Cousins?

Mr. Awesome is the cat that lives at Artinis, a painting place I go to occasionally.

He is a charismatic cat, who loves to rub against the store's patrons. He's a total ham for pictures and he reminds me a lot of Gunnar—if Gunnar weighed a little less and had a tail.

Mr. Awesome.

Gunnar

I don't think the photos do them justice. Oh well.

And I love any business that has a shop cat. :)

Plotting their next move

Ozzy: Gee Gunnar, what do you want to do tonight?

Gunnar: Tonight we take over the world. 

The boys. I'm not sure I've ever seen cats in a chair look so sinister. So here they are, Ozzy in my office chair (excuse me, his chair) and Gunnar lounging in a lovely puddle of sunshine. They're up to something.

Fort Kit-A

This pink hamper used to be my laundry hamper. It has since been claimed as Fort Gunnar. Then Fort Ozzy. Then Fort Gunnar again.

The hamper is light and collapsible and every time I've left it out over the years Gunnar has claimed it. He likes to jump on it and watch it collapse. Or bat it around. I've even seen him drag it down the hallway. But Fort Hamper-Kit-A is a favorite spot to lurk and swat at anyone who happens by: human ankles or kitty foes.

 None shall pass.

Toes are delicious.

I left it out a week or so ago doing laundry. And the kitties had so much fun with it, I didn't put it up and just let them play with it. So, for days, I feared for my ankles every time I'd skirt by that hamper.

It moved from place to the place. By the wall, closer to the bedroom, and to the top of the stairs. That made me nervous. I was worried about them rolling the hamper down the stairs. Each time it got too close, I'd move it against a far wall. But they'd tussle and move it around again.

One Sunday, there was a huge commotion and the hamper ended up at the bottom of the stairs. I promptly put the hamper up. No kitties were injured but I'm not risking it.

Sunday mornings

This is what Sunday mornings look like at our house. Sleeping in and cuddles.

This pairing caught me by surprise. Katie has warmed up to Mojo over the years, but it's still a relative novelty to see them cuddling/sharing the same space.

Katie's balled up and covering her face (no pictures please!) and Mojo's got his belly up and tail draped over him. He's just positioned himself in a silly way. Matt's sleeping in (because Ozzy wakes me up at 7 a.m. for food.)

And possibly you can see all the pets in the photo. See if you can find a bit of Ozzy in the edge of the photo or a cat reflected in the mirror.

Cuddle Fest

I don't know if all the pets just wanted the same corner of the bed or they were trying to keep each other warm. But even cuddling, Gunnar still looks a tad like the evil emperor he is.

(And clearly Katie wanted no part of this.)

Changing the sheets

The cats always like to help me change the sheets.

1. They never really want to get off the bed. And one of them is always on the bed.

Here Ozzy gets rolled up in the sheets as I try to change them. He didn't want to budge.

2. If I ever get the sheets off the bed, they are on the mattress cover, on the new sheets, just completely in the way. Here's Ozzy clawing at the new sheet as I try to smooth it down.

And Gunnar comes to join in the fun. Let's sit on the new sheets. We don't need no stinkin' blankets.

And that's how we change sheets at this house. Slowly. With much protest. 

Before and After

When we took Ozzy in, he had short sporty fur and weighed a little under 10 pounds. The vet warned us that he was nowhere near growing and was going to be a BIG cat. 

This is what he looked like last summer—a normal sized cat.

This is Ozzy now. He's probably gained 10 pounds in fur. He's a massive cat. He weighs a ton (more than my 15 pound kettle bell, though they are different shapes). I practically throw my back out when I pick him up. And look at that fur. He's quite fluffy now. I guess that's his winter coat? Either way, he's officially a fat cat now. We're worried he's kitty obese. He seems to be thoroughly enjoying being spoiled: regular meal times (eating the other cats' food), sleeping in soft beds, finding the best spot to lounge in etc. The other cats are far more active than him. He just sleeps in one soft spot. So if anyone knows a kitty personal trainer, we might be in the market. 

Update: After I wrote this, Ozzy sprinted a few laps around the house and jumped loudly on a lot of furniture. Apparently, he CAN be an active cat when his mama calls him out. 

The Boss

 This is the boss. Ozzy. He sees you when you're looking at cat pictures at work. He says get back to work and bring him some food. And tell him why this chair keeps spinning around.

He does not like to get his hands dirty.

Ozzy had fun while I was home for a few days while the university was closed. The cats watched me work at home and thought it was supremely boring. 

Bully cat

I am being bullied by a cat. This morning, I slept in past my usually 7:30 a.m. on the weekends and at 7:45 a.m. my famished, starving-to-death obese cat Ozzy demanded I get up and feed him breakfast. (How dare I keep him waiting!?)  He did this by sitting on my chest (he weights 15+ pounds) and kneading my sweatshirt with his super sharp claws until I got up.

I did get up and feed the cat breakfast. I just wasn't happy about it.

#nothappy, #feedmenow, #mornings, #bully, #bullycat

Guard duty

Gunnar has tasked himself with keeping my sweaters safe. He really likes these shelves. He likes to sit on my sweaters and watch me work on my computer.

He also likes to jump on top of these shelves and keep an eye out from this angle. It always makes me nervous. One night, I was on the phone with my sister and he hopped in one of those shopping bags and started to shift his weight forward. I ran and got the shopping bag down before he fell. Crazy cat.