IF you have a cat~~~
Whenever you go
walking in the night—
always remember
to turn on the lights,
because you don’t know
who might be sleeping
under the faucet
curled up in the sink
not expecting water
or something to drink. ~ms
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up some time after midnight, thirsty.
So I walked into the dark bathroom, picked up a cup, and reached over to turn on the water.
Big surprise!
My hand bumped into something fuzzy furry.
I jumped back, my heart racing.
But when I turned on the light, I saw it was only our Siamese cat (Siri) sleeping happily, right underneath the faucet.
Totally unexpected.
We have had Siri for over a year, and she had never done this before.
What would have happened if my hand had not brushed across her ear, before I turned on the water? I shudder to think! The cold water on her back would have caused her to jump out of the sink in fear, with claws extended. And I, in the darkness, would have been wrestling with a furry night terror that I could not see. It would have been a howling scene!
New house rules — in the night, lights on before proceeding.
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Before I Forget 
Oh so many many lolz. I miss my cat soooooooooooo much. Can’t wait to have her here!
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Sounds like you moved and couldn’t take her with you?
When I first went to Hawaii, many years ago, they required all pets coming to the island to be put in a 3 month quarantine. That was hard.
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Eeesh, no way!!! Yes I left her with my daughter but when she moves here so does the critter.
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It’s better doing something in the light than in the dark 🙂
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Absolutely — in every situation, both literally and figuratively!
Foolish to wander around in darkness, when the light switch is right there…
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Thank you for the warning! That is definitely good idea to turn the light on before doing something.
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Yes, I should have known better
People don’t turn on the lights in horror movies….and it’s never good.
One night, when I lived In Hawaii, I went in to brush my teeth without turning on the lights.
So, I didn’t see the giant cockroach sitting on my toothbrush.
I just put the toothpaste right over the roach (not knowing), and then started to brush my teeth. Needless to say, when my toothpaste started to run across my teeth…well…it wasn’t a pretty picture.
I told the dentist the story a few days after that.
The dental assistant was horrified, but the dentist thought it was funny.
He laughed and said, “That poor little buggah didn’t have a chance!”
You think that experience, way back then, would have taught me the importance of turning on the lights….but no. Some of us are slow learners. 😉
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Yikes!
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Yikes times 2. Always expect the unexpected!
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Hi Mary,
Love the cat in the sink. Ours always drinks out of a faucet, even when he has a full bowl of water. The kicker is, the faucet is not even dripping….
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That’s so cute!
Your cat must know that water is supposed to be coming out of the faucet. A little imagination goes a long way!
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Brilliant post. Loved the poem and the photo
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Thanks Kiwiskan.
I just need to keep remembering the importance of Illumination!
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🙂
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Of all the places for her to sleep! I can understand the contour, but a sink is hard.
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Hard is right. It would be like spending the night, lying in the bath tub. There were softer choices.
Who knows what goes on in the mind of a cat. 😉
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Our cat loved to lay as flat as possible in the bathtub, especially immediately after it had been freshly cleaned.
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Hahahaha!
I used to have a cat that loved to play in the litter box, right after we put in new, fresh litter. She would roll around in there like it was the best thing in the world.
Just a wee bit crazy. 🙂
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I think they’re just smarter than we are and know something we don’t (and are a wee bit crazy, yes)
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Hahaha… I’ve found a few unexpected cat ‘surprises’ in the dark, too! Goooo!
🙂
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Oooh noooo!
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Always full of surprises, they are. It amazes me still, after years of being owned by cats, that they still find new places to sleep and hide, and behave. Great photo and poem. Thank you.
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Yes. Sometimes we have to search all over the house, trying to figure out where the cats went this time. The new thing is to sleep in the back of the closet, where an old sweater has fallen on the floor. I guess they think that sweater is theirs now …. ’cause they seem to be applying the “finders keepers” rule.
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I put my foot onto something furry and soft, unfortunately it was a dead mouse in my boot.
Great post and great cat!
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Sorry about the dead mouse and sorry for your foot. 😉
That would be rather unnerving—putting a foot into a boot with some unknown extra padding.
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Sooo cute! I don’t have a cat but I have to take a flashlight with me in the night so I don’t trip over the dog!
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That sounds familiar! Our 2 cats sleep in the middle of the stairway from time to tim, waiting to trip us up. Or maybe they just want to assure that they get noticed….
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Truer words… LOL!
My cat likes to lay in dark hallways and then be indignant when he gets stepped on! I am learning. 😉
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Yes. That has happened here also!
Even in the dark of night, cats expect you to notice them (no matter where they are).
That strategy doesn’t always work out.
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I know this picture, she sleeps on my desk.
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Do you have a Siamese cat too?
Sometimes my husband has a hard time seeing his computer monitor because of these “low-tech computer screen blockers.” If he is at his desk, both cats want to be right there with him—helping.
(Helping does includes sleeping. Because they aren’t really sleeping; they are multitasking. With eyes closed, they are thinking about viable solutions to any and all of humanities problems.)
