Jump Rope and Hula-Hoops

I sat down to write this remembering how we played hours with these things as kids, especially on summer vacation from school.  I wonder if kids even know what these things are today.  I never see my neighbor kids doing any of this stuff.  It seems bicycles are the thing here and the boys carry around BB guns in the desert to shoot my wildlife, which makes me mad.  They always hear about it too, but that’s another story.

At recess in school, we gathered a group of girls and played with very long jump ropes.  We had a person at each end and we’d take turns jumping in and out and doing routines while singing verses, sometimes with two or three people jumping rope at the same time.  It was great fun.  We also carried this out at home, but didn’t have a rope near that long to play with.  However, with seven of us there were more than enough kids.

We’d do routines at home too or would jump rope by ourselves, but usually several of us participated in everything we did.  We had hula-hoops too which were very cheap in those days, or we wouldn’t have had them.  We would work our way up until we could hula with five or six of them on at one time.  I do see these hoops in the store occasionally and it makes me think of those wonderful childhood days filled with chatter and laughter.  I’ve even been tempted to buy one to see if I can still do it.  The mind never grows old as fast as the body.

How about you, did you jump rope or play with hula-hoops as a kid?

Let’s Play

Raven in the cat tree

That’s what Raven would say if he could talk.  He’s never at a loss for finding things that entertain him, starting with chewing on my hair at daybreak.  Once he has me up, I don’t even get a bathroom break in peace.  He wants to love all over me and kiss my face while trying to crawl into my lap when I’m sitting in the little room half asleep.  What fun that is.

 This is Raven inside a big pot in the entry of my house.  This pot is four-feet high.  I had to rescue him because he could get in, but not out.

He expects breakfast and wants me to hurry along to the kitchen where he still falls over at my feet while I’m getting his food ready.  I thought he might outgrow that, but he’s sixteen-months-old now and still falls to the floor from a standing position.  I’ve never had a cat do that before I got this little furry bundle of joy.

" I'm King of the house," Raven says.

After his breakfast, which he eats with the gusto of his last meal, he’s a terror in the house attacking whatever his eyes land on.  Once he runs off some of his energy it’s nap time for a couple of hours unless I start on some project he wants to “help me” with.

 "I'm sorting this stack of mail."

"Gimme that.  It's mine...all mine."

 

In the afternoon, we collect the mail.  As soon as it hits the kitchen counter, its fair game for cat paws.  This little rascal is into something all day long.  He pushes the boundaries everyday, but will settle down and come make peace with us if he’s yelled at too often.  I let him get away with a bit more than my husband does because I know how a cat thinks.  And as long as he isn’t breaking anything or in danger of hurting himself, I let him play.  He’s only young so long.

Changing the clocks - ahead one hour

Time to check the batteries in the smoke alarms too.

On another quick note, it’s that time again when they play with our head by changing the clocks.  So we’re springing ahead one hour.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the longer days but this system is antiquated now. Daylight savings time came into existence in the first place when WWI was going on in hopes of saving energy for the war effort.  I don’t think we really save any energy today.  I don’t know anyone who goes to bed when it gets dark.  We’re all watching TV, on our computers, reading, or doing other activities.

To read more about the story behind Daylight Savings Time, click here:

I’m winning then over - little by little

Raven

I've been here almost a month now and I'm finally starting to win the girls over.  At least I think I might be. Tootie will wrestle with me and play footsies.  

Tootie and Raven

Koki isn’t too gung-ho, but I think she may come around.  She sneaks up on me to nose me.  Once she’s finished, she hisses at me and slinks off.  She pays a lot of attention to me so I think maybe that she’s just trying to tell me she’s in charge.

 Koki looking for Raven

Raven attacking the laser

 

 I’ve landed in the best home.  I have so many toys I never get bored.  I really enjoy attacking my human’s feet and playing with the laser.  I take over the bed at night and wake them up at dawn to feed me.  I can be loud and demanding when I’m hungry because I’m a growing boy.  I’m really good otherwise, so they put up with this.  I make sure I purr loudly, even when they trim my nails.

 Roadrunner

I love sleeping in the sunspots in the dining room, so I was busy lounging on a chair in there they conveniently placed by the window for me.  A roadrunner happened by.  He kept flaring his comb out and making noises with his beak.  He didn’t scare me though.

Raven

Raven

Tonight I was attacking my human’s shoes.  They caught me in mid-flight and standing on my hind legs.  I don’t know why they made such a big deal of this.

 Koki, Raven, and Tootie

Raven

 

 I decided to go upstairs and check on the girls who were up there getting away from me.  They pretended not to pay much attention to me, but I know they were watching as I investigated this plastic bag and decided whether to attack it again as I did the other night after the humans kept me in the bedroom all day because some painters were here.

I really terrorized the house that night, but I had so much pent up energy.  Maybe they won’t do that to me again.

I’m off so I can beat them to bed and take my spot out of the middle.  They hate to disturb me, so things are going very well in my new home.

Raven

New kitten wreaks havoc around my house

 Raven

  This little rascal has turned our environment into chaos.  I’m sure things will settle down in a while.  Being only three-months-old, he’s always on the move.  We are fortunate he usually stays in bed and sleeps most of the night.  But lookout when he wakes up full of vim and vigor and ready to take on the world.  You don’t dare move your feet because that’s just an invitation to attack.

It’s fun having a kitten around as long as you pick up the breakables.

 Raven

I’ve had so many cats over the years, so we have a ton of cat toys.  A friend of mine gave me this furry ball with a bell on it that sits atop a spring.  Raven attacks this vigorously and is so carried away with excitement when playing with this that he does flips in the air and landed on the edge of the coffee table tonight.  Luckily, he didn’t get hurt, although he did sit there a while staring at it.  I imagine he thought the table was attacking him.  His head made a loud thump when he whacked it.

 Raven

After a quick nap in the cat tree, he was at it again.

I feel sorry for Koki who wants to come to bed so bad, but she won’t do it as long as this little squirt is on the bed.  There’s plenty of room, but after hanging out a while, she hisses and stomps off in disgust.  This may be a good thing as she sleeps on legs and pins me to the bed at night.  As a result, I usually have to get up a couple of times with a cramp in my leg or foot.  I hate to throw her off, so usually I’ll be still and go around with a backache in the mornings.

 Koki

On Friday night, I thought we had a breakthrough because Koki and Raven were playing footsies under the chairs upstairs.  Of course, these are low to the floor so they couldn’t see each other.  Maybe that makes a lot of difference in a cat’s world.  Today it was back to the same old thing with Koki keeping her distance and hissing at him again.

 Raven and Tootie

He’s doing his best to make friends and win the two older females over.  Tootie doesn’t mind him at all now except to look at him weird when he’s jumping around like an idiot.  Tootie loves everyone, so I’m not too surprised she came around first.  I guess Koki doesn’t remember being in Raven’s shoes not so long ago when she was the new kid on the block.

Maybe some cats are like people in this respect where they don’t remember what it was like to be a kid.  I’m giving Koki some extra attention and haven’t given up hope yet that she’ll come around.  We’ve had Raven two weeks today and he has settled in here as if this is home.

Other than kitten watching, the moving endeavor goes on.  We’re making slow progress because we’re still waiting for contractors to show up to do a few things we can’t do.  This is the last weekend of the Parade of Homes, which a large annual event here.  We still don’t have the “for sale” sign on the house and that was the goal for the middle of February.  This whole moving venture can get you down if you let it.

Tootie

On a happier note, it is warming up enough to open the windows again for a short while.  Hooray!