The worst day of the month

Soooo not amused

Once a month,our 'sons' must be subjected to the indignity of flea medication (a bit of wetness on the back of their neck) and having their claws clipped.  Murray is pretty tuned into Bruce's activities and will make himself scarce if he thinks Bruce may be getting set to pick him up, an activity he enjoys only marginally more than having his claws done.

Two-handed clutch and clip

Mr. Tippy is much more vocal about Bruce's efforts and just as unhappy to be on a lap, although he's easier to pick up. Somehow, even when he knows it's coming, he cannot resist running into the room when Bruce calls.  

Generally, the activity in these pictures is followed by frenzied vacuuming on our part and even more frenzied claw sharpening on the part of our sons.  

Henri, Part Deux

For those of you who may not have seen this .. and for those who have, but still enjoy it, I give you Henri. Enjoy!
 

Weekend Spy Mission

The neighbors have a cat.  A kitten, to be more precise.  A kitten with the run of the neighborhood and  our lawn, flower beds and back patio. He likes to be with people and will spend hours chasing bugs and rolling in the needles and sap under the cedars while you work in the garden.

He is oh so squeeable and I'm rather chagrined to say .. everything my cats are not.  Oh, Murray and Mr. Tippy are adorable in their way .. but they are definitely not cuddlers and oh please do not try to pick them up .. they had just about as much of that nonsense a couple weeks after they were born.  They'll occasionally jump up in lap if it belongs to Bruce and it happens to be that special time of day that is their own particular Daddy hour.  Mr. Tippy gets his time in while Bruce is relaxing after the morning rush and Murray gets nap time in the afternoon. Once in a long while, Murray will come snooze on my lap and Mr. Tippy cuddles up with us at bedtime.

The neighbor's kitty, who goes by the name of Spy this week (Whiskers last week) is one of those charming little fellows that loves to see you coming and will drop what he's doing to purr like a little lawn mower.  He wants to cuddle, preferably up in your arms so he can rumble his way to sleep on your chest.  I miss cats that like to purr and cuddle and .. well there's nothing quite like a cat pn your chest to get you off to a great nap.

A couple of weekends ago, Spy's family was away for the weekend and it seems Spy was lonely for company, following a young girl home many, many blocks from here. She and her parents brought him back just as we returned from a night celebrating Richard and Cécile's 5th Canadian anniversary.  I offered to take him in and although he couldn't come into the house, he made himself right at home in our garage. It was almost a shame to give him back on Sunday evening when his family returned.  It's a good thing kittens and kids go together like peanut butter and jelly or I might have been tempted more sorely.

Fur therapy

The world is more fun when you look at it upside down. That's Murray's philosophy.  Mr. Tippy's ideology involves high speed adventures around the living room, bouncing from floor to chair back, and sometimes, Bruce's back.

And this is why you can't sit in that chair, Brad.

A quiet moment

Murray loves to be combed and usually rolls over to show off his tummy when Bruce wanders into his line of vision, comb in hand.  On this particular day, Murray was drowsing in Bruce's favourite chair and couldn't be bothered to wake up enough to roll over.  That didn't, however, stop him from enjoying simple pleasures.

The essence of peace

I was messing about in the kitchen .. and believe me, that's the right term .. when I turned around and caught our normally rambunctious Mr. Tippy simply enjoying a beam of sunshine.  This is a bit out of character for him ... I have a hard time catching him with my lens because he moves too fast.  My camera happened to be in range, so I took a couple of shots.

And then he pounced at the window screen and attempted to gnaw at a fly caught between the screen and outside window.

I really should have known.

Lazy Day

A sun-soaked morning totally sapped the energy of Bruce's office assistant - he slacked off all day and I don't believe he budged from this chair until it was time for Bruce's nap.  Murray can, at least, be counted on to remind Bruce of that item on the daily "to do" list.

To shoo or not to shoo ...

No, he most certainly doesn't belong on the bathroom towels .. the clean, cat-hair-free towels in the visitor washroom.  But  .. you gotta admit, the oversized cat sqeezing his way onto this shelf for a nap is adorable.

Bruce laughed when he saw the picture and told me Mr. Tippy's been doing that since he was a kitten.  ...  *sigh*

The Associate

From atop his perch on the filing cabinet, Mr. Tippy offers critique and commentary for the day-to-day exploits inside Bruce's office.  Critique most often comes in the form of "you don't pet me enough, stop what you're doing and fix that," or "you don't feed me enough."  Commentary is most likely to be "this post-it note is all wrong for you, let me put that somewhere safe and you can ask me for it when you need it," or "good lord, this tape is fun to eat." 

Without a doubt, this is the sunniest spot in the house.  Rather than fight with cats over who really rules the roost, Bruce surrendered the top of his filing cabinet.  One of his better business decisions, according to the little associate in the fur tuxedo.

Dodge

Game designers come up with complicated formulas for how any particular individual or class of character will resist damage when facing down a boss.  It comes with many names .. dodge, agility, dexterity.

They need look no further for inspiration than our Mr. Tippy, who .. when the camera comes out, refuses to be photographed properly.  He's got an amazing Charlie Chaplin mustache.  One day you may even see it, but alas .. not today.

Creature comforts

Murray and Bruce have a ritual every day that begins with Murray walking into Bruce's office and almost brushing up against Bruce's legs as he circles around him. We call this 'the air bump' and it's enacted by timid tabby cats afraid to commit to a full on body rub and meander between your legs sure to tangle you up.

For Murray, this means "It's time, Dad."   Bruce saves his work, puts away his pencils, sets a virus scan to run and assures Murray that he agrees.

Like Huck and Tom, the two buddies meander their way through the kitchen and downstairs to my office where they go through a formal observation - Bruce gives me the handset to answer in the event it rings and Murray airbumps against my legs, Bruce's legs or the chair legs while Bruce and I chat.  Murray then goes back and flops down in the middle of the hall while he waits for Bruce to finish in the washroom.  They stroll down the hall to the family room where Bruce flicks on the television, grabs the green blanket and eases back into the recliner after setting his alarm for an hour and a half.  Five minutes later .. this is the view:

Midday is pretty laid back in the Neuman house.  Murray and Bruce insist upon it.