Snow Day All Day

As there was no question of going into work today, and there was no question of being able to go for my walk (boots aren't good enough to walk an hour in without causing foot pain; shoes aren't high enough to keep out the snow) I decided to go back to sleep. I actually managed to sleep last night and the experience was so enjoyable I wanted to continue it!

Since I did get up and have breakfast before going back to bed, Max at first thought it was playtime and poked an inquisitive nose into my cheek (I'm a side-sleeper mostly). I made sleepy uh-uh noises and pulled the covers over my head.

There was a pause. And then the trampling of paws as Max decided if I was going to go back to sleep he was going to join me, only he couldn't decide if he wanted to trample a spot to sleep in on my legs (nope) or my arms (not that either) or perhaps just next to me. Which is where he finally settled, and we went back to sleep.

Turns out, all it takes to turn Max into a loving kitty who wants to be with me and doesn't bite me or otherwise act like an entitled brat is: me not going to my job. Unfortunately someone's got to pay for the food and the house, and unless Max can come up with an inheritance for us to live on, I have to go back to work eventually. And then he will turn into cranky, bite-y, destructo kitty again. I will enjoy the reprieve while it lasts!

Later in the afternoon I sat down in the evil villain chair to read the comics on my phone. I heard Max leap up and scrape his way down the wall. Is there a flying bug? That would be odd since I haven't gone outside for a while. I went to see, but every time I got up, there was nothing to see. Once I even lifted him up as far as I could so he could bat at whatever it was (I've had cats chase what were apparently ghosts before) but although he did not bite me for the presumption, and indeed seemed to appreciate it, he didn't target any particular spot.

The invisible toy

Finally I looked over while still holding my phone in the same way, and realized that what he was chasing was the reflection of the sun reflecting off the snow reflecting off my phone! I tried to play with it (and him) for a while, but I really couldn't since most of the time, if I was leaning far enough forward to see around the evil villain chair's wing, I blocked the reflection. So I left the light on a closet door low enough that he could "catch" it, and then got up and went to the rocker so I wouldn't be taunting him with a toy he couldn't get.

Max made a mental connection between the moving light on the door and the cloth string hanging from the top hinge. I wasn't expecting this, but when I saw him leaping for it, I decided if he got it, he got it; I wouldn't try to stop him as I was here and could keep an eye on him. (Cats' tongues have backward facing barbs. If they get a string or other long thin object stuck on the tongue barbs, they can end up swallowing the entire thing by trying to get it out of their mouths. This is why toys like string, yarn, and fishing pole toys are supervised only; you need to put the toy away if you're not going to be there to avert a disaster.)

I didn't expect him to get the string, anyway; from what I saw of his leaping, it was out of reach. 

I need to stop underestimating him!

He startled a laugh out of me when he came trotting towards me, carrying the end of the string in his mouth, head high to avoid tripping over it. He decided he wanted company while he played with it, so he came all the way to where I was sitting in the rocker and then coiled up on the floor, play-fighting the string.

All wrapped up in his playtime.

After he lost immediate interest in fighting with the string, I picked one end up (the green-ish non-stretchy end) and took him for a ten-minute walk through the house. I didn't do more than that because the last time I did, besides bringing him to the point of gasping for air, I also made my feet hurt for several days.

I like this snow day. So does Max. He's been happy upside down kitten a lot today. Pity the snow is melting and I'll have to go back to work tomorrow.

Next morning Addendum: When I woke up the next morning, I found the green string in bed with us. I'd hung it back up the night before, and apparently he'd decided to bring his new toy to sleep with!