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shannon_aOK, that's not really the big headline of the day, but I like how it sounded.
Kimberly and I had dinner at Costco, where their "food court" is clearly another loss-leader for them, just like their rotisserie chicken. Kinda greasy, but so cheap. Maybe I'll have the Caesar Salad next time. That'll definitely be less greasy.
Our trip to Costco was the end of an afternoon in Lihue. I knocked off work 30 minutes early to get Kimberly to a doctor's appointment. She learned a bit about navigating, and I learned a bit more about where everything is in a Lihue. (We did one complete loop on the way, where her navigation and my geography failed us.)
And we were done at the doctor's office at 4.30 or something, so we didn't want to drive home yet, because of traffic. So we got yet more sundries at Wal*mart, then ate dinner at Costco, and got some lunch food for the week there. And some sweets. (But not much else: it turns out we got weeks worth of food last week.)
But the time we were heading home it was a bit after 6, which means we drove into the twilight.
And that was really good. I was a bit shaken after my drive in the dark yesterday, especially given the humidity/fog debacle. Tonight we still had a bit of light, but there were an increasing number of headlights as we headed home, and almost full darkness every time we dipped into a valley.
I still wasn't loving when I had a stream of cars coming from the opposite direction, blinding me. But the highway was a lot better road to drive than my last few roads last night (Tree Tunnel and Koloa), and it wasn't full dark, and so that all helped me to get used to the night-driving on the two-lane highways a little better. Which is another small victory in a slow series.
My real headline for the day is something like: "In Which Our Cats Try to Kill Each Other in the Night".
Let's hop into the Wayback Machine for the history ...
Twenty years ago when Kimberly and I moved in together to our north Berkeley apartment, she brought with her a handsome, dignified, and beloved cat named Cobweb (as well as a playful, dumb, and beloved cat named Munchkin, who isn't a part of this story).
As far as I know, Cobweb had never seen a sliding glass door before our north Berkeley apartment, and she soon learned it was an instrument of TORTURE!!!
The problem was a cat we named Nemesis, who would wander around outside, including to the pseudo-balcony outside our sliding glass door. She would then roll around, show her stomach, and otherwise torment poor Cobweb inside. And Cobweb wanted this interloper out of her territory. She would bodily throw herself against the sliding glass door. And Nemesis would just loll about, unconcerned.
We were somewhat concerned that Cobweb might hurt herself, and we at first were somewhat concerned that she might break the door, because she really threw herself at it hard. But it was mesh-reinforced, and we soon decided that wasn't going to happen.
But still we deterred the behavior whenever we could (and chased Nemesis off).
A year later we moved to our 19-year home in south Berkeley, which had no sliding-glass door.
Occasionally a cat that we dubbed Tuxedo Max would poke his head in at the roof level with the top of the garage that overlooked our Living Room. Later a cat I dubbed Ghost did the same. And Cobweb sometimes threw herself at that window too, which we were genuinely afraid she would knock out of frame. But eventually that probably faded, and in later years none of our cats were really bothered, not Cobweb and Munchkin, and later not Lucy and not Callisto.
But we did learn that Callisto was fiercely territorial the last time we cat-sat Guest Cat, my sister's beloved Tai-Chi, because Callisto made running, thrashing, clawing attacks at him a few times that we had to ward off, and then we had to keep them separated.
Enter Hawaii. We have a sliding glass door, downstairs, exiting our Family Room. And we have a cat that's either feral or living in the house behind us that thinks our house is his territory. I've dubbed him Moon.
And at least three nights since we've been here I've been woken by Callisto yowling at the Moon. And hissing and thrashing about and generally raising a huge ruckus. I wish she just threw herself at the door!
But what really got me out of bed each night, and it happens between 0 and 2 hours after I go to bed every night, is that Lucy and Callisto then get into it, fighting each other!
