Scout – Page 8

At Least One of Us is Sleeping

We arrived home late at night after a week-long trip to visit family in Mississippi and I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep. Whenever I return from a long absence, Scout wakes me up throughout the night in 30 to 60 minute intervals to pet her and reassure her.

Even though we had a friend pet sit while we were gone, Scout doesn’t like strangers or disruption in her life and stayed hidden for most of the week. That first night back, however, she let me sleep more than I expected. She made up for it the next couple of nights and by the weekend I was pretty worn out. After she was satisfied that life was back to normal, she returned to her favorite haunts like the window seat and slept a peaceful sleep.

Struggling Catnip

Scout sniffs the trellis where the clematis will eventually grow. The catnip in front of her was one of her favorite spots in the yard. It grew pretty well when Templeton was the only one eating it, but once Scout acquired a taste for its pleasures, it never grew much above the height it’s at now. It eventually died completely when some of the neighborhood cats completely smothered it, but once I blocked off their access a few years later by sealing off the bottom of the fence, a couple of volunteer catnip plants immediately took root and are now growing strong and tall once more.

Cat in the Nip

One of the things I’ve been playing around with this summer is taking pictures of the cats hidden behind plants. This is Scout earlier in the summer in one of her favorite places in the backyard: behind the tub of catnip.

Dining Room Furniture

For the past seven years, we haven’t had one stitch of furniture in the dining room. But it is empty no more!

We stopped by one of our local pet stores and picked up a cat tree with three perches. Of course, being cats, when we set it up in front of one of the big picture windows, they wanted nothing to do with this new thing in their lives. I sprinkled some catnip on each perch and walked away. Scout was the first to venture in, followed shortly thereafter by Emma (seen here in the covered perch).

Sam was a harder sell but after finally trying it out, he has rarely left it since. And he isn’t just sleeping on it, during the afternoon he was swinging all around the thing like a gymnast on the uneven bars.

Queen of Scoutland

I told you the ways of Emma were spreading. Scout usually circle sleeps in the warm beds but couldn’t resist poking her head out to watch the animal circus that was milling about my office.

Her favorite game is to be chased, Templeton was always good about it but with me she has to stop periodically and wait for me to catch up before sprinting away again. In general though Scout’s more lover than fighter and prefers snuggling to roughhousing. She used to play with Templeton but just as often enjoyed watching the two of us play. Maybe her youthful companions are rubbing off on her as lately Sam and Emma aren’t the only ones enjoying a rousing game of String. It started a few weeks back with a half-hearted attempt to catch the string then suddenly Scout was all claws and motion, rolling across the hardwood with arms flailing in pursuit.

The other night I was working in my office when I heard Emma running helter skelter in the next room, tossing her furry mice across the room and then pouncing in full fury. I got up to watch her and was surprised to see her sleeping in one of the warm beds. I crept into the hallway and peered around the corner and witnessed Scout in zealous fervor waging war on the infidels. Over the weekend she joined Sam and I in a game of mouse-on-a-wire, she’s watched us many a time but this was her first time leaving the sidelines and joining the fray.

And I’ve noticed a few times lately a cat cabal cruising the midnight hours with Scout on point. But her admirers aren’t limited to the likes of cats and men. The other night when I crawled into bed, our dog Ellie curled up against my legs and laid her head across my knees. When Scout took her usual spot on my chest, Ellie crept up in the darkness and laid her head beside Scout. It was such a sweet moment that I lay awake for a while listening to them breathing inches apart. I slowly drifted into sleep until I woke when Scout hopped off me and ran off to play with Sam. My feelings were only slightly hurt when Ellie immediately inched back down and lay across my knees.

It’s hard to compete with the Queen of Scoutland.

Keep Me Away From My Dog

I can’t seem to stop injuring Ellie.

I took her on an extra-long walk today, during the day she had somehow gotten into a sealed jar of treats and ate the whole batch, so I figured she could both use the exercise and an extra chance to do her business. Right at the end of the walk she started falling behind and even labored up the steps to our house, I just figured she was a pooped pooch from the long walk. When I got her inside, I noticed blood on the floor and realized she cut her foot at the end of the walk, it’s the opposite front foot from the one she injured the other day while we were playing ball so it’s a wonder she can walk at all.

It stopped bleeding pretty quickly but I’m feeling a little cursed. Fortunately she bears no grudges, when I get home from work the three cats greet me at the door and after playing with them a bit, I go downstairs and there’s Ellie with her tail wagging in furious delight.

Emma is once again reveling in the electric warmth of the heated bed so last night’s foray was not a fluke. Fortunately Scout has preferred the window seat in the living room the past couple of nights as she will not be too pleased when she discovers there’s no room in the inn.

There’s plenty of room in Ellie’s bed Miss Scout.

A Super Weekend

This past week we’ve made good progress on our slow introduction of Ellie to our world. She has free reign of the house as long as we’re home and this weekend was allowed to join us in the bedroom for the first time. No cats were eaten!

