Heartbreak

Another semester is officially done. I got my grades done and in on Sunday.

We are way behind with our gardening, partially due to our insanely busy schedules as of late, the weather, and some health issues that have slowed me down again (I swear my body hates me and does shit like this on purpose just to torment me!), but we did get some quality gardening time in last night after dinner.  We had a perfect Friday night, and there's a little part of me that realizes that my perfect Friday night would also be considered perfect in a retirement home, so I guess I'm officially old.  We had a family dinner in front of the TV(!)--eggplant chickpea curry with pistachio pudding for dessert while we watched Cosmos (the NDT reboot). After dinner we went outside and gardened together until dark. Absolutely perfect.

We lost our Chloe a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite bittersweet to run into several of her "Chloe holes" while gardening last night. She loved to be outside with us, especially when we were all in back gardening. She always dug these pits to lie in, and she had several of them around the yard/garden, so she could follow the sun or shade as desired, get the best view, stay closest to the action, etc.  The area I was planting last night was around one of her favorite little Chloe holes, and it was heartbreaking to not have her there with us.

When we brought her home five years ago, we knew she had a very uncertain future. The day we picked her up for adoption (and the first day we met her), we picked her up from the clinic where she had spent the night recovering from her first of two surgeries to remove malignant mammary tumors. She recovered and enjoyed many more years than anyone thought she would have, but not nearly long enough for us.

She'd been struggling with horrible arthritis and joint pain. We'd been working closely with our vet, trying various medications to try to get the maximum quality of life possible for her. A few weeks ago, I discovered a new growth on her shoulder/neck, which proved to be malignant. She was scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor to determine exactly what kind (the biopsy they sent out indicated that it was probably lymphoma but it wasn't certain) and what her options/prognosis would be. I was having serious misgivings about putting her through surgery--she's old, she's tired, she's got chronic pain, and to add a surgical recovery on that really made me feel miserable. I didn't sleep well the night before the surgery, and she seemed particularly uncomfortable that night.

I was awakened early that morning to her crying, and when I went running to see what was wrong, I found that she couldn't stand or get up at all. She wanted to so badly but couldn't. I helped her up and found that she couldn't stand on her own at all. She was determined to walk around and go potty outside (after she had peed on the floor--which horrified her), despite being completely unable to do so, so we figured out that I could hold her up suspended, and just move her in the direction that her head and feet were moving while she made her walking motions. My sweet girl made several trips around the yard, smelling, then went potty outside like she wanted to.

I cancelled the surgery and scheduled an appointment that morning, fearing that it would be her last. I was holding on to the slight, outside possibility that the vet would say, "Oh, she just slipped a disc or popped something out of place. I can fix that right up." I knew deep inside that wasn't it, but had to hope.  In the time we had at home with her, her family was all able to be with her (Mark came home from work, Dej came, my mom...), loving her, massaging her, feeding her (appetite was still great!), and saying our goodbyes.

On our way to the clinic, Luce rode in the back seat with Chloe to help keep her stabilized and comfortable. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and Chloe wanted her head out the window, which is one of her favorite things to do. L held her up, so she could keep her head out. I got to watch my side mirror--she had a big grin, ears flying back, tongue flopping out the side--she was a happy girl on the way there.  When we got there, they had set up a large non-skid rug on the floor with towels over it, so we all sat on the floor around Chloe, and she kept her head in my lap.

As we feared but expected, Chloe's problem was not structural, it was neurological. There was a tumor(s?) along her spine or brain that was causing the problems. This would not get better and could not be fixed, and we would not allow her to continue to suffer this way. We spent some time with her in the vet's office (loving her more, petting, rubbing her little ears--another Chloe favorite), and feeding her her favorite veg. canadian bacon until the sedative kicked in enough that she couldn't chew anymore.  She relaxed and was free from pain for the first time in months. We loved seeing her that way.  When they gave her the final dose, she peacefully, quickly slipped away, still with her head in my lap and having her little nubby ear (she had a small deformed ear that she really liked me to rub, as she couldn't get into it with her foot very well) rubbed.

