Day 32 Cuteness Increasing

Day 32 Cuteness Increasing

I'm not sure it's possible even for Tai and Chi to get any cuter. They have cute little faces and bodies, but their personalities are adorable too. They are so well behaved. Rambunctious at time, but manageable. 

Chi is nearly done with her medicine. She's taking them so well, Jan had the brilliant idea of giving a dropper of water to Tai the same way for a few days, so she learns at an early age to medicine this well. She will at least be familiar with the action if not the flavor later on down the line in case she ever has to take medicines orally. I think that is a great idea. I also think it might not be a bad idea to put in a liquid vitamin supplement to get used to taking something that has a taste to it. How many cats and kittens later are these old cat moms learning new tricks? 

Both kittens carry on the practice of running full tilt across the keyboard. The good news is that they do stop doing that eventually. Anjolie and Bootsy did and after inserting only one major error into the text of my first poetry anthology. I caught it early on, but not before a few copies got into circulation. I figure those few ought to be worth something, particularly once Bootsy publishes his own memoirs. He's the one who did that race across the keyboard. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he'd done. I wrongly concluded that he had somehow missed any important keys. NOT! He'd hit the enter key and separated a line of poetry in a rather odd place. 

Chi ran across a note I'd written to a good friend of mine in a Facebook message. This is what she managed to type in a split second cross-keyboard jaunt:

=]======================]]

Smart Chi!

The grrlz take turns accompanying me on my litter box cleaning rounds. This is a good practice because it reminds them every day where all the boxes are in this rather large (to them) house with lots of kitty bathrooms. Very smart kittens. 

Day 31 Catnip Catch-up

Day 31, I posted: 

My dear friend, Flo Harrah, sent along Christmas catnip bags for the kitzenkatz to increase the holiday fun. She even sent along enough for the whole crew. I had quite an audience opening that package last night. Now this morning I have strangely turbo-charged kittens. Someone has also dragged out the Brett Michaels catnip Christmas ornament from last year's after holiday sale in one of the local stores. Don't ask me who thought up that. Oh wait a minute. It was probably Brett Michaels himself, right? A few minutes ago, Chi came running down the hallway, dragging Brett behind her. Sweet Eyes was right behind her chasing Brett. That was really cute. Now Brett is up a cat tree without a kitten. 

These kitz keep coming up with "new" toys we haven't seen since the kittens who had been playing with them lost them under tight places. The kittens and Sweet Eyes are small enough to discover them all over again. Sweet Eyes is so precious with how much she plays. I think her teeth told lies about her age. There's no way she's 4 years old. I don't think she's more than 2. I think the wear and tear of motherhood and abandonment took a big toll on her health, making her appear older. That happened to my Bingo too. He appeared to the vet to be about 5, but after a few months in my household, they changed his estimated age to about 3. He definitely played more like he was three once we got his nutritional needs squared away. It's not taken long for Sweet Eyes to come around too. She loves these two like they are her own. She keeps a very close eye on them. So close the first night that I was a wee bit concerned about them since they were so small yet.

Jan got new kitty beds at the pet store the other day. They were marked down, so she scooped up 5 of them. Catnip bags and nice new cushy beds. Colo(u)r these kitties happy, safe, well-fed, and warm this holiday season. Everyone but Beebee has already acclimated. We all knew Beebee would be last, but even she is begrudgingly giving up ground to them. It's hard for even Beebee to be convincingly threatened by a couple of adorable little kittens. Beebee is just spending more time outside. She manages, however, to get along with everyone at night while it is cold. LOL 40s at night makes all manner of accommodations possible.

Chi is still finishing up her medicine, but she is well for all I can tell. Yay! 

Active kitten dream life... priceless. 

All three of the new girls continue to communicate via chips, chirps, and squeaks. They don't mew or meow unless they need to talk to us. I would so love to understand what those chirps and squeaks mean. I want to speak kitten. 

