Kissin' Cousins

Last weekend, Kevin's family visited so we could celebrate the "winter birthdays."  Kevin, his brother, and his mom all have birthdays in January and February, so we usually all get together sometime in February to celebrate all of them.  It was exciting to have them all down to our place.

The birthday kids.

Without a doubt, the most exciting thing about the weekend was my brother and sister-in-law's boxer, Stanley, meeting Snuffles.

This was Stanley last Christmas:

 
With Kevin's grandma, for scale:

This was Stanley last weekend:

And this is Snuffles:

Snuffles has had limited experience with dogs.  There was the one time when she about a year old, when Kevin and I said, "Hey!  Snuffles loves being outside, so let's take her to the park!"  This was not our best idea, ever.  We shoved her in her carrier (which she hates) and carried it about five blocks to one of the neighborhood parks, jostling her the whole way.  Once we got to the park, she didn't want to leave her carrier, she was so terrified of the new, big, strange place.  The icing on the cake was the slobbering dog that galloped towards us excitedly, sticking his nose between the bars of her carrier.  She yowled and hissed, and that was our last trip to the park.  Subsequent encounters with dogs had been at a distance, and if a dog is more than five or so feet from her, she hasn't really cared.

Stanley is not the type of dog to stay five or so feet away from anyone.  He really, really, really wanted Snuffles to be his friend.  I'm not sure what exactly he had in mind.  That they would snuggle together? (That's what I was wishing for) That she would play like a dog?  Most of the weekend went something like this:

1.  Snuffles is curled up somewhere.
2.  Stanley approaches cautiously, circling, sniffing.
3.  Stanley gets closer.
4.  Snuffles emits a low growl.
5.  Stanley somehow misinterprets this and sticks his nose in her face.
6.  Snuffles hisses.
7.  Snuffles swats, narrowly missing nose.
8.  Snuffles hides behind the couch.
9.  Stanley howls, sneezes, and yawns, distraught that his cousin will not play with him.

Here's a snippet:

I didn't capture the swat on video, but here is a brief clip that is clearly post-swat.  Watch as Snuffles daintily tucks her paw back underneath her, murder in her eyes:

The highlight, though, was early in the weekend when Snuffles thought that running away from this beast was her best course of action.  She only made this mistake once.  As soon as she started running, Stanley took off after her.  There was much skidding and scrambling of paws on the hardwood floors as Snuffles nimbly rounded the corners that she's used to, and Stanley struggled to keep his feet underneath him.  They circled around the main level twice (this may or may not be because we were laughing too hard during the first go-round) before Blair was able to catch Stanley, allowing Snuffles to make a getaway.

Disclaimer:  I do not believe in any way, shape, or form that Stanley would've hurt Snuffles at all.  If any thing, I think it would've been the other way around.  I think if he had caught her, he would've been completely bewildered.

I wish I conclude this post by posting a picture of the two beloved pets cuddling together, or at least sitting near each other with no drama, but the best I can say is that Snuffles did not slice Stanley's nose open, which is better than I had expected.

Epilogue:  As I transferred these videos onto the computer and watched them, Snuffles, who had been dozing on my lap, sat straight up, ears back, and looked around very carefully.  She's sleeping again now, so I think she's realized it's safe.

Care for a drink?

As I've mentioned before, my cat Snuffles has quite a personality.  Although she certainly does stereotypically "cat things," I would argue that she is not a stereotypical cat. 

One thing she does that is a stereotypical "cat thing" is enjoy what my friend calls a "sink drink."  This is actually a fairly new development.  At my old apartment in the city, Snuffles always loved a drink from the tub, so much that she stopped drinking from her water bowl and would just wait for me to turn on the tub.  She would DEMAND it, standing in the tub, yowling until I turned the faucet.  For whatever reason, though, it never occurred to her to jump into my bathroom sink for a drink.  It was a free-standing sink with no counter, so maybe she just didn't have a place to stand.

At one point, I tried to capitalize on her love of running water by getting her one of those pet drinking fountains.  In my mind, this would spare her the anxiety of waiting for me to turn on the tub faucet for her when I was gone for long stretches, and would relieve me of those demanding tub duties. Would you believe that she was terrified of the pet fountain?  She would just circle the fountain, and crouch and stare at it.  That $40 pet fountain provided no return on investment.  I ended up selling it on eBay.

