Last week was the week from hell - two server crashes that had to be
dealt with in the wee hours of the morning, and my son's laptop died
late at night that same week. Since he's a senior in Computer Science,
going without a laptop is not an option so we had to do some late night
head-scratching to him up and running again.

As a result of last week's hectic schedule and my being exhausted, I
came down with the flu this weekend. I'm taking a couple days off work
to recover from it, and the kitties are all helping. They're helping so
much, in fact, that I might have to go back to work to get some rest :)

Last night I went to bed early. I sleep on my side, so I got all settled
then WHUMP! Amelia jumped onto the bed from atop my dresser and walked
up my side, settling in for a purr and pet session. She stayed for about
half an hour, during which time it was not possible to even think about
sleeping (have I mentioned before that Amelia is rater gravitationally
gifted? She is by far out largest cat). After she figured I had received
enough tortoiseshell purrs she went to lie across my feet (which works
wonders for a claustrophobic person like me). That was Samuel's signal
that it was his turn. He jumped up on my side and started kneading and
purring, and we did about half an hour of pet and purr. He then climbed
down and curled up right in front of my knees.

Cleo picked that moment to walk from Nancy's pillow to mine, curl around
my head, and purr. She can purr almost as loud as a diesel engine can
rumble, and NOBODY can sleep wearing a Cleo-hat.

She stayed until Ranger jumped up. She doesn't like to be too close to
Ranger, as he likes to play with everybody. Cleo retreated to Nancy's
pillow, went to sleep, and started snoring. Ranger came up and sucked on
my earlobe for minute, nibbled on it a bit, then chewed on fingers while
I petted him. He then curled up next to my chest and purred himself to
sleep.

A few minutes later, coming from the hallway I hear a soft *pad* *pad*
*pad* followed by "squeak-weeek-weeeek-weeeek-eeek". Harri Roadcat
coming to check on me. She never jumps on the bed. "Hi, Harri cat.
Thanks for checking on me little girl, I'm doing fine."
"squeak-weeeek-eeak" *pad* *pad* *pad*

A few moments later I hear coming down the hallway *bounce* *bounce*
*bounce* "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!". Tabitha has come to visit. She
almost never comes up on the bed.  "Hi, Tabitha. I'm fine, sweetie
girl". "squeeeeeeeeeak!" *bounce* *bounce* *bounce* (Yes, Tabitha is a
couple years old, but she bounces as much as she did when she was a baby
kitten).

I shifted positions several times during the night. Each time required a
great deal of kitty adjustments and sleep disruption.

This morning I got up just long enough to give the kitties their gushy
food and scoop litter boxes, then went back to bed. I was drifting off
to sleep when I smelled warm fish breath, and felt whiskers tickling my
nose. I cracked my eyes open a little and saw a beautiful orange and
white face just millimeters from mine. Samuel checking on me. "Hey, Paw,
are you ok? You always get up when it's dark and go to the toona place,
but it's light now and you're still in bed. Are you ok? Want me to
smurgle your arm? Want me to kiss your nose? <lick> <lick> Here, I'll
help you feel better". He crawled under the covers, curled up against my
chest, and started purring up a storm.

The furkids have been keeping watch over me all day. They've even let me
sleep a little.  They might make it difficult to rest, but their
intentions are only the most pure. I'm still exhausted, but I sure do
love these kitties!
6tujhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy`8juyh nnbnggggbg
v=================
7'/;777
(Sorry about that; Sammy had to add his comments too)

Dan
With Samuel's assistance