Notes From the Homefront, Bailey the Cat #5: On The Move. Again.

For reasons that are beyond my kitty understanding, my mommy (and I guess my daddy) decided we should move again. I've moved a lot in my life, so I should not be surprised that we are moving again.

My mommy is having a tough time because my daddy had to go away again and she hates moving. Those two things combined to mean that she needed my help getting ready to go to the new place and Dad told me its my job to help mommy. As you can see here, I was quite the help. First, I helped mommy get her clothes together. As you can see here, I am making sure Mommy's new suit doesn't go anywhere.

After that I was tired and had to take a nap.



Then I helped to pull out the suitcase for Mommy to pack.



As expected, I had to take a nap after that as well.



After we got everything packed, we moved to the new place. Mommy says we are "house sitting" for a few weeks until we can be in our new home. I like the place we are living because it has lots of windows and trees and birdies. The only down side is the dog who lives here too.

His name is Elvis and he likes to sleep in the bed with Mommy and me. He is ok for a dog, but I don't think dogs should sleep in the bed. Mom says its only for a few weeks and then I won't have to share the bed with a dog anymore. Until then, I'm happy to be helping my Mommy and watching new birdies.

Notes From the Homefront, Bailey the Cat #4: Through the Years...

I recently turned 7 years old. It was a nice birthday, though it would have been better if my Dad could have been here. I had salmon with my Mom. Mom says we can have more salmon when Dad comes home. I like salmon. Its pink, like my paws.

Birthdays are a good time to reflect on the past and I found myself doing that this birthday. When my Mommy rescued me, we lived in St. Louis. We lived in a small apartment on the first floor. It had a lot of windows and I could watch people and the birds in the trees outside. Sometimes people who walked by would say hello to me. It wasn't very big, but it had fun cabinets to climb. Sometimes I go to Connecticut to visit my grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa's house has stairs and a lot of windows. It also has other cats and dogs. I like Kelley, she is a fun dog to lay down and chill with. Copper is not as much fun, he barks and scampers everywhere. Minnie is my Grandpa's cat. She sometimes like to run and play and sometimes she gets mad when I try to look at birds in her window. Mom and I lived in Savannah, Georgia for a while. There was only one window there, but there was a tree outside the window and there were lizards who lived in that tree. I like the lizards, Mom did not. There were also cockroaches in Georgia. Again, those were things I liked to play with that Mommy did not like. In her defense, they were very big.

I think my favorite place we lived was Colorado. It was a big place with lots of stairs to run up and down. I had my own bedroom and there were lots of windows. I got to watch squirrels and birds. Sometimes there were kids and dogs in the courtyard. Mom would dogsit Sage who lived with Uncle Ryan. Sage was a good dog, she let me sleep in her dog bed, though she tried to cuddle with me too much. Kitties only like to cuddle on their terms.

Now we live in Virginia. Its good, birds visit our balcony and I get to watch them. I can watch cars and they drive down below. We live up high on the ninth floor. I've never lived that high before. There are no stairs, but there is hardwood floors that I sometimes slip on. Mommy thinks its funny. Mom says we are moving to a new place soon, with more windows and cherry trees outside our windows. I am tired of moving, but she says Dad will live with us at this new place and that's exciting. I miss my Dad, even if he thinks he can use my pillow.

Notes From the Homefront, Bailey the Cat #3: Mythbusters

Recently while watching TV with my mom, I heard someone ask "cat got your tongue?" I couldn't understand that. Why would someone think a cat has anyone's tongue? That sounds gross and completely unattractive. What would they do with it? As a cat, I can guarantee I have never gotten anyone's tongue. Sometimes when my mom is singing, I put my paw over her mouth to discourage the singing, but I guarantee that I have never tried to take her tongue.

Pondering that one, made me think of some other "cat cliches". One would be "curiosity killed the cat". And while I will be the first to admit that I'm curious, I also have never been killed by this curiosity.

One thing I am especially curious about is gravity. I like to explore gravity - knocking things to the ground from various heights to see if gravity brings it to the ground each time. I have yet to find an object that does not fall to the ground, with the exception of balloons maybe. But I keep trying, and I plan to write a paper on my discoveries one day. And most importantly - I do not plan for my exploring to lead to my death.

Another cliche/saying is "cat's cradle." I don't get this because I have never known a cat to have a cradle. I have a basket. I have a plushy box. I have a scratchy box with cat nip. I have a tent. I have a scratchy post. I like to sleep in bags. But I do not have a cradle. Maybe other cats have cradles, but I doubt it.

Lastly, there are two phrases with which I agree. The first - cat like grace/reflexes. Cats are pretty awesome and graceful and reflexful. I can leap and balance and climb--all with the utmost grace. So I get that one.