We miss her so much, so many times a day, in so many different ways. She was really smart and a gifted communicator--she talked with many different vocalizations and had the most expressive face I've ever seen. I've never seen an animal of any species so determined to communicate with others and make them understand her. Through the years, I realized that I had begun to think of her as more of a peer than anything. I love all of my animals so very deeply, regardless of how smart or cute or charming they are, but most of them I see very much as my children. Chloe was different. It's hard to explain why, but if you met and spent time with her, you would know. She leaves and enormous hole in our family.

Family updates

Harley the Hamster - We've had her for a while, but this is our favorite picture of her cute little face.

Hikaru

L has adopted some animals--a pair of albino gerbil brothers (Hikaru and Kaoru), a dwarf hamster (Excalibur), and a young male rat (because apparently Star, her largest female has become naughty and unmanageable since her brothers died, so Neil deGrasse Tyson will keep her from picking on her sisters.  He's currently separated while he recovers from his neutering, but will join Star in another week.  They were all essentially unadoptable, due to unpleasant dispositions and/or appearance issues, so she helped to clear some space at an overloaded shelter.

Kaoru

Excalibur the Fierce

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Przemek the Bald

We adopted Przemek, the button quail a few weeks ago. I got a call and went to get him, knowing little to nothing about button quails.  Someone found him outside wandering around on a cold, wintry day. After pick up, we went immediately to the vet, because he had a nasty head wound. As it turns out, that's not uncommon for them--it's due to head bonking, which is jumping straight up as they try to fly and repeatedly bashing their heads on the cage top. We treated that and it cleared up in a few weeks. He's still bald yet, but I think we'll see feathers in a few weeks now. He's free in general population now, but he prefers to hang out in either his food tray, his sand dish, or on top of his produce/water station.

Friday morning we went to pick up nine finches from rescue.  I have never had finches before.  There are at least three different varieties represented amongst the nine.  They are very entertaining, and I'm enjoying getting to know them. I have rearranged the bird room to accommodate them--they're currently in three different (decent sized) cages, based on who gets along.  I'm not really happy with this arrangement, but it will work for now. I've been trying to enrich their cages and get them comfortable with eating fresh produce as they get settled into their new environment.  In a few days, I will make some more changes in there, as I'm brainstorming on the best way to allow them cage-free lives, while still remaining safe. I'm not quite sure how things will end up, but we will be progressing toward the largest, most enriched environments that I can come up with.  I got all of the long, curly, very tiny toenails trimmed yesterday, so I need to get to Mounds soon and pick up some natural perches that will wear the nails down as they walk. I'd like to not have to cut their nails very often.

My bigger challenge right now appears to be names. I'm having a hard time coming up with names. I don't yet have a good sense for personalities, so I need 9 names, easy to remember and with a fairly simple means of associating each name with each bird.

One of the finches is in a cage alone, and the note that came with them indicates that he didn't get along with the others. It bothers me a lot that he's alone. He's within a few inches of the others, so he can see/hear them, but I'd really like him to not be alone--that's detrimental to birds.  He (she?  I guessed "he" because the bird is very vocal, and typically males are more vocal) is the most interested in interacting with me. He will repeat a call back and forth with me, and his vocalizations are quite different from the other finches.

We were heartbroken to lose our guinea pig Oona, Luna's mommy.  It was very traumatic for Luna. We noticed a small sore on Oona's belly on Monday, took her to the vet Tuesday, where they said she was healthy and gave her antibiotics for the small abscess. Weds. afternoon when I entered the room for afternoon chores/feedings, I knew something was wrong. Luna was staring out of her little hidey house with huge, frightened eyes. I started looking around and found her mommy in the hidey next to her, dead.  Oona was an old girl, so not shocking but still a nasty surprise! It was really hard to see poor Luna so tormented. She's never been without her mom, and I feel so bad for her!

Our possum siblings continue to come eat almost every night. Seeing them together has been one of the few joys of this horrible, long winter for me.

Project complete!

L drew these horrible little creatures on the tiles
the night before they were ripped off.

We've already established that I have a tendency towards rigidity and really dislike change (especially change that is beyond my control/sphere of influence).  It's been a month of changes--big ones, little ones, most of which would be merely a blip on the radar for other brains, but to my brain, an atomic explosion. Many of the changes have been good, but nonetheless a minor struggle for me to accept.  Even positive changes are challenging for me.

