Mr. Romeo has come out of the closet and out from under the living room chairs where he had been spending most of his time over the first month or more after our move from Kaaawa.

His behavior, and those of the other cats, certainly support the proposition that cats are place oriented, while dogs tend to be more people oriented.

But after more than two months in their new location, Romeo and the others are starting to take possession of the new space. Now they are more likely to sleep on the living room chairs rather than underneath them, a major change.

And I’ve noticed them playing. I saw Romeo out of the corner of my eye hitting this ball around the room. I missed the first half of the operation, but managed to get my phone in hand and start the video while he was still engaged.

There’s a story to the stool that you see in the right hand corner. I placed it over there in front of a tall window where Romeo can look out. I thought that he would immediately realize its strategic location, since he had been straining to see out while sitting on the end of the old Chinese chest. But every time I lifted him up on the stool, he would look around, check out the outside world, and jump right down. So I was interested that he was willing to play around it. Later, for the first time, he made his own way onto the stool, but I can’t tell yet whether than was a one-time fluke or evidence that he’s figured it out. We’ll see.

And you can see one other thing in the video–the new floor is slippery. Romeo skids on it at one point. Toby, unfortunately, hurt himself, I’m afraid. He’s still limping, and it seems to start getting better and then get worse again. He’s probably earning another trip to the vet. We’re keeping close tabs on him.

In any case, celebrate this Feline Friday by watching Romeo’s little video.