Cats vs. Don Julio

Current Score: Cats=1 Don Julio=0




Last year for Mother's Day I got a Roomba and I love it. I was always hesitant to get one because of the cat hair -- I just never thought it would do a good job. I was wrong -- it is great.

Most of you who know me know we have two cats Satchel and Taterbug.

Satchel is a 3 year old, black, male American Short Hair and he is deaf. He also has a great big soft belly and he loves to break stuff -- often knocking breakable things from high places -- as only a deaf cat would. Satchel was named after Satchel Paige. He also loves vacuums -- unlike most cats. Satchel's favorite pastimes are breaking things, stealing your drinking straws out of your cup (straws are treats to Satch), sleeping, jumping out and grabbing your legs as you come around a corner (you have to say "you got me" and scratch his head when he does this to appease him), and getting in the tub with me --he sits on my lap and drinks the bath water -- he does it every night -- often waiting on the mat untilI signal by tapping the edge of the tub that he can jump in.

Taterbug is a huge, fat, white, male American Short hair who is not deaf but never makes a sound and sheds like nothing I have ever seen before. He loves to be close and nestle in your lap and nap on anything black that may be around -- like your good sweater or jacket. He also likes to sharpen his claws on all of the the good furniture that is why our good furniture is no longer good. Tater also fetches -- something I have never seen another cat do. Tater's favorite past times include escaping to the other side of the french doors (an "off limits" area to the cats), turning all of Quentin's finger puppets and small stuffed animals into his "critters" (things he carries around in his mouth and then dunks in the toilet), eating treats, shredding paper towels, eating, eating, eating some more, making "biscuits" by kneading his paws and claws into your leg and letting Quentin man handle him.

It was a great shock to the boys when we came home with this little pink thing that cried and pooped named Quentin... we had some nerve.

Then just to make their lives even more horrible I got the roomba, who after a long discussion about what name it should be given (including some suggestions of "R-2-Sweep-Pooh" and "Frank Skippleton") was saddled with "Don Julio". Don sits in our dining room next to the mini buffet where he stays plugged in and charging -- awaiting the time I let him loose in a room. The cats hate Don Julio. He scares them, he is unpredictable and he will run over them. They often sit on Don sometimes.


Yesterday Corby came home to find a situation that he has never faced before. He actually started retelling the story with "If we only had surveillance cameras in the house -- I would love to see how they managed this"... Now I have been greeted with some surprising situations involving the cats like the time they shredded a 3 pack of paper towels that were accidentally left out on the kitchen counter -- it looked like it had snowed in the kitchen. I could not see the floor. Then there was the time that they had gotten into my yarn and managed to wrap the center wall in my house about 100 times round with yarn... they just went in a big circle, dining room, picture hall, den, kitchen , dining room, picture hall, den, kitchen, etc. as if it were a giant maypole. It was amazing. Or the time they managed to get Corby's brand new $100.00 plus golf shoes OUT of the shoebox and sharpen their claws on the nice supple leather on the toe and heel -- destroying them. But this new feat was pretty amazing. Corby said he came home, one of the kitchen chairs was knocked over; Don Julio was not plugged in and he was not in his spot. In the center of the dining room was Don Julio's trash tray (the little part you pull out and dump) and in the kitchen all caught up in the kitchen mat was Don Julio. But the fun does not stop there. There was a rabbit fur puff off of a scarf I have they had managed to get and it was shoved under the door to the front room. In the center of the den was a massive hunk of black fluff --Corby said he thought it was stuffing from something (we still have not identified) and surrounding the fluff was a ton of Satch hair. We have no clue how they did unless they grew hands and fingers. They managed to unhook him, start him up (which is not that hard --a button on top that they usually sit on anyway), get his tray out and then just harass him (i am sure they attacked at every corner) until he caught himself up in the rug... poor Don Julio.

Those pesky kitties.