Conference misery::feline_v1

    PLEASE don't tell them that I publicized this, but...
    
    Coo nurses on herself.  Or tries to.  I guess her "thumb" isn't
    quite right to suck on!  She rolls up like a pill worm and sucks
    away on her own belly.  Sometimes she gets lazy, and I find her
    sucking away about 1/4 inch *above* her belly, nursing on the
    air molecules maybe?  She purrs away like crazy... a real motor
    mouth.
    
    Kosh, graceful creature that she is, is a real klutz.  She jumps
    and misses.  She falls off the bed.  But more often, she sits there
    with the tip of her tongue hanging out of her mouth -- just the
    tip, just enough to look SILLY.
    
    	;-Q  (that's her tongue sticking out!)

    Aja likes to suck on a bathmat. Now, I think that looks silly enough,
    her laying there, pushing on the rug like she was making bread,
    and making all these slurpy noises. BUT!! What's funnier is if you
    pick her up, she'll keep her tongue out and wiggle it up and down
    for, literally, minutes after being removed from the rug.
    
    Of course, there's always those aborted leaps onto a kitchen chair
    that result in chair cushion and cat both tumbling to the floor
    in a fuzzy heap.
    
    "I meant to do that..."
    
    Right.
    
    Edd

My sweet little Daisy has a very well-deserved reputation for being a total
airhead.  She has always taken great delight in shredding tissues (sometimes I
would walk into a room and be ankle-deep in shredded tissues).  As a result, I
had taken to hiding tissue boxes. 

About 9 months ago, when she was still a kitten, I decided to see if perhaps
she had gotten over the tissue-shredding habit.  I left out in the kitchen one
of those squarish shaped but tall tissue boxes.  About an hour later, I heard
this sound coming from the kitchen and decided to investigate.  There was Daisy
on the kitchen table with her head stuck in the tissue box, trying to shake it
off.  All you could see was a cat body and a square cardboard head with flowers
on it. I started laughing so hard I couldn't come to her rescue and she fell on
the floor very quickly.  

I finally removed it from her head, but decided to leave the tissue box out
figuring she couldn't be stupid enough to do it again.  Sure enough, a few
hours later she went for it again (hence the reputation for not being real
bright).  So now I am back to hiding the tissue boxes.

Pam

    re:4
    Lara sucks on the bathmat also!  It's pink shagg - boy, does she
    look silly sprawled out purring & sucking - sure makes the rug
    wet!
    
    re:5
    
    Ah yes, the shredder - Lara again!  I think I'll offer to pay
    someone to live with this monkey for 2 weeks! As to shredding
    toilet paper - I bought the Feline Foiler, which she had figured
    out within the hour - my last resort was to rehang the T.P holder
    3 feet above the toilet - it worked, but I bump my head on it
    every day - oh well.  I have been leaving out one box of tissues.
    I leave it on the kitchen table upside down - so far that has 
    worked!  The last time I caught Lara shredding - she was so
    tangled in blue T.P. that she couldn't get away!  She had
    the most guilty look on her face that I couldn't help laugh.
    She was surrounded by a 2 foot (new roll) blue mountain
    full of holes - she only shreds now when we stay at a hotel
    for overnight shows!  
    
    E.T. and the supershredder!

    Lightning does the kneading, sucking act on my afhgans.
    
    Deja goes flying down the hallway, leaps up into the kitchen, backend
    goes sideways across the floor, and very calmly crashes into the
    cabinets.
    
    Deja also loves to climb into the cabinets patiently waiting to
    see which can of food I am going to grab for her.  She has been
    closed in so many times, that she has learned how to open them herself.
    
    Deja loves the dry dogfood and will try to open Keisha bin to get
    some.
    
    I love my babies......
    
    Sandi
    

    Hotrail and Chessie both attack the ghosts in our carpets.  They
    go crazy clawing, biting and rolling on the carpets.  These aren't
    the throw rugs, it's the wall to wall stuff.
    
