Honey Plays!

I don't have a playing photo yet. Here is Honey watching the birds at the feeder.

I never thought I'd live to see the day!

Things have been just fine between me and my darling kitty cat pumpkin, Honey, aka Da Baby. Hopefully I'll be adding some pictures to this entry this weekend.

This week I had my landlord come in during my workday and remove my old shabby used sofa to make room for a reclining loveseat that I plan to purchase sometime in early 2005. As with all change, this, and the reorganization of the room afterwords, brought out Honey's insecurities.

Reassuring her can either be a tedious and mildly frustrating task, particularly when she hides under the bed and cries and is slow to come around. Sometimes, when she isn't that bad off, such as after the sofa incident, she gets all love-y with deep, appreciative purring and reassuring her can be very satisfying, as if our bond is growing stronger.

Once we got through the reassurance, Honey seemed to be overjoyed. For the first time since I've had her [11-months] she played openly and at length with some of her cat toys, vigorously tossing and catching a little ball, a mousie, and a small sack of catnip. Her inner kitten is coming out...at least until I run the washing machine again and she retreats once more to under the bed.

HONEY GETS BOLD

I like this picture too much so had to post it in it's larger version.

Honey and I reached another little milestone this morning of a delicate nature. Our respective commodes are right next to each other; for the first time this morning they were in use simultaneously.

There, I said it as delicately as possible.

Sorry, no extremely gross recaps [GreenTuna, 7/21, 4:38] to offer despite the subject matter, and, um, no photos.

GETTING BACK TO LIFE

A little at a time I've been getting back to the ordinary things of life and my interests. My family is doing well, and we thank you for your expressions of sympathy, warm thoughts and prayers. They have all added to the sense of support and caring that we've known through the past weeks.

Honey has done her part, too. We've now been human and cat together for 7 months now. During the past month of trial and sorrow, she came closer yet, by agreeing that it was ok for me to pet her on my bed. I am now allowed to sit on it and pet her, and even lie down an arm's length away and pet her. She will even jump up on the bed when I'm sitting there first. It is a morning routine with us before I leave for work, and at night also.

The pictures here were taken during a recent petting session with me sitting on the bed and sometimes petting her while aiming the camera as best I could for the shot.

HONEY BUNNY

Honey and I are getting along just fine.

Muy casa es su casa
After my week away at the end of April she became bold enough to be in the open living room/computer room area while I recreated at my computer work area. She discovered both the short cat tree with the saddle top and the carpeted window seat attached to the front window. She now enjoys both the front and back windows at her pleasure.

Mama's plan for her baby
So, we have accomplished full apartment range at the 5-month mark in our relationship. This leaves the following: getting on the bed with me for petting, getting on my lap, relocating her food dishes to the kitchen, and [the big one] getting picked up.

Behind closed doors
Honey is very affectionate despite not yet being a lap cat type kitty. She and I have our affection routines throughout the day; she will now let me pet her in her cat bed or on the cat window seat. Just recently she has given me a few nips of affection on my leg during our morning bathroom pet time together.

Doctor, I'm a wreck....
She is still insecure about Swiffer Saturdays and terrified of thunderstorms, but she's getting a little better about the bi-monthly clean-ups. She is pretty much out from under the bed, except during storms, but she is insecure if I do anything that disturbs the current position of her cat feeding area or the little mat under the bed.

Urgency - Moderate, Critical Level - High
I can wait on Honey's decision to be a bed and then lap cat, but it is important to be able to pick her up, at least by December when she is due for her annual vet visit. I've tried, believe me, I've tried to pick her up. Honey is composed of a very squishy outer body wrapped around a powerhouse of muscle driven by a sharply honed, agile street-cat instinct. While I'm trying to find a grab-hold beneath the body squish she squirms and kicks her way from my grasp.

Let the Game begin!
So, in between the incidents of thunderstorm and Swiffer Saturday trauma, and in the spirit ofoverg's game of gitchu, I've begun a game of Kitty Pick-Up.All is normal, then I do a pick-up move and Honey squirms away; she does not go far, and always looks back at me with a wary eye. I then just go about things as usual, like the pick-up attempt never happened. Hopefully this little game will instill some 'normalcy' into the action and I can get more serious about it as time goes on.