Taking care of humans is exhausting work. 😉
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Siri is in good company. My cat used to nap in the sink all the time and unfortunately for him, the first time we discovered this new napping spot was in the middle of the night so he did get a little spritz. Just slit open an eye, shook himself out and twitched his way over to a drier spot to finish out the night lol. Ah, memories.
Great pic. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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He must have been very confident that no one and nothing in the whole wide world would ever want to harm him!
We adopted Siri a little over a year ago from the Siamese Rescue center. She was found, along with 4 other kittens, taped up in a box with 5 little punch holes on top, for air. So sometimes she is still a little nervous about things that catch her off guard.
We named her Siri—in honor of the lady who started the main rescue center here in Virginia. There are now several Siamese Cat Rescue centers around the U.S.
http://va.siameserescue.org/webbuild.php
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My cat once jumped in the bathtub without knowing there was water in it and shot straight up! It was hilarious.
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That’s exactly what I think would have happened!
And I was standing right above her.
In the dark, neither one of us would have been able to see what was going on….so (in my case) I think it would have been more of a howling experience (instead of laughter). 😉
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I love this photo. So peaceful but what a place to choose! She is oh so lucky you discovered her before turning on the tap! 🙂
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And I am lucky too. The peacefulness would have come to an abrupt end!
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She fits so perfectly there in your sink! A lesson well learned!
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I think she also thought it was a perfect fit.
Guess she didn’t realize….she was lying in a potential waterbed.
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Not only do we have a cat that does this we have the same faucet! LOL
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Hahaha…..
Maybe the faucet is has catnip washers inside. 🙂
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Ya know I would not doubt it!!!
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your cat is cutie!
thank god that you touched her before turning on the faucet! oh boy!!!! s/he is really silly to sleep in sink! 🙂
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Thanks Sharmishtha!
I suppose she wanted to cool off or something. But, as cats do not like water that much, It was very silly and unwise to choose to sleep in a sink. 😉
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Our adopted cat Sid has some of the oddest place to just lie down. He is a dark gray mix and in the dark you can’t see him. So if he’s in shadow you practically step right on him. Luckily he loves lying on high places like book shelves but when he’s hot it’s the floor. Sid says Siri is adorable and sends her a meow in greeting. He himself like to drink from the kitchen faucet. lol
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I will tell Siri that she has a boy cat friend named Sid, who also likes to trip people up sometimes!
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Love the story, thank goodness Charlot is too big for the sink. My problem is when Diego leaves his shoes lying in the middle of the livingroom and I don’t turn the lights on.
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At least the shoes won’t howl or yelp in pain if you step on them..
You still might end up flying though.
And people don’t fly gracefully, especially in the dark of the night.
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Love this image and poem! I hope you don’t mind, I drew an etegami (watercolor card) of the cat. If you allow, I’ll post it on my site, and link to you. If you’d like, I’ll even send the original to you (etegami are meant to be sent, not kept). It was really tricky to try to get your cat’s gorgeous coloring!
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Thank You! So nice of you to make a watercolor card of Siri.
I will be sure to tell her as soon as she wakes up. 🙂
Please do post and link it back to me. I would love to see it!
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I’ll post it next week and let you know!
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Thanks Alison!
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Napping to High Alert – the cat’s eyes are beautiful:)
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I agree!
And if I had accidentally gotten her wet on the night she decided to sleep in the sink–i think she probably would have gone from napping to RED ALERT.
So glad that didn’t happen!
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I just love your writing!
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Thank you!
I can say the same about your website. Your photos and explanations about them,are wonderful.
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Thank you very much, your compliment is much appreciated.
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This post made me smile 🙂 You have an adorable cat!
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Thank you! She is a sweet cat…..not sure if she would be so sweet if she was soaking wet though…:)
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Pingback: Sink cat | labontegami
finally post my little watercolor of your cat, with a bit of your poem too! I think it’s going to be cat week on my blog… http://labontegami.com/2013/04/22/sink-cat/
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It’s wonderful! I just showed your watercolor drawing to my husband.
He loved it! Well done!
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yay, glad you like it!
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We use to have a cat that slept in the sink. Thanks for the smile. LynnDavisCakes.com
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They probably think, because the size and shape of a sink fits so nicely, that it was specifically made for them. Kind of like a box…but not. 😉
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Easily the most darlingest! (A lot of times I don’t want cats or anything, because the sadness when they’re gone is hard to bear.)
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I know but….
it’s worth the pain!
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Oh how this reminds me of Charlie I had in the 70’s! he always slept in the bathroom sink most hot summer nights:) This was a nice reminder of this friend long gone….thank you.
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Well, here it is almost July again….how did I miss your comment?? Hot summer nights have returned. Many hot cats will find solace in the sink once more. The spirit of Charlie lives on!
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Ah yes…my sweet Charlie in feline fantasy land.
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I expect you know this but sometimes cats sleep or seek out the sink or lie in the bathtub because they are cooling themselves down from a bit of temperature.
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