Day 18 through 20--Time Flies When You're Having Cats

Day 18 through 20--Time Flies When You're Having Cats

Somehow the days have slipped by in a blur. I was surprised on day eighteen with the news that my housemate was going to adopt a new cat (a four-year-old), and while I'm on board with the rescue, it felt a bit fast. Even one extra day would have helped. I've been trying to resolve the litter issue for Li'l and Boo. We are switching out litters and are not happy with the first new kind and are switching to a different kind. They are both natural, but one was the pellet kind, which simply doesn't work in this household. Now we're going to a walnut-based clumping litter. I've ordered 2 more new boxes and more bags of litter. By tomorrow, any trace of the bad kinds should be gone and even several of the boxes with them. We figure this is a good time to start anew totally. 

On day nineteen, I think, the new cat arrived. Sweet Eyes is really small for a grown cat and very sweet. She's rather protective of humans, but I don't need protection from my own feline children, so we had to have a talk. She's extremely smart though and understands a lot, so that has already been resolved and she's starting to feel more comfortable and part of this household. 

Li'l has healed and gotten worse a couple times in the last few days so I hope by the time I get everything switched out tomorrow and he makes a second trip to the vet, he will be on the mend for good. He has been miserable and does show signs of improvement regarding his itchy red patches. Hopefully that will be a thing of the past soon. 

Ever since I got a big box from Amazon with new litter boxes in it, the kittens have had their own "condo." I cut holes in the box and they use it for a playhouse. They have a great time. By the second day, Sweet Eyes, the new addition, was playing with them in the box. 

Early in the morning on day twenty, Chi's sniffles moved to vertigo, That freaked me out at 6.30 am when I discovered her wobbling instead of walking. I awakened my housemate, who then took Chi to the vet because she couldn't stand up and walk straight. They determined that it was vertigo and treatable, rather than anything that would have been unthinkable. She has started on antibiotics and ear drops. She still plays like there's no tomorrow when she's not sleeping. She just plays a drunken sailor on a listing ship. She goes full tilt with head tipped to the left and mostly running in circles. I hope to see her righting herself tomorrow. My heart goes out to her and Li'l. I'm really glad that my sister is coming for a visit in a couple days. I need someone else to help with sending healing energy to the kitzenkatz. I love these kitz more every day, and I already wonder how we did without them. Sweet Eyes is already fitting in fairly well. She's very adaptable so I suspect she'll be fully acclimated and assimilated by the end of this week at the latest. She will, no doubt, enjoy having a third human around for cuddles and will think my sister lives here too by then. 

I got a photo of all three newcomers sound asleep in the chair all in a row. Since Chi's playtime slackened off somewhat today because of the healing sleep, Sweet Eyes and Tai have been playing together one-on-one, so that is speeding up the assimilation process. They were all three playing together by the afternoon today.  

Day Seventeen--Characteristics Become More Distinct

Day Seventeen--Characteristics Become More Distinct

Tai & Chi continue to win hearts in this household.Pixie has advanced from watching to playing with the sisters. I'm enjoying watching Pixie play in ways I never saw her play when she was a kitten. Li'l Grey took over with her the moment she arrived so that Jan and I hardly did anything for her beyond meal times and some petting during bathroom breaks. That's when I had to give her lots of affection and teach her to be gentle with human hands all at the same time. That was the only real rearing of Pixie that I ever did. Li'l did everything else. They played a lot mind you, but not the way the girls play. The girls tumble and tussle, but they also do some rather inventive play. Tai is a master leaper while Chi is a master at putting two or more items together to create a new play toy. Today's combo is a mylar balloon and a little fluffy pom pom. Pixie was playing with that too when the twins took a food break.

Li'l was really more of a life skills and personal trainer kind of instructor. There was not a whole lot of inventive play with them. Anjolie and Bootsy were very inventive too. I guess that's why Li'l wanted a play buddy so badly. He didn't have that and missed what my twins had. I'll have to rethink that next time around. It's so apparent that while Bootsy was fun, Li'l was pretty much on his own during that inventive play learning stage. I know he went through this stage because I have him on video doing it on his own with minimal input from Bootsy. Bootsy is good at watching the younger kids, but he's too timid to jump in there at this point and play rough and tumble with a kitten. It was one thing when he was a kitten. It's no wonder Li'l adopted Pixie when she showed up on the scene when he was less than nine months old. He wanted a playmate. I think he's taught me a new trick that I will be sure to remember even if I end up with uneven pairs occasionally down the road. They do so much better when they get a lot of kitten play time with another kitten. Mother is learning too. 

