Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Messing Around

It turns out San Geraldo and I have quite a lot in common with our cats.

Moose is a a worrier. So is San Geraldo.

Dudo, like me, is also a bit of a worrier. But, thanks to his slightly neurotic brother, he seems comparatively stable. (San Geraldo has the same effect on me.) 

Also, like San Geraldo, Moose can be a bit messy. He doesn't care if the bed is made. He'll still make himself comfortable. Laundry on the bed? No problem.

(Don't forget to click the images for the bigger picture.)

MOOSE:  "THE TOWELS WEREN'T AT ALL IN MY WAY.
YOU WEREN'T PLANNING ON MAKING THIS TODAY, WERE YOU?"

Dudo, on the other hand... paw, watches me make the bed in the morning (something I usually do and San Geraldo rarely does) and waits for me to neatly fold "his" blanket (click here for that and here to meet the sender of the blanket). Then he settles down... Once, that is, I've moved the blanket into the sun.

DUDO: "FINALLY!"

Moose tends to sprawl in whatever position strikes him. Dudo carefully circles and then poses himself elegantly. (OK, in this sense Moose and I are much more similar.)

MOOSE...
... AND DUDO

Unfortunately, Dudo's neatness doesn't carry over to the rest of his world. He and Moose leave their stuff (toys) all over the house and footprints all over the furniture. They trail litter onto the tile floor and shed everywhere. That's where their behaviors merge with San Geraldo's... except for the litter and the shedding... And maybe the footprints.

I've told you about the paper shredder (click here) at San Geraldo's desk that serves more time as a snack table. Since said snack table has been overflowing of late, he now has taken to using his book case as a dish rack.

"THERE'S ACTUALLY A PAPER SHREDDER UNDER ALL THAT.

Sadly, the dishes are not clean when they're stashed on the shelf. So I regularly retrieve bowls with dried-on cottage cheese. I've told him they'd be much easier to wash if he didn't let the food dry on.

"Just add water and it reconstitutes!" he says.

UN-RECONSTITUTED. AND THOSE BOOKS!  VOLUMES I THROUGH V ARE OUT OF ORDER.
IT COULD DRIVE ME CRAZY.

Over the weekend, I found the remains of a cheramoya on the bookshelf.

"What?!?" he said again.

"What?" I returned. "It's going to smell! It's unsanitary! It's going to attract bugs! That's what!"

"The cats like bugs!"

NO ROACHES... YET.  JUST CHERAMOYA SEEDS.

And to be clear, living with me is nothing like living with that guy from "Sleeping With The Enemy"!
SAN GERALDO FINDS MY CANS ENTERTAINING.
I WISH HE HADN'T USED TWO OF THE SMALL ONES.  NOW I HAVE TO REARRANGE.

21 comments:

  1. I know what you mean. We have the poser cats and the flop down anywhere cats, and the neurotic cats, and the lazy cats and the ... well, you get it.
    And Carlos and i are just like that, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob:
      Moose has become bossy (and very vocal). And Dudo just gives us those "puppy dog" eyes whenever he's hoping for something. I won't say whom they take after in those behaviors (although Jerry can be awfully bossy...).

      Delete
  2. When Tom and I first began to share an apartment, our first major ... warm discussion, was about his tendency -- after raising a bunch of teenagers -- to just let things sit around and my preference -- after thirty years in a monastery -- for things to be cleaned up and put away neatly. When we built the house where we now live, he threatened to put in two kitchens -- one he could actually use for cooking and one for me to show to guests.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael:
      The only way I would tolerate his and his kitchens is if HIS kitchen was in a separate building ... and I never had to see it.

      Delete
  3. I live with two of the biggest packrats ever to walk the face of this earth; I've adjusted... grudgingly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jacqueline:
      We were both packrats, but did some downsizing over the last 10 years, culminating in a major downsize to move here. What that's done is cause me to appreciate minimalism ... at times a bit too much. I was an organized packrat. Jerry was not. But I have always had at least one disastrous stash that no one else can see -- a dresser or desk drawer, a closet. That mess I think displays my true personality.

      Delete
  4. Many smiles and chuckles today -- merci Mitchell!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow so lovely cats. When I was a child my grandma had the same cat as yours. I like them both..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosia:
      I've been told they're called Domestic European Shorthairs and also Tuxedo Cats (among other names). Whatever they're called, these guys are sweethearts.

      Delete
  6. LOL! Don't you just love couples!!
    Some of this sounds familiar, Mitchell. I tend to be more OCD than Ron who also has a habit, much like SG, of letting things 'fall where they may', let's say.
    Hope you rearranged those small cans!! lol
    I really do think that Dudo is on 'our team'. Whereas Moose is somewhere in-between.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim:
      I'll have to tell the story about how I eat M&Ms (haven't had them for years). Just a bit creepy.

      Delete
  7. When you live with animals, like you do, you recognize that their personalities are so distinctive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephen:
      It's fascinating. We've had two sets of brother/litter-mates (a pair we got in San Diego in 1996 and Dudo and Moose here). In each case, their personalities could not have been any more different.

      Delete
  8. Just a little OCD? Love the cats, so beautiful in black and white.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda:
      Just a little. I alphabetize cook books and spices (and I don't cook). I used to color-organize my hanging clothes... but I'm lucky now to just be able to squeeze them all in the closet. (And there are usually multiple holes in our walls after I hang pictures -- because I decide that "that one needs to be moved to the right almost a half inch."

      Delete
  9. I'm with you. You know some odd people arrange books according to authors, subjects or titles. I expect you will agree with me that they need to be arranged by size.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew:
      I think I'd drive even you crazy. I organize books by subject matter first and then by size (not by author probably because I never remember the authors' names). Cookbooks alphabetically. Spices alphabetically.

      Delete
  10. I fear it is part of the cat agenda to assimilate; resistance is futile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spo:
      The cats are pleased with our progress. At first they thought we weren't trainable.

      Delete
    2. Just you wait when they get opposable thumbs

      Delete

Please visit www.movingwithmitchell.com if you would like to comment or stay up to date. I stopped posting here and reproduced all previous posts, as well, 25 September 2018. Thanks!!!