Our bathroom is done!  For the first time in months, we don't have contractors' tools and equipment strung about our house. We don't have a variety of men traipsing through whenever we are at home. Our belongings are almost all returned to where they belong.  We are still waiting for a shelving unit that I ordered to arrive, and then we can get all of our bathroom supplies put back and in order.  We have a list of smaller repairs/projects that we will plug away at, now that we have a reliable carpenter that we like (finally!) and more importantly that our animals are comfortable with.  These are smaller, less invasive, and not on the second floor, which for some reason is my private, special floor, and projects in that space make me feel very stressed and invaded.

The bathroom took longer than it was supposed to and cost significantly more than expected, but these seem to be constants with projects done in older homes.  It turned out very well. It's not the bathroom of my dreams, but it is a perfectly attractive bathroom that ideally meets our family's functional requirements, so it was a success.



We had two rather serendipitous decisions that really contributed to making the finished product fabulous.  Our carpenter, Mark S, told me that though they had all of tiles removed from the walls, the remaining glue was proving a very slow, difficult removal.  He offered an option that would be much quicker and less expensive than manually scraping all of the glue from all of the walls--beadboard wainscoting.  I love the look, and it's fits with the period of the house (keeping things as authentic to the house's original architecture is very important to me--I don't like modern).  As soon as I saw the finished wainscoting, I was in love, and it almost made losing one of the windows in the bathroom bearable (I was very weepy about that--I love windows).

The next decision was the color. We were really struggling with the choice of paint color, and we were supposed to make our decision over the weekend, so it would be ready for him to paint by Tuesday. We couldn't decide.  More accurately, we decided several times, and I changed my mind. I was leaning toward a gray, but considering a light green, and L was really pushing for blue. So when he arrived Monday and asked if we had our paint color selected, I hedged a "sort of" answer. He had a gallon of very good quality paint that another client selected but didn't end up using, and he offered it to us if we liked it. We smeared a streak across the wall, and it wasn't bad, so I said we'd go for it. When you're a couple thousand over budget, I really appreciate $50 of free paint.  The paint was a light blue color, so L was happy. It wasn't my first choice, but I didn't hate it.  However, when all was painted, I loved it. It looks fabulous in the room, pops very well with the white trim/wainscoting, and we are all very happy with it.

We reused and repurposed everything that we could. I spray painted and reused the medicine chest and the picture frames that were in there. We kept the same light fixtures, sink, and tub--just replacing the plumbing and wiring as needed. The chandelier is new, because we didn't previously have any overhead lighting in there, and that is one of my favorite things. We repainted and reupholstered the vanity (desk) and mirror. Much to L's dismay, we're also sticking with the same shower curtain, rug, towels, etc., because I can't justify replacing perfectly functional objects.

The other project that was going on at the same time as the bathroom (and was necessitated by the bathroom) was my closet remodel. In order to get at the plumbing for the tub, they had to cut a big access panel in my closet wall. That meant that everything we own had to come out of that closet (that was not a fun job).  Since the contents of our bathroom and contractor equipment was taking up essentially every bit of space on our second floor, finding spots for my clothes (that wouldn't invite cat pee from our stressed cats) was challenging.  I stuffed things everywhere, which made getting dressed for work for two weeks quite challenging!  Since we had everything out of the closet, I moved on to one of the many tasks on my to do list--one that's been on the list for about ten years--and install a closet organizer so we could use our limited closet space more efficiently.  I was able to do that myself, while the guys worked on the bathroom.  I just used a simple ClosetMaid system, but it's infinitely customizable, and I was able to get the maximum storage space and efficiency out of that closet.  I highly recommend this system as an affordable, fairly easy installation, that can make a huge difference.  M & I are so happy with our "new" closet!

During this chaotic, stressful time period, I had two other changes, which threw me a bit.  My cell phone and my camera each died within a week of each other. Both had been going for a while, but I take great pleasure out of using things until they are absolutely unusable, and was determined to keep them going as long as possible.  It's like they ganged up and decided to quit during the peak of our remodeling stress just to fuck with me. What are the odds that they would both go in the same week?! [Perhaps the long-predicted rebellion and coup of computers has started!!]

