Aw, lookit the widdle kitties!

Okay, I've spent the last week working on an article for Biz Tech Magazine. Pleasant work and I liked the assignment. It's done now and I've got a moment to update the blog with the pix I promised.

During the course of writing and for the last few weeks, the cats have been really clingy. It's been quite irritating. I mean, I love the little friskettes and all, but when they leap onto the monitor at a full gallop, the whole desk shakes and the back of the monitor will even sink down under the weight of El Catto Grande (usually Yang), which means that the front of the monitor is now aimed at a spot about a foot and a half over my head, necessitating a pseudo-defenestration of the offending cat(s) so I can reposition the monitor without having the cats emulating the counter-weight on a shadouf while I do so.

BC and Yang

The worst part is not that the cats have been curling up on the monitor or the desk or walking all over my lap and constantly bumping my hand, it's that they will leap onto the monitor, stay there for... oh... maybe 15 minutes, then they will leap down and do something else annoying, like pushing piles of paper or pencils on the floor, or leaping down and walking off. They then repeat the whole process a few minutes later or send another cat in to do the same thing.

Bo and Yang

I've been working with the door shut frequently. Unfortunately, this isn't proof against them, either; the cats will bang, paw, and scratch at the door to be let in. BC has figured out how to work the European door latches, so you can hear him pawing at the lever until he manages to get it engaged. If I have the door locked to keep him out, he keeps doing it for a while.

BC and Yang

The cats have been given all-expenses paid trips outside periodically, too.

Bo and Yang

I think that this is about one of three things:

The weather sucks and the cats aren't interested in going outside, but they're bored.

Susan has the cats dieting, so they're hungry and trying to get us to feed them. Yang really needs to lose poundage. Not only did the vet observe that he's grossly overweight, but parts of him sorta lap over the edge of the monitor, which is rather unsightly.

Willow's gone and this is a reaction to the change in social dynamic in the remaining four kitties. (We did see a little of this already; Yin and the other cats were behaving differently. As the one remaining feline female, she's taken over for Willow's position as omega cat.)

With Yang sprawling all over the desk, with or without a partner in crime, I've been inclined to get the desk debrided, which has been nice. I actually have a little desk space, that which isn't taken up with snoring cat.

Aw, lookit the widdle kitties!