood...)

Omg omg omg!

 

*grab*

*pounce!*

My little princess was transported! This toy was something she just could not get bored of. All it takes is a human's nudge to move it a milimetre, and kitty would come running. Just when I thought she'd be tired out from playing (I know I was!) and made to keep the wand, she'd come begging for more with her "I want that" chirrup. Geesh...this was a worse addiction than her pink kung fu feather wand!

While leaving her alone with her toys, I attached a wall hook to hang my new 2015 calender from the 5 dollar store. Kitty thought there was a bug on the wall and stopped her play to stare at it and made her "hunting" noise when she sees bugs or geckos.

"Daddy! There's a BUG on the wall!"

I held her up ala Simba in The Lion King so she could sniff at the new wall attachment, after which Maxie left it off the hook *snicker*. 

Speaking of shopping and new stuff, the gf loaded up on those feminine stuff like nail polish and things that I know not of, being a male and all that. We left it in the empty guest room, now that my good-for-nothing tenant has moved out, thinking no one would care about those stuff being in there until she returns home...

"Did you get these for me? I've always wanted feminine products!"

"Maxie! Those are Fiona-jiejie (big sister)'s stuff! Come away" I said.

"What do you mean, they're NOT for me?"

Kitty was acting all possessive and guard kitty-ish, so we left her alone until she got bored with things.

It's been 24 hours, still not bored. Hmm...

Maxie - The Sheet Change Supervisor

I opted to change my bedsheets the other day, and it proved to be more of a chore than I had expected. Now, a normal person changing the bedsheets would more or less follow this workflow:

• Discard pillow cases > place pillows off the bed somewhere > take off the current sheets and comforter cover > put on new sheets and comforter cover > put on new pillow cases > replace pillows on bed

However, for this particular cat slave, the workflow is somewhat altered:

• Remove cat from bed > discard pillow cases > move cat from chair to put pillows on chair > move cat from bed > take off the current sheets > disentangle cat's claws from comforter > move cat to cat tree > remove comforter > ignore death stare from cat > tuck a corner of new sheet into bed > tuck second corner in > tuck third corner in > tuck fourth corner in > notice cat is missing > notice a lump in the middle of the bed under the sheet > remove sheet to see cat sleeping underneath > remove cat from bedroom > close the door > ignore piteous mewling > put on new sheets > put on new pillow cases > replace pillows on bed

Kitty supervising sheet change

Kitty deciding to get involved in sheet changing

Kitty realizing paw is stuck in comforter

Kitty wondering if I should change the "sheets" on cat tree

So, once that arduous task was done, I decided to change the floor mats too. 

Kitty wrestling new floor mat

After straightening the floor mat for a minimum of four times, I gave it up as a lost cause and left Maxie to it. I sat down and took a much needed breather. Minutes later, I decided to check on the busybody kitty...

These sheets are NAIS

"So you like the new sheets then?" I asked her.

"Uh-huh...."

Satisfied that her highness approved, I went for a shower and came out to this:

Zzz............

I snuck out of home without waking the princess, and it seems to be kitty sleeping season as I looked about for my stray kittens and found them thus:

*snuggle*

A capital idea! I forewent feeding them, returned to my room and joined Maxie in the comfy bed. Goodnight!

One-upman(cat?)ship

I know I'm a little overdue, but inspiration not only didn't come a-calling, it packed its bags from its previous visit and left me with nothing. Thankfully, it did a fly-by today and I reckon I can get some writing done.

If you recall from last week, Maxie was sulking because we called her a busybody. Well, she is, but the princess wouldn't admit it. So, to get her out of her sulk, her magic feathery wand came out from storage.

"Maxie, come play," I called.

"Hmmph!" she responded, not looking. Of course, that didn't last long... 

Look what I've got, kitty.

 

You know you want it

Following some waving, Maxie finally caved in and stop resisting. Below are some pics of her camwhoring. ;-)

I doubt if Maxie could resist her wand for long. It's the cure all for her kitty sulks and listlessness. Hehehe.

Once we got her out of her slump, she started showing an interest again in the world around her. From a "go away I don't want to talk to you" cat, she became a "Ooh, what's that? And that? Or this? Ooooh birds!"

"Ooh, birds!"

Kitty finally got around to staking her claim on her domain again. Especially since Fiona was staying the week...new toys and new things to own!

"All your stuff are belong to me!" she meowed at the gf.

"Your bag is mine"

"Your clothes are also mine"

"This bag is mine!"

