on cats...and water

I have a darling little cat. Our Benjamin Baadaabooty is perfectly suited to our loud and often chaotic home. Unlike the cats we had previous to him, he adores company and being in the midst of whatever crowd we have. He will lay his fluffy self down on the floor in the middle of a gaggle of 2 year olds and tolerates, no actually enjoys, when they drive cars over him, poke fingers into his ears and mouth, or land drooly kisses on his fluffy self. He will cuddle with us but not in an annoying way. He curls up by our feet or nearby...never close enough to my face to get my allergies complaining. At the moment he is obsessed with getting outside. He is an inside cat for a variety of reasons. Number one among them being coyotes. Nuff said, if you catch my drift. But he will hear a door open and makes this mad dash for freedom from whatever corner of the house he is in. And that furball is fast. We're all trained now to holler "CAT!!!!" and dive to grab him anytime we're standing by an open door and we hear the thunder of little feet. This is an annoying and inconvenient habit, especially when he actually makes it outside and I have to trudge out there shaking the cat treats and hoping I can get close enough to nab him.

I can deal with his insatiable desire to be outside, but what drives me insane is his habit of jumping up onto counters and tables. I hate it. It grosses me out and I will not tolerate it. I have a little spray bottle of water that I use to spray at him every time I catch him in forbidden territory. He hates it. I can tell that he knows I'm somehow responsible because he never fails to glare at me each time I use it, but he still hasn't figured out exactly what it is I'm doing to cause jets of water to soak him just when he was about to drink from the dish sitting in the sink or creep unsuspected to lap from Katie's cereal bowl. Thank goodness my war of terror is working. I need to use the spray bottle less and less lately. And while Baadaabooty hasn't seemed to work out exactly what I'm doing, don't you worry about him...he got his back. This morning at just after 5:00, I woke up in shock as water poured down on top my head. I looked up and peered between my dripping bangs and saw Sir Benjamin, perched on the top of my headboard in the spot where I keep my cup of water, and he had a most satisfied grin on his face.