Two can be more adventurous because they urge each other on. When one tries something new, the other is emboldened to do something new too. It's good for their development, but perhaps not always good for keeping a perfectly tidy house. I've decided that if you're going to keep kitties happy, you should have a kitty romper room where your rules of neatness don't apply. Thus, our catio. They can play with abandon in the house when they are little and need more supervision, but once they get bigger, the catio is the place for the truly wild play.You can clean once a week. Otherwise, just stay out of there. I can totally see my future with a kat trail built in so the cats can play and roam creatively and safely out from under foot. Kitchens being the one place where they truly need to tow the line. 

We're starting to get into a rhythm in this house now with the kittens as part of it rather than the center of it. Everybody is getting used to everybody. Well, maybe not everybody. Beebee has retreated to being outside more than in until it gets too cold and/or she gets accustomed to having the kittens around. Yeti is spending more time outside too. Fortunately, much of his outdoor time is on the catio. I think with the kittens here, we may have to extend his catio time until well after dark. Winter daylight hours are too short right now. Although the kittens sleep a lot, they are pretty good at sleeping overnight. They wake up sometimes when I make a bathroom run, and other times they don't. They do better when they sleep with their mom. When they sleep in my closet, I guess I disturb their repose so they want to get up and play, which prevents me from getting right back to sleep. At least I got to sleep until 4 am without being awakened by pouncing kittens. That was nice. Now I just need to go back to sleep for a while during their morning nap. 

Day Sixteen--Kitten-Licking Good

Day Sixteen--Kitten-Licking Good

When Zuki was my kitty (years before she came back as Jan's kitten, Chi), she used to communicate with me telepathically. She mostly spoke in images. For example, when I made it known that we were going to have to move across country from Seattle to Orlando, she made it very clear that she wasn't going to have any part of that. With a combination of images and a sudden breakdown in her health, after having been perfectly healthy, I made peace with that fact and saw the wisdom in her choice, given that she was nearly 17 by then. When it came time for her to let go, I had to work that day at the family home of the little girl I'd been taking care of. Sometimes I watched her at my house and sometimes I went to hers. When the day came that Zuki decided would  be her last, she sent me telepathic images of her meeting me at the door when I got home from work and going outside to die. Considering that she had not been able to walk more than a couple of wobbly steps lately, this was going to be quite a feat, but I agreed to let her go. I had planned to take her to the vet that day anyway, but she didn't want treatment. She wanted to let go. 

Against all odds, this feeble little girl made it to the door to meet me so I let her go past me and outside to the utility room that was in the same building as the garage. She lay down in a corner on the floor in there to die. I at least made her lie down on a towel so she's be warmer and more comfortable. Then I told her that I was going to go inside and get a bite to eat and call my next door neighbor for help so I could hold her while I drove her to the vet if she was still alive after I ate a late lunch. My neighbor agreed to drive me the couple of miles to the nearest vet if I needed that, so when I came back out after lunch, and she was lying there looking rather determined but miserable, I gathered her up in the towel and went to the vet with her. She hated her carrier, so I drove in with just her in my arms in a towel. After the vet checked her out, she did suggest that she might respond to treatment, but that she most likely wouldn't live long anyway. A few months at best. After what I went through with Bingo, only to have him end up with cancer twice and suffering a lot, I had made a decision then never to put a cat through that much just for a few months with them. I know that they can come back, so that it by far the kindest thing to do for my beloved kitties. 

With Zuki, she and I made a better decision. She made it known what she wanted to do, and I honored her wishes. I'm pretty sure Bingo had wanted to fight so we'd have a little more time together, but I suspect now that he's on his second full life with me as his mom that he'd be more inclined to let go than to go through all of that again. I sure hope so. That was hard on my soul, and I suspect not all that easy on his either. Now as Bootsy, he has a full, robust life again with the same caring mommy, a new sister soul mate, and the same soul mate brother in a new body too. 