"Er, Little Miss Kitty, you do know that that's Daddy's bag right?"

"What do you mean that's daddy's? Uh oh!"

Feigning exasperation, I took my bag away from her and Maxie scuttled off to the bedroom in embarrassment. I'm sure if cats could blush, she'd look like a tiger.

While I was gone during the day for lab work, Fiona decided to embark upon another cleaning project. Now, as my readers might recall, the last time the gf did this, a certain kitty's favourite resting places got well cleaned of cat fur. This time, the wily cat was ready for it!

"You leave my stuff alone!"

Note the "The Rock"-ish stare. If you smeelllllll-ell-ell-ell, what the cat is cooking?

Fiona wisely declined to challenge the princess. However, the joke's on Maxie as her daddy decided to wash her canvas bag bed anyway. Affronted and clearly blaming the newcomer, Maxie decided to administer some payback.

"I'm just going to give you a quick tug"

"Gotcha!"

"Maxie, what are you doing?" I cried, espying the naughty kitty in mischief.

Startled, my scaredy cat made a beeline to kitty haven and did her best to be innocuous.

"I didn't do it. I'm cute, pet me!"

I resolved to keep a close eye on my misbehaving kitty, but thankfully the two females in my household had agreed to a mutually satisfactory relationship: Fiona gives treats and offers pettings, Maxie pretends not to enjoy the attention but secretly craves it.

Kitty in Denial Wants Attention

It was a week of mixed feelings, as the family of stray cats I've been feeding (mummy + 3 kittens) was less a kitten after I found one limping with an injured paw and having crusted-over eyes and nose. It was a bittersweet moment when momma cat brought me to where I suspect the body of her dead kitten was discarded: the wilderness behind my apartment. Rest in peace, little kitten.

It took momma cat 4 days before she started eating again, and she is now back to normal with her remaining two kittens. As you can imagine, I didn't have much mood to do much in terms of Maxie entertainment over this period. As such, some of the events that I will relate in this blog are not my first hand experience.

Moving on, the gf came for a stay as the weekend swung over. Maxie remembers her, of course, but nevertheless, Fiona was still subjected to the princess's "I shall pretend I don't know you and freak out from every single thing you do until you acknowledge I am the mistress of this house" act.

Maxie took her role as slave driver seriously, as she only permitted Fiona to remain in the house after forcing the gf to feed her treats and to play games with her.

"I'm going to hide in this box and sulk until you leave, or pamper me."

"You WILL entertain me, human!"

After trying in vain to get her out of her box, Fiona finally caught on to kitty's mind control instructions. Out came the toys...

Oooh...toys!

*bat bat*

Kitty thinks Fiona passed her entrance exam.

After agreeing to accept (again) Fiona into the household, Maxie started subtly asserting her role as the dominant female. If Fiona and I were busy with stuff, ie watching the telly, cooking, etc; Her Highness would kick up a racket of loud meows, demanding attention from her subjects. The moment I scrambled to find her, she'd walk away with tail high up in the air, self-satisfaction evident.

Fiona was not spared from this either, as when she's occupied with her phone, the cat would sneak up quietly then do a credible imitation of a jack-in-a-box.

Peekaboo!

"Whacha doing? Why aren't you feeding me treats?"

Another funny episode that occurred involving both Maxie and Fiona. We were using the store room pretty often, and curious kitty liked to poke her nose into the store room. It is usually an exercise in patience to get her to come out of the store room after I'm done with it, so I tend to try to prevent her from going in there in the first place.

As Fiona stepped into the store, Maxie made to follow. I called out to her, "Maxie, who's a busybody then?"

Would you believe it, the cat sat on her haunches and looked at Fiona, as if saying "Her! Who else?"

I guffawed. The noise made Fiona ask what happened, and so I replied. Full of indignation, the gf mock scolded the cat. "Hey, what do you mean I'm the busybody? Everybody knows it's you!"

Maxie meowed back huffily and went to complain to me, with the mistaken belief that Daddy would take her side. "Daddy, tell her I'm no a busybody!"

"Uhm, princess, you kinda are? Remember when I got that box a few weeks ago? Remember when I changed the sheets? What about the time when I tried to pack my bag?" I couldn't resist rubbing it in.

"You're all bullying me! Mrrooowwwll! Fine! I'm a busybody," wailed my little kitty and she retreated to sulk on the couch. 

Hiding face in shame

Nothing some anchovy treats won't fix though. Til next time, readers!