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happybird

(4,934 posts)
Wed Jul 24, 2024, 03:05 AM Jul 24

Oberon (aka Bee) has had a busy week! [View all]

Last edited Wed Jul 24, 2024, 03:59 AM - Edit history (1)

He met a dog, went through his first thunderstorm here, stalked a salamander that got inside the house, explored the covered porch, and got a package from Amazon.


One thing I’ve noticed is Mom’s visits have increased. She comes and picks me up on Tuesdays and we run errands, go to lunch, and hang out for a couple hours. Normally, she pulls up the driveway and I go down to the car. I had figured coming up all the stairs was a little too much for her to handle with her breathing issues. Suddenly, miraculously, she now comes up for a cup of tea before we head off and comes up to use the bathroom before heading home, lol! She’s been over twice in the past week and is coming over tomorrow. It’s great because I love seeing her so much. Yesterday, I came out of the bathroom and overheard her telling Bee she loved him.


That brings us to his Amazon package. She loves the videos I send her of him playing with his feather on a stick, so she bought him a 10-piece assortment of wand attachments. A grandmother’s duty is to spoil the little ones, right? He’s such a timid guy about sound that he was scared of the jingly bells on each toy. I removed the bells, no problem. Then he did the cat thing and showed total disdain for anything new. I put three of the toys on the floor so he could examine them at his leisure. Sure enough, about an hour later I saw him rolling on one and smacking it around. Attached it to the wand and he’s happy as a little clam again. I think maybe he needs to work up a healthy grudge against a toy before he really goes for it? Mom enjoyed the new videos and a good time was had by all.





A couple days ago I put some wet food down for him by the dishwasher. I was cooking and not really paying attention to him. But I started to notice he was fixated on the fridge. The dishwasher is next to the fridge so I thought maybe he was eyeing up the wet food (surprisingly, he’s not a big fan), or just hanging out in the kitchen because that’s where I was, or who knows. Cat. Whatever. In the next hour or so, I passed through the kitchen a couple times and he was still staring at the fridge. So I figured there was a bug under it he was stalking. Went to open the door to the porch and:


Took about 10 minutes to convince the salamander it was safe to come off the door and return to the grass by the lower deck. I’m so glad Bee didn’t hurt it!

There is a woman renting the room downstairs for a few months. She’s very sweet and rarely ever here. Perfect roommate! Her dog, JinglyPuff, is her best friend and goes to the barn with her all day. They are up and gone early and Bee and I are night owls, so our paths don’t cross very often. They finally met through the screen door last week. Bee seemed ok, so fine with it that I think his old home must have had a dog. But when Jingly play-bounced and grumbled at him, he went and hid under his chair, but where he could still see us. She came inside to meet Bee, leaving Jingly out on the deck, and Bee came out to let her pet and him and give him compliments. All in all, it went well!


I went to a meeting Monday night and it was raining when I came back out. On the 20 min drive home I could see lightning ahead, right about where my house is, of course. Doesn’t that just figure? He’s so sensitive about sound, especially unfamiliar or scary ones. I got here as fast as I could but the storm was already over. He was hiding and not happy too with me. No amount of sweet talking was working, so I broke down and busted out a can of tuna. A tablespoon of the tuna water and a little tuna meat, hand delivered to underneath the dining room table, cheered him right up. Starting to think he’s manipulating me, lol! I’m fine with that.

He’s my sweet little shadow and has started watching me through the screen door when I’m on the deck smoking. He was meowing through the screen one day, so I invited him out for his first visit to the porch (highly supervised, he’s indoor only for his safety). After some creeping around and sniffing, he jumped up on the table. Shortly after that, a plane flew over and he got scared by the noise and quickly went back inside. We’ll work on it, at his pace. Don’t think he’s a big fan of outside, in general, which is fine by me.


I love him so much and am so grateful he’s here. Every day he seems to trust me a little more. He’s definitely gaining weight and his shaved areas are growing back in nicely. He comes when called (most of the time) and likes playing fetch (sometimes).










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