New Moon

Yes, I watched the movie. No it did not live up to the hype. It was good, don't get me wrong, but it did not follow the story line by any means and I seriously felt like more was supposed to happen that did not. In fact, I think that I may have been thinking about the next one in line, but I guess that is what I get for reading all of the books at once in order to avoid spoilers on the internet. Anywho it was a night at my parents and we brought the cats. I did this just to see if they could handle a full on assault of not only my father, but the dog as well. Now they have been around dogs before, and even lived with one for a while, but I was scared that the one that we had planned on sending away to vacation with a friend of ours to test out her dog's ability to live with a cat, would be less that happy with the situation.

From this visit we learned that all decorative items of any sort have to be removed from view. My mother has a plate shelf on the wall behind her couch, and a crazy cat of ours tried to jump on it. Needless to say, he got one paw up and we yelled before he could go any further. This didn't stop him though and we had to watch him like a hawk. Also, Apollo hates the dog (Keller) he was scared all night long, and would not move from the 'safe room' that the dog is not allowed in (aka my parent's living room) Needless to say, I knew this would happen, and that is why Apollo was not our first choice to go live with a dog. Baltar however surprised us. He played with Keller, and even chased him around a bit. By the end of the night, Keller was crying for someone to save him from our killer cat, and we were happy to take them both home. They are getting better with the trips to places, but I think Baltar still gets a little carsick once in a while because he has tummy issues.

We also learned the following:

1-Cats like birds, and covering the cage with a blanket will achieve nothing, the cats go under the blanket to find what they want.

2-Cats like high places, like my mothers china cabinet. Although it is a nice perch for them, the gasps from my mother as he hit candle holders and trinkets were not so nice.

3- Our cats like water. Especially all of the tanks in my mother's house which house turtles, and fish. Keeping lids on these and lights off is crucial in order for them not to pester fishies and turtles.

4- Cats are quick and like popcorn. Don't leave your bowl unattended.

5-If they think they can fit, they will try, even if they get stuck. Watch them close in order to pull them out.

6- Don't try to watch a movie with crazy cats, you will end up pausing it a lot, or simply missing parts of it to deal with cats like I did.

7- Treats work well to get cats into carriers, and work even better to get dogs attention back onto the cats. We will probably be using treats sparingly when it comes to traveling to my parent's now.

8-They love plants, especially ones with vines. Great thing about vines is that they are like strings, they like to bite and pull strings. Can you picture a pot falling off a shelf onto a cat? Just get a viney plant, and you can see it happen! (Thankfully the 10lb plant did not fall on the cat, but he tried)

9- Keep curtains closed, one crack will leave you with shredded curtains as they are curious and want to know what is going on in the dark outside.

10- Shutting the lights off in every room but the one you are in will keep the cat in the room you are in or the one next to it. Don't know why this happens, but the seem to like to be around the light, and it is very helpful in keeping track of where they have gone.