    Also, Hotrail (who is almost 5) has her built in toy, her tail.
    She'll be sleeping and her tail will move, that wakes her up and
    she's after it until she drops.  She has ever gone after her tail
    in the bathroom and run her head into the tub.......... then looks
    around to see who hit her.
    
    I can't even tell you how many times Chessie will be on the top
    ledge of the cat pole (6' above ground) and roll over to see who
    has walked in the room................ off she goes!
    
    They are more fun to watch than the TV.

    Snuggles loves clothes baskets.  One day I was putting the clothes
    away and left the empty basket on the edge of the bed.  Well, Snuggles
    decided to jump from the floor into the basket.  He almost made
    it except his paws hit the side and he went tumbling to the floor
    and the basket came down upside down on top of him.  Boy was he
    surprised to find himself caged in.  I practically died laughing
    he just laid down under there and looked up at me with the "get
    me out of here" look.  
    
    Talk about dumb, I put the basket back up to see if he'd do it again
    to show my husband and sure enough he did it again. 
    
    Some cats never learn.
    
    Kathy

    Carrington and Colby seem particularly stupid when they have been
    together all day in the house, and suddenly for no apparrant reason
    they look at one another as if they have never seen each other before
    in their lives. They then thoroughly sniff each other as if meeting
    for the first time ever. Who knows what they are thinking...!
    
    Carrington is also a clothes basket kitty. He loves to jump inside
    the round basket with a ping pong ball, and chase it around and
    around the inside of the basket.
    
    Speaking of stupid, Carrington also fell into the jacuzzi when he
    was a kitten...yes, it was running...these cats!
    
    Chris
    

    Serena sleeps with her tongue sticking out.  Boy, does that look
    silly!
    
    When Sherlock was helping me wrap the Christmas presents, he buried
    himself in a box full of flow fill (those styrofoam peanuts and
    shells used for packing).  All you could see was his head!  Also,
    he was playing with a paper bag that had handles and crawled through
    one handle to bat at some tissue paper inside the bag.  Suddenly,
    he took off across the room with the bag flapping across his back.
    I was laughing so hard I could hardly get him out of the handle.
    
    Sherlock only shredded the tp once.  I laughed so hard at him that
    I think I insulted him.  Anyway, he's never done it since.
    
    Serena never shreds anything; although, the other night, we fed
    her on top of the refrigerator (to try to keep Sherlock from eating
    her dinner) and, when she was finished eating, she tried to bury
    it with the tissues from the box I keep on top of the frig.
    
    One thing Sherlock does repeatedly is run into whatever is in his
    way when he is chasing his tissue paper balls, boxes, chairs, table
    legs, doors, doesn't matter, it's full speed ahead after those balls.
    
    He also likes to sleep upside down with his back legs stretched
    out behind him and his front legs stretched out in front of him
    with his chin pointing at the ceiling.
    
    Ande (wonder what they'll do tonight)

    
    Our 8 month old Coon cat (RASCAL) gets in the bow window and paws
    feverishly, thank goodness no claws or it would sound like a
    chalkboard.  He is also the one who runs full speed into a screen
    sliding door (more than once!)
    
    His sidekick (OTIS) is famous for tissue and paper towel shredding.
    His most famous escapade to date is a full blown leap into a full
    tub of water at my mother's.  Seems it takes longer to drain in
    that house than it does at home!!!
    
    I can hardly wait for the years of escapades to come!
    
    "C"

    
    Jake loves to play with my shoe laces.  One time he was dozing
    peacefully on the other side of the room and I took off my sneakers.
    Jake immediately jumped up and flew at my shoes, grabbing onto one
    of the laces.  But the silly boy forgot to let go, so there he was,
    running around the living room with a sneaker bouncing all over
    the place "chasing" him.  This is extra funny because Jake only
    has three legs and the sneaker kept knocking him off-balance and
    made him look like he was drunk at the same time.  He finally let
    go of the laces and turned and looked at me as if to say "how could
    you do that to me" as if it were my fault.
    
