THE GREAT THING ABOUT KITTENS

The great thing about kittens is their sense of wonder. At almost 6 months, we are still interested in anything and everything around us. Even the most mundane of chores such as cleaning the litter box, becomes a noteworthy event. Not that I spend any time playing in the box the way I did when I was a baby; but - well, to be truthful - Sleeper STILL does. She’s been known to do some of her “kat-fu” moves in the clean litter as Mama pours it into the box! Silly kitten.

I’m more interested in seeing what’s in that fresh litter bag that’s sitting aside while Mama’s busy. She always tells me to get out of there, there’s nothing there that I want to see. I don’t know why she says that – of course, I want to see it! It’s a deep dark bag; there’s NO TELLING what might be in there!

And when Mama is scooping the box, there’s the hood off by itself, with its door-less opening beckoning: COME TO ME. Mama threw away the little door flap before we ever starting using the box, because she didn’t think it was healthy for us to be cooped up in there with the fumes while taking a poop – SHE wouldn’t want to be, she reasoned. But she kept the hood, because in the beginning I seemed to want privacy when doing my business, and she respected that.

Though that certainly isn’t the case now. In fact, both Sleeper and I seem to view the daily box cleaning as a signal that it’s time to use it! We hear the telltale scritch of spoon through litter, and we come running! Box Inspectors at your service! Occasionally, even before the Mama has completed her scooping, we are there, scratching up the litter in preparation. Mama has to sit back and wait. Sometimes she has to wait twice! She says this tends to make cleaning a longer process, but it does mean the litter stays smelling fresher longer, too. So, she doesn’t mind.

NOW WE ARE SIX MONTHS

So now we are 6 months old, my sister and I. I don’t feel any different, but Mama seems to be fascinated by this and is constantly remarking on how big we are, and how much we weigh! I have finally reached 8 lbs. I say finally, because Sleeper hit the 8 lb mark weeks ago, and I have been lagging behind her now for months. She is, by the way, already 8-1/2 lbs – a big girl! Mama is now wondering if she needs to cut back on the dry food she leaves out for us. Puh-leaseee!!! Sleeper is NOT overweight, but between you and me, I don’t think I will ever catch up to her. She’s just built differently than me. And she doesn’t have my nervous energy. When she’s content to sleep most of her day away, I am busy roaming looking for action! It’s a good thing she has me around, or otherwise she REALLY might have a weight problem – ha!

ANOTHER 3AM PAWTY TIME

Alright! Up again in the wee hours of the morning. This time it wasn’t even our fault! We’d been having a thunderstorm and rain (snow earlier in the day) off and on for hours. Sleeper was a little freaked by the thunder, but it didn’t bother me.
Anyway, suddenly the rain gets really heavy and wakes us all up. The Papa is out of the bed in a flash and going down to the basement with mudboots and flashlight. We didn’t get to go, which I think is monumentally unfair!
Next thing we know, he’s back upstairs and telling us the basement is getting flooded, so he’s setting up the emergency sump pump, and then has to go outside in the rain to see if the water is coming out of the hose. It was.
Meanwhile, Mama is building up the fire in the woodstove, and we’re bouncing off the walls having a great time! We LOVE to get up in the middle of the night and play, especially if the Mama and Papa are up, too.
So now we’ll probably all have some bites (do you hear that, Mama – where’s the bites?), while we wait to make sure the water doesn’t get any higher and take out the hot water heater like it did last year, Mama says. Fine by us! Now, where’s the bites?!

FROG SONGS

The weather turned really warm today – I don’t know what the temperature was for sure, but it felt like it was in the 60’s. At this rate, the snow will be gone in no time! The Mama and Papa have been hanging around outside our bedroom window lately, talking and gesturing towards our side of the house. Mama was there this morning before she went to work, walking back and forth, looking around. I think it must be something about the cattery! Sleeper and I don’t know what that is exactly, but Mama seems real excited when she mentions it. She says we’re gonna LOVE it!

I know that I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE. I can hear all sorts of creatures out there. Across the road there’s a little swamp, and there are things there that Mama calls frogs. They started singing just a couple of days ago. They’re really carrying on now since the sun went down, and there are none of the monster trucks zooming up and down the dirt road.

