Tag Archives: Striker the cat

Taco Cat

18 Apr

Ok, so, last week I wrote about the whole getting beer on the cat incident, for which the cat made me pay dearly. This week I can top that, much to the cat’s dismay.

It all started when I decided to get tacos for dinner. There was quite a bit of sauce on the tacos, making them messy to eat. So I’m sitting at home eating my messy taco, sauce on my hands, when the cat starts making the noise he makes when he is about to be sick. He was in the carpeted living room so I sprang into action, I wanted to nab him and move him to the kitchen floor to be sick on the lino, a much easier clean up job for me.

Seeing me coming for him he runs to the bedroom, also a carpeted room, undeterred I follow and scoop him up by grabbing him around his middle and unceremoniously hauling ass to the kitchen.

To make sure he didn’t go for the carpet again I kept my hands around his sides until he was done. Once I knew he wasn’t going to be sick I removed my hands only to discover that there was no longer any taco sauce on them…it was all on the cat’s fur.

Yup, two hand prints of sauce on each side of his body, wrapping around his middle.

I feel I made the choice anyone would in that moment, I washed my hands and went back to my taco, no one likes a cold taco!

The cat, being severely unimpressed sat across from me, with his back to me, sitting straighter than I have ever seen him sit. For the rest of the evening whatever I did he sat in my line of site, back to me, completely upright. Like he was making a point of ignoring me and he wanted to make sure I was aware of it.

It’s possible he picked up on being so dramatic from me…maybe…

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Cats and Gravity

3 Jul

I put off swapping a load of laundry because Striker was stretched along my legs, completely passed out, and incredibly adorable. I figured I’d just wait until he chose to get up, ya know, as one tends to do.

He rolled over and I’m not really sure what happened but things went wrong and next thing you know he’s flopped on the floor on his side.

Before you freak out, he’s fine! The only thing hurt is his pride.

Striker did what a cat always does when slightly less graceful than normal, he immediately went to his food bowl and started eating like that was the plan the whole time.

I, like the mean human I am, laughed a little. Then I took advantage of not having Striker on my lap, and dealt with the laundry.

When I came back into my apartment Striker was not only unimpressed with my behaviour but outright cranky about it. It took cuddles, and apologies, and slight grovelling, to get his forgiveness. Even with all of that he is still giving me this expression…

Unimpressed cat

Perhaps I’m not quite forgiven after all?

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Mimicking the Cat

20 May

On a recent day off I decided to do to Striker (the cat) what he does to me. Seemed only fair to show him what it’s like being on the receiving end of certain behaviours, right?

Here is what I learned…

What I did: got super close to his sleeping face and stared until he woke up.

What I learned: Striker doesn’t like that. Don’t do that. A startled awake cat is an unhappy cat.

What I did: I couldn’t stand on his chest while he was laying down and try to limit his breathing ability so instead I laid my head on his tummy area when he was laying on his side.

What I learned: Striker doesn’t like that. Don’t do that. A squished cat is an unhappy cat…who may or may not decide to bring out the claws.

What I did: talked to Striker incessantly because I could almost see the bottom of my bowl and I was obviously being starved.

What I learned: Striker doesn’t like that. Don’t do that. A cat being irritated by a talking human is a cat thinking of how best to get his human to shut up…permanently.

What I did: I got in bed first and spread eagled to take up as much space as possible, leaving Striker to get comfy in what little space was left.

What I learned: Striker doesn’t like that. Don’t do that. Striker will one hundred percent meow at me loudly until I move so he can have the prime spot on the bed.

And lastly…

What I did: commented on every yawn and stretch I did all day instead of comment on Striker’s adorable yawns and stretches.

What I learned: Striker couldn’t care less about that and is adept at ignoring me.

My life lesson from this is don’t pretend to be a cat, I can’t be as good of a cat as Striker can and mimicking Striker put me in danger of claws and teeth and revenge, not exactly ideal.

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A Perspective Thing

2 May

If you were to ask me how the day went, and then ask the cat how the day went, you’d get drastically different descriptions despite our having spent the bulk of the day together.

