Thursday, September 15, 2011

What you don't see

I love our house, but it is, quite honestly, what we here in very southern Southern California call a "tract" house.  Rows and rows of houses built in rapid succession by the same builder using a limited number of plans with a relatively limited number of options for personalization. 

When we "ordered" our house we knew we didn't want carpeting in the hallway from the garage to the kitchen, so we worked with the builder to have that area and the adjoining powder room and laundry room tiled.  The only problem was that they only had one size of doors -- ones that are just the right size for a padded, carpeted floor, but are about an inch too short for a tiled or wood floor.  This gap at the bottom of the doors bugged me for awhile and then I forgot about it. 

Harry the cat never forgot about it.  Early on I discovered that whenever I used the downstairs bathroom and shut Harry out in the hallway, he would lay outside the door and reach one or the other of his front paws under the door.  When I mentioned this to a friend, she told me about her kitty who plays hockey with her under her similarly too-short downstairs bathroom door.  I tried playing hockey with Harry using a small mouse toy and sometimes he would shoot it back under the door to me, but what he prefers by far is for me to sit on the floor next to the door and try to grab his foot when he fishes it around under the door!  I'm reluctant to admit how many times I've played this game with him and for how long each time and how very much I enjoy it -- especially when I manage to catch his furry, pink-toed foot and can hold onto it and gently shake it while he tries to pull it away! (I am relatively easy to entertain.)

A few days ago, both girls crowded into the bathroom with me and when Harry decided to reach his foot under the door, the girls took to the hairy Harry's foot-under-the-door game as much as I did.  They never did catch his foot, but that didn't stop them -- and him -- from playing the game!  

Of course, I had to go get my camera and of course, when I did, the spell was broken.  When the girls and I sat back down behind the closed door, we waited quite awhile, but Harry didn't come back from wherever he ran off to when I opened the door. 

So, this is another one of those stories of what you don't see.  But, I think what you do see is kind of cute, anyway!
  

3 comments:

Taryn said...

Cute story!Does Harry have claws? I would be afraid to play if he did. I bet you can get this picture if you just bring your camera with you a few times. A kitty arm under the door would make a great picture :-)

To answer yesterday's question, I took the picture of Wilson on the balcony to be my WWW picture. I was thinking I might have to skip it as my ideas/options/and time to take photos was limited, and I didn't want to use a Beach/wave picture because I've done that before.

Becky said...

Loved the story!

Boo21's Mom said...

Taryn, just realized I didn't answer your question...Harry DOES have his claws. He is remarkably gentle with them, however. I've only been scratched by him accidentally -- when I'm holding on to him longer than he wants to be held, or when something startles him when he is sleeping on my lap and he leaps to his feet planting his feet and claws for the briefest time in my thigh! Briefly, but enough for me to feel it!