After I broke it up the first night, just a few minutes after I went to bed, my assumption was that things happened like this: Callisto yowled and growled and threatened Moon. And it was really annoying. And Lucy got pissed off and ran in and attacked Callisto. Leading to the situation I found. (And I figured this because Lucy does get pissy when something annoys her.)
But I've since read about "misplaced aggression" which can happen when a territorial cat sees an interloper and then is confronted with one of her "friendly" cats. And because she's all worked up, she then attacks that friendly cat. So it's entirely possible that Lucy was like, "Hey, what's up?" And Callisto chased her down.
After two nights of this in a row (one right after I went to bed, one about two hours after I went to bed), I started drawing the curtain and leaving the patio light on, and that seemed to deter Moon.
And I know I accidentally left the lights on for a few nights after that, even if the curtain wasn't closed. I really think the lights are what Moon doesn't like, and I figured that from the start because of the way he shows up right after we go to bed.
But eventually I decided the problem was resolved, and so after my exhausting night-time drive last night, I neglected to redraw the curtains or turn on the patio lights.
DA-DA-DA-DUUUUM!
About an hour and a half after I went to bed last night, I was again woken. And this time our two cats were really angry with each other. They kept facing off and growling and I couldn't convince either to stay in bed (on our mattress, I should say), where we could keep them separate from the other.
After another two hours of being woken up by growling standoffs, I finally locked Lucy inside our bedroom and Callisto outside.
They were still unhappy with each other this morning, but they finally mellowed out after I was working for an hour or two. Apparently my office is the ultimate panacea for cat woes, because it contains me, the cat tree, cat treats, and (for the moment) sunlight so warm that the cats can't stand it.
Which is good, because I'd worried that they might have permanently damaged their relationship.
What do you do about a problem like Moon-i-a? After reading quite a few suggestions, I settled on a motion-activated ultrasonic device. As with everything ordered from Hawaii, it'll be here in a week.
Unfortunately, after a day of quiet, around 10pm Lucy started growling at Callisto again.
Apparently, when night fell, she remembered that they'd been fighting.
Sigh.
Kimberly and I had dinner at Costco, where their "food court" is clearly another loss-leader for them, just like their rotisserie chicken. Kinda greasy, but so cheap. Maybe I'll have the Caesar Salad next time. That'll definitely be less greasy.
Our trip to Costco was the end of an afternoon in Lihue. I knocked off work 30 minutes early to get Kimberly to a doctor's appointment. She learned a bit about navigating, and I learned a bit more about where everything is in a Lihue. (We did one complete loop on the way, where her navigation and my geography failed us.)
And we were done at the doctor's office at 4.30 or something, so we didn't want to drive home yet, because of traffic. So we got yet more sundries at Wal*mart, then ate dinner at Costco, and got some lunch food for the week there. And some sweets. (But not much else: it turns out we got weeks worth of food last week.)
But the time we were heading home it was a bit after 6, which means we drove into the twilight.
And that was really good. I was a bit shaken after my drive in the dark yesterday, especially given the humidity/fog debacle. Tonight we still had a bit of light, but there were an increasing number of headlights as we headed home, and almost full darkness every time we dipped into a valley.
I still wasn't loving when I had a stream of cars coming from the opposite direction, blinding me. But the highway was a lot better road to drive than my last few roads last night (Tree Tunnel and Koloa), and it wasn't full dark, and so that all helped me to get used to the night-driving on the two-lane highways a little better. Which is another small victory in a slow series.
My real headline for the day is something like: "In Which Our Cats Try to Kill Each Other in the Night".
Let's hop into the Wayback Machine for the history ...
Twenty years ago when Kimberly and I moved in together to our north Berkeley apartment, she brought with her a handsome, dignified, and beloved cat named Cobweb (as well as a playful, dumb, and beloved cat named Munchkin, who isn't a part of this story).
As far as I know, Cobweb had never seen a sliding glass door before our north Berkeley apartment, and she soon learned it was an instrument of TORTURE!!!