The second phrase is "who let the cat out of the bag". I would like to know who let the cat out of the bag too, because cat's like being in the bag. I like to climb into mommy's suitcases or grocery bags. Some bags crinkle and that's pretty exciting. Some bags smell like other places. So while I think that the creator of that phrase got it right with a cat in a bag, I just ask that everyone keep the cat there.

Notes From the Homefront, Bailey the Cat #2: An Ode to Living Strong

Despite not mentioning it in my previous post, rubber bands are my favorite things. Well, maybe second favorite after wet food. But definitely my favorite thing with which to play. I do not really like thin rubber bands. They get crinkled into a ball or they break apart easily. They are kind of flimsy and not really my cup of tea. I like the thick purple rubber bands that come on asparagus.

Why are rubber bands so much fun? You can do a lot with them. You can bring them to your Mom and have her throw them. When she throws them you can either 1) watch it and wait to see where it lands, then run after it, 2) you can jump up really high and catch it in your paws or teeth or 3) you can jump up and bat it back towards your mom with you paw. I prefer 1 or 2, though sometimes 3 is a fun game to play. Once you catch it, you can carry it back to your mom for her to throw it again. Sometimes my mom gets lazy and insists that you bring the rubber band right to her, which can delay the game. My mom can get distracted too - reading a book, doing work or something - and I have to bring the rubber band to her and drop it on the book or the computer. Moms can be hard to train sometimes.

While they are not really rubber bands, I really like to play with hair ties and rubber bracelets. My mom tries to keep her hair ties from me, but after watching her a few times, I know when she gets in the shower, she takes her hair ties out and leaves them on the shelf by the medicine cabinet. So I wait for her to get into the shower and then jump on the toilet and can stand on my tip toes to reach the shelf. I think Mom figured that out, though, because she doesn't put her hair ties there anymore. My first rubber bracelet was a Livestrong bracelet. These are really good because they are a little heavier and can fly farther. They also slide across the wood floor really well. I have lots of them now. Though my mom "borrowed" my blue bracelet for prostate cancer to use at her and Dad's wedding. You can see it on her bouquet in this picture. Even though it was "borrowed" I never saw it again. My mom got me a new blue bracelet, but I still miss the old one. I had broken it in and really liked how it flipped in the air.

I hope you can come play rubber band with me some time. Its a fun and easy game that I think everyone enjoys. Oh, if you are visiting my mom, I'm the reason there are bracelets and hair ties all over the floor.

Notes From the Homefront, Bailey the Cat #1: An Introduction or: An Ode to the Relative Merits of Non-Dry Cat Food

My name is Bailey Lynn Doyle-Exnicios. As my mommy says, thats a big name for a little kitty. I am orange. The vet once called me "red" but I think like most vets she was crazy. I am clearly orange. Here is a picture of me. As you can see, clearly orange.

My days are pretty busy. I have to wake mom up every morning. I think she forgets she has to feed me. When I can finally get mom out of bed, I follow her around to be sure she understands what she is supposed to do - give me wet food as soon as possible. After eating my wet food, I watch birdies on our balcony. Mom goes to work, and I like to take a morning nap in the sun. Then I usually move to the bedroom and take a nap on the bed. I'll stop back by the kitchen for some food and water. Then I nap until mom comes home. When she comes home, I like to scratch my scratching post and then ask my mom for more wet food. I only get wet food in the morning and crunchies at night. Mom and Dad say that crunchies are delicious. As you can tell in this photo, I do not necessarily agree. But I like to ask anyways. I help mommy cook dinner, and then usually help her eat it. Then there is cuddle time and mom scratches my cheeks until we go to bed. Its a lot to handle in one day sometimes.

My dad is away right now. Actually he's been away as long as I've known him - he comes and visits and sleeps on my side of the bed. Then he goes away. Even though he takes my pillow, I like it when he is home. It's another person who can feed me. My dad can't visit right now because he's deployed, my mom says, but he will live with us forever when he gets back. Which is a lot for my little kitty head to understand, so I just cuddle with my mom instead of worrying about it. This is a picture of me and my dad and my mom. Mom is sad too that Dad can't visit us right now. I give her kisses and sleep next to her to keep her company. Dad said it was my job to do that, and I think I do a pretty good job.

Here is a picture of Mom and me watching the Redskins game. I'm not a huge sports fan because when mom and dad watch it they tend to yell and jump around and I enjoy kitty nap time more when it is quiet.

So that's me, Bailey. If we ever meet, please remember that 1) I am orange not red, 2) I like wet food not crunchies, 3) I do not like my belly rubbed but enjoy having my cheeks scratched and 4) I enjoy quiet kitty nap time.