       Conni

    Tiptoe is anything but. When we open the door to let him in, he
    comes bounding in on a mad dash to the kitchen. However, more often
    than not he forgets about the linoleum floor in front of the stairs
    and slides head first into them as he tries to make that little
    jump to the first step. OUr other two cats are generally much too
    regal to let us see any of thier stupid pet tricks. they get much
    more amusement out of watching us do our stupid human tricks:-)
    
    						Geoff 

    My Manx genius, Merlin, has the [I suppose flattering, but mildly
    embarrassing] habit of nursing on my chin[!].  Naturally, I can't
    see it, but when he attacks me ["Oh, let him!" my wife says when
    I try to discourage such activities], I'm told he looks "cute."
    I suspect he just looks silly.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    RE:  .16 - Steve Kallis
    
    >  I suspect he just looks silly.
    
    What do you mean *HE*, Steve?   :^) 
    
    Marion

    Don't tell Niniane I told you this!  I'll never hear the end of
    it!
    
    Like other kitties, she attacks the carpet with great ferocity,
    firmly believing she is protecting us from all sorts of evils ;-)
    However, she *loves* to play with the cords on the mini-blinds.
    She knows she not supposed to do that.  The other day, my husband
    went up the the bedroom to get a magazine, and there's Niniane,
    claws hopelessly tangled in the curtains she was reaching through
    to get the cord, trying frantically to disentangle herself in the
    hopes that Ian won't notice her.  The look on her face was very
    similar to the kid that gets caught in the cookie jar.  If I only
    had my camera.  She got out of it that time, we were laughing too
    hard to punish her!!!
    
    Mary-Michael

    Ah, cat-monsters!  One weekend, Paul and I were gone somewhere,
    and left the cats with their automatic food and water machines filled
    up - didn't bother to ask the pet human of the Infamous Nugget to
    check on them since it was only for two days - how much trouble
    can two cats get into in two days??  Well, they apparently got bored,
    with no humans around to pester: they not only shredded up the whole
    roll of toilet paper that was on the roller, but also opened the
    cabinet under the bathroom sink and took out the SPARE roll that
    is usually kept down there, and shredded it up, too!  It's AMAZING
    how much paper there is on two whole rolls of toilet paper - the
    bathroom seemed to be a foot deep in the mess when we got home -
    with both cats hiding under the bed, of course, trying to look innocent
    when hauled out from there: "Who, US?  You human pets DARE accuse
    US of mischief??"  I didn't punish them (we thought the mess, which
    was localized to just the bathroom, and their expressions were too
    hilarious), but they haven't done in the toilet paper since - wonder
    why?  I dod usually ask Nugget's human to look in on them, these
    days - they like him, anyhow.

    The stories we all could tell if only we had lots of time
    to tell them.  Here are a couple of mine.
    
    Our 3 yr old (Obi) who is to say the least very entertaining.
    She likes to play "Tag your it!" or "Attack".  Currently the
    big game is playing with the remote control car.  My husband
    bought one a couple of weeks ago (big kid himself).  Well Obi
    thinks that it is her best friend.  She tries to stand on it and
    ride it or she'll lay there and let herself get crashed into
    the best part is the antenna on the car.  She holds it down so
    that the car can't go anywhere, you would have to be there
    to enjoy it.
    
    She also love's the laundry baskets,  she loves to ride in them
    even though they only go from the bedroom to the bathroom she
    has to have her ride or else.  I'll also find her sleeping in
    them.  Her most entertaining feat is what she will find to
    play with.  She adores Q-tips, she even opens the drawer to get
    to them, she'll come running out of the bathroom with one in
    her mouth it looks like she has a bone.  Then it's catch me it
    you want to get it away from me.  Also, anything that has my
    smell on it well that's community property.  I have come home
    from work and found various articles of my clothing all the way
    out in the living room floor.   The other night I must have looked
    like a fool out she came from the other room with one of my socks
    she was so funny making all sort of noises and dragging that sock
    (thank godness it was clean, just did the wash, my fault had not
    put them away.)  She placed it in the middle of the floor and started
    doing a dance all over it (may be she was trying to tell me something).
    I just sat there and laughed (of course I was alone looking just
    as silly as her).  Then she looks up at me as to say "what are
    you doing" at that moment I moved my hand and she took of like
    lightning and thought I was going to play fetch with my own sock
    (which I did).
    
