2/1/2016: Clinch's magic carpet ride

One of my first posts in this blog was about Clinchfield's fascination with messing up the bathmats.  If you missed that or need a recap, you can catch up here.

A few nights ago Steve and I were getting ready to go to bed, and I noticed that Clinch had messed up the mats again, but this time instead of pushing them both against the wall, one of them was sticking out in the hall.  That was new, and while we pondered it, Clinch walked up and plopped down:

He didn't budge as I walked around him, taking pictures.  He didn't even twitch when I turned on the light to get this slightly blurry picture:

Steve decided to see what would happen if he straightened the mat out with Clinch on it.  Would he jump off, or would he enjoy the ride?  Let's take a look:  (The video was done with my phone, so if you want to hear the few things said, you'll have to turn your speakers up a lot.  Sorry about that.)

It was nice of him to point out that the other mat was disheveled, too, wasn't it?

"Thanks for straightening things out, Papa!"

Since then, I've had to fix the mats no less than four times.  He sure likes to keep us busy!

12/10/2015: My poor (lace) heart

Sorry I haven't written in a long time.  I've not been feeling all that great, and Clinchfield has been a relatively good kitten.  He still has his crazy streaks, but usually they're short-lived and non-chaotic.

Then came today...

We have Cappuccino, my mother's dog, again for a few days.  I think Clinch is excited, because he kept trying to play tag with her when they first arrived yesterday.  This morning he was frisking around the pup trying to play as well as running all around the house.

When I took my shower, I decided to close Cappuccino in the bathroom with me.  I latched the door (which we usually don't do), so Clinch was reaching in under the door and playing under/with/around it.  A few times he got pretty loud, so I yelled out, "Clinch, knock it off!"

I guess he took me literally, because when I opened the door, this is what I found:

This is the stiff lace heart from the bathroom door.

"You did tell me to knock it off, Mama!"

Here's how the bathroom door is supposed to look:

See how high up the heart is?  Clinchfield is quite the jumper.  I have a video of him jumping that I'll have to show you soon.

"Honestly, I was just following directions."

And here is poor, beleaguered Cappuccino trying to hide in the bedroom:

It's quiet in the house now, so I'm hoping Clinch has gotten it all out of his system.

Archive: 08/20/2015 - Bath mat destruction

(This archived Clinchfield Report was originally posted on Facebook on 08/20/2015.)

We can either have bath mats where they're supposed to be or a kitten, but not both. I don't know if you can see in this picture, but there are Q-tips on the floor as well. Walking further into the bathroom I saw that the garbage had been tipped over.

(Note: This is before we replaced the waste baskets that I mentioned in this report.)

Here's the culprit after I straightened the mats, planning his next move:

As I'm fond of saying, he's lucky he's cute!

After I posted this report, one of the comments that came in was, "Not up on all things cat, but can't you just close the bathroom door?"  I replied, "What's the fun in that?  :)  Yes, I could, but he'd probably bang on it trying to get the toy that he batted under the door. There's quite a gap there."

Steve and I staged this picture so we could post it as an example.  I said, "Picture this but with noise."

Then Steve commented, "This morning in the bathroom I tried to startle him out of my way by nudging the bathmat against his hind leg. If he were Pixel, he would have jumped three feet. But Clinchfield didn't even turn around, just lifted his leg like "meh." I realized: He's not Devil Cat, he's DAREDEVIL Cat, the Cat Without Fear!"

Tonight my mother and stepfather are bringing their dog, Cappuccino, for us to watch.  Goodness knows what kinds of things I'll be posting about tomorrow and for the next week or so!

Archive: 08/16/2015 - DIY bed and other random bathroom chaos

I don't know what it is about cats and bathrooms.  I suppose since we spend a lot of time in there they feel it's a very important room and want to spend a lot of time in there, too.  Or maybe it's because they want to be where we are, because most of Clinchfield's chaos happens when I'm in the room and usually unable to stop him.

Since that whole water incident after our first trip to the vet, I have to take my medicine very carefully.  I'll fill the water glass, put it on the counter (we have a long, low counter in the bathroom supposedly for putting makeup on), and gather my pills.  Clinch is fond of bounding into the bathroom and onto the counter when he hears my pills rattle around.  He'll stick his little face in my glass and sometimes a paw if I don't grab the glass quickly enough.  A few times I was really slow, and, with his paw in the glass, he pulled it toward himself, knocking it over.  That's probably his way of telling us that the counter needed to be washed.

Within a few weeks of his arrival, it was extremely apparent that we needed to purchase some new equipment for the bathroom.  The wrappers of various monthly supplies (ladies, you know what I mean) are very crinkly, and Clinch absolutely loves anything that makes a crinkly sound.  New ones placed in easy reach for me were also in easy reach for him, so they were being dragged around.  Fortunately, The Container Store just opened at our mall, so Steve and I went shopping there and at Target.  We bought new waste baskets with lids (because used crinkly wrappers of all kinds were fair game in an uncovered waste basket) for the bathroom, my studio, and the living room.  We were also able to find a white tin with a secure lid for me to use one week a month.

But I was able to get pictures of his DIY bed.  I was, er, indisposed, as one tends to be a number of times a day, and he pulled down my towel and plopped down:

He doesn't stay in one place for too long, so less than thirty seconds later he switched positions:

Shortly after I was able to shoo him away, shake my towel off, and hang it back up.

He hasn't done it again.  I find that very odd considering how comfortable he looks in those pictures.

Tomorrow I'll share more bathroom antics!