The Sweet Spots

So Joey has been here for a week now and he appears to be rummaging through the house in search of an ideal lounging spot.

Just like with housing, when you nap all day, apparently location is key.

Let's rewind for a moment.

Before Joey arrived last Monday night, I decided to tidy up the downstairs hall closet where his litter box would be situated. For many years it had been filled with shoes, a vacuum cleaner, and a random assortment of other goods and knick-knacks. I had to clean out the room to make space for Joey's future commode. In order to do so, I had to turn on the little used chandelier right above the front door, to give me ample visibility within the closet.

Once Joey arrived, I forgot to turn the chandelier light off.

After the fat rascal circumnavigated the house to get comfortable with his new digs, JM and I noticed that he plopped his gargantuan furry body in a giant ball at the end of the upstairs hallway, just a few feet away from the aforementioned chandelier that dangled from the ceiling. To help you envision the sight in your head, all of the upstairs hallways have slotted guard railings that let you see downstairs. In this case, the end of the hallway where Joey was unwinding had a perfect view of said chandelier, right at his eye line.

I found this behavior to be rather curious, and I inquired JM as to why he might have chosen that particular spot as his "sweet spot."

JM explained that Joey loved basking in the hot white glow of the sun. She continued by proclaiming that he was not the sharpest tool in the shed and likely was confusing the light emanating from the chandelier as sunlight.

Being the nice guy that I am, I decided to leave the little used chandelier light on for Joey's first few days so that he could get comfortable with his new surroundings. If he'd found a spot he liked, the last thing I wanted to do was take it away. Plus, the less he traveled around the house, the less chance there was for damage to the abode. (So maybe I'm not THAT nice and actually had a hidden agenda in mind).

However, by the end of last week I came to the conclusion that I was wasting precious energy and once my light bill arrived in the mail later in the month, I'd likely be cursing Joey's name in vain. (But what's new?)

So, by Thursday morning I turned the light off for good. Within hours I noticed that Joey no longer enjoyed settling down in his sweet spot.

Yet being the resourceful feline that he is, I realized that by the end of that same day, when the sun seemingly disappeared from Joey's little world, he had identified a new relaxation destination.

In my office, where I sit and slave away for hours each day, there sits to the left of my desk a papasan chair that my parents bought for me back when I was a struggling college student. The chair sits adjacent to a large sliding glass door window, whose curtains I keep open in the day to provide some natural light to my otherwise dreary work environment.

What I've observed over the last several days is that Joey has taken to curling up in a big ball on this chair for hours on end while I work. He naps, then he awakens and glances around the room to get his bearings. When he sees no imminent danger is present and that I continue to sit at my desk like a sucker while he sleeps all day, his substantial brown head falls back down again in a loud thump and he enters a dream state within seconds.

Now if only I could get Joey to sleep on that chair each night... but alas that's a tale left for another day.