The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part five)

Amy and Allie have a definite routine they like to follow. Like children they are most comfortable when they know what is coming next.

Mornings are always the same. The heater goes on at 6:45 and it's time for Amy to wake up her peeps. On the bed she jumps with many meows. Alley hangs in the hall, waiting patiently. Amy pesters until her demands are met. When Amy and I come out into the hall Alley is most excited. She may be 77 in people years and her body definitely is, but her spirit is around... oh, I'd say 4 years old. She is happy and excited that the day is about to begin. Me, myself, well I'm not quite there yet.

Amy and Alley greet with sniffs on the noses and down the stairs we all head and into the garage. We collect the can of dog food and off to the kitchen we go, single file. Alley is such the lady, her patience is to be admired. Amy does not like to wait even two seconds. So while Alley lays low on the floor Amy is meowing on the sink as I open the dog food. Half a can for Alley at breakfast, into the dish, and onto the floor. And then Amy finally gets what she has been clamoring for, she gets to stick her head into the can and lick the top of the other half. She can do this because I have a can opener that does not leave a sharp edge and because I am easy. She enjoys her licks while I make coffee. Allie goes outside, comes back in, coffee is made, dog food can is put away, and Amy's chows are poured.

Now it is time to make hubby's breakfast and to pack his lunch, drink coffee, and read the paper. Pretty much in that order. Allie has headed back upstairs and Amy waits for Gramps. She loves to sit on his lap every morning and waits anxiously for his arrival. Finally he comes in and he his greeted with many loud, demanding meows. In people speak I think she is saying..."well it's about time you woke up, now hurry, get your coffee and sit down, I've been looking forward to a lap to sit on and quite frankly I'm pretty tired of waiting". And Gramps is usually happy to oblige, although I think sometimes he'd rather just sit and read his paper in peace.

Yes, those are the mornings around here with Amy and Allie. It's a good thing I'm as into routine as they are...

The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part four,continued)

I know you are probably anxiously awaiting news on Mr. Tortoise. Well in turns out that Mr. Tortoise is not a desert tortoise after all. He is a water turtle!

He was on is way to join 10 other desert tortoises who are hibernating in the tortoise lady's bathroom. But when he arrived it was determined that he was a water turtle and so he will be joining the other water turtles in the pond in the backyard of the tortoise lady's house.

Amy and Alley and I both miss Mr. Tortoise, who is not a tortoise but a water turtle. But we are glad he has found an accommodating new home. He was a handful that is for sure. He did not like to be in the box they told us to keep him in. He was always escaping. It's no wonder that he probably meandered away from someone's backyard pond. He did not like to stay put. I only hope that he does not wander from where he is now.

Amy and Alley are still perplexed by the whole event. While they were never comfortable with him being here, they were sad to see him leave. And they are still trying to figure out what or for that matter who that was...

The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part four)

Amy and Alley were quite perplexed this morning. A creature had invaded. A creature the likes of which they had never seen before. This creature was somewhat prehistoric looking, it had a hard shell and was able to pull his head and extremities in and out at will. Amy and Alley had never before seen anything quite like it. And they were not really sure what they should do about it.

The creature was a desert tortoise. We found him wondering down the street and some might say, foolishly, brought him in. But we couldn't just leave him out there to fend for himself, could we?

We put him (just assuming it was a him, not really sure) in a box. But he was not happy and so we, probably being foolish again, let him out of the box. We had him in a corner surrounded by more boxes...which he had no trouble moving and he then proceeded to explore the house. If you can imagine a tortoise walking through your living room.

Well Amy and Alley were simply beside themselves. Mr. Tortoise did not seem to be at all bothered by them, but they did not know what to do or think. They both followed him as he explored. And they would each get only so close and then they would back away with fear and trepidation. It was really quite comical. This went on for about 10 minutes when we realized that we needed to separate Mr. Tortoise from Amy and Allie. For his safety and our sanity.

He is now securely ensconced in my daughter's room, hiding under her bed. Which reminds me that truly "no good deed does goes unpunished". We have put up a sign hoping that an owner will call. And we have left a message with the tortoise rescue people.

But as of now we have a wayward tortoise in our house. A tortoise whom I've just learned needs sunlight, warmth, and carries salmonella. Need I say more?

I'm beginning to understand the feelings of fear and trepidation expressed by Amy and Allie. And I shall keep you all posted as to how this latest adventure turns out.

The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part three)

Amy is sooo cat and Alley is sooo dog.

