Jeff = Gone

Well, Jeff has left on his trip, so I'm here to take over as promised. Belle is not taking it well. (I think my taking over the blog more than his absence.) She has been sitting in the window pining away, and barely acknowledges me, except every other second, when she decides she's hungry and needs to express that through long meows. I suppose she'll rightly get over it by tomorrow, when she'll forget Jeff ever existed. Sad but true. Kitties got to be moving on.

Atlanta, Here I Come

Tomorrow I am leaving for Atlanta (or 'Hotlanta' as Belle likes to say). I will be gone for six days. I've never been to Atlanta, outside of the airport. Belle says she spent a summer in Atlanta once, and it was the greatest summer of her life. I suppose that is technically possible, because she was eight months old when she came to live with us and that was in January of '05, so her wherabouts during the summer of '04 are unknown. Did any of my Atlanta-based readers happen to see Belle in the summer of '04? If so, I would love to hear about it. Leave some comments, why don't you.

I offered to take Belle with me on my trip to Atlanta, and she accepted. I was surprised, because usually Belle doesn't have much nice to say about the South. Later on in the day Belle asked me if she needed to go shopping for anything special, like scuba gear or goggles. I asked her, "Why would you need scuba gear?". It turned out she thought we were going to Atlantis, not Atlanta. After I cleared things up, she decided not to go. She said, "Been there, done that. And it was the greatest summer of my life!".

I have requested that Andrea update Belle's blog during my absence. It is hard to say whether that will actually happen or not, but let it be known that such a request was indeed made. If you, dear reader, happen to notice that the posting next week is not as frequent, do not worry. I shall return.

Surfaces

One of Belle's favorite past-times is testing out new surfaces in the apartment. She is an expert surface tester. Any time that a new surface is created in our apartment, Belle likes to spend some time examining it. After she is done with her examination, she gives us a verdict as to whether or not the surface is acceptable.

Sometimes Belle can get a little overzealous in her testing. Today Andrea tossed her pocketbook on the floor when she came home. The pocketbook cover fell open, thus creating a new surface on the floor. Belle jumped into action. She laid for a while on the pocketbook, horizontally aligned with the cover, as you see here. Then she spent some time laying down on it vertically. Then she rolled over on her back and stretched for a bit. That was cute.

After an hour, Belle determined that this new surface didn't quite pass her test. The softness level left a bit to be desired, and the surface area was a tad too small, not quite big enough for a kitty to get comfortable. After she gave us her verdict, I said to her, "Thanks for doing your test, but it's not like we were going to keep the pocketbook there anyway". Belle replied, "So I just wasted an hour? Thanks a lot!". After that, she was in a sour mood until dinner.

Kitty Imposter

This afternoon I was fixing myself a snack, when out of nowhere Belle appeared and gave me an earful. I said to her, "Belle, why do you meow at me so? I already gave you lunch.". Belle said that she had not received any lunch, and I must be mistaken. Then I replied, "But if I didn't give you lunch, then what kitty did I give lunch?". Belle explained that there was another kitty loose in the apartment, and that the other kitty must have eaten her lunch! "Poor Belle!", I said as I gave her some food, "you must have been starving!". "And how!", Belle replied.

I thought it was strange that I would have mistook another cat for Belle. I asked her, "What did this other cat look like?". Belle said that the other cat looked very similar to her, in fact almost identical.

When Andrea got home from work, I told her what had happened. Andrea doesn't think it's very likely that there's another kitten running around the apartment that looks just like Belle. But I said, "Well if that's the case, then who ate Belle's lunch? Me?". That was a good comeback.

Safety Inspection

Today is Wednesday, and that means it's safety inspection day. Once a week, Belle likes to inspect the apartment to make sure that there are no "dangerous objects near table-edges" (or DONTs, as she calls them). DONTs are any type of small object that rest near the edge of a table.

Before we had Belle, I didn't realize how serious DONTs are (in fact, I'd never heard of them!). Belle says that 90% of household accidents are caused by DONTs. It's lucky we got Belle when we did, otherwise Andrea and I would probably both be dead by now (or at least that's what Belle says). Sometimes I ask Belle what is so dangerous about DONTs, but she always just says "Don't let DONTs happen to you!" I think she heard that on a commercial or something.

Belle's inspection consists of her walking by every table-edge in the apartment. If there is any object dangerously close to a table-edge, Belle knocks it down to the floor. She says that by knocking the object down, she is "reducing the threat level". I guess Andrea's glasses were pretty threatening.

International Kitty Day

Yesterday was National Kitty Day. Belle and I had a fun time, but Andrea didn't seem to enjoy it. In fact, she didn't celebrate at all.

Today, Belle woke us up even earlier than yesterday! She had to tell us that today is International Kitty Day. I thought it was strange that International Kitty Day is the day after National Kitty Day. I asked Belle, "why don't they space the holidays out more?" Belle said that cats don't have any concept of holiday spacing. And I said "apparently!". That was funny.

We asked Belle, "How is International Kitty Day celebrated?". She said that the way it's typically celebrated is that whenever kitties get hungry, they should meow and then their owners feed them immediately. I said, "That sounds an awful lot like National Kitty Day". Andrea said that there is no such cat holiday as International Kitty Day. But I tend to believe Belle, because it seems like she would know more about cat holidays than Andrea.

In any case, Andrea made me promise not to give Belle any extra food today. That would have been a hard promise to keep, if I hadn't had my fingers crossed.

National Kitty Day

This morning, Belle woke Andrea and I up early to tell us that today is National Kitty Day. Neither Andrea or I had ever heard of National Kitty Day before. Belle says it's one of the lesser known cat holidays.

Apparently there aren't too many traditions associated with National Kitty Day. Belle said that the way it's typically celebrated is that whenever kitties get hungry, they should meow and then their owners feed them immediately. Andrea said "That's ridiculous!", and Belle hissed at her. It was an ugly beginning to National Kitty Day.

When we were making breakfast, Belle meowed at us. I was going to give Belle a sausage but Andrea said, "there's no such thing as National Kitty Day!". Then Belle hissed at her again. But Belle had the last laugh because when Andrea went to the bathroom, I gave Belle the sausage and I said "Happy National Kitty Day!". Belle said, "Indeed!". She can get sassy sometimes.