This time Zuki is the one who is back, and while I'm her aunty, the mommy has changed, and she seems to be quite happy with that. We all back together again--Anjolie, Bootsy (Bingo), Li'l (Dustin), and Chi (Zuki). Since Tai is Taz, who passed a couple of months ago, and Yeti is Jack, who passed a couple of years ago, the reunion is even more grand as well as astounding. I know other pets have reincarnated to be with their people, but I'm not aware of any other major feline soul groups appearing in families and reincarnating over and over again on such a conscious level. It's interesting to watch. One of the most fascinating things about it is observing the traits that carry over from lifetime, which is what brings me to the title of this blog. I have had only one cat in my life who liked to lick my face, and my mouth, if she could reach it, and that was Zuki. Until now. Chi, who was originally Zuki, is back and still a face licker. It's every bit as cute as it was last time around. She's been licking her new mommy too, so she's definitely an equal opportunity face licker. Here's the kicker, Taz used to lick Jan on the face too when she was here, so it will be interesting to see if she still does that still. If so, that's going to make for a whole lot of kitten lickings.   

Day Fifteen--Ninja Kitten/Sleeping Kittens

Day Fifteen--Ninja Kitten/Sleeping Kittens

In the shuffling of kitties, Li'l has been finding some creative places to sleep these days. Bootsy too. The kittens are always finding interesting places to sleep. Tai, who has revealed herself as "Taz" returned has tipped us off in several ways. One is her favorite places to sleep-- on the back of the sofa, for instance. That was one of Taz's favorite places, and there are millions of fine sleeping spots in the house, so that is telling. The first little sign was on the very first day, I believe, when Tai got settled good on her mom, and in true Tazzie fashion, sighed deeply. Jan pointed it out to me, and I wondered then it she was Jan's Taz girl. I asked her when I asked Chi if she was my Zuki returned, but Taz didn't answer. But in tuning in, I did pick up her energy. The fact that she didn't answer was pure Taz anyway. She usually "thought" answers to me anyway. I'm thoroughly getting to know both of them as kittens. I didn't meet Zuki last time until I adopted her at fifteen. Taz was five or six when I came to live here with her mom. They are a lot of fun to watch and both incredibly smart. 

The pair are definitely officially as active and aerial as Anjolie and Bootsy were when I got them. They must now be about the same stage and age they were when I got them. They have definitely ramped up the playtimes. They're sleeping now, but the living room looks as though a tornado hit it. Two kitten tornadoes to be precise. 

Speaking of creative sleeping spots, many nights/mornings, I awake to either one or two kittens in my closet, nicely nestled into the side of one of my rolling backpacks. I'm not sure why, but that is one cozy place to sleep. When I made a 3.30 am loo run, I found a two-headed kitten in my closet. It was so adorable, I had to get a picture of it. Only my memory card was still in one of my laptops in the living room, so I stole the one out of my video camera long enough to take a shot, only to have the battery die on me. I switched the card back and managed to get a little bit of footage from the video camera. I'll have to check it to see if anything came out okay. In the meantime, I wrote a poem about their morning romp to finish off yesterday's account. 

Ninja Kittens

There is nothing quite like raising a pair of Ninja Kittens.
Nothing warms the heart more, not even woolen mittens.
Just when you think you're finally safe and alone in the dark,
a little form runs up your chest, right to your face, on a lark.

Watch your typing fingers and guard those wiggly toes.
Cover up your ears and face and hide your pointed nose.
One sits up and boxes, while the other one sits up and begs,
but no one in the house is safe until sofas lose those extra legs.

They find new ways to play until they've refined it to an art.
Just as they lie down again, some clueless friend hits "start."
The kittens are on a romp, squirreling from here to there.
No, there's nothing quite like watching kittens without a care.

© 2013 Beth Mitchum

Days 13 and 14 Shifting Sandboxes

Days 13 and 14 Shifting Sandboxes

The girls are officially the stars of the household. Earlier today when Jan was not allowing Chi to eat what Jan was eating, Chi pulled up her little "hurt" paw again. It was too cute. Then later in the day, Tai, who was never even been hurt, did the same thing when she was trying to get her way about something. That was downright funny since she'd never done that before and never been injured. She's learned that behavior from her sister. We called them on it. So far they haven't tried it again. It's so cute when they do it, so we may have to give in occasionally because it's too adorable. The girls like to cuddle so Jan's got her hands full when she's home and I will get the cuddling when their mom's gone. In between cuddles, the girls play with each other and sometimes with Yeti assisting and observing. Bootsy doesn't participate, but he does enjoying watching, and so do Anjolie and Li'l sometimes.  

