The Beginning of the End

This is Belle 

so not caring

that she doesn't get much mention on this blog

until tonight, which was the first night that this poor old kitty could not jump up on to the edge of the tub to observe my nightly bath.

This bath ritual has been our routine for many years. I soak, and she sits on the tub and observes.  In her younger years, she would stretch down to the water for frequent drinks, but she stopped doing that a while ago, after a few close calls with falling in.  She joins me more in the winter, and less in the summer, when she is outside more, but tonight it's cold, and she was in the bathroom with me.  She would put her paws up on the edge of the tub and meow, and make a half hearted attempt to leap up to her usual perch on the side of the tub, but we both knew she just didn't have it in her tonight. I think it's a balance issue more than a jumping issue.  She has no trouble leaping up on the bed or the couch or the table. But that narrow bathtub ledge is just a little too technical for her old lady decorum. She is sixteen years old, so it's no surprise that she is less agile than she used to be.  Hopefully she has a few more years of laying around the house in soft warm places and yelling at the other cats when they get out of line.