Random Lunacy

Our water provider is doing some work on the system in our neighborhood today, so we got a notice that the water might be off sometime between 9:00am and 2:00pm today. We prepped for it, filling pitchers with water to leave by the various sinks for handwashing... and this morning, after my shower, I also filled the bathtub so that we'd have some water to use for flushing if we needed it (a trick I learned as a kid... because we'd do that whenever we were expecting a typhoon).

Once the tub was full enough, I headed into the next room and not three minutes later heard a flurry of furious splashing coming from the bathroom... before I could even rush back to make sure the cat was okay (because, yeah, it was definitely one of the cats and I was pretty certain I knew which one), a completely *drenched* Numfar came tearing out the door and ran down the hall.

I grabbed a towel and tried, fairly unsuccessfully, to keep from laughing... eventually finding her hiding underneath the dining room table, really spooked and also really pissed off. She was just absolutely soaked all through (apparently, her fur acts quite nicely as a sponge, because wow... was that a LOT of water). I managed to get her corralled, wrapped her in a towel and held her for a bit until she finally relaxed and started purring.

I have no idea if she just leaped into the bathtub without looking first or if she was trying to check the water out and slipped in... but now I'm mostly just hoping this hasn't scared her out of the bathroom permanently. I would really miss having her in there guarding me every morning while I take my shower (which she does, every day... sitting with her back to the shower, staring at the door. Unless there's something else she really wants to do, in which case she'll bring Mr. Mouse (the Beanie Baby mouse) in to stare at the door while I shower. Yes, really).

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

Followup on Numfar and the mouse: Still no idea where she caught it... I was assuming she would become obsessed with the area of the house where she found it (as an example, she once found a spider in a particular corner of our bathroom and now every time she walks into that room she checks that spot first... as if it is the room's spider dispenser or something), but nothing seems out of the ordinary from her today. I still just keep thinking back to how happy and proud she was... and I'm so glad that sort of thing doesn't bother me, because I think she would have been absolutely crushed if I'd freaked out about her first real kill (since I don't think bugs and spiders count). She was definitely bringing it to me to show off so I could be proud and happy, too. But again, soooo glad it happened while I was still awake.

Today we had just a few errands to run and had planned on spending the day working on projects around the house. First, we headed over to kehf's place... she was giving away her elliptical trainer, which is something I've seriously wanted (for those days when it's just too cold/rainy/snowy to go walking outdoors and I don't have time to go to the gym). With a bit of help, we managed to get it into the back of our car and got it home and set up before lunchtime!

We grabbed lunch at our favorite spot, followed by a run out to Home Depot to pick up a few things, then decided to go for a nice 30-40 minute walk on the Marymoor Connector Trail since we were already down in Redmond. And of course, after we parked, we had to do a quick look around to see if there were any Geocaches nearby that we hadn't found yet. Turned out we'd parked about 50 feet from the start of a Difficulty 3 / Terrain 4 Multi-Cache (Difficulty and Terrain are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the absolute hardest... and a Multi-Cache is a Geocache that has multiple waypoints with clues or information that eventually lead you to the final location). After a bit of dithering (because neither of us was particularly feeling like doing a D3/T4 today), we decided we could at least get started with it and work our way along the waypoints until it got too tough, then save what we'd figured out up to that point and finish it on another day. Ha!

I didn't keep close track of the time, but I think we were out there a bit over two hours... and for a great deal of it we were tromping through tall grass coated with a thick layer of fallen leaves, often hiding fallen trees and sloggy, muddy terrain. Probably the best workout I've had in ages, but wow... I am *sore* tonight, not to mention incredibly tired. We followed a lot of game trails to reach some of the waypoints, but also did a fair bit bushwhacking and climbing over fallen trees and branches and through thickets of shrubs and blackberries. And did I mention the mucky, muddy ground? Despite all that, it was pretty obvious that the terrain would be a whole lot worse at other times of the year (that area was actually a bit drier than it will be in the spring and there were relatively few blackberry brambles compared to how it will be later in the year). In the end, we managed to make our way over to the final location and found the cache! Yay! I love caches like this, where you actually feel like you earned every bit of the D/T rating to make the find. I still can't believe we did the whole thing today, though. Definitely not in our original plans.

And, even better, we did some detours along the way and found a few other caches and then got to go walking through "Doggie Disneyland" (aka the Marymoor Off-Leash Dog Park -- 40 acres of woods, fields and a dog's dream come true), which is probably one of my most favorite things to do. The place was hopping today, too, with dogs everywhere... running around, having the times of their lives and just being completely and utterly happy. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

ETA: Aha! I found a pretty good video about Marymoor Offleash Dog Park out on YouTube... just to give a bit of an idea of what it has too offer in its 40 acres.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

So, last year I wrote about how Numfar goes on guard duty whenever I take a shower (and even got a photo of her doing it). She's pretty much always done it, and kept up the habit when we moved to the new house... there are a few times when she gives up her post: if the bathroom door is closed or if she knows rackham is in the other room or, as we recently found out, if she knows the bedroom door is closed, then she'll hop up on the ledge right next to the shower and chatter at me the whole time.

So, you can imagine my surprise this morning when I left both doors open and Rackham had headed off to work... and Numfar had hopped up next to the shower with her back to the door to chatter at me. My first thought was to wonder if Rackham had come back home for some reason, or perhaps he was ill and hadn't actually left this morning (I quickly ruled out the thought that there might be a stranger in the house... Numfar is so stranger-phobic that she would have been glaring at the door and growling if that were the case). Then I got out of the shower and saw exactly why she felt we were secure:

( Photo behind the cut. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

Some friends gave Roger Roger to us for Christmas one year, wrapped in a small coffin-shaped box. We actually keep him tied to a chair these days, because he falls apart fairly easily... and for some reason, Numfar is convinced that he loves her and will pet her at any moment if she just hangs around long enough.

( A cat and her cardboard robot friend. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

No photo to go with this one, but it was too funny not to share. So, every morning, Numfar brings Mr. Mouse out through the kitchen to where we have the desks and drops him on the floor at my feet or behind me (singing the muffled song of her people the entire way). This morning, I heard her muffled "singing" and called out "Are you bringing Mr. Mouse?" And then heard something a bit unusual. Instead of a cushy, Beanie Baby noise I usually hear when she drops Mr. Mouse, there was this rather solid *plop*.

I turned around, just in time to see Numfar backing away from the small bowl filled with the egg I'd set down on the floor for the cats this morning (the yolk had broken and I didn't want scrambled), only now the bowl was also filled with Mr. Mouse. *headdesk*

I got him washed off and I don't think any of the egg sank into his "fur" but really, Numfar? And the whole time, she was looking at me like I'd lost my mind and was being extra cruel by depriving Mr. Mouse of his treat or something.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.