Easy Like Sunday

TBT:  It's a calm peaceful day.  Laz likes to lay on his side at my eye level.  The 3-shelf bookcase in the bedroom and the shoe rack are favorite places.  But even on the bed, he flops over when he wants attention.  He always gets some, of course...

Marley's life revolves around food and laptime these days.  If there is food anywhere in the house, he will find it.  Ayla learned years ago to request her meals out of the kitchen and Laz has begun asking the same.  Marley will just "hoover" into any bowl, sort of like a Brontosaurus in a field of ferns.

Unlike Ayla and Laz (who only eat what they need), Marley (like Iza) will eat more than he can "keep in".  I have a plastic dustpan and a squeegee cut to fit it for that.  So, I try to keep him on many small meals a day.  It's tricky.  He's a BIG cat and guessing whether he is getting too  much or too little is "iffy".  But a plump kitty is happier than a thin one, so I indulge.  Though I DO sometimes push him outside and say "go catch a mouse".

He is not fast on his feet these days, so the exercise does him good.  Laz runs around the backyard a lot and sometime he and Marley chase each other, which is also good.  But Marley (only 10) seems to be aging faster than I would like.  So if he crosses The Bridge fat and happy, that is better than skinny.  Skeeter crossed The Bridge old and skinny and unhappy.

He spends a LOT more time on my lap after dinner than he used to.  Of the 3, he is most lapcatly.  Ayla is 2nd.  Laz has to be picked up and set in my lap on his back.  He doesn't like the picking-up, but once set, he seems pretty happy about it.  I look forward to the day he voluntarily hops up.  

And he left a whisker behind yesterday.  One more for the collection bottle.  It's the first I definitely know is HIS.  I really HAVE to post about the whisker collection soon.  It's been a few years...

Ayla is always peaceful.  And starting a month or two ago, started hopping up onto my lap often.  I'm not sure why.  Her habits change suddenly sometimes.  Like, last year, she wouldn't go outside and this year she charges at the door (unless Marley or Laz are dithering there - then she waits).  She seldom leaves the deck, but lately has been sitting on the stair to the lawn.  Ayla is aging too.  She will be 14 in a few days (17th).  I can see the tendons on her back legs these days and she has that thin look to her abdomen from above.  But she seems healthy and active, so maybe she will stay around a few more years. 

And another picture of Laz.  It's odd how sometimes his eyes just don't show up as blue.  On bad days, he is a bit aloof and assertive, but on most days is winsome and attention-seeking.  He has mostly adjusted to the house, me, and Marley and MOST day is fine with Ayla.  But there are regressions.

If I had kept careful track, I am sure it would show is is better every month.  But all I can say is that it SEEMS that I hear Ayla hiss fewer times as months pass.  I seldom see who starts a squabble, but I suspect Ayla starts it from bad memories when Laz gets too close.  

And they DO get along better.  I often DO see them lick foreheads these days and THAT sure never used to happen.  I should be happy.  I've read on some blogs that one cat is a target of hostility and sometimes that cats have to be separated by physical barriers in the house.  So I may be spoiled by a history of The Mews getting along pretty well.  Maybe it helps that I am home all the time and intervene quickly when hissy-fits erupt.

But for today, all is calm, peace reigns supreme, and each of The Mews were on my lap at one time or another, purring...

I can't have a better EASY than that.  May all the Beings and kitties have the same...