Author: Joe

New Cat Toy

I got a package from my mom last week that contained a few things for me and a new cat toy for Talore. It’s basically the same toy as the black ball of fur but with different coloring.

That’s just after I took the toy back from Talore as she snatched it out of my hand while I was untying the string from how they packed it. I think she grabbed it again right after the picture was taken, she was certainly interested in having it.

I actually read the instructions this time (and looked at the pictures, they were more helpful) and hung it up as was intended to be: with the wire hanger clamped above the molding on a door frame.

With it just hanging there Talore wasn’t interested in it at all.

The tissue paper that was used as packing kept her entertained for the rest of the night. It was under the ceiling fan, so it was twitching in the slight breeze, which was all it took to get it attacked repeatedly. By the next day the tissue paper was thoroughly perforated and one of the sheets was nearly torn in half. The roomba took care of the bits that got shredded off.

Cheating Roomba

The roomba came with battery powered infrared fences that can be placed to limit the area that it cleans. For the past week I’ve had one set up to keep the roomba out from under my desk because I didn’t want to rearrange the wires there to keep them out of its way. The way I placed the fence also cut it off from the balcony door.

The problem is that the fence is line of sight only. The docking station works the same way and Talore has confused the roomba by lying down in front of the docking station while the roomba was attempting to home in on it to charge. I have a couple small boxes that I close toys in for Talore to get out and the roomba occasionally pushes them around, usually just to the nearest wall. Today the roomba pushed the larger box right in front of the fence emitter, then charged my desk.

I came home to find the roomba lifted partially off the floor by some of the cables it snagged and tried to back off of. It also pulled my speakers off the back of the desk and pulled that plug out of the back of the computer. As far as I can tell nothing got damaged, but the roomba didn’t do much cleaning.

Wet Cat Pictures

Once again I’m posting rather late, but at least I am finally getting around to posting.

I gave Talore another bath last weekend (perhaps if I used shampoo on her she would feel clean for longer), but this time I took pictures. Talore didn’t mind the water as much this time as she did last time (I could let go of her without her instantly lunging for the side), but she certainly didn’t appreciate it.

I was using my old digital camera for the pictures since it’s easier to use 1-handed and it wouldn’t bother me as much if it got wet and died, but that means that the pictures didn’t come out all that well. The other problem with taking pictures was that Talore would realize that I wasn’t paying as much attention to her when I reached for the camera and she’s start trying to get out of the tub.

This was the picture that came out the best (all the problems with it are because of the camera, not sudden motion):

That was probably the third time I tried to take that picture. I didn’t intend to let her latch onto the edge of the tub, but that was the easiest place to catch her one handed while she was trying to get out and it made a decent picture. It’s not obvious how hard she’s pushing to get out, but you can see that her claws are out attempting to grip the side of the tub. One of the earlier tries she managed to get her claws into my jeans (and therefore my leg), which caused me to swiftly put down the camera. Luckily the jeans prevented her claws from sliding so I just got stabbed, not scratched.

This picture didn’t come out nearly so well:

She stopped struggling to the point that I let go of her for a bit while she walked around the tub, but I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of her just standing in the water. I don’t know if it was the fact that she was jumping straight at the camera that washed it all out or if it’s the camera just being terrible.