It was the best of rooms, it was the worst of rooms, it was the room of wisdom, it was the room of foolishness, it was a mission of relief, it was a mission of wanting, it was the litter of wheat, it was the litter of crystals, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going to the loo, we were all going on the floor- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its most constipated authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, with spray bottle and paper towels in hand.
Ladies and gentlemen.
The cats have won.
After a weekend of visitors and not one but two accidents on the bathroom floor, I was greeted this afternoon with a sadly familiar odor originating from my bed. THAT. Was the LAST. STRAW.
The windows opened and the fans in full force, the area was sterilized, and the project promptly disassembled and abandoned. I can handle the floor. I can handle losing a comforter. I cannot handle a new mattress being christened in this way. I am disappointed, annoyed, and tired. And if Pilgrim does that again he's spending more than a few hours in the bathroom window. Tail of two kitties indeed.
As I expected, Oakley took to it easily. She didn't like the transition from peeing to perching, but she was getting it. Pilgrim perched at one point, but when I switched to the Kwitter he balked and got upset. He was scared of me when I came home to find what I found, and squished himself in a tiny hiding place. I feel bad in retrospect, but it certainly cleared up who was the guilty party.
Maybe I rushed things. Maybe I should've stuck with the book instead of switching to the litter kwitter (which has some apparent problems, I found out). I was lured by it's simplicity but the method was obviously distracting to a creature fascinated and nervous about water. The book, after reading it again, has some points I should have paid more attention to. I also was getting nervous because I have a two-week Florida trip coming up and I wanted to be sure they were house-happy.
Maybe I'll try this again sometime. When I have two bathrooms. And when I don't have a two-week business trip coming up. I've learned a lot in this experiment...some of which I wish I didn't know. But it was interesting... It makes me wonder about kids. You can't reason with a cat. You probably can't really reason with a kid either. But a kid will at least understand the theory of what you're doing.
In any case, I've replaced one project with a few others. Not the least of which is a Halloween costume. Stay tuned.
There's also the difference that kids have to carry their... um... litter around in their pants.
ReplyDeleteGives them incentive to learn a new way. Language is also helpful, I understand.
I am only surprised that Pilgrim took so long to make his point! Perhaps when you bring back his litter box, you could christen it the "Sydney carton"?.... and, could that pile of blue with a pair of white orbs... could that be Cookie???
ReplyDeleteIt is actually NOT cookie monster, although that's exactly what I see when I look! Yip...that's what I see. ;)
ReplyDeleteAlso note that that first paragraph is almost exactly like what Dickens wrote. Just goes to show that English teachers don't know what good writing looks like. I demand the points back for all my run-on sentences.
You quoted the very dickens out of it!... so... do I get points for the Sydney carton? Can't wait to see what the costume turns out to be!
ReplyDeletebtw, John is in hospital... probably only an overnight... bad chest congestion led to shortness of breath, etc... for details, go to Eliza.