I wonder…will the cattery have frogs?

THERE'S SOMETHING HAPPENING!

This is really getting interesting! A couple of days ago, the Mama and Papa came back in the beat-up rusted-out mouse-mobile (Chevy S10 pickup truck) that they hardly ever drive (used to be the Mama’s baby till she rolled it in a ditch dodging a spooky-looking black Rotweiller on a rain-slick road. She missed the dog, but all but totaled the truck, having to crawl out of the driver’s side window of an upside down vehicle, walking away without a scratch on her – thanks to her seatbelt. Oh, she’s never seen the dog before or since.)

The truck was piled with some lumber, hardware cloth, and other stuff. Plus the Mama was carrying a bag full of wheat seed that she selfishly wouldn’t let me open. If it’s for us like she says, why can’t I open it NOW?

Anyway, they unloaded it next to the other lumber the delivery truck had left that morning. The Papa looked at the Mama and said: “I guess this officially makes us cat people." Well, duh?!!!

Stay tuned for further developments…

A TALE OF TWO KITTIES

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…” Oh – hang, Sleeper! Is this the best literary intro you could come up with? The silly human couldn’t make up his mind!

Well, I know what it was – it was the WORST of times, and we had NOTHING before us, ‘cause the Mama was seriously PO’d at us for waking her at 4AM, playing with a bunch of stuff on a bathroom shelf that we had previously never paid any attention to. The Papa was amused, standing back before her wrath, only offering to get her one of the white book boxes, into which she swept the entire contents of the shelf and threw the whole thing into the computer/book room.

At present we are banned from the computer/book room because it is, for now, also the plant nursery (pic posted). The Mama says we can’t go in there for at least 3 more weeks, because it will be that long before the veggie plants are big enough, and the unheated greenhouse is assured to be warm enough for them to be able to handle the move. Most things won’t actually get planted outside for another month or more.

In the meantime, we have NOTHING to play with. Well, OK, we’ve got our mousies, and our other little catnip stuffed toys, and our balls, and our little tower, and our box fort, and one of the Mama’s foam curlers, and, of course, we’ve got each other, but we’ve played with all those things lots of times! And besides, I can’t stand the Mama to be unhappy, so that’s why I’m curled up and purring in her lap while she’s types this for me.

“It was the best of times…”

UPDATE

Just thought I'd report that the Mama and Papa left early this morning to go to the dentist and to buy books on the way. We were left unsupervised for over 10 hours - a record! (Mama's a little over-protective - MOL!) And we were VERY GOOD. We did not knock over the trashcan (alright - they moved it out into the entryway); we did not drag the toilet paper roll down the hall; we did not knock things off any shelves; or eat the one remaining joya plant on the kitchen counter, though we possibly, probably - OK, we DID get on the counter! But other than that, we were model kitties! The Mama was pleased.

Also, I weigh 9 whole pounds now! Woo hoo!!! I've almost caught up to Sleeper who has only gained another 1/4 lb, making her 9-1/4 lbs. AND - our fur has almost completely grown back since our surgeries in February. You can't even tell on me, but you can see the faintness to some of Sleeper's striping where her bald patch was. I bet in another week the fur will be back to normal. Pretty cool, huh?

IN THE DOGHOUSE

We were in the doghouse (or cathouse, as the case may be!) again this morning for running like wildkitties through the house at 6 AM. I think what tipped it was when we ran over the Mama’s sleeping face for the 3rd time. She’s had a bit of a cold, and I think it must be making her irritable, or otherwise why would she be mad at us for doing our usual morning calisthenics? She told me herself it was up to me to keep Sleeper in shape – geezzzz!!!

Anyway, she jumped out of bed and grabbed the both of us and threw us in our room and slammed the door! Rude!!! She didn’t even make sure we had some dry food in our bowl, only water. That’s just wrong.

Later when the Papa let us out (our hero!), I went to check on the Mama to make sure she was still alive and that all was forgiven. She touched noses and gave me a pet, so I licked her arm, and said I hope she feels better soon. Meanwhile, business as usual! Get those legs MOVING, Sleeper! We’ll trim that mouse pouch down in NO TIME!

