Nomadic Cats, Den-beast Dogge

I have spent most of the past few weeks preparing to move, packing some boxes (although by "packing some boxes" I generally mean watching Sean pack boxes while I sit big-bellied with my feet up), and living in a maze of cardboard.  One thing I've noticed in the midst of all this is how differently the cats and Dorothy approach these changes to our domain.  The cats love all the new configurations!  They love to climb in empty boxes, climb on the packed boxes, climb into empty drawers, and run around the obstacle course which is now the constant state of my living quarters.  For example:

They are all gung ho!  Spirit of adventure!  Ahoy, what have we here?!

Dorothy, on the other hand, does not like the change to the lay-out of her apartment.  In fact, this is what she thinks of all the boxes:

Dorothy thinking, hello? 1-800-BULLDOGGE RESCUE?  Please help.

And by the way, where's my comfy doormat?

She does not know where all her toys are, and she is pretty sure some of her beds are missing (and she's right!  Some beds didn't make the cut....)

The only thing that has bothered the cats so far is when I came home on Friday and pointedly did not feed them their dinner.  Here they are up on their food station thinking I am a total idiot:

I figured it would be best to feed them once we arrived at the new house, to try to avoid car sickness and other unpleasantries.

But what will happen at the new house?  Will the cats find the adventure as thrilling?  Will Dorothy still be a little suspicious about the whole affair?  Stay tuned!

One Stowaway, Small and Furry

Before we officially move to the new house, we've been driving loads of our belongings that are hard to pack--breakables, mainly.  The other day when we were heading to the house to meet my parents there, I gathered a few bags together of fragile items, and then since it looked like there would be space, I threw a couple of odds and ends into the mix.  I then piled everything into one area in my "kitchen", thus making all three pets nervous at the thought of an impending trip.  I decided to take a picture of Dorothy sitting nervously by the pile of stuff:

But wait!  What is that I spy in the wicker cat basket?!:

It's a wee, furry stowaway trying to be the first pet in the new house!  Not so fast, Posy Fern!  It will be your turn soon enough!

Rosebud

Not even four days past our closing, my parents had rented a van and were driving to Pennsylvania from Maine to bring me all my junk that had been clogging their basement for years.  Lickety split! -- they journeyed south.

On the way, they stopped at my sister Martha's in Massachusetts to pick up some baby supplies Martha had generously donated to me.  At around 11:00 I got an email from Martha saying that Operation Childhood Crap had just passed Check Point Baby Mountain and were heading hither.  Here is a picture she took so that I could visualize:

You'll note the van is filled to the brim with goodies--new baby clothes!  a beautiful dining room table from my Great Aunt Ruth and Uncle Willard -- and not so goodies -- a crate of my old yearbooks, musty childhood books, a whole bin of dolls....

And now a good portion of it is (temporarily) in my very own basement and attic.  Ah, ballast!

Thanks, parents!

Dorothy Is A Diva. Still.

In case you haven't noticed, Dorothy is a diva.  And as are all divas, she is very demanding.  She thinks she should get full attention whenever she requires it, and sulks when attention is not forthcoming.

Here she is angry at me for trying to read instead of playing with her.  She is sending waves of sulk in my direction:

Dorothy thinking, Mom is mean.

And on Sunday, when I was reading the paper in the morning as I always do, she spent a good two hours somewhat successfully engaging me in games of tug of war, and then resisting the nap that she so clearly needed:

Dorothy thinking, I do NOT need a nap.  My eyes are wide open:

Dorothy's New Domain

Last Friday we closed on our house!  It's a beautiful house, but one of the things I like the most about it is that it has a fenced-in yard for Dorothy, so I will no longer have to take her on five drags per day.  I certainly still plan on walking the beast, whether she likes it or not, but I think two or three of her daily outings will take place here:

I'm also told that there is a family of squirrels who live in our trees and jump from branch to branch like monkeys.  Grass to lie in!  Squirrels to stalk!  I'm pretty sure Dorothy has found her Kansas.

"Paws" Vest

This took me way longer to complete than it should have, but here is the "Paws" vest I just finished for the baby-to-be:

It is from the new "Little Rowan" book, and I made it in the 6-9 month size.  Now I need to get a little white oxford shirt and perhaps some jeans or khakis.  And then, according to Sean, I need to write a little apology note to the kid for when he is older and looks back at pictures of himself.  Hmmpf.

Anyway, one thing I learned while knitting it is that I really prefer the fair isle method over the intarsia method.  I'm sure there is a way of doing intarsia without having to stop every ten stitches or so and untangle all the little balls of yarn hanging down--but I have yet to figure out what that method might be.

Now I'm about to start one more project from that book--a striped sweater called "Jack Horner".  I'm using colors that will make the little guy look like a creamsicle when he is wearing it.  Stay tuned!

Dorothy's Baby Brother To Be

At times over the past year we have flirted with the idea of getting Dorothy a new sibling.  We've thought of another Olde English Bulldogge, a Frenchie, a Dachshund, a Pug--but in the end we opted for a Human.  So if all continues to go as planned, in a couple of months or less Dorothy will have the new baby brother she never wanted!

On the plus side, Dorothy loves kids--and I mean loves them.  When she sees a toddler or a kid of any age on the street, she will either lie flat down on the ground so they will come up to her, or she will drag me with all her formidable strength to get over to them.  And once interacting with them, she is surprisingly gentle.  She seems to know not to jump up on the little ones, and loves to hug and kiss the older ones, if their parents allow it.  So in that sense we are lucky--Dorothy is going to have fun with her baby brother.

The one problem we will have is with her jealousy at first.  Dorothy does not like to share her father At All.  She does not even like her father to give me any attention, let alone when he tries to play with the cats.  So there will have to be a few lessons learned once the little guy is around.  I imagine we will be seeing a lot of this face:

Future Dorothy thinking, what's to like?  He cries, he mewls, he poops in the house, 

and I'm pretty sure he has a bad case of demodectic mange:

Feet Up, With Bulldogge

My doctor recommended to me that I put my feet up whenever possible to try to ease some of the swelling of my feet and ankles I've been experiencing (oh cankles! oh yuck!).  So when I am home and sitting on the couch, I drag a chair over and put my feet up, as ordered.

Of course, Dorothy decided that she would like to partake.  Somehow, I don't think this is what the doctor had in mind:

Dorothy thinking, how considerate of mom to put her feet up so I can really stretch out.