A Count of Sleep.

Cat stretched and clawed the remnant of carpet. Only 5 more sleeps and 15 more catnaps until the famous five left Oz and flew direct to the kingdom of Dragons.

Cat had fallen asleep trying to manage the rather smallish and touchy PC tablet Panda had given her as a gift. Cat was beginning to see this gift as part of a  cunning plan to drive her insane.The keys were small and eager to please yet at the same time quite unforgiving, no mercy for hitting the wrong or closest too key. The spell-check was next to useless the best it could come up with for kingdom was  kumquat. Cat was not even sure that was a word. Still she knew his plan would never work, no one was driving her to insanity, she was quite capable of catching the bus there herself.

At least the tablet worked. Each new toy from Panda made Cat feel closer to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Not thought Cat she would be beaming anywhere soon.

A lot of work was still to be done, pictures of the team to be taken and bags to be packed. One final look at the tasks yet to be undertaken Cat stretched and yawned, she reached for a slice of cake. Tomorrow is another day she thought.

Panda walked in and found Cat sound asleep, the battery drained in the Tablet and thick creamy vanilla icing on the Cat's paws. He rescued the tablet and attached it to the charger. He shook his head, Cat had no self control. He looked at the time and lumbered down to his den. Time to check his e-bay account.
Upstairs he could hear the gentle purr of the Cat cascading into a rumbling snore that reverberated throughout the house.

"Ah!"thought Panda, "my Beloved is mine and I am hers". She had a way of bringing out the poet in him.

Copper's beat - the Feeders

"Being a dog in a family of strange creatures is not easy ," mused Copper as she patrolled her yard. Her stumpy legs purposefully tramped the edges of the fence line. Fiercely she protected the edges of her domain. Her plans for world domination were beginning to stall a little and she needed inspiration.

Sootie, a rather handsome, yet neglected black Pomeranian tippy toed along side her. Actually he was only game enough to walk up to her shoulder, going pass the Copper was not a wise move.

"How so?" asked Sootie. He had long given up trying to understand the Feeders, once his status had sunk to second after the Copper he had no stomach for it. He could admit it - he was whipped. he knew his place.

Copper was rather proud and vain. She knew she was a damned good looking Dachshund. . The runt of the litter had grown into a sturdy uber frau.

She began her lecture, "Take this morning for example, there I was, inside and I find that my Feeder is up and getting ready to leave. Usually I have to wake her up, knock on her door until she arrives, bleary eyed and stumbling out of her den. She usually gives me a greeting and scratches my head because I am so beautiful. I like this Feeder, she often forgets and can feed me twice in one morning".

Fabulous Darling

By now Sootie had fallen behind and muttered to himself That explains the barge a.... .
"What did you say" demanded Copper, "I can hear you sniggering".
Sootie coughed "I was saying what a fabu larse day we are having my Princess".
Copper sneered at Sootie as he pulled up almost level with her face.
 She turned slightly looking down her long and regal nose at him and said, "You do know you are adopted".

Later that afternoon, Sootie stretched out on his bed in the shade of the house. A lovely cool breeze tickled his fur. He slept deeply. As he went deeper into dream land he could hear the pounding of feet, the inner wolf was coming up out of his subconcious to speak with him again. He wimpered, he did not like the inner wolf, he was meaner than Princess Copper.

"Vat do you tink you are doing little cowardly custard of a dog, Where are your balls? Oh I forgot you left them with the Vet. Vat is rong wid you you snivelling punk dog, she is just a little daccsy for goodness sake look at her. I tell you you have to assert your authority and reclaim you place as Uber Dog . You de Alpha. She the bitch. Soon as she sleeps you call on me and we rrrrip her troat out".
"No, No, Wolfie, no", whimpered Sootie.

Copper looked up from her bed and over to Sootie who was laying on his side, his legs running in his sleep, his throat making curious groaning sounds.
"Hmmm, chasing cats again", thought Copper as she lay back in her day bed, her long body draped across the green mesh.
As she dozed back to sleep she thought, "Soots was right, it is a fabulous day".

She lay on her back and hung her head back, her throat exposed.

China 2

Cat looked at her blog, it had been nearly a year since she last posted anything. She was well and truly over her cold and had eaten many a good fish and chips. Slackly she had failed to keep up her narrative. 

Now the world would be none the wiser. Her silence had caused the world to pause and digest her insights for an entire year. 

It was curious Cat thought that no one had actually called and remind her to keep them up to date.

 Sandy Bottoms had remained loyal, but she had her own mahi mahi to fry. 

Her blog was surprisingly regular.

The past year had been a time of reflection. Mostly Cat looking at herself in the mirror and asking the question over and over again, "Why, why, why?" and receiving no answer that made sense. Despite much exercise and the regimen of several diets she remained rotund, Rubenesque. She was a big cat without a diary.

A return to blogging was now a priority another big trip was on the horizon. Panda has squeezed the last drop of blood out of yet another travel agent and had plans for another trip to China. This time a smaller group had volunteered to travel with them, Goo-mi the Monkey, Gloriana, a lorikeet with the heart of a sulphur crested cockatoo, Pauline the Possum, Panda and Cat, an oriental version of the famous five.

19 Days and 32 catnaps to go.