That darn cat! (dog or rabbit or bird...)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

What’s something your ridiculous pet has done lately?

This cat might look like the picture of innocence…

https://i.imgur.com/Mytv7XJ.jpg

but there the boy’s asleep.

The windows in this house are drafty, so once a year plastic film is applied and it helps a lot. I realized yesterday that the window in the office needed some new caulk, so I bought some and brought it home, determined to get something done last night.

Poe, see above, and his brother are clever little boys and super interested in everything they see me do, so I decided the sanest thing to do would be to shut them out of the room while I worked, because if they got to watch, they’d be at the windows in a flash. So, I shut myself in the office and got to work, taking down the curtains and getting the double-sided tape on the frame first.

Once I put the beads of caulk down and smoothed them, it occurred to me that it’d probably be better off letting it dry before putting the film on, so I left the office and shut the door behind me for the night.

This morning I got started at 7:40, determined to finish before I needed to log into work.

Again, I shut myself in the office after feeding Linden and Poe, and I got the film applied and trimmed, and the curtains back up by 7:50. I was careful to cover the required 1" overlap of film along the sides of the window with the curtains as to not draw attention to it.

The natives were getting restless on the other side of the door, so I let them in at 8am.

I logged onto my work computer, opened my email and turned when I heard Poe jump up on the hope chest next to the window. Before I could even say anything, he reached up and swatted the film, leaving a 2" tear in the film.

It was 8:08am

And as I’ve been typing this, he just drank out of my glass.

So, what naughtiness has your four-legged or two-winged roommate been up to?

2

You must have still been asleep and dreaming, that innocent lil kitty certainly wouldn’t do anything bad!

Our jerkface has learned how to open doors. And he can reach the fridge handle. (Childproof fridge latches are sooooooo attractive, btw.)

3

There are childproof latches here, and knob covers on the stove. Poe is very mechanically inclined. He figured out how to open the cabinets the same week as this photo thread on Twitter, so just George’s age.

4

Rocco, our African Grey, has been activating Alexa somehow. My gf works from home. When Rocco is at home she keeps her office door closed because he can be disruptive.

Three times yesterday she came into the living room to find Alexa playing music, specifically Cajun music. I may have asked Alexa to play Cajun music once, so I don’t think he is asking her to play Cajun, but rather he’s saying something Alexa hears as requesting Cajun.

5

They do all kinds of goofy stuff, but right now, I’m more furious than amused.

My cats eat prescription food because one has a sensitive stomach. I have Covid right now and all but one of the office staff at the shelter (where I get his food) have been out with it all week. Which made ordering and getting his food a little more complicated. I can get it Tuesday, but not before, and we were looking like we were just barely going to be able to stretch it til then.

Until five minutes ago, when one of the little assholes decided to play gravity games and flip the just-filled food bowl off the shelf, dumping the food all over the ground, where the dog promptly cleaned it up for them. And now we most definitely aren’t going to make it til Tuesday and I have to figure out what to do in the meantime.

I could just about throttle him right now.

6

I knew a couple who decided to clean off the top or their refrigerator. There was a thick layer of dust on top of it, and numerous paw-prints in the dust.

Their dog was a dachshund.

7

The pawprints were definitely canine and not feline?

8

No cats in the house.

9

I once had a cat that loved to jump. He left paw prints on the ceiling.

10

I came down the stairs one morning last week and discovered a very large (Great Dane large) pile of pudding poop on the floor, stinking to high heaven. Luckily it was a wood floor and not carpet. Huck must have had a bad tummy in the middle of the night. Poor guy. There’s nothing like cleaning that up first thing in the morning. UGH

11

My cat likes to sleep next to me on my bed during the winter months. Which is fine, except he always manages to somehow completely take over the bed. When I go to bed I’m in the middle of the bed, and then he comes over and lies down next to me. And then I wake up a few hours later, and somehow we’ve both shifted over, so now the cat is in the middle of the bed, and I’m all scrunched up on the edge of the bed, trying to both not fall off, but also not lie on the cat. And I have no idea how this happens. Actually I have a guess – I probably roll over at some point in the night and move like an inch away from the cat. So the cat moves over an inch, too. Repeat a few times until I reach the edge of the bed.

Sure, the cat acts all cute and cuddly, but it’s really just a plot to take over the bed. I’m sure of it.

12

One of mine likes to sleep curled up around my head. Which is fine, especially in the wintertime; keeps my head nice and warm. Except . . .

that for a while before he falls asleep, he likes to knead. In my hair, which pulls it. And with his claws partway out.

Ouch!

(This often gets him an extra pillow pushed between the two of us; or a hat on my head, which will put him off doing it for a while, or else cause him to jump off the bed. The cat will return shortly, however; and while the behavior may stop for a while, eventually it returns also.)