Little Princess!
Finicky, that's the word. She likes 2 flavors of Fancy Feast and that's pretty much it. I think I've run through all the flavors at least twice and tried a little sampling of other brands. Sometimes she eats these, but mostly not. She is highly opposed to any flavor that is grilled or marinated, or in an aspic (don't blame her here); she does not like chicken, beef, trout, ocean whitefish, or turkey. She sometimes, but rarely, likes veal, tuna or salmon. She does not like kitty snacks.

Play with yourself
She becomes timid when I try to play with her by doing the following: rolling a cat ball in her direction, dangling a toy on a pole, dangling and moving string. She backs off when I do these things. Ohhh, how I wish to have a playmate! On her own she will play with cat balls, toy mice, and bows. She also gets the cat crazies from time to time in the morning, running back and forth through the apartment before I get up. She also does not get into things like younger, more curious kittens, or like Katjam's legendary cat, Dom.

WELCOME, AT LAST

Well, it's about time!

As Honey and I near our 5-month anniversary she takes a new step into new territory by joining me in our living area.

Of course she has ruled this territory by night from her early days in the house but only after I've swapped spaces with her by going to bed. If I dilly-dally too far into the night she always gives me a 'last call' cry to inform me that I'm holding her up from her nightly routine. Dutifully I usually heed her cry and retire.

Now, finally, it is woman and cat, together, sort of. She strides quickly past me on the computer, looking straight ahead so as to 'not see' any forbidding look that might restrict her access. I keep silent, not even giving her encouraging tones. She jumps up on the cat saddle and then for a short time up on the carpeted window seat then back down to the cat saddle. I see the little white nose pointed in my direction as she keeps a vigilant eye on me across the room on the computer.

For many minutes I remain hushed and moving slowly so as not to alarm her. We give each other little guarded glances. Things seem to be a-ok. This is good. Finally I can't resist and get this photo from across the room. The date: Swiffer Saturday, May 8, 2004.

3 DAYS, AND COUNTING

Ah, the sweet day-dreamy state of impending vacation is upon me and getting more intense with each passing day.

Yesterday I did the cat-care run-through with Kind Co-Worker during lunch, making special note of all the places she can obtain hidden back-up keys. Honey remained under the bed and was all wide-eyed and limp, but was fine later. KCW will drop in once per day and being a cat lover she's the best person I could find.

Procrastinated Task #1, change out my winter to summer clothes, was faced and swiftly dispatched Monday after work. My winter wear just will not do in Arizona so this was an essential task. Tonight I may take on #2, the spring cleanup of all the bird seed hulls that have mounded beneath my birdfeeder. My landlord has been tolerant of my bird feeding and I want to keep him that way.

The smelly (mold, mildew) piece of luggage I'd purchased for my trip was returned to Wal-Mart and replaced with a nicer piece picked up at Marshalls. The Shoe Department there cast a spell on me, making me forget I was on my lunch hour and compelled me to try on and decide between many worthy canidates. In the end two pair of comfortable mules jumped into my shopping cart. Back at work, I put on a 'ditzy blonde don't expect me to have to keep track of the time' look to safely stride to my desk almost 30 minutes late.

Three days to go!

SWIFFER SATURDAY SNIT

Swiffer Saturday Snit

1) Back to me, 2) Facing, but not looking at me, 3) Facing me but not happy

Well, yesterday was another bi-monthly Swiffer Saturday in the Honey-Life household and it was greeted with more attitude than ever before, as documented in the photos above. Apparently since Honey has made clear to me MANY times before how much she hates Swiffer Saturday and I have once again assaulted her space with the dreaded swiffer, and all it entails, I was due for extra punishment.

'Talk to the Back' went on and on. What was a quick 20-minute clean-up turned into an entire afternoon of snit as Her Royal Highness once again made her feelings very clear to me. When I approached her on the other side of the bed she would not even look at me for a while. Then she accepted pets but was still not pleased. I could see it in her eyes.

I apologized once again [Sorry 2004] but told her it would not end Swiffer Saturdays [so get used to it.]

Actually, we're doing just fine. In the past month the line between my space and Honey's continues to blur. She gets insecure at times when she ventures closer but we're doing great overall. Love her!