We're all in the dumps, For diamonds are trumps; The kittens are gone to St. Paul's! The babies are bit, The moon's in a fit, And the houses are built without walls.
from Mother Goose rhymes.
A very old rhyme, by all accounts, and one can debate the meaning. I think of it when I feel at sixes and sevens.
Not so much me, actually. It’s more that Willow is in the dumps today.
All my fault, of course. It always is.
There you have it. See that nice soft blanket? Recently we went to troll around Big Lots. They sell useful things at bargain prices.
Inevitably, they didn’t have what we went for, but we stocked up on paper products and what have you.
That blanket was all of $15 but I dithered about it because of where it was made.
Everything else I own comes from there, so applying principals at this late date isn’t going to make a lot of difference…
It felt so deliciously soft and warm…
…cats love those things too….
…and cold weather was in the offing.
When the chill arrived, I added the new blanket to my bed and as predicted, it was a hit.
To my surprise, Lucy permitted Willow to climb aboard and even more astonishingly, the newly assertive Patches weaved her way in without raising protest.
What do you know?
You may note, however, that I am taking photographs, and not actually under the blanket.
Which makes a small difference, though that first night peace reigned.
But then came the Blackie factor.
That first night with the new blanket was one of Blackie’s “nights off”. How she schedules these things, I have no clue. Sometimes she attaches to a heater like a limpet. Other nights, it’s me that becomes her rock.
There are two variations of this. Sometimes it’s full in-the-face, cat hair up my nose, claws kneading my neck, knocking my book aside…you get the picture.
Blackie’s alternative is to plant herself on my legs.
For someone with neuropathy and arthritis, this is not the best arrangement, but when I try to wriggle out from under, she re-attaches until the next moment when I need to move. She hangs on like grim death.
Did I say? Blackie is no lightweight.
See those eyes? She’s very INTENSE.
Last night was Blackie’s “on the legs” night. She planted herself splat, in the middle of the nice soft blanket and made herself as large as possible.
“I’M HERE AND I’M STAYING!”
She tolerates Lucy because, well, Lucy is just as determined. So there they were, Blackie and Lucy, installed for the long term.
Willow likes to have the option of sleeping with me, but she is very fussy who she will share with. That she tolerated Lucy and Patches the first night was huge progress. Credit to the blanket, not me certainly.
Last night, Willow came to the edge of the bed, eyeing the lovely blanket and she wanted to climb aboard, but she was met with the immovable force of Blackie.
Blackie can be intimidating-looking but if Willow said “boo!” she would flee. However she and Lucy combined their Willow-rejection efforts.
Lucy fixed her one eye and the full force of her personality on my poor grey girl who slunk away to sleep on a cat tree, not even by a radiator.
Just to make me feel really bad.
And this morning…..
Looks say everything.
She sat on the sofa in the other room, not even by the fire. “Just chilling, keeping Sophia company” she said, squinting at me.
She always comes to sit near me. Not today.
Sophia wasn’t too sure about this development.
Willow has a bad habit of chasing her, just because she has to chase someone.
It used to be Sophia or Patches, but now that the rules have been changed…
“Without even notifying me!”
She harrumphed and turned her back…:(
Sweet Patches says “I didn’t mean to cause trouble!”
What is one to do?
How to keep them all happy?
At lunchtime Willow wanted to make a good impression on Grant, so she made cute but then curled up in the Roomba box. “I’ll just squeeze myself in here!”
“Even if it throttles me!”
Grant asked “are you sure she’s not having one of her fits?”
Well, not that sort, anyway…
Later she moved onto the loveseat where I usually sit.
Perhaps she’s considering forgiving me.
Or maybe she’ll sleep it off.
I do hope so.
Either my computer and/or WordPress think I am still in Ireland. The screen says your latest blog post was published January 13th. It’s still the 12th here in Seattle and with you also in upstate New York. But in Ireland it is the 13th. How to time travel!
Yes, indeed. When I worked for the airline we always used GMT but even so things got confusing when the time changes happened for Spring and Fall, never at the same time here and England so for a week it was chaos!
Great entertainment. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me!
To keep them all happy … I think maybe another soft blanket (or two) will do the trick 😉.
It’s more about the placement of said blanket…
Ah, I understand …
I’m surpised those cats haven’t thrown you out of their house long before now. I suspect you day is coming soon…
The way they act is exactly the reason I have a dog. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
We long for a dog but it would tip the apple cart…maybe a Jack Russell?
They are feisty. If you got a big old cat-friendly dog, chances are the cats would sleep on it! My daughter has a huge Cane Corso, and her two cats ride around on its back! 🙂