My relating of today goes something like this…

Got to sleep in, which was nice, eventually got up, made breakfast, fed the cat, chilled with a couple episodes of Criminal Minds, realized I can’t be super lazy all day so went for a walk and was gone about an hour and a half. Once home did a quick vacuum of the living room, kitchen, and bedroom, started the laundry, made dinner, sat down to eat and watch more Criminal Minds. Between changing the loads of laundry I cuddled with the cat. All in all a pretty chill day.

The cat’s version of today is a tad different…

Was forced to wake up before I was ready, that human just can’t figure out the proper time to get up. Walked the human to the kitchen and was not at all surprised she put her needs before mine when it came to getting breakfast ready. Why she thinks it is ok to make her tea and toast her bagel before getting me fresh water and food is beyond me. Switched napping locations to the ottoman in the living room, I refuse to let her have the use of the entire ottoman for fear she will get spoiled and think it is hers. For a while I lay on her legs, I like stealing her body heat and it’s funny when she starts to get uncomfortable but doesn’t move because I’m on her. She had the nerve to get up and go outside! I definitely did not give her permission to do that. She was gone so long I thought I had been abandoned and was going to have to ration my food and water until rescued. Eventually she returned, I refused to acknowledge her, someone who would leave me like that doesn’t deserve my affection. I was then harassed by the evil loud machine that wants to eat me. Using all my stealth and speed I outwitted it once again. Instead of eating me it ate all my shed fur, the pieces of cardboard I had scratched and spread on the carpet, and the kitty litter I expertly kick out of the box and on to the floor. All that hard work destroyed! I immediately started replacing what it had eaten from the floor. The cardboard pieces are not as many as they once were but I will fix that over the next couple of days. I have already kicked more litter out of the box and despite my human trying to catch my fur that sheds when she pets me so she can put it in the garbage I have successfully left some fur on the carpet, the ottoman, and the living room throw blanket. I have been extremely productive today and deserve treats, obviously. After dinner I got the human to make a blanket fort for me to sleep in but she kept messing it up by leaving to go “switch laundry”, whatever that means. I employed my cutest positions and got her to stop getting up when the faint buzzer sound came from the other room thereby ensuring I got some much needed uninterrupted sleep. Now the human is up late waiting for the “last load to finish” and I am forced to sleep resting against her outstretched leg. I make sure to deep sigh and look at her with my sad eyes every ten minutes or so, making sure she realizes she is letting me down. I want to go to bed but have to wait for her so I can take the best spot right before she tries to get in the bed. It has been a traumatizing and exhaustive day, I can’t wait to get some sleep so I can be ready for my early morning tapping of the human’s face.

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No Spend Challenge

23 Apr

My landlady, in a joking way, texted me saying she thinks I may have an online shopping problem.

I got all excited because I thought that meant an item I bought online last week and have been anxiously waiting for had arrived, but realized it can’t be that item because I am signed up for text notifications and hadn’t received one saying it was delivered. So I started to text her back to let her know the list of things I am waiting for only to realize the list is uh, let’s say, substantial, and having to type it all wasn’t going to make me look good.

I fully understood her joke when I got home and found not one but three packages waiting for me.

Three! It’s like a random personal Christmas out of nowhere. And it really is out of nowhere since all three of these packages took way longer than expected to get to me. Something online shopping teaches you, if you aren’t shopping with Amazon Prime that is, is patience.

The first package I opened is a t-shirt from one of those annoying ads you see on Facebook. It was cheap, and cute, and I decided to buy one t-shirt to see what their quality is like. The shirt fits, and smells horrible, so it is now in the hamper and we’ll see how good it looks once it’s been through the wash. I hope it stays cute!

The second item is stamps. Yeah yeah, I know, the post offices are still open, why was I so incredibly lazy and unwilling to go in to one to buy stamps? I actually have a valid reason for this! The post offices by me are tiny, and in the backs of small stores, and I am supposed to be avoiding places like that to decrease my chance of exposure and by extension risk to the seniors I work with. I thought buying stamps online from Canada Post would be the easiest purchase, and fastest delivery, since ya know, they are the ones delivering them.