    I have a lot more but I think I should let someone else share
    their stories.
    
     

    
    
    I'm sitting here grinning after reading these stories!  (I probably
    look just as stupid as my cats do sometimes!)  
    
    Cleo has always loved to attack invisible enemies in any paper bag
    that is within her reach.  She'll just charge right into it and
    keep running, so that you see this paper bag moving all around the
    room!  She also loves *her* Digital turkey box.  I don't have the
    heart to throw it out because she loves to lay down in it.
    
    Buster Brown is obsessed with the metal tape measure.  He totally
    flips out and will attack it no matter where it is.  This does not
    go over too well when we are trying to measure wallpaper and such.
    He also goes nuts over reflected light.  If it is within his reach,
    he will throw himself at it.  If it is out of his reach, he will
    try to stare it down and he cries the whole time!  Strange little
    guy.
    
    Poor Amber will always look silly.  She is missing some teeth, so
    her tongue sticks out 90% of the time.  She also has very sensitive
    skin, and if you scratch her she will move her tongue in and out
    and try to bite the air!  If any part of you is nearby, however,
    she chooses that of course.  She also snores *very loud* when she
    sleeps.  When our neighbor's dog, Muffin, comes over (soon to be
    our dog - help!), if Amber is outside, Muffin will stand a couple
    of feet from her and bark is head off.  Amber will just lay there
    totally relaxed, and sometimes will just close her eyes and yawn!
    This can go on for 15 to 20 minutes at a time - it's a riot to see.
    
    
    Noel spends most of her time growling, and though this wasn't funny
    initially, we're beginning to get a laugh or two now and then when
    it reaches the point of ridiculous!
    
    The only time Pistachio looks silly is when there is people food
    around.  She looses all sense of dignity!
    

    Carole
    

    Re .18 (Marion):
    
    >What do you mean *HE*, Steve?   :^) 
    
    Oh, it makes me look silly too.  Imaging a grown human with a 16-lb
    black stubtail attached to his chin.  He nibbles once in a while,
    too; sort of adding injury to insult [no, he doesn't rerally break
    the skin].  But then, you put up with a lot from "people" you love.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Our cats both perform the "Pathetic Kitty" act - on their backs,
    four legs waving in the breeze, limp paws, head turned sideways
    emitting mournful meows at selected intervals.  This is a surefire
    way for getting pats!

    Tabbatha sleeps in any position immaginable.  Her favorite is to
    sleep in the cat hammock on her back with her back feet stretched
    behind her and her front paws up in the air by her head.  She looks
    SO FUNNY!!!!  Other things she does is if Silver is on the Hammock
    and she wants to sleep there too, she just puts the top half of
    her body on the hammock and the rest lays on the floor.  
    
    The other night they looked adorable, though.  Both of them were
    sleeping on the hammock, facing each other with one paw over each
    other's neck, and their tails intertwined.  
    
    
    Holly

    These stories are SO funny!
    
    We live in a split-foyer house, and the stairs have always been
    Billie's playground.  Recently she found a *new* game to play on
    them.  We bought a case of soda;  comes in those rectangular low
    boxes?  Since I was going to take a bag of garbage down to the cellar
    anyway, I laid the box on the top of the stairs so I wouldn't forget
    it.  Billie, always a box freak, of course got in it.  She must
    have gotten right in the front of it, because the next thing I knew,
    she was sailing down the stairs--head up, tail up--looking just
    like Katherine Hepburn going over the falls in "African Queen"!!
    
    She must have liked it, because every week the SAME THING happens--I
    keep putting the soda box there to see if she'll do it again. Sure
    enough--it does!
    
    One of her favorite sleeping places is my side of the closet.  One
    night I looked in on her before I went to bed, and she was sound
    asleep with her face in one of my shoes!!
    