Today was mostly a sleeping day for the whole household, except for altercations between Yeti and Pixie and then Yeti and Beebee. Even before the kittens arrived, Yeti had been acting aggressive with Pixie, which she didn't appreciate. However, she's not at all a fighter, so she comes inside and just growls at him until I get Yeti to back off. Today he went after Beebee the way he's chased after Pixie, and Beebee stood her ground and took a well-placed swipe at his nose and bloodied it a little bit. Jan decided to let Yeti go outside to see if it helps. It definitely helped Pixie, but I don't know how things will be if the neighborhood tomcat comes around. Yeti is bigger than that cat, but other than Beebee, Yeti's never fought any cat who has truly fought over turf. He's only play fought, so I guess we'll see what happens.  I hope his presence outside keeps the bully away, but I don't know if that will happen without at least one encounter. Maybe Beebee will be safer out there at least if little brother goes out too.  Our families are changing. I don't know quite what to think about it, but I'll enjoy the kittens while I can. They are just too cute for words. 

Day Eleven and Twelve--Gratitude on Thanksgivings Day

Day Eleven and Twelve--Gratitude on Thanksgivings Day

Most of the household slept a good portion of the day yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving. A cold front was moving in, and apparently we were all experiencing an overdose of tryptophan in advance. I'm vegetarian, so I don't even eat turkey, but still I couldn't keep my eyes open for a lot of the day yesterday and today too. I fell asleep again last night at 21111111111111pl ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ====oooooooooooooo;;;p (compliments of Chi) 444 (postscripted by Tai),shortly after 8 pm. I woke up at 2.30 am, however, and stayed up then until after 6 am before dropping off again for a couple of hours. I've been doing little things today--like watching and videoing kittens, which is time consuming. The kittens are quite cuddly too, so I've had my hands and torso full with all that activity. Now that I've had my lunch, I'm just about ready for another nap. I swear we're like an army of narcoleptics trying to keep watch to no avail. Good thing we aren't under siege by legion of garden gnomes or driving anywhere today. We'd all be pretty worthless at the moment at staying wake. About 3 am, I woke up thoroughly while the kittens were playing with Yeti and each other on and around the cat tree in the hallway. That was entertaining. I managed to snag the video camera and record some of that, although they were already winding down. Later I got little bit of sleepy video before the kittens dropped off to sleep on my chest. It's no wonder I can't stay awake with all the sleepy kitten energy around me. I'm pretty sure that over the years, I've simply turned into a cat. While my eating habits haven't changed any, thank goodness, my sleeping habits definitely have. You never know when I'll fall asl--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wait. Where was I? Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to all. I'm grateful for a life filled with feline friends. 

PS Chi remembered only once to lift up her hurt paw today and that was when she was trying to score some of my pasta dinner. It didn't work, but it was adorable. Get got lots of cute points for that act, but alas, no pasta. I know where that leads. I'm already having to break Bootsy and Anjolie of getting too nosy during my mealtimes. 

Days Nine and Ten--Settling In

Day Nine and Ten--Settling In

The kittens are already becoming part of the warp and woof of the household. They continue to entertain each other and everyone else, but their assimilation has been mostly low key. Although they have their moments, they haven't completely rocked the household the way Bootsy and Anjolie rocked my much smaller household five years ago. There's more space in this house for one thing, and for another, there are more kitties already established here. So the kittens, because they aren't "in your face," are simply slipping into the groove of the existing household. They are cute and entertaining to the older kids, but they aren't turning the household upside down. Li'l is feeling better, so he's out and visible more, and, shock of shocks, Beebee is coming in during the daytime and sleeping in her regular corner tower. They have been a handful, but only part of the time. They sleep a lot and play by themselves a lot, so as long as the older katz give them space, they are pretty self entertaining. My legs are recovering from the initial onslaught of kitten scratches, which is a relief. All in all, it has been more of a non-event. They have adapted to using the litter boxes and sleeping at night easily. 

