Our Super Intelligent Pepina

Pepina, our 2 year old calico cat, is very smart.

She's bi-lingual, or as much as she can be, given that it's been many many years since I had high school Spanish! I swear she knows exactly what I'm saying when I call her in English and in Spanish. She can understand the short phrases I use in both English and Spanish too. I would like to learn a little Italian, so we can communicate in that language too, but we'll see.

Pepina can also tell time. We have a BIG clock on our wall, over the fireplace, and she likes to look at it occasionally. Ted took it down to clean it and adjust the time last fall. (It was designed to change with Daylight Savings Time all on its own, but "the powers that be" decided to change the dates of the time changes, so we've had to change it ourselves, then change it back when the time really does change.)

So when Ted took the clock down, she looked up at the big empty space on the wall and meowed a lot. She kept staring at it and was looking for a way to climb up there, but she couldn't find one, thank goodness. The jumps would have just been too big. You could see the relief in her eyes when the clock went back up.

Recently I was sitting in the recliner, going through the mail, and she was behind me in the kitchen. (Our living room/kitchen/dining area are all open to each other.) I heard a noise, and turned around. Pepina was up on the bar of the island and had moved a pen, trying to attract my attention. She was sitting there, prim and proper, staring at me, with one paw on the little box where we keep the cans of cat food. She just stared at me.

I turned around and glanced at the clock. It was exactly 5:00 pm. We feed "the girls" at 5:00 pm. She was telling me that it was time to eat.

She's so dang smart.

Snow Day #5

(For those of you looking for the next chapter in the "Cindi and Ted" story, stay tuned...it's coming very soon!)

Well, this is it as far as freebies are concerned. If we have another snow day this week, then we will need to make it up on Monday, Presidents' Day.

We really did get a fair amount of snow. In fact, it's still snowing lightly right now, at 4:00 pm, and it began sometime during the night.

Alex didn't have school either, and even Joey's college classes were cancelled. Of course Ted is still home, still sick.

So sick, in fact, that we went back to the doctor again this morning. He's on a "big gun" antibiotic, as the doctor says, along with something different for the coughing. His coughing is absolutely horrendous, yet he still thinks that he may go to work tomorrow. Nope, not gonna happen. I seriously doubt if he'll go at all this week. He's feeling a lot of guilt about that, but there's no sense in going if he can't do the work. I understand that he "thinks" he's letting everyone there down, but come on...they'll really be upset with him if they catch what he has!

I did some cooking and cleaning yesterday, but today I haven't done much of anything except take Ted to the doctor in the snow. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes! I could really handle taking a short nap, but I doubt that will happen.

Pepina has become very attached to me lately for some reason or another. She was sleeping on my shoulder last night, but had to get down when I had to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. When I came out of the bathroom, there she was, waiting for me on the bed. She tried to settle back into her spot on my shoulder before I could even lie down. She's meandering around my ankles right now as I type. If I leave to go anywhere, she hears the garage door open and close and waits for me at the back door. Such feline dedication...I love it!

Well, it's off to either start dinner...or take a nap!

Pepina Marie

My precious Pepina...what a sweetheart. She'll be 2 years old in March. She's affectionate, and likes to jump up on me, curl up against my shoulder and snooze for a while.

She can be sooooooooo deceiving too.

On Christmas Eve day, "P" (as we affectionately call her sometimes) was on the kitchen counter, directly underneath the cupboard where the kitty treats are kept. Ted has her trained. If she wants a treat, she has to give him a kiss on the cheek first. Now, if we ask her, she'll give any of us a kiss if she wants a treat. Of course, we need to ask for it first.

She sat on the counter very patiently, but finally let out a little "meow" attempting to attract attention to herself. I saw her, and said, "No treats 'P'...you just had some a little while ago."

She continued to sit there for a moment, then took a step, put a paw back by the cookie jar, and with a determined push, knocked my digital camera off the counter, onto the tile floor. She then sat up straight and looked at the cupboard, again waiting for her treat. I, on the other hand, just looked at her with my mouth open.

Now before you begin to laugh and tell me that it's all my fault for having the camera on the counter, let me tell YOU that the camera was way back, almost to the back wall, between the cookie jar and the toaster. It had been left there in a hurry, and she's definitely seen the camera before, so it was nothing new to her.

She was mad. She had decided that if she wasn't going to get a treat, she was going to do something that would irritate me.

And she was successful.

Naturally I checked the camera to see if it worked. Not really. If you hold it just right, with the right amount of pressure on two different parts, then it will come on. However, if you attempt to take a picture, it turns off right away. I tried new batteries. Same thing.

Christmas Eve and no working digital camera. Sigh.

Christmas morning, I dug around and found the old 35 mm camera. Fortunately there was still a roll of film in it and a few extra rolls in the case.

That night Joey and I were talking about gifts and different things and he commented that he was sure I'd have a new camera by next Christmas. Then he laughed and said I'd probably have one by my birthday (July). Then I laughed and said that I planned on getting a new one the next day.

And I did.

Thanks Pepina...but you're still not getting a treat!

Pepina's Vet Visit

Last Monday Pepina went in for her annual visit to the vet. I was very curious to hear what he said about her. She is 16 months old, so she is pretty much full grown now. He said that she has a very healthy coat, her teeth are in good shape, her kidneys seem fine and her eyes and nose all look great too.

He said that we are obviously taking very good care of her. That made me feel so good. We try to take the best care of her that we can, and it seems to be working out. Okay, we can even go so far as to say that we spoil her.

She weighs 12 lbs. 6 oz. and he said that her weight is good, but he said that she is about at the top of the chart on weight and to not let her gain much more. I told him that she probably did weigh a little more than that, but she has lost a little because of how she and Marina chase each other. They can run through here and you would think that we had a herd of buffalo! They will bounce off the cold air register occasionally when they are going so fast that they can't negotiate the turn in the hall. It's hysterical.

I think the world of our vet. He talks to our girls like they are the most special cats in the world. He makes us feel like we are perfect "parents" to them. He always comments on how beautiful they look too. I don't care if he does it for every patient he has or not, but he sure makes us feel good about what we're doing for Pepina and Marina.

"P" got two shots and her leukemia "blast" and she was pretty much out of it for the rest of the day. That's totally typical, so it wasn't anything to worry about. Marina just couldn't understand why "P" didn't want to play, and she kept trying to bother her. We tried to keep "MiMi" away from "P" but it didn't always work.

Anyway, we have two very healthy cats, and we're happy about that!