Sam – Page 34

I Bow To The Master

This picture of Sam is from his first week with us when he was still quarantined from Scout. He was too tired to play, but wanted to play too much to go to sleep. When he got like this, I’d lay down on the bed and then he’d climb into my lap and fall asleep, but then I couldn’t get anything done as moving would disturb him.

He reminded me of our dear departed Templeton. Sometimes when we were playing Crinkle Bag (his favorite game), Templeton would be so tired that he literally wobbled on his legs as he tried to stay upright, his head bobbing as he tried to keep his eyes open.

Sam seems to have at least one other of Templeton’s traits, as several times I’ve seen Sam climb into my chair if I get up to go get something. Templeton was the true artist when it came to chair stealing, often going so far as to lure me out of the chair in the first place and then doubling back to hop up into the seat and take my place, looking at me with the purest innocence.

At first I thought he preferred the one chair over the other in my office, but he’d do it with both chairs. Then I thought he just wanted the one I had warmed up, and perhaps there is some truth in that. Sometimes, though, I think he just wanted to prove who was the master.

As if I needed the reminder.

Upside Down

I’m the one who’s upside down in this picture, I was laying down on my back on the hardwood floor and waited for Sam to lean over from his window seat and look down. He likes sleeping on the seat, he’s sometimes there when I come home from work and he certainly seemed to enjoy watching me work in the flower beds the other day.

A Moment of Grief

I had President’s Day off a couple of weeks ago and the weather was unusually warm, so after heading up to Ridgefield in the morning and working outside in the afternoon, I cleaned out the inside of the Civic and prepared to wash the outside. Realizing I had forgotten to replace the broken hose in the front of the house and with it too late to go hiking, I decided to let the cats out into the backyard for a little bit.

Scout is an old hand at backyard time, but it was the first time for Sam and Emma. I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to keep a close enough eye on both the kittens to make sure they understood that they were to stay in the yard, so I gathered them up and dropped them inside while I let Scout stay out a bit longer.

Turning from the door and seeing Scout alone in the yard I was overwhelmed with the thought that Templeton wasn’t there. A sudden wave of grief hit me and I was thankful Scout didn’t want to stay out long. The grief passed quickly, but it was so strong and so unexpected that I felt it physically long after. Every day during the warmer months, we’d go out back when I came home from work, so we spent a lot of time together there. Back inside, I was unable to concentrate on anything and eventually went up to take a bath and not think about anything.

The cats came up when they heard the tub filling up, they always look at me like I’m half-insane for intentionally submerging myself in water. They took turns sitting outside the bathroom door and sitting beside the tub, waiting for me to come to my senses and get up out of the water.

Little Mister Sunshine

Little Sam hasn’t seen too much sunshine in his young life with us (I mean that literally, not figuratively) but last week we had a spate of sunny days and he discovered the joy of sleeping in sunbeams.

Creature of the Shadows

Friday as we were about to leave for work, the rising sun created this shadow on our living room wall of Sam sitting on the window seat. I grabbed the camera for a few quick shots before heading out the door.

He and Emma had a good visit to the vet today, he charmed them right up until it was time for his vaccination and then he let out a pretty good howl. Emma has recovered nicely from her bumps, she had some darkened spots on her skin that we were afraid might be the phage but which turned out to be a harmless reaction to the bumps. Whew!

Scout is still struggling a bit with a respiratory infection that she got from the newcomers, her left eye started bothering her so she went to the vet last week. The drops have cleared up the eye nicely and hopefully she’ll beat the virus for good pretty soon. Fortunately she never learned how to take her medicine from Templeton, she’s not happy about it but she takes it pretty readily most of the time.

And despite the germ warfare waged against her, Scout has really warmed up to Sam and Emma. She actually instigated some roughhousing with Sam today, she’s snuggled with him for a while but this is the first we’ve seen her initiate play. All three of them were crammed into my window in the afternoon when I opened it up to enjoy the warm weather, the birds and squirrels provided good entertainment for the trio, who all got along happily despite the cramped quarters.

The Lineup

When I woke up this morning, pressed up to my side were Sam, Scout, and Emma. As I scratched the heads of Sam and Scout (Emma was out of reach), a cacophony of purrs reached my ears. As I rolled onto my back, Sam curled up between my knees and Scout lay down on my chest. I had only a few minutes before the alarm was set to go off, but it was a lovely few minutes. Sam is growing like a weed — a long skinny weed with sharp claws. I trimmed his nails tonight and got a nice cut on my finger for my efforts, this one can’t be blamed on invisible wolverines. I probably shouldn’t have done it right after I got him all riled up by playing with him, a lesson for next time.

