Do The Stroll

Over past month or more, we've been teaching the boys to ride on our shoulders from the launching pad of the Tiger Tower condo.

Okay, we think we're teaching them to ride on our shoulders. They think they have learned to climb across us long enough to grab a kitty treat out of a hand which is too far from the condo to reach directly, and maybe hang around long enough to see if they get seconds.

Whitey is pretty good, if he realizes a treat is ready for him he zips right across the shoulders to the treat. The primary problem with Whitey is he grabs the treat with a paw, and the paw is fully armed -- or more precisely, clawed. No velvet paws when you gotta balance on some stupid human several feet off the floor.

Billy, on the other hand, basically crawls only as far as he has to (he doesn't like the several feet off the floor either). The net result is less like a cat on the shoulder and more like a 12+ pound live feline stole reaching from elbow to elbow. And I do mean elbow, I have to hold up the trailing arm to support his rear paws and a good chunk of his weight.

And none of this happens with either of them without cash on the barrelhead, or more precisely treats in hand.

However, last night Billy was downstairs on the newel post unprompted, and I offered an arm for a ride. He came on board without a kitty treat in sight. With such good humor on his part, I viewed it well worth the trip to the pantry with kitty on board to find some treats before dropping him off.

A nice stroll was had by all.