To reach the unreachable noms

If it weren't so dangerous, we'd love to post video of this...

Billy has figured out that he can't get to the top of the stove via the counters, which are booby trapped with cat detectors.

And he doesn't want to jump directly up. The stove top is a grill, and not so comfortable on the paws.

But the other night during dinner, we saw him doing a chinup on the handle for the oven. Literally hooking his front paws over it and pulling himself up. I couldn't see whether his back paws were helping, but since the front of the oven is smooth glass they couldn't have been helping much.

We were impressed with his athleticism, but quite dismayed. We hope that a dish towel over the handle will close off this approach route.

Update (from Drew): The towel was on the floor when I left for work.  Given how nice a towel rack the oven handle makes, we can only assume Billy experimented once Katherine came upstairs after breakfast.   A shake can has been set on the towel on the handle on the door on the oven.

Photo Weekend - Bunkmates

Penwiper Using a Healthy Slice of Oscar's Pillow

Oscar was napping on his pillow last weekend, and Penwiper decided there was room for two. Oscar didn't explicitly object, but I don't think he endorsed the idea, either.

Video Saturday: Nap Central

With Katherine off to Aikido for the day, my office became nap central for the feline overlords.   I often get three of them, but today I got all four peacefully napping, and here's impromptu video proof:

Note it probably looks better if you kick it up to HD.  Amazing what a camera phone can shoot these days ...

To Leap the Impossible Leap

As noted, the repair of the bathroom was almost done a couple of weeks ago, and after a false start, the glass was installed today (Monday).   Once it had a few hours to set, we let the feline overlords inspect it.

The inspection didn't go well.  

As the previous photos show, there is a pony wall between the tub and the shower.  This now has ~ 3 feet of glass on top of it, similar to before the remodel.  What's not similar is the glass is offset towards the tub to make the shower side a usable shelf.   Katherine specifically approved this, but she didn't copy the cats on the approval.   

Oscar, Penwiper, and Whitey each tried to jump up from the lip of the tub to the pony wall expecting the former narrow but usable landing area, and instead smacked into the glass and fell back down.   Whoops! No one was injuried.

Billy, being the brilliant leader of our crew, didn't try it.  Instead, I later saw him tentatively put his forepaws up on the pony wall to inspect the the glass, rear paws firmly on the tub.   

No one has tried for the shelf since, so apparently the lesson was quickly learned