We Have A Cookie

So last weekend's air soft open house went well--there were lots of guys out on the field, and D was out there all day, except of course to eat a late lunch. In the end, he had a blast and came away sore. That was a lot of running around apparently!

I didn't see a thing, for the battles were fought in the brush a good ways from the entrance, so instead I just played with a little six-week-old tom, Cookie. Since I moved away, the cats have been slightly neglected in terms of human attention, so the two litters that had been born since I left were a little shy.  They weren't opposed to getting attention, just being held. Apparently a benefit of them being a little shyer is that Mom can go outside with her computer and have less kitty-editing. Haha!

Odo in June

Ailisa and Esther, Cookie's great-grandmother and grandmother.

Cookie and his two brothers, Chocolate and Chip, spent their nights in the feed shed and were brought to the house every morning, while their several-month-older sisters, Shadow, Mallory, and Dixie, went where they pleased. Oh, and if you're wondering where the boys' names came from, there were originally four kittens. And when my sister went on Facebook asking for names, she got lots of suggestions, but the ones she went with were my husband's idea. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. My husband's favorite ice cream flavor. Dough got adopted out at two weeks when a neighbor's cat lost all her kittens, so Chocolate, Chip (the runt), and Cookie were the ones left when I got there last weekend. Chocolate is black, while Chip and Cookie are tabbies. Chip is smaller and a little bit more of an orange tabby (but only a tad, he's still a classic tabby), but Cookie is a bit grayer and has big paws that look like the very bottoms were dipped in black paint. His mother, by the way, is Kelly's older sister. Remember Kelly? She's the tabby that's gone feral around here. I still see her every now and then. And Cookie's sire is my favorite tom cat, a seal-pointed siamese colored mix, grandson of my old, late cat Ailisa, and therefore nephew of Odo, who disappeared in June. So, Cookie is related to both of the cats we originally had brought down here!

I don't know why, but Cookie was the one I chose to play with all weekend, and he got to hang out over at the entrance of the air soft field, playing with pallets or napping in my arms, and sometimes terrorizing a tarp that was hanging out at the entrance tent, when he wasn't inspecting the rental equipment shed and making sure it was still a good playhouse. He was my entertainment while D played on the field.

Cookie also learned a bit of what it was like to be inside, for when I was tired I would take him back to the house and play with him. So, D told me that we could take him home if I wanted. This was after my mother told me we could take him, and I, not having discussed it with D and thinking Cookie might want his mama for an extra couple weeks, turned her down. But Cookie proved over the weekend to not be reliant on mama anymore, and I never did discuss bringing him home with D. My husband's suggestion to bring him home was all that happened there, and so, pleasantly surprised by that for I hadn't mentioned Mom suggesting we bring him home already, I decided the little tom kitten could join our household.

Napping on the way to the gun show

Cookie first had to survive a long afternoon and evening on Sunday. Right after lunch, we departed, with my husband's friend and cousin in tow with his RV, and also my sister and brother in their own vehicle. We were headed for a little gun show an hour away from my parents' place and not anywhere on the route for home. Cookie slept curled up beside me the whole hour. The backup box was stowed beside us in our single-cab two-door F150.
During the show, he was boxed up and put in the RV to stay cool, and then when that was done he got switched back to our vehicle for a drive to a local Braum's. There is no Braum's in our area, so Dalton and I enjoyed the milkshakes--his was chocolate, mine cookies 'n cream--immensely. Cookie stayed in the RV for that and a trip to an Academy Sports & Outdoors that was nearby. The RV stayed parked in a nearby mall parking lot for this, and A and his cousin rode with my sister and brother in their vehicle.

An MVP Patrol, outfitted just like the one I saw at Academy.

And then, we were at Academy for a long time, a good hour or two, looking at first air soft stuff and then guns. D was showing A different kinds of handguns and W, my brother, was busy picking out gun attachments in that section. And then D decided to see if there was a rifle I would like--he wants me to have one I can handle, and being so small, he wanted to get me one more in my size. And the first one he picked out, a little Mossberg Patrol, was exactly what I wanted. Everything else seems less comfortable and/or required a scope, not iron sights. I can't stand scopes, for they drive my eyes crazy. With iron sights and a little practice (I can't remember the last time I shot a rifle), I could be effective.
D didn't get the gun, instead wanting to see where else he could get it and perhaps get it cheaper, plus we don't have several hundred dollars to spend unless we want to become "normal spenders" and go into debt on that. Even for a present like that, I don't want him to go overboard, and neither does he. I can trust him to be careful with our money--maybe spend a little more than I would have, but where's the harm in that? He makes it, so he can spend it! All I need is food and electricity. And enough money to pay the midwife now that the baby makes that a necessity, and he provides plenty for that.
Back to Cookie. It was about 6 o' clock when we drove back to the RV, and Cookie was napping in his box. And after making arrangements with other friends to meet at a Cracker Barrel between us, we were off. The three vehicles split ways--we headed west, the RV headed south, and W and L went back north.

