A few days ago, Tulip started wrestling with her kitty bed. She attacked it and flipped it over on top of herself. She then kicked it with both hind feet and launched it across the room, where it landed upright on top of her bowling toy. She got up and walked around looking for it. When she found it, she climbed back in. She had kind of a confused look on her face as if to say “What’s my bed doing over here?”

There’s one more photo in Tulip’s FlickR photo stream to the right.

We’re in the midst of another heatwave. All day yesterday our house was blazing hot. As a result, all three of us spent a good portion of the day napping. At bedtime it was still 86 degrees in our house. We finally decided we’d had enough and turned on the AC.

It took most of the night for the house to cool down to a reasonable temperature. But kitty woke up around 4:30, obviously feeling quite a bit better. She was into everything. Into the recycling bag, batting her ball around the entire house, on my nightstand, wrestling with my shoes, on and off the bed 100 times. She had way too much energy. By 7:00 I couldn’t take it anymore, so I got up and made coffee.

Tu is still tearing up the place. When I last saw her she was laying on the bed wrestling with one of her toys. She was curled up in a ball biting and kicking at it. Then I heard her jump off the bed and take a tour of the bedroom in a flurry of claws on the hardwood floors. Punkish! She keeps letting out these little “brrrrrrrt!” sounds and darting off into the next room to look for something else to get into. She’s been at it for hours. I may have to let the house warm back up again…

Miss Tulip had some visitors today. Our friends Caprice and Hisako came by for a BBQ and mojitos (although they managed to miss each other). Kitty was very friendly while Caprice was here. She seemed totally comfortable. She sat nearby while we were eating, and even let Caprice pet her at one point. Caprice took care of her recently while we were out of town, so Tulip is familiar with her. I was still very impressed with her willingness to hang around. She was actually very sociable.

Just after Caprice left, Hisako arrived. Tulip has met her before as well, but she is still quite a bit more reserved around HIsako. She made a few appearances, but mostly hung out down the hallway. She did allow Hisako to say hello though:

Miss Kitty is getting braver slowly. I’m so proud of her.

Tulip was very interested in all the activity and smells on Thanksgiving morning. We got up early to straighten up the house a bit, then we started cooking. We baked some pies, cooked some garlic mashed potatoes with leeks, butternut squash, stuffing. Kitty’s little, pink nose was going a hundred miles an hour. She kept swinging by the kitchen to see what was going on.

Evie’s parents came over for dinner. Tulip kitty hid out for most of the day. Every once in a while she poked her head out to see what was going on.

While we were eating, kitty sat in the hallway by the kitchen. She was either hungry or feeling really brave. Eve gave her a plate with a few bites of turkey on it, which she inhaled. After dinner she ran past the table into the living room, where she sat and listened in on our conversations. At one point she let mom get close enough for a quick pet. She’s slowly warming up.

After mom and dad left, we watched TV for a while. The next thing I knew it was 1 AM, so we went to bed. I carried kitty into the bedroom and plopped her on the bed. She curled up in a ball between us and went right to sleep. I think she had a pretty good day.

Eve’s parents came by this afternoon for a birthday dinner. We still had an entire pan of lasagna left, so we heated that up and stuffed ourselves. Tulip kitty wasn’t too excited about the idea of visitors. She retreated to the bedroom for quite a while. Later in the evening she decided to poke her head out and see what was going on. She started out at the end of the hallway by the bedrooms. Then she made her way to the kitchen. Then she hid in the bathroom doorway. Finally she came to the end of the hallway. Eve even got her to play some kitty soccer. She’d bound down the hallway, then come to a screeching halt at the end. She knew mom and dad were still here. She put on a little bit of a show, but she never did say hi really. She sneaked up to check out mom when she went to the bathroom, but that was about it. She’s awfully curious about visitors, but still isn’t sure she’s ready to check them out. I keep hoping she’ll warm up to people. One of these times she’ll be bold.

Tulip kitty made an attempt at meeting Ray and Jan. While they were around over the weekend, she poked her head out a few times. When we were all out relaxing on the deck, she made a brief appearance outside. She even let me pick her up and hold her so Jan could pet her for a second (literally). She tried her little, fuzzy best to be a good hostess.

Jan is a real animal lover. While we were out sightseeing, we swung by a PetSmart because she wanted to get Tulip a present. We came home with a live catnip plant. Tulip loved it. She immediately knocked it over and rolled on it. She keeps dragging it around the living room. I’d say it was a hit. She also got a birdie catnip toy. She hasn’t seen this one yet. I was hoping that she’d warm up to Jan and Ray a bit more than she did, and that they could give it to her. It didn’t pan out that way, but she did well.

When we all got home one afternoon, we didn’t know where Tulip was. We all spread out looking for her (as if our house is so big). I ended up finding her on the bed in the office, sitting next to my open laptop that I accidentally left there. It looked like she was working on her blog. She let Ray get close enough to take her picture while she was laying there. Hopefully he’ll send that to us so we can post it here.

Here’s Tulip kitty having a taste of her tiger toy. I’m not the only thing she likes to bite.

On a side note, Ray and Jan arrived last night. They stopped by for a quick visit before heading off to the next county for a hotel room (long story). Tulip actually decided to come out and investigate soon after they arrived. I was quite surprised. She ended up hiding under the bed after that, but she’s definitely getting braver. We’ll see how things go when they come back.

Kitty had another visitor last night. Christy came by to do some work with Eve. No earth-shattering events, but Tulip is definitely getting more curious about visitors. She hid next to the couch when Christy first got there, but you could see she wasn’t really scared. She was just being cautious. We basically left her alone to do whatever she wanted. She pretty quickly decided that it was safe enough to come out from behind the couch. She never did go up and investigate Christy. However, she did wander around the house pretty freely. She felt comfortable enough to go to the kitchen for something to eat. She let out a squeak every once in a while when she wanted some attention. She’s definitely loosening up a bit. I’m very curious to see who will be the first person she decides to make friends with.

Our friend Hisako came over for dinner on Sunday night. Tulip wasn’t the biggest fan of that idea at first. We closed the bedroom doors so she wouldn’t disappear for the entire evening. When she realized that, she hid under the couch. Hisako did her best to coax her out, but Tulip was having none of that.

While we were eating dinner Tulip decided that things were quiet enough for her to peek out from behind the couch. She crept a little closer a few times, but ran away when we paid attention to her. A few times she came within a couple feet of Hisako, but wouldn’t come say hi.

After dinner Hisako and I sat on the floor and tried to tempt Tulip out again. She came out and tiptoed around Hisako. She flopped down on the rug just out of reach. She walked along the couch just out of reach. What a tease! One time she walked up and sniffed Hisako’s hand, then ran off. I thought that was pretty brave of her.

Overall I was really impressed at her efforts to visit. She was clearly tempted, but not quite brave enough for an official greeting. I’m hoping that if we have people over frequently, her curiosity will get the best of her. She’s so sweet. Everyone wants to meet her. We just have to get her to be a little braver.

Eve’s parents came over this afternoon. We had plans to take mom out to dinner for Mother’s Day. They also wanted to meet Tulip. Tulip didn’t seem to think that was the greatest idea. We were able to flush her out from behind the couch for a very brief sighting, but that was about it. She was already in a weird mood. She was even hiding from Eve and I for much of the day. Hopefully it was just bad timing and she’ll be a better host next time.