harley joseph arsego

have just a minute as its been a busy week already in the harley household. due to his attitudinal and energetic behavior, harley now has a full government so when he's super bad i can call him like our moms used to do with us, "harley joseph arsego! get OFF that stove RIGHT NOW!" lol water bottle still works best.

right now he's playing with the ring from the milk bottle. under strict supervision so as not to have a choking incident, and he has expressed his complete dislike in pate style cat food in amost unique way; he scrunches his fabric placemat up around the bowl. creative but messy lol

ah well, he likes guests and has a favorite spot or two to stretch out so i guess we're doing ok. found out he loves his catnip, and my toes. ouch!

harley's latest thing

so tonight i'm typing on my new netbook and as i'm learning the keyboard when i hear a strange sound coming from the right and behind me. seems a certain little, or rather, medium sized someone has learned how to stick his furry head between the quad fold closet doors and get inside! the good news is that mom is now equipped with a squirt bottle so we're a little more evenly matched. he's been good lately but the spring air seems to be making him friskier than before.

his other new thing is to run at a mad mad dash from anywhere in the apartment and then sliiiiiiiiide across the kitchen floor, being certain to bang into the base of the cabinets. he's been sticking his head in the fridge ever since day one but only seems truly interested when he sees me with kielbasa or deli meat.

well, its time to call it a night. someone needs to make up the bed and you can bet it's not harley bug.

harley says...part one

harley says, "yes" to...

... steamed salmon fancy feast appetizer wet food

... waddded up printer paper over any other toy

... red mouse toy second only to the wadded up paper

... sitting in the bedroom window

... mommy keeping the bedroom window blinds up 24 hours a day for me

... spreading out on the coffee table in front of the slider door

... sleeping on top of the kitchen cabinets

... watching mommy jump and gasp when i take her by surprise by being on the cabinets

... only liking the salmon flavored treats though there are eight flavors available

... walking on the computer keyboard, typing the wrong password to mommy's accounts

... sleeping anywhere i darn well please

a paws in the action

its been a busy few days in the sherri and harley household, mainly with us just lounging around like a couple of bums! easter morning we spent in bed watching "the holiday" with jude law and cameron diaz, kate winslet and jack black, while i ate some chocolate mints and he slept. or rubbed against the mini dvd player screen. or jumped to the window sill to watch our neighbors leaving for church or dinner. harley bug has nipped a bit more, but mainly when he's hungry and wants his bowl filled or when he's been overhandled which means being moved out of the way of the dvd screen :) i've told him he makes a better door than a window but he isn't amused. he's also started this new things, well, new to me, where he plops down to rest and lets out this sigh, kind of like a person would when they're comfy and settled in somewhere nice. it took me by surprise at first because i've only known my aunt's dog, thor, to do this; never a cat. we get out his angst with one of the interactive toys. he sure is crazy about those!

harley also finds my couch to be a tempting scratching post. i redirect him to one of his three mommy approved posts and he goes from there. when his first choice is the posts he's rewarded with some love. he's quite picky about the flavors of his treats so i'm making a list of the ones he doesn't like as we weed them out of the mix.

course we found out which wet food he likes by chance as we received an easter basket from my sister and her family and my aunt. i got bath stuff and he got toys and treats. seems the fancy feast steamed salmon at 4 for 5.00 at stop n shop is the pick of the six flavors of foods i tried. yea, champagne taste on a cat nip budget lol ah well, he knows he's cute so he gets what he likes.

off to bed now as we're beat from all this doing nothing!

very a-mew-sing, harley

i want to establish some what of a routine with harley bug (that's what i've been calling him and he seems not to mind it) for when i return from work. last night, since i was so sleepy from his antics the night before, i was more than happy to follow along from the previous night and simply sprawl across my bed while he plooped down beside me and we just chilled out together. he did take longer to relax than i did but this is ok, as he had been sleeping on this very bed when i opened the door and announced my return. the night before he'd been under the couch so we're definitely making progress. as he had been sleeping, he was excited for company. once he did some kneading and some head butting and the usual purring, we were both relaxed and fell asleep before 9pm.

one of the things i've noticed about harley is he's a bit dramatic. one minute he's quiet, very still, laying on the bed. the next he *throws* himself down hard and takes me by suprise. how he can throw himself down from a laying down position i don't know because he does this so quickly i miss where he gets the leverage from lol then last night, he proceeded to walk on the window sill and appeared to be between the curtains and the blinds, trying to see outside while the blinds were closed. this looked like a recipe for disaster so i called, "harley bug" and he left the window to lay down and go back to sleep.

we were in agreement, however, that the skunk smell coming in from our open bedroom window was unnecessary and not to our liking at all.