Amy and Alley both spend the better part of each day sleeping. Alley sleeps on the couch in the living room. Amy sleeps on the chair in the family room.

Amy gives love bites and Alley gives kisses.

Alley comes whenever she is summoned and Amy comes when she darn well feels like it.

Amy and Alley both talk. Amy has a rather extensive meow vocabulary, while Alley talks mainly with her eyes. And those eyes have a lot to say.

When left alone Alley howls mournfully, and Amy meows longingly. How do I know this you ask? One day they didn't realize they were not alone...

Alley does her business outside, Amy does hers upstairs in the liter box. She is very fussy about her liter box being clean. Don't ask me how I know this...

Alley chases bunnies in the back yard. While Amy chases her tail while sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

Alley has trouble climbing the stairs, poor baby. While Amy shakes the whole house with her morning runs.

Amy and Allie both shed, but Allie's hair is darker so it's more apparent.

Allie eats canned dog food, but steals kitty chows whenever she can. Amy eats kitty chows but licks Allie's bowl clean every morning.

As you can see Allie and Amy are well loved and much appreciated by their humans..and one is sooo dog and the other is sooo cat...

Stowaway

We had a stowaway last night, even though the door was closed.

She sneaked in when the search lights went on.

The search lights went on when the helicopter flew by.

I don't know why the helicopter flew by. But it tends to do that a little too much these days.

When the search lights came on after the helicopter flew by I opened the door and that's when she darted by.

I didn't even notice.

I was too busy checking with my daughter making sure that she was fine and not freaked out by the search lights which came on after the helicopter flew by.

After the helicopter flew by and the search lights went on and I opened the door to make sure my daughter was fine, the search lights went out and the helicopter was gone and my daughter was well so the door was closed.

Not realizing that the furry little one had snuck by...

Not realizing until the sun came up and the furry little one was on the bed with her wake-up meows at least an hour too early which is why the door was closed.

The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part two)

Amy is most annoyed that Allie gets to go outside whenever she wants to. "Why is that fair?" "Who made that rule?" I'm sure are the thoughts going through her head every time Allie gets to venture in the great outdoors.

But every once in awhile Amy escapes. She knows she is not suppose to. And she knows she will be in big time trouble, but that does not deter her from the occasional outside adventure.

And I think that Allie just may be in cahoots with her...

Allie knows how to open the back slider. When the screen is not closed all the way she can inch her nose in and push it to the side. And she does this all the time. The problem is she doesn't close the door behind her. I think she may have a deal with Amy. I can just hear her saying, "leave the door open and I won't swat you next time you walk by"...hmmm...maybe more like blackmail...

Anyways Allie left the back screen open the other day. No one was in the room at the time so no one noticed. But when we did walk in and we saw the screen cracked ever so slightly...well we knew. And the search began.

Amy had not gotten far. And she knows when she is caught the gig is up and she runs back in.

And she did.

Only she had a lizard in her mouth. A lizard with no tail because she probably bit it off.

We didn't notice the lizard until she was inside. And needless to say we were not amused. And we were not quite sure what to do next.

Then Amy lost interest, dropped the lizard, and the lizard was no where to be found.

Well that's another fine mess those two had gotten us into.

We searched, we pulled furniture out, we pulled knick knacks out, and we searched some more.

Allie was of no help. She went upstairs to hide as she often does when anything is amiss. Amy was of no help. She had long since forgotten about "her" lizard.

Finally about 20 minutes later the way word creature was spotted, scooped up and returned to the backyard. Allie came back downstairs to make amends for the problems she had caused and Amy, well Amy curled up and took a nap after this last exhausting adventure of Amy and Allie.

The Adventures of Amy and Alley...(part one)

Amy is a two year old Tabby cat. Alley is an 11 year old mixed lab. And they are both kind enough to share their living space with me.

Amy is small but feisty. Alley is old and creaky.

Amy rules the roost and Alley tries to get by.

The only thing Alley has on Amy is that she is allowed to go outside. And boy would Amy love to go outside. She never quite forgives Alley for this simple unfairness. Amy watches longingly through the back window as Alley makes her morning rounds in the yard. And she waits by the door so she can inform me when Alley is ready to come in. Alley knocks and Amy meows, and meows, and meows until the door is opened and Alley enters. Alley goes about her business making her way through the hall and up the stairs totally oblivious to the small creature that is chasing her and batting at her and telling her all about the unfairness of being an indoor only cat.

And that my gentle readers is just one of the many adventures of Amy and Alley.