When we moved to Kevin's townhouse, she was not permitted in the master bathroom, so the tub drinks stopped.  I was amazed at how often I needed to fill her water bowl once it became her primary water source.  It would appear that she had forgotten about the existance of the tub.

Until we moved to the new house.  Okay, maybe I reminded her.  Maybe, as she explored the upstairs, I carried her into the bathroom and put her in the tub.  And, just maybe, I turned the water to a slow trickle and watched with delight as she cautiously approached the stream and started lapping.  And, it is slightly possible that I created a monster.  Now, she bolts up the stairs at full speed, skids into the bathroom and leaps into the tub, yowling the whole way.  But look how cute she is!  It just gives me so much pleasure to see her so happy.

Since moving to the house and rediscovering the tub, she has also discovered the sink.  She'll hop up into the sink, tracking dirty footprints, and chirp for water.

Funny - Kevin and I have been so busy lately, we haven't had a lot of time for Lap Time with Snuffles.  So, when I sat on the side of the tub to video her, she actually ignored the running water and hopped up on my lap, instead.

Our (FINALLY!) House

Last week, on a gray, drizzly Thursday, we bought a house. A week or so earlier, Kevin and I picked up a copy of 

from Trohv (formerly Red Tree).  Below the title it reads, "The Story of Our Home."  It has prompts for you to tell the story of how you found the house, bought the house, and made it your "home."  It also has a number of spaces for suggested photos, such as "When the Realtor Hands You the Keys."  Now, this is my first home-buying experience, but the key exchange ended up not striking me as a particularly photographic moment.  Especially considering that the sellers, not our realtor, handed us the keys.  But I did have visions of us taking cheesy photos opening the front door for the first time, or posed next to the mailbox.  But, as I mentioned, it was a dreary, rainy day, and not really fit for photo-taking.  In fact, I didn't even go back to the house after we had the walk-through and closing.  If the photos were going to be staged, anyway, we might as well save them for a nice day.

We did spend our first night as new homeowners at the house, though.  I have to admit, once I was in the house and it was ours, I felt a lot like what I imagine my cat felt like the first time she came to (then) Kevin's house.  Like most house cats, Snuffles hasn't really gotten around very much.  Before we moved into the townhouse, my Hampden apartment was the only home she'd known.  She had also been to my parent's and Darra's house, but always seemed to adapt almost immediately once she got there.  So, the first time I brought her to (then) Kevin's house, I wasn't concerned at all; she seemed comfortable at my parent's and Darra's, so surely she'd relax quickly here, as well.  False.  When we let her out of her kitty carrier, she cautiously crawled out and slinked around the house, close to the ground, tail whipping.  She would freeze, crouched down with hair raised, and yowl.

This is how I felt when we were alone for the first time in our new house.  It was big.  It didn't look like our house.  It smelled funny.  I didn't, and still really don't, know what to make of it.  It confused and overwhelmed me.  As I posted on my Facebook page, this was not my beautiful house!  (they just don't make music videos the way they used to, do they? Take a look and enjoy the old-school green screen.)

Despite the weirdness, we poured two glasses of port that we had saved from our 2007 wine trip to California, and toasted our new place.

If you look closely, you can still see some of the terror in my eyes.

We introduced Snuffles to the new house on Saturday.  But that's another post. I will say, although I was terrified it wouldn't happen, she did become comfortable in (then) Kevin's house within a week, and now considers it "home."  So, I think there's hope for both of us.

The first of many cheesy posed shots.

We Had a Showing on Sunday

I have not yet properly introduced my cat, Snuffles.  I will have to do that one of these days, as she's as much of a character in my life as my husband is.  Seriously.  She has quite a unique personality, and I love her to pieces.

There are many things to know about Snuffles, but two of them are:

1. She is very vocal, and very expressive.  It's almost like talking to a toddler.
2. She hates being confined, period.  In a room, in a crate, in a car. She voices strong opinions about it.

If we're home when someone comes to see the house, we take her out.  She likes the outdoors, and might sneak out the door if someone who isn't alert to this comes over.  The first time, Kevin took her out in her carrier.  He was so traumatized by her distress that he suggested that, from now on, I just take her in my car and park across the street, without the carrier.  She is definitely a little happier out of the carrier than in, but the car is still a confined space.  Here's what she thinks about it:

She did eventually curl up on my lap and start purring, still letting out intermittent "meows" here and there.

If you'd like to stop these traumatic experiences for Snuffles, please consider buying our house!