Toy-Toss Tuesday

IZA:  *I* did some great work chasin tossed toys last night.  An I have PROOF!

Here I am waitin fer the start of the mousie-tossin game.  So START already TBT!

 Im in position...

I move around a lot to have different attacks.  But Im choosy.  This one came by and I declined ta grab it.  While it is usually a favrit, this time was a no-go.  It needs ta be more over me than ta the side.

I went right after this rattley mouse.  TBT tries ta surprise me by where he tosses them.  But Im hard ta fool.

 Another decision not ta grab.  This one dint rattle.  Even though it can.  BAD TOSS TBT!

 I got after THIS one good!  See my shadow on the floor?  Isnt that cool?  I was up on just my back legs to pounce it.

No, I wasn't grabbin at nothin!  There IS a mousie there.  I just grabbed it pawfully.  And just LOOK at my determination an focus... 

I used the "scoop manuver" on this one.  Surround an grab.  Enclosed it pawfully and grabbed with my mouf.  NO chance it could get away...   Good practice of good technique.

And it deserved some playing-with.  I chased it around the room fer a while.  It had great rattley sounds.

Well, thats a typical evening of toy-tossing here.  I hope you get as much fun at yer place.

After The Tossin

AYLA: This is what it looks like after all the toys have been tossed by TBT while he eats his dinner (which is ALWAYS after ours, of course).  Iza got tired an left fer a nap an TBT doesnt appear inclined ta gather them all up again for another tossin session.  Which is OK cuz I really only chase the red plastic milk rings annyway.

So, I think I'll go find a good spot ta take a nap myself.  Mebbe Marley wants some nappin company...

Girlcat Monday

AYLA:  Usally, when Im carryin around a toy an singing my happy toy song, I drop them before I get near TBT.  Just a habit of avoidin the flashy box... 

But sometimes I carry them to him.  I do that when he is in bed mostly.  He hears me singin several times, and then turns on the bedlamp and there are several toys placed around him (I have been expandin my choice of toys lately).

But I brought him one while he was awake today.  Eatin dinner actally.  I have begun ta like having my favrit toys tossed around!  An apparently, it werks better iffen I bring them TO him fer tossin.  Well, that way he knows which ones are good ta toss that day.

Today, it was an old standard favrit - the milk ring!  I like them fer myself, but also cuz Iza an Marley DONT!  That werks out good fer ME.

Hes not useta me bringing toys ta toss like Iza does, so I hafta be kinna obvious about it.  I put it on his shoe (Iza suggested that)...

Then I wait.  Iza says I should meow more when I do that.  Well, Ive been out of the toy-tossin game fer a while, an she IS good at it.

But he notices soon enough, and tosses it again.  I like it tossed WAY up high so I can watch it fall down.  Then I bat it all around the floor.

I havent done this toy stuff much since I was a kitten, so it makes him pretty happy.  An I am likin it too!  I feel younger these days.  An I get ear scritchies too!  Cant beat THAT...

Subtle Iza

The Big Thing:  I usually eat dinner at a tray while watching TV.  Iza knows this is prime toy-tossin time.  She often plays fetch with the toys.

But sometimes I get distracted by the TV or my dinner and forget to see if she is still looking for more toys.  When that happens and she still wants to play (or resume playing), she has a way of reminding me quietly...

I'll happen to look down and see that she has very carefully placed a toy on my foot.  She never does that when we are actively engaged with toy-tossing.  At those times, she just drops the toy next to me.  This on-the-foot trick only happens when I've stopped paying attention!

Clever girl...

Added at 2 am:  This is so cool.  I am at the computer, with Ayla sitin next to me on the desk, and I can hear Iza playing with the rollertrak in the MewsRoom like crazy for the past hour! I won't try to take a picture, because she stops doing that kind of stuff when I turn on any light.  But it is so great just hearing the sounds of the playing.  TBT

Dinnertime Toy-Tossing

IZA:  I love TBT's dinner time.  That when he tosses toys the most.  Oh sure, there are random tossings annytime of day (and I really do enjoy that).  But dinnertime is the most intense.  I unnerstand that he cant toss toys around too well when he is carryin his clothes to the water swisher or bags of good smelly trash to the garage, but he usually has a few mousies in his pockets and tosses them when he can.

But, like I said, his dinnertime is the best of the day.

He tosses mousies around.  He tosses squiggles around.  I love chasin them.  I even grab the squiggles and bring them back to him ta toss again.

Heres how it goes:

I ask fer some toy-tossin while he is having dinner.  He asks iffen it is a mousie night or a squiggle night.  I always say "both".  Its a joke between us.  He knows I want somma both.

So he decides on a squiggle.  We have 2 red, 1 green, an one multicolored one.  I nefer know which he will use first.  At first, he just waves one around me to get my desire goin.  When I am really focussed, he tosses one over my head.

I JUMP and grab it to the floor.  TBT cheers my effort.  I bring it back to him.  Then we start gettin more complicated.

He swishes it around on the floor and I actually move away from it.  I know it is gonna be tossed farther this time.  Will it be over the open dishwasher door?  Over the TV tray table?  Into the living room?  I watch every twitch of it to judge...

It swishes around on the floor.  This way.  That way.  Up and down.  Ooh, Im goin crazy...

Into the kitchen it goes and I catch it in mid-air, spinning around with it for a minute or so.  Then I sniff it for more movement.  None.  So I grab it an bring it back to him.  Whats next?

It could be a different color squiggle, a rattley mouse, a softie shrew.  We have so many wunnerful toys.  OH!  it is a rattley mouse!  He tosses it up in the air, and I grab it.  Thats easy; a warm-up.  But the next toss is trickier.  He tosses it DOWN on the ottoman.  It can bounce in ANNY direction from there!  I useta haf trubble wif that, cause ya never know where the mousie is gonna go.  But lately, I allus catch it on the first bounce up!  I cant catch it being tossed at the otto man cause I cant see it the.  I only see it on the random bounce.

TBT says I may be "Pudge" but I am becoming one on the fastest-reacting cats he has ever aseen!  In fact, he is beginnin ta worry I might actually catch a hummerbird outside.  He is serious cuz he moved one of the feeders higher.

Annyway, I was catching the random bouncin mousies and he stopped.  Somethin on the TV got his attention. So I hadda ask him ta please toss me another toy.

Well, OK, I ONLY stared at him...  When he noticed me again, he tried ta claim he heard me eatin some crunchies and thought I was tired.  Right.  Eat 2 crunchies and yer out of his mind...

But, to his credit, he really went at it.  there were mousies an squiggles flying around every which a way!  It was glorious!  It was so good that when I really WAS tired of it, I hadda go up near an tell him "no more".  I even said "settle".

Hes good!  He immediately got up, brought a few snacks (good healthy ones like nuts and fruit) to his table, put a leg up and offerred me a lap!

Life is about purrfect there.  I spent 2 hours on TBT's lap while he watched science TV shows.  It keeps him in the chair and thats all I care about.  Yeah, he shifted positions several times, but I am used ta that an I hardly even wake up when he does it.

 I just stay mostly asleep, ya know?

Ayla came by a few times.  She shared some lap space but she didnt stay long.  She wanted to go climb things.  Bookcase, ladders, tables, etc.  Shes weerd.