    ..I just hope that cats get as big a kick out of US.
    
    Jane

    Generally speaking, Milo does NOT look silly.  After all, he _is_
    a Macho Cat [up to 5.3 pounds now, still long and lean].  He's
    extremely entertaining, but silly just doesn't seem to fit.
    
    HOWEVER, my baby boy looks mighty peculiar sitting up on his hind
    legs, front paws hanging limp, neck craned...sort of like a little
    grey-tiger prairie-dog.
    
    He has also decided that all scissors, nail clippers, and tweezers
    belong on the carpet.  If he sees any of these objects lying on
    a table or counter, he instantly re-locates them.  No, he doesn't
    play with them, he just moves them to the the carpet with this 
    "Mother-you-are-TRULY-ignorant" look.
    
     Maggie gave up being silly when her dog died.  She seems to think
    that he bequeathed her many responsibilities:  Make sure mother
    rinses _all_ of the soap off in the shower;  see to it that dad
    does the laundry correctly;  Make sure both parents don't put a
    strain on their kidneys by waking each of them once every night
    to use the toilet; make sure mother & dad don't associate with
    riff-raff ...  Yes, being the oldest is an awesome responsibility,
    especially when mother and dad think your attitude is amusing [sigh].
    
        Annie

   RE: .25 
    
    That one has got to take the cake!!!  I LOVED IT!!!!  I can just
    see Billie sailing down the stairs in the box!  What a picture!
     
    
    Thanks
    
    Holly

    My cat has her share of times when she looks pretty dumb.  One
    of them is when she's chasing a ribbon or toy - you drag it
    from the floor up onto a bed and she tries to climb up after it,
    but she didn't get far enough up on the bed and she ends up sliding
    down the side with her claws grasping at the comforter on the way
    down!
    
    We recently got her a 'kitty jungle gym' and she loves it.  When
    she's being very playful I'll put her stuffed mouse on the top 
    platform and wiggle it so it's tail hangs over the edge and moves,
    and the little bell jingles.  She'll be sitting on the floor and
    all of a sudden her eyes widen and get very round (the pupils get 
    so big that you almost can't see any of the green around them -
    and since she's black her whole face almost looks black).  Then
    she'll leap at the mouse, and if she doesn't land on the platform,
    she grabs on to it with her front paws and the rest of her body ends 
    up swinging back and forth underneath it (she looks like a monkey that
    is hanging onto a branch above his head) - it's pretty funny and
    when you laugh at her, her ears flatten and she gives you this look
    like 'just wait until I get down from here!'
    

Midway _always_ looks completely confused. She is a sweet, sweet little
kitty, slightly smaller than average, with a roundish head, great big
round eyes, and a small nose and mouth. Her eyes are very slightly
crossed, just barely noticeable. 

Something about the way her facial features are put together gives her
a constant expression of being very confused. She looks absolutely
pitiful all the time.

Confused however, she is not. Point in case:

Most of the time, my son Robert does not allow the cats in his room,
because it is not cat-proofed. Once in a while, though, he will open
his door and let the cats visit while he is still in the room. He has
a loveseat in his room made of great kitty-scratching stuff (resembles
the texture of sisal rope), so he has to keep the cats from scratching
when they are in his room. A few days ago, Midway was visiting 
Robert's room and scratched the loveseat. Robert picked her up and
moved her away and said "No!" firmly. When Midway looked at him, she
looked so confused that he felt bad and went over and scratched her
back, something she loves dearly. This happened several more times:
kitty scratches loveseat, Robert moves the kitty and says "No!", kitty
looks confused, Robert feels bad and scratches kitty's back. After
about half and hour of this, Robert noticed that Midway would go over
to the loveseat, scratch it once, and then immediately would walk over
to him and arch her back to get her back scratched! She had put two
and two together, and figured out that all she had to do to get her
back scratched was to scratch the loveseat. 

Poor confused little kitty (hah!).

