I had a very special present

waiting for me when I got home from knitting tonight. Then again, given that this is her box, she might have just put her BFF there for safe keeping instead of leaving it for me. I wonder if this will become the new water dish?

We have been trying a new tactic

with Oribel. Seeing as she is a cat and all, she likes helping with computer stuff hogging the keyboard when one of us wants to use it. In keeping with her being a cat, she also really, really likes boxes, so we have given her a new box to hang out in.

So far it seems to be working out quite well. Occasionally we have to do a bit of  "stay in your box training" by scratching her ears or chin, but it is better than having her reconfigure the computer screen by stepping on the proper set of keys all at the same time.

An added bonus is that she doesn't mind having her box picked up and moved while she is still in it. That means we can set the two of them right on top of the keyboard when we are done using it, still keeping it safe while she thinks she is getting away with something. (I think she might be beginning to notice that she isn't getting as much heat from the keyboard as she used to.)

We had a winter storm warning

that expired tonight. Needless to say, we did get snow. That 7.5"ish measurement was taken around 9:30-10 this morning, on a flat surface that had been clean before the snow started falling last night shortly before ten.

We are rather excited that the snow gauge in the yard has registered one foot, since for a fair portion of the winter it hasn't had much of anything to register at all. The guy who made this for me by special request will probably be happy too.

A few random pictures of snow evidence.

Needless to say, Oribel was NOT impressed with the stuff coming down that was keeping her inside. (Though she had plenty of opportunities to go out if she had wanted to.)

This morning Oribel was desperate

to go outside, which isn't terribly unusual. Well, at least the telling us she needs out part is desperate and usual, but when it comes to the actual going out part, not so much. She always thinks she wants out, until we open the door and she finds out it is cold/windy/snowy (or any combination) out there. Once she realizes it is cold, no matter how sunny, or the wind is blowing "too" hard, she has to think about it, which of course involves standing in the doorway with just her nose, or maybe as much as her head, sticking out. This morning I told her that she wasn't even going to get to sniff the air since I needed to leave, but I did promise her she could go out once I got home.

When I got home, I could immediately tell Hubband had fulfilled my promise to her, and that she was already back inside.  (There was a towel near the door to go with all the footprints, so part of her had already been cleaned up. )  He told me that he had been able to work on her feet a bit, but that her tail still looked like it had been dipped in mud and her feet were still a bit messy. I was able to wash the tip of her tail off and her feet seemed to have at least dried off so she wasn't leaving any more mud blotches about (and Hubband also had closed the bedroom doors, so she couldn't stomp mud all over the bedding).


Shortly after I was done messing with Oribel's tail, this beautiful guy flew in to see about a snack. He was able to find a few scraps left in the feeder (and stuck around there long enough for me to grab the camera and get several pictures of him through the kitchen window). 

Then he flew over to the deck railing to check out the suet feeder there. I had to grab a picture of him quickly, since it was likely he would startle easily, since there were only about twelve feet between us.  (Last week I did see his lady friend fly into the feeder, but I was upstairs and the camera wasn't, so couldn't get her mug shot.) 
Needless to say, we are both pretty excited to have these in our woods and coming to the feeders. Good thing going suet shopping tomorrow was already on my to-do list.

It is nice to know

the picture posting thing works, it makes this more interesting for me, and probably to the audience out there (no matter how small it may be).  Though it would be nice if I can figure out a way to re-size the pictures; that shall be another day's project.
The first picture up yesterday of Oribel was when she was contemplating going outside into the eight inches of snow; the second was how far out into it she went, which wasn't very. It was kind of funny watching her trying to figure out how to turn around and get back inside, all while doing her best to step back into the footwells she had already made in the snow.  
Today I shall give you a picture of the most recently finished knitting project that I have been going on about. A highly modified two-color color cowl, that for the most p[art I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The two-color part could still use a wee bit of tweaking, but I think I know what it needs if I ever decide to do it again.

The second picture is from this afternoon, just for entertainments sake.

She smells like mud,

and her feet were clean when she came inside.

On Tuesday

I had my usual little helper when I was getting some stuff out of the pantry (you know, that place where treats are kept?), but I decided to give her some catnip instead of what she was expecting/asking for.
There was a whole lot of rolling around on the floor once she had a good snuffle,

 

and not enough holding still to get a good picture of her covered in dried leaves.

Help

She is full of it.

She still loves

her coasters best of all. Shortly after I took this picture, she sweetly shared it with me by dropping it next to me on the computer. Then she picked it up again, dropped it in my lap, and then decided it needed another tour of the house. Who knows why, since it has seen it several times a day or night forever. (This one seems to be her most favorite, though there are two others on our bedroom floor, as well as one in the family room, and probably a few others scattered about.)

He hasn't been traveling

much at all today, other than to the office and back. I'm not feeding him weeds for dinner either. (Not that I have any clue why anyone would think that looked like weeds, or even what is wrong with weeds, if by "weeds" someone means salad.) I am feeding him something very fitting for a snow day.

 

Apparently Oribel missed him while he was at work today. She parked herself on top of my computer when he sat down at it to check some stuff, and then when he moved to the table,
she followed him right over to the top of his newspaper.

 

Because really, it is all about paying attention to her.

Somebody

was less than impressed with having her nap disturbed with bright flashing lights.

 

 

Our Christmas tree

has a cat.

Sunshine

is a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

I am happy to say

that today's vet trip was much more successful than Monday's. Last night Hubband and I finalized the "How to keep Oribel from disappearing" plan; we decided that we wouldn't give her a full dose of bedtime food, so that she would be certain to show us that it was empty when we got up. Sure enough, she was very insistent that Hubband fill it first thing, so while she was eating he closed the door to her room, and she was held hostage until I was ready to stuff her into her crate. (Of course, we had to listen to pitiful, sad kitty noises for the duration, but that was better than the alternative.)
After we got situated in the exam room, Astrid decided she should investigate the snack area. She was a bit disappointed that that they had treats for all sorts of pets including birds, but none for slugs.

 

After that she decided that Oribel might need some comforting words while we were waiting, but I don't think it made any difference to her. (I promise there really is a cat squished up against the back of that carrier.)

 

She also wanted to investigate the scale, but didn't weigh enough for it to registrar.
Oribel had another amazing vet visit. Amazing in that as usual Dr. E gushed about how amazing her whiskers are, how beautiful her fur is, how amazingly muscular and limber she is, how white her teeth are, and such like. Fortunately Oribel does register on the scale, and has gained a whopping four ounces since last year.

 

She also seems to think that she has been tormented enough for one day and should get compensated by being allowed outside. Sadly for her, she doesn't get to go out until we get back from tree hunting, providing it isn't too late.