BALLS!

Today is February 26 and it’s a beautiful sunny, nary a cloud in the sky kind of day. Now that I think about it, every day is a beautiful day, sunny, cloudy, rainy, snow, I love em all. Makes you think, “as long as I open my eyes in the morning, it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

Anyway, it’s about them darn cats of mine. Sometimes I think they are just stupid animals, but they fool me every now and then. I have been trying to get them to chase a ball and return it to me and then repeat the process over and over until they drop from exhaustion or I drop from exhaustion.

Balls! I wish I could find them all.

            I know this can be done, because I remember years ago my brother taught his cat to do the same thing and I was totally amazed. And of course I have seen it done on the boob tube and in books and so forth. And when my son was here, a few years or so ago, they did that, brought the ball back.

            So, for the longest I have been picking up a ball and saying, “ball” and I would repeat this over and over again and they would chase it. But, they would never bring it back. I haven’t learned that part yet, how to get them to bring it back. But, they chase it and run all over the place chasing that ball. I purchased about 10 of those fuzzy balls and for the most part they have just about chewed those balls to death.

            Only the yellow and the green balls are still recognizable. The blue balls look like they have been chewed up and spit out. But, I do love watching them chase that ball. I have been opening the basement door, just a crack, just big enough, so that they fit through it and I toss the ball through the door and watch them chase it down the stairs.

            Every now and then they will bring the ball back up the stairs. They drop it and go about their business. I get the hint at that point. I pick it up (I think they are training me) and throw it back down the stairs. Or I throw it anywhere and they go nuts over that ball. Of course one of them will watch and the other goes after the ball.

            The only problem is that they don’t bring it back to me. They bring it up the stairs bat it a second or two then move off.  If I don’t come and get it their day is over with that ball, even though, in the middle of the night, I hear one of them running around the house like crazy. When I get up in the morning I can see that one of them had been knocking that ball around.

            Anyway, the other day, I was lying on the couch and the cats were fighting (playing?) and I started to yell “ball”. I did this for about 10 minutes. They sat there just looking off into space. But they stayed seated. I started to get bored and I didn’t want them to start fighting again.

            But, I gave up and fell asleep, it was my mid-day nap. I do a lot of that since I retired. I got up about an hour later and had my mid-day snack. I do that a lot since I retired, too. I hadn’t noticed, though, when I get back to finish watching TV, I noticed that there were four balls next to the couch. They brought all of those balls back but I was sleeping.

            I gotta give it to them though; they are learning the word, “ball”. Now, if I can get them to bring it back to me when I am awake, I’ll celebrate. Go figure.