Happy 2nd Birthday Gus!

My Valentine

Playdate

Last weekend, Bruce and Gus had a playdate while Julie and I baked cookies. The night pretty much went like this:

Me: Gus, go play with Bruce
Bruce: Yes, play!
Gus: I hate you all
Julie: Lets see what happens when we shove them close together
Bruce: Play! Play!
Gus: I am going to kill you.

(this picture alone sums up the whole night)

Lovers

New pictures of our two gay cats, Chuck and Gus:

Trying to fit into shoebox

Laying on top of my study materials



Step 1: Get into the box


Step 2: Get butt into box

Step 3: Hide self entirely in box

Step 4: Ta-da!

Snow and Kitties

It is supposed to snow again today/tonight and tomorrow.

Haley watching tv as usual. (Her favorite is the weather channel)

Gus' reaction after I threatened to throw him out on the balcony on the snow (which of course I did later)

You can also see our "Christmas tree" in the back, I decorate my plant with ornaments and kitties knock them all off. Its a fun game.

Gus!

Here are some shots of the life and times of Gus:

He is obsessed with bags. Whenever I go shopping (whether groceries or clothes) he will immediately jump into the bag and claim ownership, even if there is still stuff in it.

Gus and Bootsie on my bed. Bootsie, trying to sleep (as always) and Gus terrorizing her.

I heard a rumbling and soon discovered that Gus found a new hiding place.

Gus' first snow. He spent 2 hours outside chasing the snowflakes until I dragged him back in to warm up his ice-cold ears.

Sleeping on the corner of the couch.

Just like the bags, Gus loves boxes, especially from Costco. This was my shoe box and he immediately jumped in and would not get out. After I put my shoes back in and closed the lid he sat and scratched at the box until I opened it again and moved my shoes out so he could have the box. I think this would be a good shot for a Nike commercial...
By this point he is a little annoyed with me taking so many pictures..

After I found where he hid his toys (under the couch)...

As I cleaned out some old binders, Gus made a mess of the neat piles I had actually created...

He likes to hang out in the bathroom with me.

The Comings and Goings of Gus

In between terrorizing me, my slippers, anything with bells, poor bugs that fly into our apartment and sleeping on my hair, Gus has a few favorite activities. I will take you through our normal routine.

1. Sometime between 4:00am-6:00am:

This is when Gus decides to be cute, cuddly and purry. He will rub into my face, with his little motor going and start to knead my hair. While I love this part of his, I prefer to get my last hour or two of sleep before work. This kneading into the scalp usually comes with a few meows to be let out of the bedroom to use the litter box.

2. 7:00am

Shower time. As I shower, Gus plays in the curtain, either nearly tearing it off, (and for those who have seen my shower curtain, he loves the pink poofs). Or he will watch intently at the water droplets. On more than one occasion he has actually showered with me, not minding the water or me scrubbing him with shampoo at all.

3. 7:20am

As I blow dry my hair he sits on the counter and plays a game of chasing the moving cord. I battle back by blasting hot air at him. This however, usually only excites him more.

4. 7:30am

Getting dressed is usually impaired by him terrorizing any string or moving object as I clothe myself. Also, in route from bathroom to bedroom and vice versa he sits behind the corners and flies up to attack my leg as I walk by (this attack usually continues into the kitchen, living room, as well as all through the evening)

5. 7:50am

Makeup. This is probably his favorite time of day due to the variety and assortment of toys (aka my makeup) to play with. His favorites include a small brush and q-tips. Most mornings, if I am running late, I throw a q-tip at him to fend him off my other items. This is now when Gus realizes I will be leaving him for the day, and once again, goes into cute purry mode. This includes rubbing against me and placing his paws up on me to smell my face. While this is cute and all, it usually makes a me later now that I must use a hair remover sticky thing (what are those called?)

6. 8:00am

As I run around to gather my purse, keys, phone and some breakfast, Gus continues with his stealth to hide around corners with the amusement of flying (you should see the height and distance he can go!) at my moving body parts. This also includes the battle of the door. He has been taught not to bolt out the door, but he still believes anything moving=a game. So now, from squishing him under the door, my foot goes into extra battle mode to shove him away and detach him from door and my foot while trying to hold everything and close the door behind me. After I lock both locks (these must be done from the outside) I walk towards the stairs. Faithfully, every morning I hear the one final attack to the door as I reach the top of the stairs. This makes me smile as I head to my car.

