Friday, January 11, 2013

Fetch

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 83, low 59)

I believe Florida currently has the best weather in the country.  I hope it lasts.

Al and I are early risers.  We always have been.  That’s not to say we get motivated early, but we’re up and drinking coffee usually before daylight.

The first thing we do when we get up, is play a quick game of “fetch.”

It started a while back when we were trying to make the bed.  I make Al help me since it’s about 1000 times easier making an rv bed with two people!

We start by pulling back the covers and smoothing the bottom sheets.  Well, the sound of that gets Baxter excited, so he flies onto the bed and hops around like a crazy cat.  He pounces on and bats anything and everything moving.  It’s extremely difficult to make a bed with a 14 pound cat pouncing on your every move.

Al started throwing a q-tip on the floor so that Baxter would go after it instead of help us make the bed.

Baxter fooled us though when he brought the q-tip back and dropped it right back on the bed.  The game of “fetch” was born.

So, now the game is,  smooth the sheets as quickly as we can before Baxter hears us, wait for Baxter to pounce, throw the q-tip, quickly smooth the sheets some more, this time a little faster, throw the q-tip and repeat.  It usually takes 7-8 times before we can get the bed made.

The next picture shows him as he has just dropped the q-tip.  He’s waiting for Al to pick it up and toss it again.

Baxter playing fetch

This next picture is the q-tip falling in mid air.  I just wasn’t fast enough to get one with it in his mouth.

Baxter playing fetch

It’s become a fun game that we look forward to every morning, and it gets the  bed made!

The next picture is a few minutes later when he has his typical Baxter attitude.  It looks like he needs his butt smacked!

Baxter

Yesterday morning, after playing fetch, drinking coffee and reading blogs, we headed over to the gym and got a good cardio workout and then a nice swim in the pool.  We skipped the weight machines.  You are supposed to give your muscles a day of rest between weight lifting routines, and both of us felt our muscles were crying for a much needed rest.

 

We grabbed a quick lunch from Subway, came home and Al broke the toilet.    We have a Thetford Ariia II automatic toilet.   We’re not fond of the mechanics of this thing, but it’s a nice quality china toilet.  It has a one button flush, which I guess is nice, except it makes a lot of noise.   If anyone out there has one of these things, have you got any tips on how to quiet it down or better lube the valve?  You have to keep the valve lubricated and we had let it go too long I guess, and the valve wouldn’t open.  Uh oh.  We finally found that there was a manual release valve.  Thank goodness!  After Al released that and lubricated the valve, it started working normally.

 

After the toilet emergency, we headed over to Mom’s house to take her to her doctors appointment.  She has the greatest doctor. He reminds me a lot of Dr. Welby.  Remember him?   Dr.Cichon  never rushes,  and spends whatever time is necessary when he sees patients. He even gives the older people a chance to answer his questions, in full……and you know how long that can take.    :)

So….since we got squeezed in at the last minute, and he does take plenty of time with each patient, we ended up waiting over 2 hours just to see him.  It was worth the wait though as he adjusted her thyroid medicine, and gave her a prescription for Tamiflu, just in case she should get the flu.  It’s supposed to shorten the length of the flu if you should get it.  Of course it can have some  serious side effects, so it’s not something you should take unless necessary.

She also got a script for a Shingles vaccine. He said the thought Medicare was now covering shingles vaccines because of all the flu outbreak. 

 

It was a  very long day.  Mom can be tiring sometimes.  We were glad to get home.

 

Al is off today doing some pest control accounts and I’m going to try to get caught up on laundry.  It’s sunny and warm so I’ll be able to use my little clothesline.

Happy Friday.

12 comments:

  1. What a hoot. I am going to see if Bella will play fetch.

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  2. Baxter, you are just the neatest cat. I love that he plays fetch. Our girls always think that making the bed means it's time for them to wrestle on the bed. I hope this cold front that we're having doesn't move east to you guys.

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  3. We have that exact same toilet and the same thing happened to us last month...with the same fix. I hate how noisy it flushes, especially in the middle of the night. I wish I knew of a way to quiet it down and if you find one, please share!
    Enjoy your nice weather. The weather in TX is not nearly as nice this year as it was last year :(

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  4. Enjoy your nice weather there. Mississippi, has been overcast and drizzly for quite a while, and more to come.

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  5. Baxter is too funny! Looks like Baxter has his fetch item of choice.

    Our Bowie likes to play fetch with the elastic bands women use to hold their hair in a ponytail. It's easy for him to carry around in his kitty mouth.

    Our cats don't disturb bed-making time until we have clean laundry. Then they are attracted to the nice warm, CLEAN sheets like a magnet to a refrigerator.

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  6. I loved the Baxter story and photos. It has been fun watching him grow up. With Jeremy approaching 17, I sometimes forget what a kick young cats are to have around.

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  7. I think it's cute that Baxter started this game himself. If Al hadn't thrown the Q-tip, you would have never know he was so fetching. :) He weighs more than my Katie, I can't imagine making a bed with him in it.

    In the morning, I pull my duvet cover up and tuck it in with Katie still in the bed. She creeps out through the pillows when she's ready to get out of bed and the bed is still made up. (She is so accommodating!)

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  8. Our cat Midnight loves to fetch, but he typically never returns with the item, he either hides it or we find it in his water bowl. He took my college ring and we have still not found it after 10 years. :(

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  9. Baxter has some retriever in him. Next thing, he'll start barking... ;c)

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  10. Great exercise for Baxter! You guys sure are doing great with YOUR exercise, too!

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  11. First time we have seen a cat that fetches.

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  12. what a laugh at Baxter...I also make Rick help make the bed its so much easier...this is when the furkids decide to grab toys and hop up on the bed...repeatedly....I finally have them trained that they cannot get on the bed until it is all made, toss cushions in place..and quilt at the bottom on top of the comforter. The quilt of course is for them to lay on so they aren't on the comforter....I never thought of q tips

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