The problem was a cat we named Nemesis, who would wander around outside, including to the pseudo-balcony outside our sliding glass door. She would then roll around, show her stomach, and otherwise torment poor Cobweb inside. And Cobweb wanted this interloper out of her territory. She would bodily throw herself against the sliding glass door. And Nemesis would just loll about, unconcerned.
We were somewhat concerned that Cobweb might hurt herself, and we at first were somewhat concerned that she might break the door, because she really threw herself at it hard. But it was mesh-reinforced, and we soon decided that wasn't going to happen.
But still we deterred the behavior whenever we could (and chased Nemesis off).
A year later we moved to our 19-year home in south Berkeley, which had no sliding-glass door.
Occasionally a cat that we dubbed Tuxedo Max would poke his head in at the roof level with the top of the garage that overlooked our Living Room. Later a cat I dubbed Ghost did the same. And Cobweb sometimes threw herself at that window too, which we were genuinely afraid she would knock out of frame. But eventually that probably faded, and in later years none of our cats were really bothered, not Cobweb and Munchkin, and later not Lucy and not Callisto.
But we did learn that Callisto was fiercely territorial the last time we cat-sat Guest Cat, my sister's beloved Tai-Chi, because Callisto made running, thrashing, clawing attacks at him a few times that we had to ward off, and then we had to keep them separated.
Enter Hawaii. We have a sliding glass door, downstairs, exiting our Family Room. And we have a cat that's either feral or living in the house behind us that thinks our house is his territory. I've dubbed him Moon.
And at least three nights since we've been here I've been woken by Callisto yowling at the Moon. And hissing and thrashing about and generally raising a huge ruckus. I wish she just threw herself at the door!
But what really got me out of bed each night, and it happens between 0 and 2 hours after I go to bed every night, is that Lucy and Callisto then get into it, fighting each other!
After I broke it up the first night, just a few minutes after I went to bed, my assumption was that things happened like this: Callisto yowled and growled and threatened Moon. And it was really annoying. And Lucy got pissed off and ran in and attacked Callisto. Leading to the situation I found. (And I figured this because Lucy does get pissy when something annoys her.)
But I've since read about "misplaced aggression" which can happen when a territorial cat sees an interloper and then is confronted with one of her "friendly" cats. And because she's all worked up, she then attacks that friendly cat. So it's entirely possible that Lucy was like, "Hey, what's up?" And Callisto chased her down.
After two nights of this in a row (one right after I went to bed, one about two hours after I went to bed), I started drawing the curtain and leaving the patio light on, and that seemed to deter Moon.
And I know I accidentally left the lights on for a few nights after that, even if the curtain wasn't closed. I really think the lights are what Moon doesn't like, and I figured that from the start because of the way he shows up right after we go to bed.
But eventually I decided the problem was resolved, and so after my exhausting night-time drive last night, I neglected to redraw the curtains or turn on the patio lights.
DA-DA-DA-DUUUUM!
About an hour and a half after I went to bed last night, I was again woken. And this time our two cats were really angry with each other. They kept facing off and growling and I couldn't convince either to stay in bed (on our mattress, I should say), where we could keep them separate from the other.
After another two hours of being woken up by growling standoffs, I finally locked Lucy inside our bedroom and Callisto outside.
They were still unhappy with each other this morning, but they finally mellowed out after I was working for an hour or two. Apparently my office is the ultimate panacea for cat woes, because it contains me, the cat tree, cat treats, and (for the moment) sunlight so warm that the cats can't stand it.
Which is good, because I'd worried that they might have permanently damaged their relationship.
What do you do about a problem like Moon-i-a? After reading quite a few suggestions, I settled on a motion-activated ultrasonic device. As with everything ordered from Hawaii, it'll be here in a week.
Unfortunately, after a day of quiet, around 10pm Lucy started growling at Callisto again.
Apparently, when night fell, she remembered that they'd been fighting.
Sigh.