Logically neither is a big deal. I had enough points that a cell phone replacement was free, and other than the painful two hours spent at the cell phone store (why must everything take so extraordinarily long there!!?) getting the new phone and everything switched over, I wasn't out much. I hate the change, though. I would happily have used my old cell phone for at least another ten years. I knew it well, including all of it's many flaws. It was good enough. I'm very aware of the tremendous environmental costs of manufacturing and disposing of the overwhelming number of cell phones. I hate to contribute to that. I don't like our disposable, throw away culture. I much prefer using one thing thoroughly, completely, until it cannot be used anymore, and then replacing it with another good-enough version.  Getting to know and feel comfortable with another device, takes energy that I didn't really have at the time.

The camera--I still haven't replaced, and that's been part of the blogging problem. I can't take a good picture with a cell phone. Even my new phone is supposed to have a very nice camera, but it doesn't have a good, true zoom, and it doesn't seem to have a stabilizer function. It's driving me nuts to not have a camera. I've missed so many good pictures in the last few weeks. I haven't had the time to research a replacement camera, and with the bathroom going over budget, I'm not in a rush to spend more money.  I borrowed L's camera yesterday, so I could start taking pictures.  It doesn't have all of the options/features that my camera has, which frustrates me, but at least I can get a clear shot.  I loved my camera. It's served me very well for nine years!

Finally, over my blogging break, we attended our annual Heartland Farm Sanctuary Gala.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed a delicious meal. For me, as always, the high point of the night was the fabulous dessert. It's pathetic how much I love dessert and I would be embarrassed for people to know how much time I spend thinking about desserts and surfing for recipes.  It was a very exciting night, because HFS announced that they were purchasing the beautiful land that they've been leasing and will be able to upgrade the facilities as needed.

I'm stuck in 1940, and I can't get out...

Eating delicious, real food definitely increases the time spent in the kitchen, and though I've gotten better and more efficient at food prep, I still spend 3-6 hours in the kitchen, either on Saturday or Sunday, usually, in order to get the dishes prepared and the prep done so that we can eat well all week without waiting until 9 PM for dinner.  I do not love spending 4+ hours in the kitchen, but I do love eating really delicious food all week long, so I've tried to make them more interesting. I find that I dread my "kitchen days" much less now that I've made them more challenging by trying to accomplish as much as possible within my time frame. By making the work harder, more complicated, more challenging, it keeps me from getting bored.

My previous week's kitchen day, this was the list of chores:

Truffles

• pack lunches
• chop red peppers for guinea pigs
• roast red peppers (for hummus I'm making later this week)
• chop veggies for nachos
• make cheezy rice for nachos
• make double batch of veggie burgers to freeze (for lunches, snacks, meals on the go, etc.)
• make double batch of eggplant curry burgers to freeze (for lunches, snacks, meals on the go, etc.)
• make potato seitan miso stew (I made and froze seitan a couple of weeks ago)
• make 3-bean tomato curry soup
• make peanut butter truffles, (which turned out so well that I experimented and made cashew & almond butter truffles and a batch of strawberry truffles as well)
• peel and prep head of garlic (I like to keep prepared garlic and ginger on hand for quick use in recipes)
• pressure cook black beans (I keep a variety of cooked beans in the freezer, so I don't have to use canned)
• make trail mix
• cut and dehydrate sweet potatoes for dog treats

Sweet Potato chews for the dogs

Prior week's list:  

• pressure cook kidney beans
• roast red peppers (for hummus)
• make hummus (for coating kale chips)
• make kale chips
• make peanut lime sriracha marinade
• chop veggies (for roasting) and marinate
• chop and marinate tofu
• roast veggies
• bake tofu
• make black bean sweet potato chili
• pack lunches
• chop veggies for pizza
• make pizza
• make chocolate-covered marzipan

Each week I try to add more and up the challenge a bit, to see how much I can get done without making irreparable mistakes.  Each week there are different tasks and different dishes, and that keeps it from being horrifically boring.  It makes for a much smoother, more pleasant week, when I have the meals already planned and either ready to reheat or just throw together and heat.  I am, begrudgingly, starting to dread the kitchen days a little less and sometimes almost enjoy myself.  I think I am developing Stockholm Syndrome with my kitchen. 

I will never go back to eating processed crap and after eating so very well for so long, I don't think any of us would be able to tolerate food from a less-intense kitchen schedule, so I've accepted that it's an unfortunate but permanent weekend necessity.  My challenge now is to try to get better and more efficient each week, so I can accomplish more in less time. That's what I'm working on refining now.  I currently need one weekend day (at least) for grading and one for cooking, which leaves me with no weekend. I have dreams of maximizing my efficiency such that I could get both done in one day, but that doesn't feel very realistic at this point.

