“Freddie,” I whispered into the dark. “It’s so cold.”
“Yes,” he whispered back. He was curled up near my hip, both of us on my bed. I had just set down my phone, being in the habit of reading on my Kindle app by the back light in my otherwise dark room.
I am aware that this is a bad habit, but it reminds me of reading under the blanket with a flashlight as a kid after bedtime. I’m not giving it up.
“Freddie,” I said again.
“What?”
“You should get under the blankets. It’s warm under here.”
“No,” he whispered back, curling into an even tighter and somehow more stubborn ball.
A gentle reminder of how we do things: 🐱🐶🐦
- Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
- Please do share pics of your fur kids! If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
- Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs. Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
- Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. If you’re having “issues” with another Kossack, keep it “out there.” This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
- There are some pics we never post: snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated. If we alert you to it, please remember that we do have phobic peeps who react strongly to them. If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand. Or, paw.
I sighed. “I wish you would,” I said. “It would make me worry less if you were warm.”
“You’re worries are not my problem,” he responded, sounding totally unbothered.
"The electric blanket is on,” I crooned.
“I can feel it,” he said.
“Oh, right. I guess that helps, even if it’s under you and not on top of you.”
“Human. Go to sleep.”
I groaned when the alarm went off, not ready to get up. I wasn’t overly tired, but my bed was so warm and my sheets so soft that the thought of getting up was terrible. I lifted my phone and pressed the ‘snooze.’
I opened my eyes and looked around for Freddie, which was my usual routine on waking. Sometimes I found him asleep at the end of my bed and sometimes I didn’t see him at all. He wasn’t there now so I knew that —
Right on schedule I heard him howl downstairs. I grinned and closed my eyes to get another nine minutes of sleep before the alarm went off again.
“It’s too cold to get up,” I told him.
“My bowl is too empty to stay in bed,” he shot back. He was perched on my chest, staring down into my face.
It was an intimidating position.
“Get up,” he said again.
I freed one arm from my comfortable, comfortable blankets so I could pet him. The skin of my exposed limb immediately developed gooseflesh that rippled down my arm and across my body. I shivered.
Freddie purred, closing his eyes and dropping down so he was lying, rather than perching, over my body.
“What a good boy,” I murmured.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky to have such a nice boy,” I continued.
“You did get lucky,” he purred.
“So lucky that he lets me sleep in when it’s cold.”
He opened his eyes. “No,” he said.
The alarm on the phone next to me went off again.
"At least I got a nice robe for Christmas,” I muttered, wrapping the article of clothing in question around myself as I left the comfort of my bedroom.
Freddie raced ahead of me and down the stairs.
“Hungry,” I observed, following him.
He waited impatiently while I prepared his breakfast, then trotted to his food mat ahead of me. I left him eating happily.
Freddie joined me on the couch when he was done, climbing on top of the furry blanket that I had arranged over my lap. He sat and began his post meal grooming routine. “Don’t mind me,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Once he was done, he settled himself on my lap, stretched out and facing away from me. I ran my fingers through his fur, then picked up my phone and settled in to doom scroll. I didn’t have anything much to do and decided to take a leisurely morning.
Freddie twisted onto his side and tucked his head against my calf. He had decided on a leisurely morning as well.
“Let’s hope we don’t invade anywhere this morning,” I muttered, using my thumb to look at skeets on the Blue Sky app.
Eventually I couldn’t take the doom and gloom of social media anymore and set my phone down. Freddie, as unbothered as always, slept soundly on top of the blanket.
“You should get under the blanket,” I observed.
“No,” he said on a snore.
I woke from an unexpected nap, confused and disoriented. The first thing I noticed was that I was alone on the couch. “Freddie?” I croaked.
He didn’t respond.
“I should get dressed,” I said, looking at the time displayed on my phone. I didn’t feel any pressure to do this, however, as I still had nothing much to do with the day. It was just a general sense that I shouldn’t stay in my nightgown and robe until the afternoon.
I whipped the furry blanket off my lap and un-reclined my seat, then stood and went to look for my cat.
There is a small office at the end of the hallway that my mom uses to work from home. Inside along with her desk and work computer is a small pull-out couch that we only have in case of an overnight guest. It was a little bit of a catch-all for things that didn’t have a home in the house, currently a pile of stuffed toys amassed mostly from amusement park games. We’re both pretty good at that game where you shoot water at a target and race other participants.
Freddie was curled up on the lap of a large, soft, stuffed unicorn, surrounded by the other happy-faced toys.
“Oh my god,” I said.
"Why are you this cute?” I demanded.
He opened his eyes and blinked up at me, sleepy and happy.
“You can’t really be in here,” I told him, regretfully. He had a bad habit of peeing on the carpet when left in this room alone and so the door was usually shut to keep him out when there were no humans inside.
He frowned, but didn’t say anything or otherwise move.
I felt bad since he looked both adorable and comfortable. “Or I could get the furry blanket and put it on you and tuck you in,” I offered.
Freddie got up and stretched, then jumped off the unicorn to the floor and walked to the door.
“That’s a no?”
“That’s a no,” he confirmed.
“Wanna go up to my bed and cuddle nap?” I offered.
He paused in the doorway and thought about it. “Maybe,” he said.
Happy Caturday, Peeps! Freddie has discovered the stuffed unicorn and has been spotted multiple times sleeping on it. It’s one of the cutest things anyone has ever done in the history of the Earth.
We hope you are all staying as warm and cozy as a kitty on a unicorn.