***

i had to step away for a moment as i was interrupted by a crash of some sort coming from the bedroom. the photographic evidence of who and what created that noise is shown above. needless to say harley is adventurous and would've continued exploring the bedroom closet had i not encouraged him to leave the clothes hangers in peace.

i'm also happy to report that the collar has remained on and he doesn't seem to notice it anymore. also, after all the goodies purchased to amuse him, he enjoyed the wadded up piece of note paper the best, swatting that thing around like he was training for the olympics! we also discovered the back of the couch and how much we like to scratch it. as this is not acceptable, i found the old scratch board tiger used to use, bless him, and harley took to that right away. it's pretty worn so i'll pick up a new one for him this weekend.

seems someone wants my attention as my view is being blocked by a grey wall of fur and purring. best attend to his lordship :)

so, about last night

someone who shall remain nameless kept his new mommy up throughout the night with his meowing. and his jingle collar. and his jumping on and off the bed. oh! Let's not forget when someone found the bag of salmon flavored treats and mommy woke up to feed someone the treats. plus, seems mommy picked up friskie's moist food but maybe not the right flavors as someone doesn't seem to be eating it but does, at least, eat the dry food and drink well. then morning came and this same someone lies right along side mommy or sprawls out on the bed for the rest they now need and mommy didn't get. :)

someone also met a new family member, grandma, and not only met her but ran right up to her and accepted all kinds of scratching and petting and "oh my aren't you handsome"s. he proceeded to walk on her when she was seated and showed off his cat alert system when he heard noises in the hallway.

I think someone will be having many cat naps today for all their excitement during the night. :)

a few things about harley

1. he's stealth and very much ghost like. he is nowhere and then poof! he's everywhere. its almost uncanny and also a bit unnerving, especially as he likes to...

2. walk between and around my feet and sometimes at a rapid pace. this is why today, harley has been inducted into the hall of collar wearing cats. the bell warns me, annoys both of us, and the tag that reads "if i'm out, i'm lost" with his name and my number are because...

3. while he straightens like and arrow and goes into a trance at the sound of anything outside the door leading to the hallway, he is taking a keener interest in what is behind the door. the less wary he becomes the more likely he is to bolt.

so the collar, as shown here, is the skull and crossbones in deference to harley's attitudinal (new word, perhaps? lol) character. he seems fine with his except it did take him by surprise when he went to lie down on the table and it went "clink". he literally couldn't stop looking down for about five minutes lol such a mystery it created for him.

4. harley likes the vertical blinds. he walks between them and the slider door so that if you didn't know he was there, and you can't see him when he does this by the way, then you'd think a window was open or there was a spook.

5. he is a master of facial expressions. he looks adorable one minute, and attitudinal another. its like a shape shifter but only on his face lol

6. he's a love a nutter. big time with the head butts, the purring and the kneading continue. looking forward to snuggles again before bed tonight.

and lastly, 7. he was hiding under the couch when i got home from work today. he was mewing and i said, "harley, you're not being held hostage under there, come on out you silly bug." so he did his marine crawl with his front paws pulling him forward on his belly, and out he came with the aforementioned snuggles.

and best yet, he ate, drank, used the box and the apartment is, delightfully, in tact. and clearly well occupied. :)

do we *like* having the parking lot in view?

we're still undecided if we like being able to see the parking lot from our bed room window. we're watching the cars leave for work, and we're staying at a distance meaning the bed vs. the window post.

meanwhile, harley was on the bed with me during the night like he is now, purring, kneading the duvet, and rubbing up against me. he also slept with his head on my foot for a little bit and woke me up with his crying twice. once was just before my alarm went off at 6am.

he has three food choices and i think i see a dent made in the dry food. just explained to him i have to work today so he'll be alone for awhile. hope he does well with that.