A truce?

Sam and Miho haven't gotten along - ever. This is not Sam's choice; it's been Miho's. If he comes close to her, there's a lot of hissing and batting. And then Sam looks confused because all he wants to do is be her friend. It's been this way since we first got him:

So, imagine my surprise when I turned around one day and saw this:

I thought it was a fluke, and then the next day, it happened again:

It is a small step, but it's more than we've seen in the 3.5 years we've had Sammy (who manages to always look brilliant in photos).

Excitement finds us

It's been a busy two weeks for me. I got the brilliant idea to take a speech class that was 3 credits in two weeks. Not exactly so much fun when I was taking four other classes, but at least it's done!

Then, I found out on Wednesday that my great aunt had died, so it was going to mean a trip down to Eddyville for the funeral on Saturday. By the time I got home that afternoon, I was just ready to crash and be a bum.

Nature had other ideas, though.

Jeremy took Sam out to go potty, and as he opened the door two ground squirrels/grinnys/chipmunks/whatever you call them ran at him and one actually ran inside. (Side story: I usually call them grinnys. The first time I saw one was at my granny's, and I got a kick out of saying "Granny's got grinnys!" My odd little sense of humor started early). I was sitting on the couch trying to get homework done, so I was a bit confused at why Jeremy was making odd noises outside of the door and why it was still open.

Then, I looked over and saw a little grinny, scared to death, staring at me from the kitchen. Miho also quickly spotted it and cornered it. I've never seen my tubby little cat run so fast.

I jumped up and grabbed two plastic containers to attempt to trap it to release it back in the wild. This did not go as planned.

It first ran behind the trash can, and I got it out, but it then ran over to the box pile. Sam then came in, shooed out Miho, and got the grinny to run back over to me. We tried this a few times to no avail.

I decide to get a lid to shoo it in to the box, but Sam got to it first. He grabbed it in his mouth, and Jeremy quickly moved him outside. (Sam does have a toy chipmunk; he grabbed onto the real one exactly like he does the stuffed one. I don't think the thing had a chance).

Unfortunately, the grinny didn't make it. I took one of Sam's poo bags and disposed of it in the Dumpster. Sam and Miho kept trying to refind it all night long, and I think Miho was a bit upset that she didn't get to finish her hunt.

I later saw the grinny's little friend, and it looked sad and depressed. I told it to blame Sam.

Now Sam has gone nutty and wants to really chase after everything he sees. I'm not looking forward to this.


Sammy's first kill

Iowa weather

Iowa weather is nutty. Today, one part of the state was under a thunderstorm warning while another was under a winter storm warning. We got the rain and hail.

Anyway, there is little to no grass in front of our apartment. This is where Sam goes out to go potty, but he is picky about his paws and doesn't like to get them wet or muddy. Both happen to him if it is raining out.

So, I tried to help him out today and made him some "rain boots." He was not thrilled at first:

You can even see the mud tracked in from the past in this photo up by the Swiffer.

However, the next time when we went out, I made him some bigger ones, and he actually sat patiently while I put them on and didn't try to rip them off. He even trotted down to the mail box with me and didn't seem to be bothered by them. I think he actually figured out that they kept his paws dry, warmer, and clean.

Woops

This is us, overlooking Florence.

So, I kinda forgot about this blog. Woops. Anyway, to quickly sum it up, we're still the apartment; house isn't sold; but life is good. I'm subbing full-time. I honestly have a job every day. I start classes on Jan. 20 through Mizzou's online program. I'm not in a graduate program yet, so I don't know what my degree will be in. I'm just "testing" the waters right now. Jeremy still likes his job and loves this winter weather. He's also in hockey heaven; he's in two leagues, and we'll be going to Vegas in April because he's on a traveling team (it's their only trip.). This means I get to finally see the Beatles' Love.

And, that about sums it up! Here's some pet photos (Chewy doesn't like to demean herself with crazy Christmas hijinks.)

Sam faces off with an evil bow. The main thing to point out in this photo is that he is not trying to eat the bow or harass me while I'm wrapping presents. I think he was admitting defeat in that something else was taking up my attention other than him.

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Miho apparently thinks she is worth of being wrapped as someone's present.