Pets are family members, too

We are recovering from the holidays and basking in the fact that we actually got all of our packages sent in time for them to arrive before Christmas day. The UPS man is my new best friend!

From what we've heard so far, we chose the right sizes, the right colors, the right items this year.

We made one last minute purchase. We assumed that we'd give the cats their usual can of catfood wrapped in Christmas paper or a bag of treats. But the treats still sit in the pantry from last year. It seemed like the right time to upgrade their gifts to something they might enjoy every day.

With that in mind, we headed to the Pet Supermarket down the street and surprised the sleepy-eyed clerks by purchasing one of those thingamajigs that are about five foot tall, have sleeping alcoves and shelves for the cats, a scratching post, and all of it covered in carpet.

The clerks came to life, took our money, and crammed the monstrosity into our car. Once home we managed to get it in the house where the cats sniffed it and promptly walked away. After awhile they came back to investigate and I managed to snap a photo before they abandoned it for a nap on our bed. On the way to the bedroom, they all took a turn sharpening their claws on my favorite chair, evidently it is their favorite, too.

Cats! We may resort to reverse psychology and try to shoo them off of the new cat furniture -- if only they'd go near it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!