No. That thinking is incredibly wrong. After you buy them you get an email saying they will process your order in three days. Not have them to you in three days, or in the mail in three days, but that they will take three whole days just to process the order. Oh, and they come from Ottawa, case you were wondering, so three days to start processing the order, then delivery time from Ottawa, they took almost two weeks to get to me.

But that’s ok, because patience. It is a virtue, it is a thing best practiced over and over…and over…

And over yet again by the book I ordered that finally arrived. That one took about a month.

But really, what does delivery time matter, right? They all arrived eventually, if somewhat embarrassingly on the same day, and I now feel like maybe I am buying too much stuff.

I don’t think of myself as someone who tends to randomly purchase things online, I will look, then talk myself out of it, but looks like two times I didn’t talk myself out of it…I’m leaving the stamps off this list because I do actually need them, so what’s with all the shopping?

Before you say two items isn’t that big a deal, I have more things on their way to me…oops?

Looks like this is the perfect time to start a No Spend Challenge.

April 22 2020 a

What is a No Spend Challenge you ask? It is exactly what it sounds like. For the next two weeks the only things I will spend money on are food, gas for the suv, bills, and $8 I owe a friend who is doing a fundraiser. It doesn’t have to be for two weeks, you can set any time frame you want, I’m choosing to ease myself in to this and picked a short time frame to start with.

I’m leaving myself a teeny tiny loophole, due to the pandemic, that if yet another emergency situation pops up, I mean c’mon, we haven’t been swarmed by locust yet so there are still some ways things could get worse, I may expand the list to random emergency items I can’t think of at this moment in time.

This means no more online shopping when I’m bored, or feeling a bit sad, or anxious, or because something cute caught my eye at random (*cough* t-shirt *cough*). To make it more likely I will succeed at this challenge I need things to do when I feel like shopping, distractions to stop me from hitting that checkout button.

So far I have come up with reading one of the many books that are in this apartment, writing cards or letters to people, exercising, trying to read the cat’s mind, cleaning (let’s be honest, this one probably won’t happen but I feel like it is expected to be on the list), and practice my knitting (I am learning and need all the practice I can get). Did you notice what all these things have in common? Well, except for trying to read the cat’s mind that is.

Hands. They are all things that will keep my hands busy. Busy so they can’t be tapping the screen of my iPad or typing on my laptop, busy so I am physically engaged in an activity that will not only keep my brain somewhat occupied but also my body. I find if I can keep one of those two busy I am less likely to engage in a behaviour I am trying to avoid, if I can keep both busy I do an even better job of it.

If you have any suggestions for things I can do instead of shop feel free to share them!

April 22 2020

Striker thinks spending more time petting him is an excellent way to stay busy, so looks like I’m adding that to my list…the top of my list if Striker has anything to say about it!

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Simple Things

20 Apr

I don’t know about you but I’m noticing simpler things more than I used to, and finding pleasure in them. Maybe it’s not pleasure but enjoyment? Whatever it is, little things I took for granted I appreciate more.

So I guess I’ve settled on it being appreciation? Lol So many word options!

Here are some silly, not actually important things, that I appreciated this week.

My complete inability to flip an egg on Thursday. I failed spectacularly but who cares? It still tasted good!

British junk food, the best kind! Completely over priced and worth every penny, or I guess nickel since we don’t have pennies anymore. 😜

A delicious bowl of fresh raspberries, my after work snack this evening. Yum!

This little guy still has his hat, too cute!

Striker being a goofball and hiding in the closet. 💜

Nothing riveting or unique, (except Striker, he’s one of a kind!), and mostly food related. Just some little things that had me smiling, or even outright laughing, this week.

Uhhh, to clarify, the laughing was at my egg flipping “skills” and Striker being silly. I haven’t crossed over into crazy enough that I’m laughing at fruit or junk food for no reason lol

I know everyone is going through a tough time, I hope, even when so much around us is hard and scary you’re able to find something that gets you smiling, or maybe even laughing!

