Cabin Fever (Winter, 2013)

It snowed a lot this winter! Which usually doesn't bother us because we like to skip and twirl and slide and play tag on ice-covered snow.

But this year's snow was different -- when we tried to walk on it, we sank down so deeply that it was a struggle to claw our way out. So Pat said we had to stay indoors -- and then she closed the window and the cat door leading to our pen!

So what have we been doing while we are house-bound?

Natasha has the easiest time of it because she has so much to do inside. She loves to help Henry as he works in his office:

And, Natasha has a favorite indoor sport that involves lots of vigorous rolling back and forth:

Can you guess where she is?

Summer also has an indoor hobby: he likes to listen to the television news. But judging by this picture, Dandy was seriously bored by news reports concerning the (American) State of the Union:

Office work, bath-tub gymnastics, listening to the news -- these are activities that take quite a bit of energy. In the next picture, Boris joins Natasha in demanding that dinner be served early:

Here is what happens when Pat tosses us a handful of treats:

 In fact, we spend quite a bit of time eating:

Did you notice anything odd in the preceding picture?  That's right! Farah and Summer are no longer bitter enemies -- they can now be right next to each other without growling and howling and boxing each other's ears. It is Summer who deserves the credit for this detente: Farah still growls when he comes too near, but he ignores the provocation.

In the next picture, Farah and Summer exchange meaningful glances:

Take a good look at the pink carpet in this picture. Because, just when we thought our cabin fever was at its peak -- just when we thought things couldn't get worse -- Pat announced that she has always hated that pink carpet and she was having it replaced! And for good measure, we were also getting new tiles in the upstairs bathrooms!

As our much-stained and therefore much-loved carpet was being taken away, Summer was allowed to go outside to the porch to say goodbye on behalf of us all:

Then men came into the house with noisy machines. They spent days putting down the new carpet and tiles.

Whenever the men left the house, we hurried out of our hiding places to inspect their tools and see what damage they had been doing:

We were SO upset that Pat tried to calm us down by promising that after the men left, she would buy us a new tower to match the carpet!

Here is Hershey on the new tower:

(By the way -- if you are wondering, the print on the wall is "End of the Day," by the well-known Alaskan artist Rie Munoz. It depicts scenes from Juneau, Alaska in the 1960s, when Pat went to high school there.)

Taffy on the tower:

We are glad the men are gone now and we can get down to work scratching and staining the new carpet. But even with this project to keep us busy, we remain a bit bored.

So we devote many hours to the most reliable pastimes of all:  perching, and sleeping.

Dandy continues to be a mama's boy who prefers the company of his mother Tessa:

Hershey and Summer are best buddies who like to curl up together on the sofa:

But when Summer decides to stretch out, there isn't much room left for Hershey:

When that happens, Hershey goes upstairs to join his sisters: in this next picture, he is with Cocoa:

And here are all four "Jets": from left to right, Cocoa, Tootsie (who is Hershey's favorite sister), Hershey, and Taffy:

Sometimes, though, it seems best just to rest alone quietly while we wait for better weather: