Snickering at Snickers

Heh, heh, heh. Mr. Untouchable is thisclose to being a lap cat. I said he'd be there by Christmas. One morning this week he snuggled up behind me and rested the top half of his body on my hip - butt on the bed, elbows on my hip with his belly up against my tush. So I revised the timeline and said he'd be a lap cat by Thanksgiving, but now I think he'll be there by Halloween. Maybe even Columbus Day.

I was lying in bed this morning, listening to Meet The Press and dozing on and off, snuggling cats when I was awake. One of the times I woke up I was lying on my side, and there was a very heavy weight on top of my leg, from my knee to my hip. I turned my head to look and saw Snickers. I couldn't believe he was actually on me. All of him. And he was looking at me, waiting for me to open my eyes, so he could let me know he wanted some petting. I gave him a good 5-minute head/chin/neck/chest rub and when I stopped, he inched even further up the side of my leg/hip so his nose was up to my waist. Apparently I'm not only not a threat when I'm lying down in bed, but I'm safe enough to actually lie on and pester for petting.

I am just so darn tickled at his progress over the last 6 months. Such a silly boy, now that he knows what he's been missing, he's doing his best to make up for 6 years of not having it. I'm betting that he sits or lies on top of me in bed again at least one morning in the next week, maybe more. And I think once he's doing that regularly, it's just a matter of time before he jumps up on my lap when I'm sitting in my recliner. He looks like he wants to come up on my lap, but he's not quite sure it's safe. It is, Big Bubbacat.

Spot is growing like a weed - he's doubled in size. He's such a sweet boy. High energy and full of the dickens, but sweet. He's learning to speak Dog, and Friday I put him out in the yard with Dudley, Penny, Tansy, Nellie, and Simon for the first time. He's been going out with that shift for the last week, but coming right back to me when he'd taken care of business. Sometimes he didn't even want to go out at all unless I went out with him. But Friday I sat on my patio for a while - it was cool here, but the sun shining on the patio roof makes it 5-10 degrees warmer under there - and I put him out in the main yard with the others. After fretting for a couple of minutes because he couldn't get back into the patio to be with me, he became aware of the fun going on behind him out in the yard and decided he'd like to participate. Yesterday I let him stay out for a couple of hours with Nellie, Simon, and Tansy. (Dudley can't stay out because he barks at everything, and he'd rather be inside with me and Penny anyway. And Penny won't stay outside unless I'm out there with her, she just stands at the gate and barks and barks and barks and barks for me to come let her in.) Spot had a great time. Simon, bless his sweet, tolerant little heart, was more than happy to play with Spot as long as he wanted to play. Spot would launch himself at Simon, and Simon would flop to the ground as if Spot had physically overpowered him. Letting the baby win and teaching him gentle play at the same time. Letting Spot win boosts his self-confidence, and developing good play/social skills will stand Spot in good stead the rest of his life.

I really love Simon. Such a nice, nice, nice dog. Sweet tempered, gentle, affectionate, patient, tolerant, easy-going, happy, submissive. I like my dogs a little smarter, but with smarts comes independence and its associated behaviors. Even the nicest smart dogs can be a challenge to deal with. Simon's not stupid, he's just a little dim. *smile* I'm sure the right family is out there looking for him, I just need to find them. He deserves to be an only dog, with a passel of kids to shower him with attention.

When I take the auction kittens in to the vet for FeLV testing the beginning of October, I'm going to ask them to write the letter Petfinder requires to approve rescues that are not 501(c)(3) organizations. I'll also have to submit a copy of my adoption contract. But if I can get approved for Petfinder, it should make it a lot easier for me to find homes for my rescues. I think the local rescue will let me bring Simon and some kittens to their adoption event next Saturday, and the Saturday after that. I just need to confirm with them.

I washed windows yesterday, I can't believe how grimy they get. Well, actually, I can. Dust adhering to dog and cat noseprints. Did a few loads of laundry, ran to the grocery store, spent some time with the Auction Girls after I got their "room" cleaned. (I can't believe how fast young kittens can get a floor dirty. *sigh*) Went out just before dark and threw sheets over my tomato plants; there was a scattered frost advisory for my area for last night, and I wanted to save the tomatoes so they'll have time to ripen in the 80-degree weather we're supposed to have all week. I was worried about my pumpkins, but I just don't have enough sheets to cover all the vines. I was glad to see the leaves unwilted this morning. If we had frost here overnight, it was very, very light. I've got three beautiful jack-o-lantern pumpkins growing. Actually there might be more, I haven't looked too closely at a couple of the vines. The pumpkins are the taller, oblong-shaped kind, and they're about half-grown. All 3 are almost perfectly-shaped. They're going to be beautiful when they're ripe.

I've been having a nice, lazy day so far. I treated myself to a pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. Chris gave me a pound of it, along with my thermos decanter, for Christmas last year. I've been using it sparingly, usually only on a Sunday morning when I have the time to relax and savor the whole pot. But I've got one cup left, and then my lazy day's over with. I've got too much more to do to laze the whole day away. At least I don't have to cook today. I put a pot roast in the crockpot before bed last night, so I'll have that when I'm ready for dinner. I do have to bake a couple of loaves of zucchini bread this afternoon, but that'll make a great snack for later and will do for breakfast all week long.