7. 5:30-6:30pm

Depending I errands, I arrive home in the evenings to two kitties waiting faithfully at the door. (My guess is that they hear the first lock and coming running in time for me to struggle with the second and open the door). They sit there with puffy eyes, obviously had just woken up from a 8 + hour nap. This begins the evening battle with the door, trying to get in. While Gus does not run out the door, Bootsie does have a history of it (and of me coaxing her out from under a bush for 40 minutes straight). While you may think "awww, they missed you" this is not the case. It is dinner time. While there is plenty of food left in the bowls, asking the question "Are you hungry?" always starts a new level of battle. While the attacking around the corner reaches new levels, Bootsie is now involved as well. Sometimes, these attacks at me happen to land on her, which is always entertainment for me. So while tripping over two meowing kitties who are battling for my attention I give them each of spoonful of wet food over their dry. You would think I never feed them. Bootsie wolfs down the wet food then goes to the balcony to clean herself. Gus, sometimes waiting patiently, most of the time not, waits for Bootsie to either finish her spoonful or wait for her to be so annoyed by Gus checking out her foodbowl that she feels it is not worth it. While I try to intervene most of the time by shoving Gus away from Bootsie, it is constantly a losing battle.

8. 7:00ish

Time for my dinner. Which of course Gus wants to be involved in. It bothers him that he cannot see onto the counter to what I am doing so he runs around to the table and either jumps on the table, and just recently, has started jumping on the counter. Once I flinch in his direction to scold him he tears away to a bedroom. This happens a few times. Sometimes, I just hold him on my left hip as his feet dangle below his ever-growing body. This is his favorite position, just hanging there. He is utterly content and comfortable and is in full view of everything I am doing. While this slows my cooking time down tremendously, sometimes it saves me a lot of trouble. If I not chasing him off the table then I am dragging him out of the fridge, yet another favorite place.

9. Dinner

You would think I never feed the kitty. He is climbing all over me to get a tiny scrap, especially if I cooked chicken. This encourages Bootsie to see what all the fuss is about. Now I have two kitties wanting to eat my food. As you can imagine, this takes a while to eat.

10. Post-dinner

As I am a loser and grandma these days, I really do not do much during the week besides taking a walk or jogging outside. So while I relax and cuddle on the couch, this is when Gus goes nuts. Most times, I give him a ball with a bell inside (thank you sooooo much for sending those Mom, he absolutely loves them, as do I!) which entertains him for a good 1-2 hours. Although I do have to listen to a bell ringing around during this time, it is worth it. Some other entertainment that are amoung Gus' favorites: the blinds, the nosier the better; chasing his reflection in the sliding glass doors; my slippers; my hand, arm, leg, etc; Bootsie, which usually I have to mediate; bugs; invisible bugs; shadows, especially his own; his tail, always a classic; the flashlight, I have yet to buy a laser but I know he will go nuts with one; the indoor plant; the outdoor plant; etc. These are just a few of them.

11. Getting ready for bed

Since this involves the bathroom, Gus is again in terror mode. This time it usually involves unrolling the entire roll of toliet paper all over the floor. Or chasing a bead that was once attached to a dress of mine (he had a good time taking that off). Then the sink will be turned on. He blasts up to the counter, of which I must always close the lid to the toliet because he has flown in their more than once. This starts a new game, running water. While literally standing in the sink playing with the running water, Gus also drinks the water, like a dog would out of a hose.

12. Bedtime

Since I usually like to read before I go to sleep, Gus plays with his nighttime toy, my book. The changing of pages is his favorite part. Or my moving feet/toes/hands, especially if they are under the covers. Or the lamp, which has been knocked over more than once. While his shadow blocks the light onto my book, he seems obsessed with this source of light/heat. This is normally when the ball with the bell comes out again. As I switch off the lamp and fall asleep to the tinkle of bells, I look forward to when he will be my cuddly baby, in a few hours.