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We Don’t Eat The Human

15 Apr

Picture this, Striker and I having a lovely cuddle. He’s purring, resting his head on my hand while I pet him with my other hand. All is calm and happy in our little section of the world.

Then, for no apparent reason, Striker lifts his head and in a slow and deliberate manner he bites down on the hand he had been using as a pillow. Then like some kind of adorable maniac he stays like that. Doesn’t apply more pressure, doesn’t release my hand, but does continue to purr.

So I, in a calm and rational manner, say:

“We don’t eat the human.”

Nothing. Not even a twitch of an ear to show he heard me.

I wait a beat, he turns his gaze, not his head, just his gaze, and makes eye contact with me. There was definitely a glimmer of the perfect little killing machine that is a cat in that gaze.

While making eye contact I repeated:

“We do not eat the human.”

I swear to god he rolled his eyes before releasing my hand. Then he flounced down to my outstretched legs, lay down with this back to me, and flicked his tail to show his displeasure with me.

He remained like that, pouting, for a solid twenty minutes before realizing it’s a better life strategy to keep the two-legged one who opens the food container moderately appeased, and turned around on my lap so I could see his adorable face.

And possibly so he could see if another opening appeared where he could get to my hand. 😜

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Cats Are Gonna Cat

8 Apr

Today started with Striker meowing at me incessantly until I got out of bed. I thought he needed something, like food maybe, but what he actually wanted was to steal my bed.

He didn’t even pretend to look ashamed at his underhandedness.

Then at work I saw something amazing! The African Violet I repotted and I was sure hated me is showing signs of flowering. A miracle if ever there was one!

When I got home from work I had a card waiting for me, which actually means Striker got an envelope in the mail that he allowed me to have the contents of.

My day is bookended by the cat…seems about right!

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A New Way To Shop

3 Apr

Even before the pandemic my preferred way to shop was online, though there were always some items that had to be bought in person. I found it irritating that not every single item I wanted to buy couldn’t easily be purchased online, and now here we are, buying most things online and it is some sort of treat to be able to go to a shop. Weird huh?

Cat food is one of those items I have to buy in a shop because Striker, my Cat Overlord, is incredibly food picky and will only eat one flavour, of one brand, that can only be bought at one specific store. Well, chain of stores technically.

At work yesterday I used part of my break to run across the street to Bosley’s so I could buy Striker his food since stores close early now and I can’t always get to them before closing if I go after work.

bosleys

Pre-pandemic pic. Before the front doors were covered with warning signs.

When I got there I read the sign on the door saying customers are not allowed in the aisles and that staff will assist them. Then I got inside and learned all the new rules of shopping in this era of social distancing.

I had to wait just inside the door while a staff member hollered out hello to me from the counter, as he put on gloves he asked me what I wanted. I described the cat food I needed and he went and hunted it down. While I waited I glanced around, all the aisles had caution tape strung in front of them as a visual reminder that customers are not allowed in the aisles. In fact, they were only allowing one customer at the till, and one by the door, anybody else would have to wait outside. They had two staff working so that big ‘ol store is allowing a max of 4 people in it at a time. Impressive.

When he found the cat food he said I could come near the till so I followed the tape markings on the floor and moved farther in to the shop. I told him the two other items I needed, I was picking up items for two people at work cause I’m a friendly sort, he went and grabbed those, I paid by tapping my payment card since they don’t accept cash, and was done.

The only things in there that I touched were the items I bought, talk about a stress free way to shop!  I think it saved me money because I like to wander the pet store and usually come away with a treat of some type for Striker but for my friend, who I bought litter for, it cost her a bit more than normal. See, she needed cat litter, she said to buy a small bag of whatever the cheapest brand was. That is exactly what I told the gentleman working. The bag he picked was rather large and when I asked him about it he said it was only fifty cents more than the size down and was such a better deal. I can’t exactly argue with his choice since I can’t see the options so I went with it.

