The Distress Call

I was awakened this morning by a loud and persistant meowing. Rowena was standing outside the bedroom door and uttering an urgent distress call. I got out of bed and talked to her, but she did not indicate the source of her distress. I heard Ned trying to get out of the closet, where he had gotten himself stuck inside - but she kept meowing even after he got out. It was not until Ani went downstairs for breakfast that we realized what her agitation was about. Suki had left a large wet mess on the kitchen floor just next to the cat's food dishes. We had walked her just before bed, but aparently morning was a bit too long to wait after drinking one-too-many bowls of milk last evening. Suki was a bit ashamed and requested to go outside right away this morning, even though the weather was cold and clammy after the storm of last night.

This afternoon Suki is tired after having spent the day in the brisk wind. The sun is out now and our daffodils and tulips are 3-4 inches high today. Suki demonstrated her enjoyment of flowers by sitting on the flower bed in the back yard, but there was really no harm done this early in the spring season.

Tomorrow Mom and Dad are back. This is Suki's last night with us until Mom and Dad go to Alaska in June!

Another record!

Suki surprised everyone today by going down to the basement, where she is normally fed, and actually requesting dinner! She dined on dog food, sage stuffing, and summer sausage. She followed that up with several crunchy treats, a piece of wheat toast, and half of my chimichanga. Rowena was jealous and demanded to lick the plate.

After dinner, we all sat on the couch and watched Bollywood music videos on American Desi. This was followed by a feature where they condensed a B-grade Hindi movie into 1 hour, with commentary on its shortcomings, somewhat like Mystery Science Theater 3000.

A sign that spring is coming

A warm spring day

Today Suki spent the day outside again. The weather has turned springlike, all of a sudden, and although there are still remnants of snowbanks on the north sides of the property, the blustery South wind has brought some fine warm temperatures. I sat outside with Suki and Rowena for the first time since October without my jacket on. We have some lovely crocuses and snowdrops in bloom in our yard to herald the beginning of spring, but there are no signs of buds on the trees or greening of the grass yet. Suki is not inclined to come in at all when we went to work, or in the afternoon. She is quite content to sit on a large pile of oak leaves near the brick wall of the garage and puts heavy brakes on if we ask her if she wants to come in after a walk.

The dinner update for this evening: dinner was politely refused. Suki did accept several crunchy treats, as well as a piece of stale French toast and a burnt waffle and some cold milk. She indicated that she would like more waffles and French toast, but she had already eaten all of my breakfast-food leftovers that I had. Rowena was jealous of the entire snacking proceedings and would not stop meowing until I had given her some of my dinner (hamburgers). She normally does not get table scraps, but it is hard to refuse in the face of such obvious donations to Suki. Ned, meanwhile, escaped out the door in a huff and did not come back for several hours. Ned has now forgotten that he was ever upset and is wondering why he did not get any dinner.

That's all for tonight. More updates tomorrow!

Linda

Suki accepts 4 doggie treats after finishing her meal completely. She even came upstairs to the office to get the treat!

Another Earthquake!

There was yet another earthquake near Indonesia today. In the other headline for today, Suki ate her second consecutive meal! She was taken down to the basement to eat in privacy, as usual. Against all our expectations she ate her entire meal. Of course, a few tempting pieces of chicken parmigiana helped Suki arrive at a decision much more easily and quickly than with dog food alone. Ned and Fatty, meanwhile, are feeling very jealous about the dog's special treatment. Ned thinks that if he camels enough maybe he'll get some of the dog's special food. Fatty thinks that if she buttered the dog enough she'd get some of the dog's premium food. To that end she nuzzled Suki's legs this morning. More tomorrow. Suki is now ready for her night walk.

After her four course meal

Suki on Sunday

Suki spent most of the day outside today. She had her morning walk a little bit later than usual because I was frantically trying to install software and drivers on my new hard drive. While I waited for the new hard drive to gather data from the backup, Suki got her walk. As expected, she didn't want to go inside the house after the walk, so I left her in the back yard. She was quite happy to spend most of her time there. It helped that it was a nice and sunny day.

This evening Suki created a record by eating a four-course meal (yes, FOUR course!). The meal included treats (before and after the main course), one and a half onion bagels with butter, and dog food laced with Polska kielbasa. The last item was specially heated in the microwave for her. Another record of sorts was the fact that she had her meal without the leash. Suki declined some linguini pasta from Linda. Ned, meanwhile, is still quite insecure. He's been on his second best behaviour all day today. Maybe he'll show us his BEST behaviour tomorrow. He's a little obnoxious on his BEST behaviour days, though.

More tomorrow. It's expected to be a very nice day tomorrow, with the temperatures in the mid-teen degree Celsius. Suki will probably want to spend most of the day outside tomorrow also.

Ned was frightened of Suki, so he sought refuge in a grocery box.

Suki's Spring Break

Suki is back for spring break, while her parents have gone south. She came to Reedsburg yesterday. Like most other times we'd taken care of her, she had no clue what she was in for when she hopped into the car. She was quite excited for about half an hour after she arrived in Reedsburg. THEN she politely but persistently told us that she wanted a ride back home. We then told her equally politely and persistently that she was at home. The conversation went on like this for a few more minutes until she decided to flop down on the couch for the night. More later...