Big White

Suki had a busy evening last night. She first had to undergo the annual bath experience, which involves lifting her outright into the tub. Avinash and I soaped her down and rinsed her and dried her with three regular-size towels and a beach towel. After combing her out, she looked much whiter. Then we finished the evening by watching Jerry Macguire on tv.

The next morning, Suki seemed in the mood to eat. She indulged in 1/4" of seasoned hamburger crumbles from the freezer. She begged for something else, so I gave her three elderly slices of sliced turkey. After that, several dog biscuits. To top it off, she polished of all the cat food in the dish. She was still exhibiting the lip-smacking and golden-retriever pawing of hunger after that, but she had already eaten everything in the house that I considered to be dog-edible.

We went to visit Pam in Watertown to celebrate her birthday, and took Suki along in the backseat. She accepted several curly fries from Arby's at a pit stop on the way down and was a good passenger without any nervous shoulder-chewing. Suki indicated in no uncertain terms that she wanted to sit on the couch at Pam's, which doesn't leave a lot of room for other occupants since it's grandma's old small hide-a-bed couch.

Colleen was up from her nap and rather tired and grumpy. After about an hour, she warmed up to us and came to share the couch with Suki and me. She has picked up a lot of words and especially likes to look at photo albums and name those pictured inside. She has gotten the knack of patting hair rather than yanking hair and seemed to find Suki's thick flank hair especially interesting to bury her hands in.

We dropped Suki off at Mom and Dad's on the way back home. Suki seemed very happy to be home and was greeted lovingly by Fermi as usual.

Springtime in Wisconsin

I got up at 6 this morning to walk the dog. We were supposed to have 4-7 inches of snow overnight, but there was nothing but some freezing mist at 6. Suki very happily went on a protracted sniffing adventure all the way to the library and back. She finds that it takes several days to get caught up with the "Reedsburg Paper".

It did start to snow soon afterwards. Avinash was happy that he didn't have to scrape or brush his car off before he went to work.

I had a LONG snuggling session with Ned this morning. He always becomes extremely affectionate when Suki comes to visit. He rubbed his nose all over my face, licked my face, nibbled on my face, and did the same to my arm. Then he went and licked the computer monitor very tenderly as well. He is a very strange cat.

For breakfast, I had a sesame bagel (Suki accepted two bites) and two pieces of whole-wheat toast (Suki accepted four bites). Rowena was quite jealous of this hand-feeding but she certainly doesn't need carbohydrates.

Mail call today:
e-week magazine
paper survey to complete with $1 cash inside
money order for $13 for e-bay

Suki and I went for another walk a bit later and then we took a short drive to the post office to send my e-bay packages and books. Suki enjoyed the car trip, even though it was very short.

When we got back, Suki very firmly led me to the back yard, where she insisted on sitting on the snow, rolling in the snow, diving in the snow, and eating snow. I tied her out there and will go and rescue her from the cold in a little bit.

Back in Reedsburg with Suki

Once again Suki has joined our household for a few days. Dad has gone to Florida for a week or so and Mom is at work full-time, so I volunteered to dog-sit while Dad was away, so Mom didn't have to worry about the dog while she was at work.

I went to Baraboo yesterday to pick up Suki. I was greeted with pleasure by Jenny and Darwin, and Fermi made an appearance as well. Suki heard me coming and scratched at the porch door, and when I let her in she squeaked and twirled and pranced for a little while in greeting. Mom had left some dog treats by the door for Suki snacking. Since this visit is only going to be for three days, there is no real point in sending dog food since Suki always fasts for 4 or 5 days when going on a visit.

Suki was greeted at the door by Rowena, who rubbed up against her legs and they nosed each other and licked faces. Rowena is a very licky cat and tends to lick everything, so that's not a real surprise. Ned retreated to the upper level of the couch and then upstairs for several hours. He is not a big Suki fan.

Mail call for the day was one e-bay check for $10.

I made a large hamburger for lunch in hopes that I would be able to share it with Suki. Mom said that Suki had declined breakfast in the morning. She's been eating once every 2 or 3 days lately, so I figured I'd just try to get her to nibble on something so she has some kind of nourishment. Suki liked that idea, and ate almost a 1/4# hamburger (cooked). Rowena was jealous and so I fed her a few tidbits of raw hamburger. I gave Suki a biscuit, which she took to eat on the Persian carpet in front of the fireplace, as usual.

Later in the afternoon, I planted the vegetable seeds I had purchased for the garden in seedling trays I put in front of the South windows in the TV room. I was a bit dismayed that Ned showed great interest in these trays, and since I know that in the past he has become a small lawnmower as soon as the seedlings sprout I exiled him from the room until I could get the trays covered up. He also seemed to think the trays could perhaps be a large cat box of some type, which I certainly didn't want to encourage.

Ned snuck into the room later in the afternoon, and I pulled him out from his hidey-hole behind the couch by one foot. He protested this treatment vehemently, and Suki and Rowena came to find out what all the kerfufle was. Ned is normally such a silent cat that it is a great event when he has something to say. Ned became noisier when he saw those two, since he doesn't like either one, so I tossed him out into the sunroom to regain some karma points in the cold. That experience normally makes him very mellow after three or four minutes. Meanwhile, Rowena had become concerned that Suki must be the one bothering Ned, and she growled and took a swipe at Suki. Suki was quite taken aback by this treasonous act by one of her old friends, and she ended up with a bleeding sore on her ear. I yelled at the cat and swatted her on the rear, and she retreated upstairs with a big tail. (Pictured above is the miniature terrorist in her "sleeper cell").

I then took Suki for a walk to help her forget this inhospitable treatment. Suki is very forgiving and when we came back in Rowena and Suki enjoyed their normal friendly interaction. However, I am still miffed at Rowena for such offensive behavior towards a guest.

I made some soup for supper. Suki was smacking her lips and showing interest in food again, and I offered her some seasoned ground beef crumbles from the freezer. She ate a couple of tablespoonfuls of that before losing interest in food entirely.

We took another walk to the library in the evening before bed. With Suki in the house, my library books get returned twice a day!