About Alexandra Heep

About Alexandra Heep: The internet has allowed allowed Alexandra to maintain a semblance of life when encountering an unexpected, lingering health crisis. The Internet is a lifeline which not only allows her to remain connected to friends, but also survive, via writing.While Alexandra Heep is her pen name, she does not hide behind it. Instead, she used it to brand herself on the Internet and to create opportunities.

Alexandra published her first book, a collection of her best poems, on July 11, 2012. You can buy it at Lulu.com

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Friday, October 15, 2010

The Antics of Princess Gracie Part II

My cat Princess Gracie has a bunch of toys, but ignores them mostly in favor of a little yellow fuzzy ball with a bell inside.  She loves chasing it around and even carries it in her mouth up and down the steps so she can play on the two main levels of the house.  Now, the second floor is all open, one room is for kitchen, dining, and living room.  The homeowner is in process of doing “home improvements.”  Among those was installing a dishwasher.  Unfortunately he did a shitty job and there is a two inch gap between the dishwasher and the adjoining corner cabinets.

I am sure you see where this is going, Gracie was chasing her ball today and when the noise stopped, I looked over to see her sitting in front of that gap, looking sad.  So, I got up and tried to get her ball out.  I used my cane, a piece of wood, even tried to wedge my hand in there – but came up empty-handed.  I felt so bad for her, so I went upstairs to get another furry ball; this one is gray with a tail attached.  I know she does not like it very much but did not know what else to do.

As I came back down, Gracie was sitting in front of the dishwasher with her yellow ball in front of her, looking satisfied.  Apparently she got her ball out while I was upstairs.  I praised her, petted her, and threw her ball for her to chase.  I sat down and continued working on my laptop.  After a few minutes the noise and chasing stopped, and when I looked over I saw that she sat in front of the dishwasher again.  Well, I tried poking around all the dishwasher hoses and dust bunnies again, even opened the bottom cabinet door for Gracie to get in to see if she could get her ball this way, but she came back with empty paws.

I felt really sad for her and started throwing that gray ball again, but of course it did nothing for her.  I sat down again at the kitchen table and was ready to browse eBay to see if they had those yellow balls.  That is when I started hearing that noise again; just to catch her retrieving her yellow ball from the corner of the living room.  It was not lost after all.  I do hope I did not loosen any hoses on the dishwasher while I was poking around, I think I will wait to find out until my room mate runs it.  I also hope they won't question the bed sheet I stuffed in that gap.

2 comments:

Diane said...

Gracie and my Zoe have in common that they like small, fuzzy objects. For Zoe it's little mice. She bats them all over the tile floor and, eventually, they all end up under furniture. Can she retrieve them? Of course not! No, mom is expected to get on her hands and knees and use a ruler to flip them out. I always know what's up when she comes and sits near me, cocks her head, and gives me "the look" with her almond shaped blue eyes. Sheesh, but we are such saps for our kitties! lol

Conny said...

Although a bed sheet is a good idea Alex to fill up a gap, you could also try a cardboard cylinder (the kind that Christmas paper is wrapped around). We have that suffed between the fridge and a cabinet.
Debbie (the ferret) used to get into all kinds of tight spaces, so I know about filling gaps.

As for retrieving toys ... I swear they do it on purpose. Charlotte likes nothing better than to kick her little 'silver' balls (chocolate wrapping) under the chairs. Then it's up to me to get them. I do get headbutts though as a thank you.