Chi's paw might still hurt a little bit, but it can't be too bad. Otherwise she couldn't play as hard as she does with her sister. Her limping now seems to be limited to when she remembers it and wants a little sympathy and TLC. She's so adorable. She certainly doesn't need to play the "hurt" card in order to get attention. She works the cute angle naturally already. If she were a human child, she'd wear pinafore dresses and black patent leather Mary Jane shoes and little white ankle socks with ruffles and pink trim around the top. She'd run from room to room on her tippy toes smiling a sweet smile that exudes innocence and little person charm. Chi Chi fits her just fine as a name. Tai, on the other hand, is every bit the Tai-grr. She's a little tomboy kitten, who is completely fearless and already sports a grown-up face. She and Anjolie would have been quite the pair as kittens. They are very similar. Leap first and calculate the distance later. Very much the way I was as a kid. If she were a human child, she, Anjolie, and I would be a trio of tomboys, playing hard and making sure that life was always an interesting, full-body contact sport. She'd be dressed in cutoff shorts, a torn t-shirt, and sneakers with a few holes in them and at least one sole starting to come unglued from running through rain puddles. We'd run through the forest, leaping over streams, climbing trees, and playing army. Never mind that Anjolie grew up to be a princess. She grew up to be a spunky princess, always a little mussed and smudged. Never perfectly coiffed and spotless, the way Chi would be, no doubt. The three of us would play with Chi, but we'd always have to keep an eye on her so she didn't get hurt or too dirty. She'd be our very protected and coddled little sister. Tai, on the other hand, would be swinging from vines, playing hide-n-seek in ditches and way up high in trees. This pair could just as easily have been named Yin and Yang, but Chi Chi and Tai-grr work quite well, I think. I love them both and enjoy interacting and cuddling with them. Chi is going to be another big cuddler, the way Anjolie is. Anjolie seems to have an innate understanding of da girlz, and she comes up to see me, sniffing them if they're up near me. Yes, I think Tai and Chi are already finding their place in this cat house, and it didn't take long at all..

Day Eight--Budding Young Star

Day Eight--Budding Young Star

Chi is showing signs of great promise in two different fields. The first is grooming and/or nursing. Every day she bathes my chin thoroughly, even to the point of nibbling a little bit on my nose. I have never had such a clean face. The second area is acting. While I'm sure that her paw is still sore after yesterday's accident, it is apparently less sore when she wants to play with sister and more sore when she feels in need of sympathy or feels she must compete for attention with the older, more established cats. If it weren't so adorable and transparent, it might be worrisome, but she really does go full tilt unless she wants to showcase her adorable self, hurt paw held suspended in the air. 

The older cats continue to work closer towards becoming a family unit.Eventually we'll have to split up the children, but for now the two camps are working towards cohesion. The little girls are too small and innocent to create much chaos, and the older cats are not that old and still friendly and playful. Yeti got up on top of a box that I cut holes me in to make a fun playhouse. The girls have a lot of fun in it, but Yeti is enjoying it with them. That is too cute to watch. It was indeed a mostly uneventful day. If Chi is still limping tomorrow, we'll take her in to be checked out, but I don't think that will be necessary, given how much playing she managed to get in today. . 

Day Seven--Week One Ending

 Day Seven--Week One Ending

My morning started with Tai jumping up on the bed and bounding up my chest to greet me and wake me. She thought it was time to get up. Never mind it wasn't even 5 am yet. Her mother had awakened early and had already fed them, so Tai must have thought it was time for fun and games. Apparently I was her playmate of choice today. After a few minutes of adorable cuddles, I finally acquiesced and got out of bed.

All the kitties are getting along just fine. Beebee spends more of her time outside. That helps the household get along better. The kittens continue to be cuddly and charming. Even Li'l came out more today. The swelling has gone done, so he's feeling better. I suspect he'll start interacting more with the adorable twins. 