He got those chicken 'n' dumplin's for breakfast and lunch Monday too.

Cookie proved to be a fun passenger. He loved to play with my shirt buttons and attempt to tear up the BDUs on the seat, plus play with our hands and sometimes look out the back window. And the truck's motion would keep him asleep most of the time. This was so unlike other cats of similar bloodline I had transported before. These other cats had been terrified of travelling in a vehicle, while Cookie seemed intrigued at times, and at others non-chalant.
When we got to Cracker Barrel, it was 8 o' clock, dark and cool. So, we left him in the cab with the windows slightly cracked, and he got to play for an hour while we sat inside the restaurant and ate. I filled up quickly on chicken 'n' dumplin's, so when we left those were boxed up and I brought them to Cookie, who hadn't eaten since noon.

He, of course, gorged himself, and while he did so the four of us talked. D and his best man stood off by themselves talking while his wife and I swapped cat stories. She has a house cat, and Cookie is to be a house cat until he gets big enough to survive on his own out in the wild. And when Cookie was done eating, I took the kitten out and let him play on the grass, waiting for him to take a bathroom break--which he hadn't done since the whole trip began. It took twenty or so minutes of hard play, but he finally did unload, and then he decided to run way out of my reach a few too many times, dashing across the empty parking lot. So I quickly scooped him up, and despite his protests put him back in the truck. Boy, did he start making a racket!
Finally, we headed home. It was now nearly 11 o' clock, and D had to get up at 6am the next morning. We were going to regret it (and did; we were both exhausted all day Monday), but it was worth it.
Cookie got one last potty break outside before we went to bed, and then he got his first experience of sleeping inside! After delaying our sleep by clobbering us on the face, he curled up beside us on our bed and slept all night.

His first morning with us

Sleeping on my shoulder yesterday

And so, he's been living with us ever since. Cookie spends his nights with us and then goes out at about 6am for his first bathroom break of the day. Then, when I get up at about 9am (I know, I sleep in...) I take him outside again. Then he gets to play inside all day or nap on my shoulder, and I take him outside when he shows signs of needing to go or just when I feel he needs it. If he doesn't need to go, he'll jump back on the step, and if he does need to go, he doesn't waste any time. Over the past few days, he's gotten to where I can leave him out there and when he's ready to come in he'll be meowing at the door again. Now to work on getting him to meow at the door when he needs to go out....

Playing on his favorite toy

He's had two recorded accidents, at about 5:45am one day while D was getting ready for work, and another while we were just leaving the house, headed for D's parents' place one evening. He decided to pee on me, the little freak. ;) I changed my shirt and then we were off again.
He finds houses exciting. He has to investigate every little corner. But when he's done exploring, he'll meow if he can't find anyone. All we have to do is call his name, and then he knows where we are and sometimes he comes to us, and other times starts exploring again. His favorite sleeping place is on top of me. And he's learned when it's bedtime to wind down, but of course now that he knows where the bed is, he runs off the last of his energy before climbing into bed and picking a place. His most precarious choice so far has been right between us--D nearly squished him one time rolling over. Other places will be right next to us or up on the pillows, on top of one of our heads. He's tried to sleep on top of one of us, but neither of sleep in one position all night so we move too much for his taste.

Playing in his fave toy

Sleeping at about 8am

The alarms D has go off, starting at 4:50am, Cookie finds fascinating. More precisely, he finds the glowing phone fascinating, and once he's awake enough to start being in a mood to walk around and check things out, he starts to play with the big smartphone. D, of course, then has to snooze the alarm before Cookie accidentally turns it off, which fortunately hasn't happened yet. Cookie does like to still play with the phone, and its motion-sensor screen lights up every little while with the time and lock symbol because the kitten has been playing with it.

Napping...

Typing on this computer is now fun, for if he's not napping, he is usually climbing all over the computer to get my attention. One time I was putting a picture up, and he deleted it. However, lucky for him, it was easy to fix.
His favorite toys so far are my ears (why?!), a plastic bag with three empty Powerade bottles in it that's on the floor, and a cloth. He also loves to get under the couch and play with that.
This has been my longest blog post yet! Next week, the day before my weekly blog post, I go in to see the midwife again. I'll be about 16 1/2 weeks along, and as of right now I'm starting to show just a little, but not enough to require a shopping trip for clothes yet. It's exciting knowing that there is a little baby within me, a little Baker, a little cowgirl or cowboy!

Oh: I completed one goal for this month. I rode a friend's grade TB gelding while we were up at my in-laws, to help diagnose the issues he has and suggest ways to solve them. That completed the goal of riding a horse this month!