Marleen
                       

    And then there was the time that Paws fell asleep SITTING UP on
    the cable converter box on top of the televsion. Every time she
    dozed off her head would jerk and she would wake herself up, look
    around, then start to doze off again . . .
    
    Marleen
    

    Re: .30
    
    And sometimes kitty owners look stupid, too. Of course, the last
    sentence in the third paragaraph should read "Case in point:", not
    "Point in case:".
    
    Marleen_who_is_totally_embarassed
    

    Okay, guys, what I want to know is what did _you_ look like the
    last time you were crawling around on your hands and knees peering
    under bureaus and whatnot because a puss was doing the "there is
    _no_ cat in the house" number....
    

    Chanel has a long ribbon (some 2-2.5 meters) as a thing to play
    with. Sometime I take it and try to outrun her through my appartment,
    which I won't make unless I cheat *badly*.
    
    Occasionally, she takes one end in her mouth and drags the ribbon
    round a low table, takes (accidently?) three corners and sees the
    other end of the ribbon disappearing round the fourth corner.
    In her exitement she forgets (?) to drop the first end of the ribbon
    and blasts off for a 20- or more-round orbit round the table.
    
    What really puts me out then is the long, serious, 'head-shaking'
    look she gets from Omar....
    
    Ad
    
    

    re: .33
    
    It's difficult when they are ALL the same color and about the
    same size!  We (humans) have sometimes ended up arguing about  
    just which cat(s) just zoomed by.  Then we have to start locking
    the ones we can find in one room, and then lose track ["Didn't
    we put THREE of them in here?  Is there one behind the dryer?"].
    
    As to your question about "how I looked" when crawling around
    looking for cats_in_the_fourth_dimension?  Great way to clean
    the dust out from under the bed!  
    
    	:-)

    Honey has demanded that I tell you all how stupid his little brother
    can look.  He doesn't want you to think he's the only "dumb kitty"
    in the house!  So, here goes...
    
    Chauncey looks stupid just after Honey finishes washing him.  Honey
    will lick all the fur around Chauncey's head and face in the opposite
    direction from how it's supposed to lie.  Chauncey really gets into
    being washed and usually has this look of complete paradise on his
    face.  One day, Honey finished washing him and just to let Chauncey
    know who's boss, he popped him across the head!  Poor Chauncey sat
    up, all his fur sticking out in the wrong direction and a stunned,
    sleepy look on his face.  He looked like he had been on an all-night
    binge...poor baby...did he look stupid!!
    
    Mary

    My mom has a BIG black persian male that I gave her (one of my
    "babies"). He is a very special fellow, and is named Airplane Willie.
    True to his name, he loves to fly off of high places.  It gives
    him a good running start so that he can tear around the house. My
    parent's house is one storey with hardwood floors, and Willie can
    run almost the entire length of the house with no obstructions.
    He looks stupid right after charging the lenth of the house, and
    trying to stop short of the wall.  He invariably slides right into
    it, and then tries to look very cool as his picks himself up and
    brushes him self off.  "I meant to do that, really....." ;^)
    
    Molly

    RE:  airborn cats
    
    My Shawshie loves to jump long distances.  When he does, we call
    him a "flying Shawsher" 8^D.
    
    Marion

If you are "owned" by Siamese fur-faces, you soon realize that under *no*
circumstances are you to laugh at them.  They get even, no matter how long
they must wait!  So, while Mutu, and especially Munch (our clown prince), do
some very strange, funny things, Peter and I must stifle the laughter.  I
love when they do stupid stuff, and then look either so embarassed or
with an expression on their face as if to say, "I didn't see that, did you?"!

Regards,
J.

    
    "C.P." Insists that I allow him to get into the plastic grocery
    bags when I get home from the grocery. He (Siamese) cries until
    I empty the first (frozen food) bag then I let him crawl into it
    and play "eat the fingers" for a few minuites then let him play
    by himself while I put away the rest of the groceries. Soon he is
    tearing around the house with the plastic bag wrapped around his
    neck unable to get away from the thing that is following him. I
    let him try to escape until the groceries are put away, then we
    play eat the fingers some more. Then I put all the bags out of sight.
    If I didn't get the bags put away we would repeat the above again
    and again until he got tired.
    