I don’t mind this new way of shopping, I knew what I wanted, it was easy and relatively fast, and I don’t think I’ve ever had such dedicated service in a shop, but it feels odd to not be able to see all the options and choose for myself. We are so often inundated with too many options, now that I can’t see any of them I wonder what is hiding over on those shelves, in that aisle, that I am forbidden to enter…the curiosity is real!

apr 3 2020

 

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Self Isolation Day 13: Almost Done

27 Mar

Today is my last Friday in self-isolation, who knew 14 days could go by so slowly! Fridays are one of my regular days off so I spent today doing things I would normally do on a Friday.

Laundry, general tidying up, cuddling the cat, chillin, running a quick errand…

Yup, you read that right, I went out in to the world! Freeeeeeedom!…sorta…

I had an errand that had to be done before the weekend that I classified as essential, which means I got to go outside! I chose to walk to the shop and even though it was rainy, and a tad chilly, it was lovely. There was hardly anyone around, which I guess proves in my neighbourhood social distancing and self-isolation is being done, or everyone had left the neighbourhood so it just appeared that way lol I think that a lot of people were around, tucked safely inside their houses, as on my walk there and back I saw a decent number of people popping out on to their front steps for a quick breath of fresh air, and who can blame them?

day 13

I hadn’t realized until I got outside that the cherry blossoms are in bloom, so pretty.

It was eerie walking to the shop and passing all those closed businesses. I understand and support them being closed, and even judged this one shop that was open that I don’t think could classify itself as essential, but the more closed signs I saw the more I wondered where all those workers are and what they are doing and how they are coping with their work being closed. I hope their employers are treating them well during all this.

The shop I went to had tape on the floor in each aisle, showing you how far apart you need to stand to be at a safe distance, like there is really a safe distance?

day 13a

They even had these barriers put up so you and the person working at the counter can’t breathe on each other, or really see each other. There is a little cut out for items to be passed through, and bags on your side so you can bag your own items. I wish I’d gotten a picture of that but in the moment it seemed rude to take one.

After I got home normal Friday things commenced. I started laundry, put the items I bought away, called my mother for cooking advice. What strayed from the norm is instead of deciding the cooking was too hard and ordering in I actually followed through and cooked. Again. This is almost becoming a habit!

I made Tuna Broccoli Pie, almost. That is what it was supposed to be, and I did follow the spirit of the recipe but (1) I cut it in half because it makes two pies and there is only one of me and (2) I didn’t have enough broccoli so I used different veggies.

Oh, and (3) I only had white cheese so instead of a lovely orange cheese layer on top mine looks sickly and gross because I used too much white cheese, but hey, use what ya got!

I got the recipe from my mom, I asked her for a recipe that uses a frozen pie crust as I have a bunch of them in my freezer and I don’t have the ingredients needed to make a dessert pie. Growing up we used to eat this, I want to say frequently but I really don’t know how often she made it. It is one of those dishes that you can eat hot but it is just as good cold so it is great for left overs. I mostly remember eating it cold in the summer  with a side salad. I intended to replicate that, only eat it hot, but then I realized I don’t have the fixings for a salad and can’t pop out to buy them so in the end all I ate was two slices of the pie.

The ingredients are: egg, milk, miracle whip, mustard, flaked tuna, vegetables (I used broccoli, snap peas, and beans, all chopped up), the pie crust, and of course the cheese for the top. You can skip the cheese if you don’t want it.

Ok, now I want you to brace yourself because it does not look good at all, but it really does end up being tasty, I promise!

day 13b

All you can really see is that I put too much cheese on top and the vegetables are sticking out. The crust browned beautifully!

I was so sure it was going to taste gross because (1) tuna, and (2) my mom cooks way better than I, recipes she makes that taste great I try and they flop, so my hopes were not high.

Which means I was even more pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite and liked it enough to not need any condiments for it, and even went back for a second slice! It’s always nice when dinner turns out to be edible, especially when you use a hot commodity ingredient like an egg!

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