I have a little fantasy that L will develop a passion for cooking and will take over the kitchen duties. She has shown no inclination to do so, but I can dream. So far, her interest in learning to cook has been focused on the foods she likes to eat.  She has mastered making a few snack/dessert-type foods, with her favorite being sliced, roasted, seasoned potatoes. I am much happier with her making and eating these than chips, so I don't complain when I come down in the morning to find she's been leaving kitchen messes for me.  She has learned--(as we all have) that the preparation of food, touching it, smelling it, putting effort into it--makes eating it more enjoyable.  Another benefit is that one is much less likely to eat absent mindedly if one has to wash, slice, season, and cook the potatoes than if one can just grab a hand full of chips out of a bag. It's a good cure for eating out of boredom.

I would like to illustrate this post with pretty food pictures, but I find food photography fairly difficult. Whenever I try to photograph food, it never looks as delicious as it tastes, and sometimes it looks pretty gross.  I know that it takes some skill to get the beautiful and appetizing food shots that I enjoy looking at in the cookbooks and my favorite websites, and I just don't have the time or interest right now to work on those skills.  I have done a little reading on the subject and find myself horrified by how much food gets wasted and how long it really takes to get that perfect shot. I don't have the patience for that!

This is my kitchen planning board.  On the right side, I jot down my list of weekend "kitchen-day" chores.  On the left side, I keep a shopping list, and as I run out/get low on things while cooking, I add them to the list.  Once each meal is either prepped or done (depending on the meal and how well it keeps), I write it on the day of the week I plan to consume the meal.  By the end of my kitchen day, the board is a mess, but it helps keep me organized. I can snap a photo and have my shopping list ready to go to the store with me, and then clean up the board, leaving only the planned meals for the week.

My family enjoys modifying and adding to my list almost every week. I find myself wondering when they will run out of strange items to add to the list.  Note the three strange entries for this week (toasted spleen chips, fart goblin stew, and juicy groin).  They were written by two different people, so both M & L have taken to adding to my list.  I'm not sure which of the two started it, but it has apparently become a tradition.

On the chore list above, one of the entries was to make sausage. This was a new recipe for me, and it turned out very well. It's an Isa recipe, and hers are always hits. It was fairly simple and much less expensive (and more delicious) than buying vegan sausages.  I made this one:  Italian sausage, but there is another one on her site I plan to try soon:  Smoky maple sausages.

I used this recipe for the peanut butter truffles, but I did not use the rice crisp cereal at all. I used crunchy peanut butter. Also, I didn't have coconut flour, so I made oat flour and used that.  They were still ridiculously good.

Jasper

BACKGROUND
Jasper will be ten years old this August!  He has lived with us since he was about four weeks old. He and his siblings were left in a cardboard box at the administration building of the college at which I taught at that time.  They put out a plea for homes for the kittens and said that anyone who wasn't claimed by the end of the day would go to the Humane Society.  I waited until the end of the day, intending to take whoever was left. At that time, our only cat was Ivan, who was just a few months old. I wanted him to have a friend, because I'm vehemently opposed to singletons and believe strongly that animals can never be truly happy without others of their own species present.


Jasper was an adorable little daredevil, and we lived in constant terror that he would kill himself with his crazy antics.  Ivan was not an adventurous, curious cat like that, so he didn't get into the dangerous and scary situations that Jasper did. They became buddies immediately, and enjoyed cuddling, napping, and playing together.

Jasper's wild side got him into trouble when he was a few months old and he climbed a to the top of a fake tree in our bathroom, tried to launch himself by pushing off the wall which pushed the tree over with him still holding on to the top. We heard a loud thump and went running in to find him on the floor, still clutching the top of the tree with blood coming out of his eye and ear. It was one of the scariest, most horrible moments we've experienced.  It was a Sunday night, and we rushed him to the vet, where he was immediately given an injection to stop the brain swelling.  He was hooked up to an IV bag and spent the next four days in a coma. I insisted on taking him home rather than leaving him there in a cage with strangers. I took off work and Jasper spent the next several days lying on my chest, while I cried and hoped that my heartbeat and the love and massages would help him come back to us. At that point, our vet wasn't incredibly optimistic about him coming out of the coma or having any hope of being normal.  Sometimes my stubbornness pays off. I chose not to euthanize and said on that Monday morning, that there was no change by Thursday, I would give up.  Thursday morning, he woke for the first time. We went to his scheduled vet appointment and everyone was shocked that he seemed fairly normal--weak and shaky for sure, but he made an amazing recovery and was back to his normal, fearless self after a few weeks.


