I enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn. It's quiet in the house, almost all our critters (two retired racing greyhounds, a boredor and our Siamese) are piled up on my husband's bed ::: all of them happily sleeping away. (Two other cats sleep in our garage) The only problem is I rarely get to enjoy my quiet time alone. Doesn't matter that my husband's room and mine are in different parts of the house, with MANY doors and walls between us ::: because Tanya (our mutant Siamese) has freakishly good hearing. As a result, ANY time I get up during the night, be it to visit the you-know-what, or simply get a glass of water ::: Tanya magically appears upon my back (it's a Siamese thing) nuzzling my ears. When we adopted Tanya we purchased her a laser toy (affectionately nick-named "click click" for the sound it makes). Tanya was instantly addicted to "click click". What was fun and cute in the beginning ::: became a royal nuisance ::: as Tanya NEVER wanted to stop playing "click click". "Meow ::: MEOW ::: MEOOOOOW" OK already, enough. Most mornings ::: should I chose to ignore her pleadings she begins practicing an ancient form of Siamese acupuncture on my right leg. Why my left leg you might ask ::: because that's the one closest to the mouse in my right hand. Unfortunately way too many of my leggings were serrated in the process ::: and my right leg is covered with dozens of tiny pin pricks. The solution (after 20 minutes spent cursing while swatting Tanya's razor sharp claws off my right leg): get up and silently pad around the house with "click click" in my hand ::: Tanya happily sauntering behind. I love Tanya ::: I NEED to walk, so why not do both early in the morning?! Because then Pupper, our boredor (half border collie, lab) wakes up and wants to chase after the light ::: pissing off the cat. Once Pupper wakes up, so do the boys Harvey and Raleigh (retired racing greyhounds) ::: neither of which want anything to do with the laser. "Treats! Treats! We want Treats!" Harvey's way of begging for treats consists of a loud "LOVE YOU" barked at around 200 decibels. Loud enough to wake up all of Anaheim, let alone my poor unsuspecting husband. So I give ALL the dogs a treat and then let them out into the yard to do their morning business ::: at which time Tanya's back on my back (pun intended) meowing for more "click click" time. Getting the dogs back into the house is chaos ::: happy chaos, but still chaos. The first thing they do is run back into my husband's bedroom and cover him with sloppy dog kisses. At which point the husband gets up to let them out to do their morning business ::: which he doesn't know has already transpired. The image of him, looking just like Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future), stumbling to the sliding glass door, is forever etched upon my heart. By then the sun's coming up and my quiet morning time is basically shot to hell. When I saw the FroliCat BOLT Interactive Laser Pet Toy, I got a glimmer of hope. Something to take Tanya and Pupper's attention away from me (and my tortured right leg). So I ordered it and waited, hope blossoming in my heart. A few days later my husband brought a box to me. "Is this what you've been waiting for?" We quickly opened the box ::: inserted the batteries (not included) and placed the FroliCat on the ground between us. When I pressed the button, it softly whirred to life ::: tiny red light dancing across the living room floor. Tanya sprang after it. For 15 glorious minutes Tanya darted back and fort after the light. SUCCESS! Unfortunately Tanya's prancing eventually attracted Pupper ::: who quickly decided she wanted in on the game. Pupper is four times Tanya's size. Smart cat that she is, Tanya quickly exited the room. We have an other cat, a small Bengal named Mookie, who is most definately NOT intimidated by ANY of our dogs. So we reset the button on the FroliCat BOLT Interactive Laser Pet Toy ::: then sat back to watch Mookie and Pupper attack the red dot on the living room floor. When the 15 minutes were up, and the FroliCat turned itself off ::: Mookie and Pupper lay down on the ground waiting for it to start up again. They were sleeping together, next to the the FroliCat, when I left the room. This morning when I got up to type on my computer ::: Tanya was waiting. So I fired up the FroliCat and set out to enjoy my quiet time. Tanya looked at the FroliCat and the light dancing across my office carpet. She walked over to the FroliCat, carefully stuck her paw into the hole ::: then pulled back and slugged it. I picked it up, set it on the ground, and she whacked it again. I swear she was laughing at me. Tanya jumped up onto the table where I'd placed "click click" and meowed. Morning had begun. As I sit typing this, she's been lovingly applying Siamese acupuncture to my right leg.
