Me & T

Our gray tuxedo cat Templeton sleeping on top of my bookcase

After a lifetime of being a night owl, am I becoming a morning person?

Despite going to bed and getting up earlier these last few months, I wouldn’t go that far. But mornings have become one of my favorite times of the day. Templeton has been hanging out in my office all summer, sleeping in my chair at night and often cuddling up with me in the evenings. But then he started curling up with me in the mornings while I’m having breakfast, often circling my chair and murmuring to himself while he waits impatiently for me to get settled.

After I finally sit down, he hops up into my lap and softly purrs for the next half hour, one of those beautiful little slices of nirvana that you hope will never end. Those moments do end, it’s off to work and my time with the cats has to wait until I get home, when Templeton sticks his little gray head around the door as soon as it opens and Scout comes running downstairs to welcome me home.

A Warm Bed

Our cat Templeton sleeps in a heated cat bed with only the top of his body visible above the rim of the bed

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap in Portland lately. Templeton often seeks out warm places to sleep even during normal winter temperatures, so before Christmas my wife bought him a little bed that has an electric warmer built into the bottom. It warms up when the cat lies down, which seemed like the perfect thing for a sleepy cat. Only problem was, Templeton wouldn’t go in it. Scout seems to think it of the devil and won’t have anything to do with it whereas Templeton just didn’t seem that interested. I promised my wife that I could get him to use it in a few weeks. She washed the cover just in case it had a smell they didn’t like.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present you with exhibit A: Templeton zonked out in his new bed.

He’s all curled up now beside me and snoring a little bit so hopefully he will continue to enjoy his new bed. On the plus side, if he sleeps here instead of my chairs, maybe it will avoid little incidents like I had today where I came home from a visit to Ridgefield and promptly sat down in a hairball he hacked up while I was gone.

Good times!

Cure for Insomnia

Our cat Templeton sleeps happily in the grass

I’ve been a night owl most of my life and have constant trouble adapting to the sleep schedule of an early-bird-gets-the-worm world. I’m insanely jealous of Templeton’s ability not only to almost sleep at will, but how he seems in perfect peace when doing it. I’m thinking of wallpapering my office with this picture, to help me on those nights when I need the master’s help in drifting off to dreamland.

Progress

Our cats Templeton and Scout sleeping on our guest bed

Templeton has been almost his normal self the past few days after we switched him to a different type of kidney-friendly food, so I’m guardedly optimistic that he’s finally getting back to normal, 3 months after swallowing the sewing needle before Christmas. I’m not ready to declare victory quite yet, but I’m breathing a little easier.

This picture is from 2002 when we were living in Keizer. Scout loves to curl up with Templeton but he usually prefers to sleep on his own. If she’d catch him when he was tired enough, he’d decide it was better to let her snuggle than to have to get up and move somewhere else.