    P.S. He won't go near the car unless he has muddy feet and I have
    just finished washing it.
    
    

    One day I left my winter coat on my bed.  I came back to find
    Sneakers who had managed to squeeze himself in the SLEEVE of
    my coat - pretty good for a 10 lb. cat.
    
    It was really funny seeing the arm of my coat stuck out straight
    with this little black face peering out at you!

    This reminds me of what happened with silver this weekend.  My Fiance
    had stopped by and he haddn't taken his coat off yet.  silver LOVES
    Tom's coat.  She walked over to him and curled up just inside the
    front of his coat.  The next thing I knew, Tom looked like the
    hunchback of noterdame!  Silver had crawled up inside Tom's coat
    and was very comfortably sleeping on Tom's back inside his coat!
    What a sight to see!
    
    Holly
    

    Has anyone else noticed that cats do NOT like to be laughed at.
     Being dignified creatures (most of the time) I am sure they understand
    what emotion we are expressing and laughter gets treated with the
    cold shoulder.
    
    My mother's black persian (Darcy) really takes offence and we have
    to muffle the laughter and rush out of the room before it gets the
    upper hand...otherwise Darcy is likely to get really miffed and
    not speak to anyone for hours.  The time she got plastered on catnip
    and tried to climb the wall we were in the doghouse for days.
    
    Tarot has a really weird trick and the more I tell him not to do
    it..you've guessed.. the more he does it.  This consists of sleeping
    on the sofa on his back, legs spread out with his head hanging over
    the edge and his tongue stuck out.  If you speak to him he just
    opens his eyes so that you can see a faint gleam.  The overall
    impression is that he has just had his throat cut, really he looks
    like a "Hammer" extra.  This gives me the shivers, but despite repeated
    requests to "stop that, put your tongue away, sit up etc" he persists.
    The only reason I can give is that despite having a permanent supply
    of food/water on tap he is trying to give me the impression that
    he is in the last stages of hunger/thirst and would I do something
    about it please!
    
    To add to the scene, this performance is usually accompanied by
    Isis sleeping with her eyes open and talking in her sleep.  Really
    visitors might be forgiven for thinking the place is a madhouse.
    
    
    
                       
    			

SCENE:  Hannah is caught "red-pawed" on the kitchen counter which is NOT
ALLOWED!

I reprimand in my sternest voice, "Hannah, get down!!!"

My little blue eyed wonder rolls over on her back and looks up at me
with her "but, MOM, I'm so cute you can't REALLY mean it" and then she
sorta curls her back toes and starts to roll about as she does when she
is charming someone....only problem is, the counter is too narrow and
she manages to roll her little fanny right off the counter.  My last
view of her as she went over the side was a paw reaching out and a look
of great surprise.  A few heartbeats later, she thumped to the floor on
the other side of the counter, and went stomping off, obviously trying
to look like she meant that to happen all the time.

I can't help it, I enjoyed that moment....oh how I enjoyed that moment!
Almost as much as the time I turned around in time to see Nicholas
staggering down the hall with a kleenex box stuck over his head.  That
one made me laugh so hard, I couldn't even catch him to help him
remove the box...when I finally caught him, I was in tears and he was
REALLY HUFFED at my laughing so hard at him...wouldn't talk to me for
hours.

    Tristan likes to sleep on his face.  That's right, just like Mork
    from Ork, with his little buns sticking up in the air and everything.  
    He also likes to do forward rolls along the wall.  I'm not sure 
    which is goofier looking, him sleeping that way or me tiptoeing to 
    get the camera (he's deaf so if you walk gently so that the floor 
    doesn't shake he won't wake up).  Our working theory is that since
    he's deaf, if he covers his face he's totally cut off from the world 
    and can sleep better.  He certainly does sleep much more soundly than 
    Tenzing who typically takes only "cat naps".
    
    Karen