We haven’t written you in ages because once we have our whole house to explore we don’t have much time for boring things like writing letters. But I did find a few minutes today while everyone else was napping to write about some of our favorite games. We call them “Helping lisa-mom”.

First on the list is helping lisa-mom clean litter boxes. It’s first because we play it so often – at least once and sometimes twice a day. Lisa-mom takes a bag and goes from room to room scooping out our boxes. As soon as she starts on a box, at least one of us jumps in to help. Sometimes she just switches to a different box when we jump in, so usually several of us play at the same time so we can cover every box. Once in the box, we bat at the scoop or stand right where lisa-mom is trying to scoop. And sometimes we attack the bag, too. Our goal is to see if we can add time to lisa-mom’s scooping – the longer she has to spend on a box, the better! And then once the box is clean, we take turns using it right away.

Along with cleaning litter boxes goes sweeping the floor around the boxes. We love this game! The brooms are kinda fuzzy and soft and we think they are just right for pouncing on. This game doesn’t last nearly as long as it should ‘cause lisa-mom often spoils our fun by picking us up and moving us out of the way. Then she sweeps the litter into a dustpan and quits playing.

Another really fun game is making the bed. This is a good game when lisa-mom is just pulling up the covers and straightening them, but it gets really, really great when she puts clean linens on the bed. When she does that, we can hide under each layer as she tries to put it on the bed. We think someday we’ll manage to get her to make up the whole thing without noticing one of us is under the bottom sheet. Then we’ll move and scare her. It will be so funny!

We also help load and unload the dishwasher for her. It’s best when there’s still a bit of food on the dishes. We like the smell and we try to taste all the interesting things lisa-mom and Ken-dad had to eat. It’s not quite as wonderful as trying to get Ken-dad’s food away from him, but it’s still a good time. We also like to walk all over the clean dishes to make sure there’s nothing left that needs to be washed -- or licked -- off. Lisa-mom always tells us it’s a good thing Ken-dad doesn’t see us do that or we’d be in BIG trouble.

(That's me, Zara, right in front!)

The game we don’t like is vacuuming. That thing is noisy and scary! We just supervise from the top of the cat tree when lisa-mom gets it out. We do sometimes chase the cord around, but not when that thing is making noise!

Lisa-mom says these aren’t games. She calls them housework. But they’re so much fun for us – we KNOW they are games. But it does make us wonder what lisa-mom does when she’s not at home. She calls that work, too, but we think she’s having fun – and she’s not sharing the fun with us. One of these days we’re going to have to go with her to see for sure. I bet we could play a lot of games at work with her.

Zara

(--> Cat Tails, Pg26)

© 2003 lisa s vasa

 

(Please note that you will see a number of photos of our cats and kittens that I've taken outside in a natural setting. The LostWoods cats do NOT go outside unsupervised! When we do go outside for pictures and occasional adventures, there is always one person and usually two watching them closely. We do have an outside, fully enclosed run to which the older cats are allowed access, but even then we check on them often.)

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