He also had repeated problems with urinary blockages, so he had PU surgery (basically removing the penis and stretching the urethra) many years ago. He has been very healthy since then.


DISPOSITION
Jasper is a pretty laid back little guy.  We've had many cats come into the house since Jasper, and he's always fairly nice to the newcomers. He is open to forming new relationships, providing the other cats have decent manners and respect his territory.  These days, his main territory is our bedroom. He allows other cats to share his territory, but occasionally needs to remind them that he's in charge by randomly chasing them off the bed (his bed, which he shares with us).  Carrie has staked a secondary claim on our bedroom, so he especially likes to keep a watch on her and remind her from time to time that though he generously shares, he was there first.


FRIENDS
Jasper->Ivan:  He and Ivan lost the close, sweet relationship they once had. We've never really figured out what happened, but as Ivan became increasingly mentally ill, their relationship seemed to degrade. Ivan's paranoia extended to Jasper, and I'm still really sad about that. Jaspy has many other friends, but Ivan isn't close to any of the other cats.
Jasper->Oliver:  They are very close friends. They cuddle together, play together, and groom each other. Jasper never reminds Oliver that he is the owner of the bedroom.
Jasper->Petey:  They get along quite well. They play and cuddle, but I don't recall seeing them groom one another.
Jasper->Lila:  They get along well, but Lila does not like Jasper's occasional reminders that he's king of the room. She doesn't come into our bedroom as much as she used to, which bums me out a little.
Jasper->Tica:  They tolerate each other, but she very much respects his territory. She has made her own claim in certain areas of our bedroom (under the bed, right below my head), under the chaise lounge, and up on the high cat shelves sometimes. She always does a check to see where he is and if it's okay if she comes in to one of her areas.

Jasper->Basil & Charlie:  This is not a good relationship. They are capable of getting along, because they all sleep on the bed together when I'm in there. These guys (the twins) like to play rough and they tag team and corner the other cats. It's all play to them, but the other cats don't tend to enjoy it.  Jasper does not like them and avoids them and takes cheap shots (stealth smack in the head is his favorite move) in whenever he can.
Jasper->Mimosa & Alexa:   Jasper plays chase with both girls on occasion. Neither of the girls cuddle with other cats, and both respect his territory, so they have a fairly harmonious relationship.

He doesn't mind the dogs but is especially fond of Jezebel.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS
Jasper gives the best hugs in the world! He wraps his little arms around your neck and squeezes and purrs into your ear. It's very special, and none of our other cats do anything like this.

One of his favorite pass times is to climb into drawers and armoires and kick all of the clothing out. If he wants to get into a drawer/cabinet and it's not open, he will scratch and cry until someone comes to open it for him, then he starts rearranging the clothing or towels or whatever is in his area.  He also loves to nap in any luggage or bags he comes across and never misses a chance to camp out in Mark's luggage when he packs for one of his many trips.

He enjoys chewing and eating string/ribbon, so we have to always be very careful to not leave anything like that around.  He also enjoys chewing tulle and any fabrics that are similar, so the beautiful tulle that I used to use to decorate the stair rail for Xmas stays in the container now.  I gave up on it, because it was constantly full of his (smelly) saliva and then it got crunchy and gross looking.

Jasper loves both cat food/treats and human food.  His favorite foods are tortilla chips and mandarin oranges. He will help himself to any open bags or containers of chips. He turns into a little crack addict when he sees mandarin oranges. I'm embarrassed for him and the shameless way he begs and cries for the oranges. Mimosa also enjoys mandarin oranges, but isn't quite as much of a pathetic addict as Jaspy is.

He also very skilled at determining when we are doing floor work during our workouts. We try to be very quiet, so he doesn't come in, but he ALWAYS shows up the minute we hit the floor. He loves to smear his furry little body across our sweaty faces repeatedly while we are trying to do push-ups, planks, etc., and have no way to defend our faces. It's really annoying, and he's lucky he's so cute!