Oh, and Sleeper says to thank you both again, Simba and Blizzard, for explaining about the mouse pouch. She was worried maybe there were little lizard things in there like in the movie ALIEN, and they were gonna come popping out. Or worse – greeblingz…

SAMHAIN, MIGHTY HUNTER

Last night the Mama and Papa were really tired, because they’d been up since even before US, getting ready to leave town to buy books. When they got back several hours later, they just had energy to fix some food (Sleeper and I helped by standing under the Mama’s feet crying for our own suppers), and relaxing with an episode of an old L&O on DVD. Oh, and I forgot to mention the usual drill of building a fire in the woodstove, changing the water dishes, cleaning the litter box, picking up things we’d knocked over, stapling cardboard over an area around some pipes in our funky old farmhouse bathroom so we couldn’t get back in there (oops – forgot! That was LAST night! They’ll have to get back to that later and figure out what to do about it.) Oh, and checking on the baby vegie plants in the computer room where we aren’t allowed to go, and then checking (by flashlight) on the other baby cabbages and broccolis that had already been moved into the unheated greenhouse to make sure they didn’t freeze last night when temps fell down to low 30’s. (They didn’t.) THEN it was time for bed. But, it wasn’t even 10 PM yet; the night wasn’t over! Unbeknownst to all of us, a floor show was planned.

The first we knew of it was only a short time after the lights went out. The Mama was alerted by what she thought was growling. The Papa was already asleep, so she shone the flashlight around to see what was up, but only saw Sleeper, squinting into the glare like “What? I’m not doing anything!” She didn’t see me, but she decided she hadn’t really heard it after all. So she lay back down. Some minutes later, she’s back up, convinced she’s hearing growling! Then she sees me, crouched down with something in my mouth, rumbling menacingly at the Sleeper. What is wrong with this picture?!

Just then I opened my mouth and what should go leaping, but a live mouse! “Oh, my – she’s caught one!” said the Mama, and the Papa turned the light on.

I had indeed caught a mouse; a young field mouse, to be exact, with a little white belly and white socks on his tiny feet. And now that I’d caught him, I wasn’t sure what to do with him! I kept letting him run, but would catch him again. The Mama and Papa are generally soft-hearted about all little living creatures, though practical. They have been known to kill garden pests, and the occasional mouse, though they usually prefer to trap them with live mouse cubes, which allow them to transport the mice unharmed to the woods. Since we have gotten bigger, however, it has been unnecessary to set up the traps, as the mice stopped coming into our living area, only into the attic and, less happily, into the walls. Normally, this stops anyway once the bad weather passes; the field mice prefer the fields where all their natural foods are.

But here was a situation that they felt should be considered carefully. I had done “my job” as a housecat. Not that my primary “job” isn’t to be the loving companion that I am! – but, after all - I am a cat, with normal feline instincts. Sleeper and I have been playing “catch the mousie” since our early kittenhood, and here suddenly was the real thing! I did what I’d been “trained” to do.

After reflection, seeing that the mouse appeared injured, energy flagging, but that I was not showing any inclination to kill it, the decision was made to end its life quickly. The Mama offered, but the Papa said no, he would do it; and it was over. I took it back and they praised me for my skill. I let the Mama take the body from me; I knew it was dead, and was no longer interested in it. They continued to give me pets and praise; I visited some of the spots where I had carried the little beastie, looking to make sure it wasn’t there instead, since it was no longer in that poor little body, or perhaps to make sure there weren’t any more like him.

Then I chased Sleeper around the house for another half hour, both of us full of nervous energy. The Mama got up and read for a bit till we seemed to settle, then it was lights out again till 5:30 AM, when we started up again. This time she grabbed us both and shut us in our room. We were tired, I guess, because we went to sleep and didn’t make a peep until she let us out again around 7:30.

Now my new name is Great Hunter!
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - when Mama got up this morning, she found stretched out in front of the door, where the wee mouse had met his end, my own pretend "mousie". She wasn't sure if this was an offering to say "Thank you, O Great ONE, for the sacrifice made for me", or "Please, could I have another?" !

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS!

No time to talk now, but Mama is posting a couple of pics of the cattery which is in its beginning stages. That's me in the pic watching the Papa cut and nail boards.

The next stage will be the hardware cloth over the framework. More later!