In fact, the cats continued to sleep on us just as they always have, with Ellie beside our bed on the dog bed my wife made for her. To show you just how well I know my cats, I thought the order of Ellie acceptance would go Scout -> Sam -> Emma. Exactly how it happened, except I got the order backwards.

The other day when my wife had the morning off, she and Ellie joined me on my walk to the train station. When it was time to part ways, I walked off and looked back to see her staring with such sorrow that you’d think I was drifting off to sea. It’s a cold soul that can turn from such a longing gaze but I knew the warm welcome I’d receive at the end of the day. Oh how her tail wags!

Some Advice For Our Dear Ellie

You don’t have to do everything little Sam says. While I applaud his use of the scientific method, after getting into chocolate you didn’t have to eat a tub of caramel just because he wanted to see if your poop would smell like Twix bars. (In the interest of science, the answer is no. No it did not.)
You don’t have to believe everything Scout tells you. When she told you that she is the only one who didn’t come from the Humane Society, that was true. But when she told you that she didn’t come from the Humane Society but instead hatched from an eagle’s egg high atop a Sitka spruce, that was not.
In a similar vein, she’s missing fur on her foreleg because they shaved it at the vet, not because she gave a grizzly bear the what for.
And please, please don’t listen to Emma when she asks you to bring back a tree when we take you for a walk. It’s only ten more months until Christmas. She can wait like the rest of us.

A Quiet Day

It was sunny (and cold and windy) again today so I took Sidka out for more playtime in the backyard, this time she wanted to come in after half an hour. She was very active yesterday and seemed tired today, so while she got her usual walks and indoor play time as well, she was more in a mood to sleep. That worked out well as we curled up and watched the two NFL championship games on TV.

We left the door to the basement open all day long so the cats could come and go as they please. Scout didn’t come down at all, which is a change from the previous days, but that’s OK as we’re letting each of them adapt to the dog at their own pace. Emma’s fascination with Sidka continued as she hovered nearby much of the afternoon.

But it was little Sam who made the biggest stride forward, going from napping a few feet away from Sidka yesterday to just inches and even millimeters today. On two different occasions, he burrowed under the quilt and curled up in my lap while Sidka was nestled beside me. At one point Sidka even had her head resting on his body with only the blanket separating the two. He was purring so he couldn’t have been too unhappy with the arrangement.

On another occasion, he was sleeping on the other side of the couch when Sidka jumped up and filled the gap between the two of us. His eyes got really wide for a moment until he realized she too wanted a nap and soon he was sleeping peacefully. He’s still really nervous around her, don’t get me wrong, but I was surprised to see him get so close so soon.

Action Pose!

A week ago we went to the Humane Society and brought Sidka home. She has readily adapted to our household and all its denizens, she seems quite happy and healthy and loving and good-natured and smart and patient and playful and we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far she’s just been a real sweetheart.

We’ve whittled our list of names down to two likely candidates, Darcy and Zira, which keep with our tradition of choosing names from literature. I read on the internet (so it must be true!) that Darcy comes from the Gaelic word for dark which goes well with her black fur, and of course Darcy is a character or two from a mutual favorite of ours, Pride & Prejudice. Zira comes from the chimp in Planet of the Apes (book and movie) that discovered our man hero could talk. Our dog can’t talk but she is an excellent typist.

Emma has suggested another name — since she has black fur like her, she wants to call her Emma II. I pointed out that since the dog was born long before her that really the dog should be Emma I and she should be Emma II, but she thinks it ought to go by the order of the arrival into our home. My wife agrees with her but I think it’s just the womenfolk sticking together, it may have been a mistake to adopt another girl as now Sam and I are outnumbered 4 to 2. They’ve got veto power! My wife was quick to point out that they’ve always had it.

It was sunny if cold and windy today, so after a much-needed haircut I walked home and took Sidka into the backyard for an hour’s worth of fetch. What a wonder it is to have a pet actually bring her toys back when you throw them! Playing with the tennis ball seems to be her favorite game followed by the rope toy. We then came inside for even more playing and then it was time for more cat bonding time.

All three cats were anxious to get down to the basement today, every time I’d go up I’d have to fend them off as I opened the door, no besieged city has ever been so well-defended. When it was time I opened the door and all three came down. Sidka was being good so as I test I took off her leash and let her go. She didn’t chase anyone, at first the cats kept their distance so Sidka and I played some more as they watched and got a feel for her movements.

Everybody got a nose touch in today with Scout again setting the record for the longest nose touch, she holds both first and second place by a wide margin. Emma wins the award for most time spent near Sidka, she’s rather fascinated with her, while Sam wins the award for actually falling asleep with her just a few feet away. Also for eating the closest to her, as if we had any doubt who would win that contest.

Sidka is definitely interested in the cats but has clearly been around cats before as she doesn’t move and scare them when they come in for their nose touches, and when she once got too close for comfort for Sam he swatted her on the nose and she immediately backed off and came over by me. The cats aren’t comfortable with her yet but today was excellent progress.