Keyboard Kitten

Today’s post comes from Crystalbay.

A day ago, a couple of letters on my keyboard wouldn’t work, so I took it to the Apple Store, a twenty-minute drive. The tech said I’d need a new keyboard and their repairs are backed up, so it could be a week. A week without my laptop would threaten my mental stability, so he offered to call me when the repair backup was down to a day or two. I’d used the little keyboard drop down before, and since only my “o” and “l” weren’t working, I took it home and thought I could just muddle by clicking the missing letter on the drop down until the repair schedule opened up.

I brought it home and suddenly a half dozen letters wouldn’t work, as well as my “.” I rushed back to the Apple Store and they said that I could buy a new laptop, then return it after my keyboard was replaced BUT they’d have to transfer all my data to the “loaner” for it to be useable for me.  I thought, “Wow! I’ll still have a computer while my old one’s being fixed!

I left the old laptop there all night, then went to pick up the new laptop with my data transferred into it. When I got it home, I had the very same problem as I had on my old one. The very same letters wouldn’t work.  I again rushed back to the Apple Store to raise hell. On the way, I got a call from them saying, “Your computer’s fixed”. Huh? Did they get a new keyboard installed already???

When I got there (my 4th round trip), they told me that it was just a minor software issue and not a keyboard problem. I inquired about how this problem arose in the first place. They said that I must have held down the option key too long.

Then, I remembered leaving the kitten’s room, which used to be my bedroom, and coming back to find one of them happily sitting on my keyboard, enjoying the sounds it was making.

The next time my keyboard isn’t working, I’ll just take it in for a brief Genius Bar correction, but my first words will be; “Whatever’s wrong, consider that a cat sat on the keyboard, and take it from there!”

What have you had to tolerate from your animals?

37 thoughts on “Keyboard Kitten”

        1. No, our terriers would have taken my arm off if I tried that with them. I see lots of costumes in pet stores and wonder about people sometimes.


  1. We tolerate searching for shiny paper balls that our cat knocks under things and can’t get out. She cries at us until we retrieve them for her. Friday I found four balls under the stove.

    Two of our cats would only eat a certain brand of canned, finely minced, duck cat food. It had to be the right brand and the right consistency and duck, or they would either not eat it, or eat it and then hurl it back up. We put up with that for 15 years.


  2. i have evolved into a sound freak

    i used to have an amusing pet peeve of ice cubes crunching and potato chips being eaten

    in our new house the dogs eat out on the back porch. my wife noticed the neighborhood critters were enjoying it and the dogs weren’t so she moved it inside after dark of if it looks like rain.

    i can’t be in the room when they eat… i have to run away. it’s also evolved into water lapping sounds added to my dysfunctional list of triggers. my dogs lapp their water in opposite directions one with water pulled under the tongue one lapping it up on top. both make their own distinctive horrible sound. i’m sure the dogs realize that they live with a whack job
    and i apologize as i recoil in retreat.
    my cats who were skinny little felines also decided late nite crunching of dry dog food would be good sport. they have each added bulk while making me insane chewing on little nuggets of purina dog chow.
    oh and the dogs licking and scratching…..
    other than that nothing at all

    Liked by 4 people

    1. I can’t stand the sound of people crunching things, either. Animal crunching doesnt bother me, but listen to husband crunch on an apple or crackers? I flee the room, too!


  3. Regarding the keyboard correction, if it happens again I would ask the Apple techs to show you the fix. I’ll bet it’s simple and would save you further trips.


  4. We’re down to just one pet in this household, an old dog, and I’m not really a dog person, so I put up with a lot (which probably wouldn’t bother someone else): 1. Barking – this dog is a bit high strung, so she will bark at almost anything but the worst is when the twins are being rambunctious and loud and she has to join in by barking. It puts me over the edge. One good thing about her diminished hearing is that she now barks less at other things; she used to bark at almost everything and it drove me batty. 2. Food patrol – the dog is obsessed with food and she’s always on the lookout, so she is constantly underfoot when I’m working in the kitchen. A crumb might fall! I’ve got to be there just in case! 3. Dog poop all over the yard.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Oh, yes, and last winter with it constant freeze-thaw-freeze cycle and freezing rain and such made it almost impossible to clean up on a regular basis throughout the winter, so spring was a nasty mess in our yard. Our backyard was well fertilized.


  5. I remember buying plastic shields to put on the furniture arms and corners when Charlie the Cat was into the habit of shredding the upholstery. Why are these areas so much more appealing to a cat than the nice carpeted scratching post you’ve bought for this purpose?


    1. I’m seriously considering having their front paws de-clawed even though, for the first time with 17 cats over the years who enjoyed being outside, I never plan to let them out. Their tiny claws are like razor blades and they’ll eventually go for my upholstered furniture. Living alone, they’re entirely too squirmy to clip their claws – it definitely would take two people. Last week, when I took them to the vet, he clipped all 20 claws, so I thought I’d just drop in every couple of weeks and have a vet tech do it. Until he told me that they charge $16 per cat per clipping! My many cats before had the surgery and stayed only one day. Now, they’re kept for SIX days! I’m also facing hundreds of dollars in spaying and neutering in a month or two. I guess you could call it start-up costs?


  6. We dealt with a long list of atrocities when our first cat, Pippen, went through his Bobcat From Hell phase. The phase lasted five years. Anything specific I might say about Pippen’s athleticism and ferocity would strain credulity if you had not witnessed them. Guests would frown and ask, “You have 14 cocked (but unbaited) mouse traps taped to the sides of the kitchen doorway. Why in hell did you do that?” They had not seen Pippen shinny up the sides of the doorway, shredding old wallpaper as he went.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. During their first vet visit, the old vet who’s run the clinic for half a century, told me; “He’s trouble. He’s really trouble!” He then showed me that Sam’s whiskers are half as long on one side than the other. He explained that this indicates a kitten has already been up to no good.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. When our big samoyed Baron was about 8 he suddenly decided that the water in his water bowl was fascinating. He felt the need to dig in this water bowl every day, which of course meant spilled water all over the kitchen floor. And we know what happens with a wet floor and big paws -horrible. I ended up putting two mouse traps in his water bowl covered with water. I did measure them and I did stick my finger in them to make sure that I wasn’t going to break his tongue or anything. I think he only snapped them a couple of times never getting his tongue or paws caught before he decided he didn’t want to put his paws in there anymore.

      Liked by 2 people

  7. Our first Welsh Terrier would attack the ironing board whenever we took it out of the closet. She circled and whined as we ironed, then would attack the cloth cover after the board was folded up and carried back to the closet. She put holes on several cloth ironing board covers.


  8. Anything left on a surface – coffee table, dining room table, bed, nightstand, kitchen counters – seems to eventually wind up on the floor. Usually sooner rather than later.


  9. I don’t even know where to begin to answer the question…(just getting caught up with TB after out of town guest and time with relatives), See previous posts of mine…


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