November 19th, 2003
Love isn't blind, it just has poor depth perception.
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My cat, Astrid, has discovered misbehaviour as an art form lately. I even know why.
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| Astrid the Destructo-Cat |
Ever since I bought a wireless network hub and wireless network card for my laptop computer, I've sat in my favourite chair while watching TV and typed emails, or surfed the Internet (or played Warlords, ahem) and there is no place for Astrid to sit in my lap. She resents this greatly, since she is something of a Lap Predator. She used to prowl around until I sat down, and then be instantly in my lap, purring and head-butting, before I'd even had a chance to get settled. Now, she looks up and sees the computer, then has to sit on the chair top behind me, head-butting my ears and back of my head ... and meowing without mercy.
But she's not satisfied with that. And she's starting to let me know by demonstrating other behaviour that can only be described as shit disturbing. Here are some of her new favourite discoveries in life:
- You may already know that I renovated my kitchen last May. Well, Astrid has discovered the joy of picking at the grout between the floor tiles with her claws. This long-term project has yielded a lot of broken grout. It irritates me that after only 6 months, the floor is in need of grouting again.
- I keep her bowl full of kibbles constantly. But she has somehow adopted a "grass is always greener" approach and now tears at the bag of kibbles and eats out of that instead of her bowl. They are exactly the same, but that does not dissuade her from wanting the ones directly from the bag. Apart from the shredded bits of paper and scattering of kibbles, it's also the principle of the thing.
- When I am in the bathroom she beats incessantly at the door, wanting to be let in. She stands up on her hind legs, then falls forward into the door, then slides down, repeating as necessary. Well, I don't know about you, but when I am on the throne, I feel very self-conscious about having a cat sitting and staring at me.
- She likes to climb my arm. With her claws.
Now, I've already explained my theory of why she has adopted this behaviour, but I cannot be bullied into yielding my lap to her every moment I am sitting down. I have tried to balance out computer time with Astrid time ... but she is insatiable. She just insists on more and more lap time, no matter what I do.
Well, okay.
Just look at her; she is beautiful, isn't she? And she loves me to death, and she cannot get enough of my time and attention to satisfy her. What am I complaining about? :-)