Category: Cats

Robot Uprising!

I came home today to discover that my roomba wasn’t back on it’s charging dock waiting to be cleaned like usual. Further investigation revealed that instead of cleaning my apartment it locked itself in my bedroom and hid in the corner.  More an act of rebellion than an uprising I suppose.

Well, maybe not actual rebellion, more stupidity.  The reason that it did that was because it goes along the walls and when it went along my bedroom wall and hit the door it bounced the door off the door-stopper mounted on the wall. That caused the door to swing away from the wall and the next pass pushed the door closed. Then it cleaned my bedroom till it ran out of battery (and it picked up a surprising amount of dust considering the first night I had it I ran it in my bedroom till it asked to be charged).  I wasn’t home when it happened, but that was one of the first things it did when I ran it the first time (besides the cleaning till out of battery part).  I should probably find something to use to prop the door open.

I went to see Inception today with a group of people from work.  I thought it was really good and well was worth taking 3 hours out of the middle of a work day to go see it, though that may change if I end up working 10 hours on Friday to finish making up the time.

Also trimmed Talore’s claws when I got home.  She did not enjoy the experience, but after I finished with her front paws she was willing to tolerate it for the back ones.  She woke me up this morning by attacking my feet through the sheet, and her claws were sharp enough I was worried she’d managed to draw blood (not quite apparently).

I need to get a new laser pointer or find something else she’ll chase to try to wear her out a bit.  She finally started eating all the food I give her (she took just over a week to get settled in I guess), and now she’s very energetic and the laser pointer is about dead.

I also need to be more careful about my food when I’m eating supper.  Monday night I noticed Talore was somewhat interested in my plate with hot dogs on it, so I had it in my lap.  My attempting to keep her off my plate meant she decided to stalk it, so while I was reading my book I suddenly saw a paw, with claws outstretched, reach through the side of my chair and swipe at the second hot dog.  Last night I had shrimp, but I kept that plate on the edge of my desk so it was very obvious when she was going for it.  I let her have the last one.  I don’t think she really appreciated the breading on it, but she ate it all and licked clean the spot on the desk where she ate it.

Cat-like reflexes

I apparently have them.  I can fairly consistently move the laser pointer dot away from Talore as she lunges for it before she lands a paw on the dot when she’s actively chasing it.  It helps that I barely have to move compared to her dashing around.  When she’s just sitting there watching it and suddenly decides to put a paw out I don’t do as well, but when she’s waiting behind the edge of the chair or sofa to pounce on it I’ve got a decent shot.

Talore very quickly picked up on the sound of me picking up the laser pointer (the metal case usually clicks against my desk), the sound it makes when I turn it on, and the sound it makes when I turn it off.  Her reactions are, respectively: perk up and look at me, crouch down and start looking for the dot, and look at me and settle down.  Of course by the time I turn it off she’s usually stopped really chasing it anyway.

In related news, the $10 worth of watch batteries are getting noticeably dimmer 1 week after installation.  I’ll probably be buying a new laser pointer soon – one that takes reasonably sized batteries.  My other option is to go by radio shack and get a battery holder for 4 probably AA batteries and wire it in, but considering my current laser pointer is part of a nice (or at least decent) pen I’ll probably just leave it as is.