Melly Takes the Cake, er, Treats

I took a few extra days off over Memorial Day weekend and went to visit my sister down south, which was hot and mosquito-y but awesome.  (This is why I haven't been commenting on your blogs.  I'll be back to my usual sporadic commenting soon!)  While I was away, the wonderful Sarah looked after the kitties.  As usual, I left everything that she might need on the kitchen table: cans of food, a jar of catnip, the laser pointer, a plastic bin of treats, etc.  When I got home from my trip, I went to get some treats to give the kitties and couldn't find the bin.  I thought that was odd, but figured that Sarah must have stashed it somewhere to keep it out of Melly's reach.  

When I emailed Sarah to coordinate getting my keys back, I asked her about the bin. She responded that she never saw it, and just gave the cats some catnip instead.  That was very confusing, since the bin was definitely on the kitchen table when I left for the airport.  I did a more thorough search of the apartment and finally found the bin--upside down under the couch in the living room!  Melly must have pushed it off the kitchen table and somehow wrestled it into the living room and knocked it under the couch, all in the 24 hours between my departure and Sarah's first visit. Goof.

Languid Melly

Melly is such a ham.  She stretched or winked or flexed every time the camera clicked.  I particularly like these first pictures of her because you can see the way her black fur wraps around her white paw like a fingerless glove.

Nap Interrupted, Continued

After I took the pictures in yesterday's post, I left the cats to their nap.  I went back into the bedroom about an hour later and discovered this:

Nap Interrupted

"You woke me up! 

I was having wonderful dreams of catnip and fish and being an only cat. 

Hrmph."

"Well, I might as well make sure that everything is ok outside before going back to sleep."

"Meh, good enough."

"Zzzzz."

A Blip

I love Scarlett's expression and tail swish in the second picture.  It happened so quickly I didn't notice until I was looking at the pictures later.  Goof.

Scarlett and the Ice Cream

Scarlett is a big fan of people food.  Not quite to the degree that Rene's cats are, but she loves to lick plates after people are done eating.  Her favorite is dairy (I know, I know, it's bad for her), especially in the form of the milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl, or the melted remains of ice cream.

Recently, I ate the last of a pint of ice cream straight out of the container (what? washing dishes is annoying!), and Scarlett had her nose in the container the moment I set it down.  I love how happy she looks as she polishes off the ice cream!

 

Melly On High

Melly has been spending more time on the cat tree lately, usually to sleep in the little house or to survey her domain.  Here, she was doing the latter.

Except, she wasn't exactly on high alert...

...and she seemed to be having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

That's some sloppy surveying, if you ask me.  She'd better hope her domain isn't usurped by a certain striped cat...

Snoopervisors

Spotlight on Scarlett

These pictures were taken at the same time as the video from yesterday; Scarlett was sitting on the vanity looking up and out the window at the orange kitty.  Somehow my camera interpreted the light in a cool and dramatic way, making it look like Scarlett is in a spotlight!  Our resident tuxie is a bit of a limelight hog, so good for Scarlett, I say.

A New Neighbor Cat

The area outside my bedroom window is a popular place for the neighborhood outdoor cats to visit. Several different ones have come by, Ashley most frequently, but lately we've been having visits from an orange tabby.  Side note: the tabby has the most unusual eyes I think I've ever seen on a cat.  They're such a deep shade of orange that they actually appear brown, which gives them an oddly human look.

This video is a collection of short clips from the cats' encounters with the orange kitty.  The camera had some focus problems toward the end, but I left that clip in because Melly's squeaks are just too funny.  

Graceful Mellybean

Here is Melly, just sitting and calmly looking out the window.  I am fairly certain she has a switch she can flip to turn on the extreme adorableness.  I mean, just look at those paws, carefully placed in third position for maximum cuteness.

The photo above reminded me of one from Melly's youth.  Remember this?  

Snuggles!

The cats normally sleep on opposite corners of the bed, but when I woke up a couple days ago, I discovered this:

I think that qualifies as actual snuggling!  I was surprised the cats held still long enough for me to get a picture, although they both looked pretty embarrassed.

I dismissed it as a fluke, until I woke up in the middle of the night a few days later and discovered more snuggling!  I grabbed my camera and got these two pictures:

Cute kitties.

Wordless Wednesday

Umbrella Adventures

Umbrellas make excellent hiding spots in the hallway, the better for ambushing unsuspecting fuzzy roommates. 

"Hey, get outta here! You're giving away my hiding spot."

"Heh, MY hiding spot now."

"Nope, MINE."

"That's right, stripycat, MY umbrella. Skeedaddle."

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Take 2

A couple of years ago, I made my first strawberry rhubarb pie. It didn't turn out particularly well (you can see it here), but it tasted good enough that I thought it would be worth another try.  It's taken me a while to work up the resolve to attempt another pie, but the grocery store had local rhubarb on sale a couple days ago, so I picked up a couple of pounds and resolved to conquer my pie crust nemesis once and for all.

This is the result:

A little lumpy, but not bad!

The crust recipe came from Willow Bird Baking, and I picked it for a couple of reasons: it uses a combination of butter and shortening, and the instructions are fool proof.  The mission of the Willow Bird Baking blog is to inspire confidence in the kitchen and to make complicated baking approachable, so I thought this recipe particularly appropriate for my pursuit of victory over pie crust.  I am pleased overall with how it turned out so I'll definitely be using this recipe again. (I made a couple of mistakes, but I know what not to do next time.)

The filling of the pie is amazing.  The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen and is the result of a recipe overhaul in an effort to make a filling that doesn't fall apart into a puddle.  The filling does indeed hold together (the trick: tapioca), and it's perfectly, deliciously tart.  Apple pie is still my favorite, but this has taken the place of pumpkin as number two.

Saturday PhotoHunt: Scoop

I was searching and searching for a photo to use today when I came across this one:

It made me laugh out loud, so I had to post it.  In case you're wondering how it fits in with the theme, Melly has been scooped up by my sister.  Ok, it's a bit of a stretch.

Now, some context: last summer, I discovered what I thought was a mat on Melly's posterior. As it turned out, it was not a mat  (for more on that, and pictures of a sopping wet Melly, click here), but I didn't find that out until after a failed attempt at removing it.  This picture was taking during the failed attempt.  Observe Melly's open mouth; you can be assured that she is loudly protesting this indignity!

Melly and the Window

Here is Melly, back at her favorite window spot. It's supposed to get up to 80 degrees here this weekend, so there will be lots more window time for the Mellybean.

Bookends, and a vet update

I love the symmetry here:

The vet's visit last night was delightfully uneventful.  The vet, Kate, plied Melly with lots of treats, so Melly was more than happy to hang out and be poked and prodded.  She didn't so much as squeak when she got her vaccines!  Scarlett heard the crinkling of the treat bags, so she came out to see what was going on.  Much to my surprise, Scarlett allowed Kate to toss some treats to her!  She even got within a couple feet of Kate without hissing or growling or anything!  The whole visit only took about half an hour, and Melly was pronounced completely healthy.  Huzzah!