On the way there I noticed a pet store and it prompted me to ask how her cat was doing. Candace said he was doing good, stays out of the way and spends a lot of time laying around. With the cold weather, she hadn't been letting him out as often and I was concerned about him getting exercise and if she had a litter box for him to use inside. Candace said he still gets out, but he doesn't stay out long. So I pointed out that we could walk to the pet store and get him a toy or two so he'd have something to do inside. She thought it was a great idea.
So after lunch that's what we did. There was a lot of neat stuff to be found, far more than I think either of us realized was available. I didn't know they made costumes for pets, mind blown. I wonder how many people get scratched up trying to put their cats in those costumes? Candace found a lot of toys for playing with cats, and I told her to just get some shoe string, it'd be cheaper. We settled on a ball that we can put treats in, it's got holes that as he knocks the ball around it'll drop treats for him to munch on. Which meant we also had to get a back of treats, and I found a bag of catnip.
Once we got back to Candace's, we set about trying to play with her cat. He's always been standoffish with me, most of the time I'm not even aware he's there and I don't think Max has seen him. Anyway, we put a few treats in the ball and shook it to see if we could get him to come out. No dice. Candace said she'd try to find him, and that gave me a chance to look around and see if Eli had kept any string or replacement shoestrings. Sure enough his kitchen had an all purpose drawer, complete with string.
Candace announced that she found him sleeping in his favorite chair under the table, and I called out for her to wait before waking him. I cut a length of the string, and knowing where he was I laid the string out across the chair and drew it over him to see if that'd get his attention. It did, and holy crap is that cat vicious. He got hold of my string and tore it right out of my hand. Then he jumped down and pulled it out from under the table with him. He looked between the two of as though demanding an explanation.
While I laughed, Candace picked up the ball and tossed it across the floor. At first he just sat down and watched it come to a stop, then looked back to us with a bored expression. Candace went over and kicked it toward him with her foot. Still he just watched. So I kicked it closer to where it stopped right in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, then reached out and batted it with his paw. He didn't hit it hard, but it finally dropped a treat as it moved a short distance away.
Curiosity got the best of him, and he leaned forward to sniff at the treat. He decided it was worth the try, and then gobbled it up. Then looking back at the ball he swatted it, and the the ball flew off down the hall with the cat fast behind.
Candace and I spent the early afternoon playing with her cat, I even got him to play with the string again. He's really good at taking it out of my hand, and I had to learn the hard way not to tie it up in my fingers.
Then we introduced the catnip, and it was all over. He's a friendly drunk, lemme tell you. Whoever had the bag, he would rub all over them to get more. It turned out to be a good way to get him to let me pet him finally. He is so soft, like a cloud. But I also noticed he's got a lump on his back, just behind his shoulder blade. I wasn't able to inspect it as he jerked away as soon as I touched it. So I'm not sure if it's a knot in his fur or what, but since he's short hair, a knot doesn't seem right. I asked Candace about it and she didn't seem concerned, but I still suggested she take him to a vet to get it looked at.
When Sam joined us the cat seemed to sober up at his presence and went off to hide again without touching his things. Which was fine as it meant it was time for us to get around anyway. We were aiming to hit the museum about 4, which would give us some time to look around before it closed up and Hal got off. I was hoping he'd be given a little freedom to join us, but I guess his last project included his work at the museum, and that was due tomorrow. So while he did get out a little early to join us, it was pretty much to walk out the door with us.
Sam had said he'd never gotten the chance to come to the museum. It sounds like his parents are so adamantly Christian that they deny basic sciences. They'd never taken him, nor did they allow him to come during school trips while he was growing up. And since he'd grown he's just never taken the time to come on his own. Candace of course has no memory of anything before August, so there's no way to know if she'd been before. But the way they both acted, she seemed to be in a similar boat.
As often as I visit them, and take part in their habits, this was kinda the first time I'd been able to show them my world. Sam was fascinated with the Gems and Minerals exhibit; being a blacksmith he was well aware of a lot of the minerals as they applied to his job, but he'd never looked in to how they existed in the natural world. Candace on the other hand took to the Space Odyssey, she was floored to learn what scientists were doing to be able to explore other worlds and how we were preparing for it. She really enjoyed the interactive displays. Actually, she was a natural at the docking simulator.
We spent some time looking through the Wildlife Exhibits and the Prehistoric Journey, but we didn't have a lot of time and I was excited to show them both the new Egypt exhibit. I had thought that Candace might like the Wildlife Exhibits, but she seemed disturbed by the taxidermy. Many people are, but she seemed more sad at the display of dead animals. So I suggested that maybe another time we could go to the zoo.
The new Egypt exhibit is what I was looking forward to. I've done the walk through with the other employees, but I haven't gotten the chance to see the finished and open exhibit. I like how they've changed things around, and I think the new layout works much better. Especially with our new edition. I hadn't seen Nephmesu yet, and that's who I was really looking forward to seeing. One of the exiting things about Nephmesu is that he seems to be one of the most well preserved bodies that we've seen. Looking him over, I could easily imagine him sitting up and asking for a drink of water. Candace though, she seemed more than a little creeped out by him and refused to approach. She actually hid behind Sam as soon as she saw him. Sam also seemed weirded out, but he didn't want anyone to think he was afraid, so he stepped up and peered over the coffin wall.
They were both uncomfortable enough that we ended up leaving. Which was sad for me since I'd wanted to see him so badly. But I work their, I'm sure I"ll get another chance.
As I said, Hal did join us as we were leaving, and we all went to get some dinner before going home. I had been texting Max through the day to find out how she and her boyfriend were doing. I guess they got a little too close yesterday and now his windshield and mirror are cracked and Max said her ears were still ringing it had been so loud. But she was looking forward to telling us about it. I told Hal and he's excited to hear about it.
That was our day. After dinner we split up and Hal brought me home. He still needed to finish his report so he could turn it in tomorrow. But he did mention a couple of times that it was his last project to turn in, and had hoped we might be able to celebrate tomorrow after I get off work. I look forward to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment