myrne.net

the earth says hello!

[16:19] j9: hallooo
[16:34] j9: OMG!
[16:36] j9: i just heard somebody under the bed and so i started yelling out out out over and over and i heard progress so i kept it up until beanie came running out from behind your nightstand. and then i said beanie! out out out! as she trotted out of the room looking sheepish. Oh, and she avoided setting off the scraminal both times she passed through the doorway.
[16:36] j9: i'm so stunned that she obeyed
[16:37] Stef: wow

That's it. The breakfast and dinner Hustle Log is finished.
 
Why?
 
The cats are too smart.

Everyone hustled. Ho hum. Everyone hustled again. And again. Oh yeah, and by the way, they hustled again.

How boring! How predictable. Damn, they're good.

I'm going to have to up the ante. 

Stef came downstairs to find Blackmo with a poofy tail, staring out the window at a longer-haired Ghostie look-alike who quickly disappeared.

The first week we were in the house, I saw a Sabine look-alike walking across the top of our back fence.

When I got up at 5:30, Tort and Blackmo were already in the catroom. Tort had claimed the scale/window-seat. Blackmo ran out when he saw me, so I shut the door. About an hour later, Stef let Ghostie, Griffin, and Sabine in for breakfast. Then, when they were done: Blackmo.

Despite all kinds of efforts, we were still seeing the occasional straggler ants in the caatroom. We tried to hold dinner in the auxiliary bathroom, where we had setup the clean, refilled, ant-free feeder. But Tort and Ghostie were too weirded-out by the change of venue to hustle. They'd get close, and then go "nah."

Still a few more ants in the catroom. Ghostie and Tort continue to refuse to hustle into the auxiliary bathroom. Somebody's gonna get hungry and loud soon....

I tried to hold dinner in the auxiliary bathroom, but Ghostie and Tort refused to hustle.

I wasn't feeling well and I'd put in enough hours already, so I came home from work at 1:00 thinking I might take it easy at home. But when I let the cats out of their room, I saw several hundred ants marching up the wall and into (and up inside) the automatic pet feeder.

Since then I've done a complete takedown on the catroom. And I put the feeder full of ants out front on the porch. When Stef came home he disassembled the feeder and cleaned it inside and out. Then he did a complete takedown on the water fountain.

We baked all the catfood on cookie sheets in the oven and set them on the patio table to cool. The cats are all running around crazy. And the house is full of the greasy aroma of warm cheeseballs.

Standard drill. Stef shut Griffin, Sabine and Tort in before the feeder went off. I let Ghostie in when I woke up. A little while later, I let Blackmo in but Griffin ran out. A chase ensued and Griffin found himself tossed back into the catroom with a "hustle!"

Griffin and Sabine hustled for a snack. Tort joined them at the end.

Griffin and Sabine were already in the catroom when I woke up. Ghostie and Tort were waiting in the hall. I hustled them and Griffin ran out. A few minutes later, I hustled Blackmo.

When I was ready to leave, I found Griffin downstairs in the myrne house. So I carried the house upstairs and popped him into the catroom, the same way I'd pop a jello-shot out of a dixie cup.