Emma is also growing like a weed, but since she’s full grown we’ll need to cut back on the wet food she likes so much. She did need to put on weight when we first brought her home as she was too thin, but she’s filled out nicely now and we’d like to keep her that way. Her bumps have mostly disappeared so she won’t have to wear the bib any longer. She only had to wear the bib for short durations at the end, and she’d tolerate it just fine for a while but when she decided it needed to come off, she got it off. I’ll have to take a picture of it some day, it’s badly shredded and on its last legs. Some of that is Sam’s fault for when they roughhouse, but Emma certainly knew how to get out of it when the time came.

Six Weeks

Sam and Emma have been with us for six weeks now. It’s been fun to get to know their personalities as they get more and more adjusted to their new home, I think we really lucked out with these two. And I say that even though I have a cut across my forehead thanks to waking up this morning to Sam chewing on my head. Normally Emma has been the target of his head biting, hopefully this phase will pass quickly. I seem to recall it not lasting long with Scout, but then again that’s easy for me to say since I wasn’t the target of her affections.

Hopefully Emma’s bib will come off on Monday, she does okay with it most of the time but it does drive her crazy when she wants to clean herself. She manages to get out of it on her own at times — I told you she was an escape artist — but even when she does, she doesn’t seem to go after her shaved patch, so that’s a good sign. We should know more about what was causing the bumps on her skin early in the week.

Both she and Scout are recovered from their respiratory infections and don’t need oral antibiotics any more, to the relief of everyone. My wife handled the majority of medicine time. Scout was pretty easy to medicate actually, she never went to the Templeton School Of How To Not Take Your Medicine. Emma wasn’t too bad either, although the first time I ended up with more medicine on me than down her throat. Sam is getting his last dose of ear medicine, we think his ears are all cleared up so this is just to be sure.

The three cats are getting along well, Sam and Emma play well together (which is fortunate, as they burn off a lot of energy chasing each other all over the house). Sam and Scout sleep together at times, and lately they’ve all been joining us in bed. Every time I shift my position I hear murmurs from the peanut gallery, Sam and Scout are usually on or next to me and Emma’s usually at the foot of the bed, so I have to carefully adjust my legs to avoid kicking anyone.

Today’s picture of Sam is from a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time he used the window perch on his own. I took a really cute picture of him looking down at me, but it was hopelessly blurred since the camera missed the focus in the low light, but I’ve ranted about that enough for one evening.

A Familiar Sight

If this picture seems a little familiar, or even very familiar, it’s not by accident. Little Sam has joined Scout and Templeton in loving to sleep in the heated bed beside my desk.

Scout hasn’t wanted to sleep there since we brought the new kittens home, but Sam has been happy to take over her spot. We’ve got two beds now so Scout will have one available if she wants. Emma has been positively indifferent to them so far so we probably won’t need one for her.

Playoffs? Don’t Talk About Playoffs! Are You Kidding Me? Playoffs?

While I sat in my chair and watched the NFL playoffs, Sam played on my legs, curled up in the blanket over my knees. He animatedly played with his beloved string and needed little encouragement from me, apart from the time he got so worked up that he rolled right off my legs onto the floor. It was this play session that convinced me that all world leaders should be required to have kittens in their laps while they negotiate — even generational hatred cannot stand in the face of a kitten’s charms.

Make love, not war. And bring plenty of string.

If you’re not a football fan, today’s title is a reference to Jim Mora’s classic postgame speech while coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Last Temptation of Templeton

I have a Virginia Tech hoodie that I bought as a freshman and had for all the years Templeton was with us. Templeton loved that sweatshirt — specifically he loved chewing on the drawstring that tightens the hood. Every single time I wore the sweatshirt and picked him up, he’d start lunging for the string. A few years ago after a washing, the string fell out and was lost. Even so, every single time I picked up Templeton wearing that sweatshirt he’d start lunging after the string that wasn’t there.

My wife recently found the beloved maroon string, and since it was Sam’s first day out in the house, I wanted to see if he’d enjoy playing with it. It was an immediate favorite of both Sam and Emma, and somewhere up in heaven, I’m sure Templeton is looking down and smiling, and lunging for that string.