There was an accident in the afternoon that shook everyone up for a little while. Chi got wounded today when she accidentally got her paw shut in the door trying to escape to the outside world. I sat on the couch with her for an hour, sending her healing light. After a nap and some healing time, she was limping a little less. As the day went on, she did more with less limping. If she's still limping in the morning, she'll have to go to the vet to be checked. I'm glad though that she was clearly doing better in the evening. 

Li'l actually hung out all evening in the kitchen, playing on the floor, so I know he's getting more comfortable and must be feeling better in general. The kittens are doing well sleeping through the night for the most part. I really hope tomorrow is uneventful. I like those days better. I want the babies to be safe. I'd rather report only when something funny happens.

Days Five and Six--Technical Difficulties

Day Five and Six

Another fun day at the cat house. Beebee doesn't seem to mind watching the kitten entertainment during the day, but she's not interested in staying inside at night though. I suspect that might just be a convenient excuse though for carousing all night. She'll change her tune on the that count once it starts getting cold at night. In the meantime, I have as much fun watching Beebee watching the kittens as she has watching the kittens. She makes sure to growl every time of the kittens gets anyway close to her. Yeti has taken to playing with them as much as he dares and as much as they'll let him. He's cute being so timid and careful with them. Anjolie played chase with them a little bit, and Bootsy continues to be amused from a safe distance. Li'l, still not feeling up to snuff, remains somewhat aloof. He's doing much better though, and has started to show himself for minutes at a time. I noticed a lump on his hind quarters that bears watching. I don't know if he had an abscess starting already or it the painful shots actually missed enough to have caused the swelling. It explains why he hasn't wanted to be with the others, particularly with active kittens. 

Jan has taken to calling Chi, "Chi Chi," and I've started calling Tai, "Tai-grr." They're rather enthusiastic little people. They are still easier to deal with Anjolie and Bootsy. I don't know if it's because there is more space in the  

The kittens have been eating us out of house and home. They eat the same portions as the big kids. They are busy stuffing all four legs and their ears and tails. In the week they've been here, they've already grown noticeably. I noticed today that a piece of furniture they'd been able to run under without so much as ducking their heads, required quite a bit of ducking. They've gotten an inch taller and longer and can out eat their much bigger siblings and cousins. 

I couldn't get online one day, so I had to combine two days. All cats except Beebee are getting used to the little sisters. Beebee continues to be totally perturbed with her mother for adopting two more kittens, but this is the nature of Beebee. She got used to Pixie and Yeti, and actually enjoys them now, or did before two more reasons to hate the world came into the house. 

 

Day Four-- Cartoon Character Kittens

Day Four

While the older cats haven't exactly taken over the job of kitten sitting, they are interacting more and watching them more. They take turns between being out in the living room, keeping an eye on them, and hiding somewhere in the back, where they hope they will remain unnoticed. 

The kittens have been sleeping pretty well during the night, and so have I until last night when I awoke in the middle of the night and stirred enough to get Tai's attention. Chi was already keeping her Mommy company, so Tai decided to come back to my room to make sure that I was being properly supervised and sufficiently cuddled. Her conclusion must have been negative because she came back there and not only gave me a cat scan, she also thoroughly examined my neck, as well as my nostrils. Apparently there has been some upheaval in the world of human nostrils, since mine have been carefully observed multiple times (mostly from an interior position) and well tended. Tai also must have thought my neck was too cool again because she made the supreme sacrifice of using her tiny body to warm it up. Apparently the blanket was too heavy to drag across my inert body so a kitten cuddle pack was promptly applied. I'm not quite sure when I've been "treated" to such careful feline ministration. 

I've deduced that Tai is a kinesthetic genius, while Chi has an astounding intellect, like the brainy kid in the cartoon, and they very much learn from each other, which is both a marvel and a worry. These girls are achieving heights it took much longer for Li'l, Pixie, and Yeti to accomplish. For instance, the top tier of the tallest kitty tree has been a sort of rite of passage for each of the kittens who have come into this house. Li'l reached it after being here for a couple of weeks. He was smaller than either of these two and still sick when he came to live here. Yeti was a little bigger, but still it must have taken about a week to reach that level. Pixie was about the same size as Yeti only she was older and a little more developed. She also mastered it in about a week. She was pretty small but definitely a week or two older than these kittens. But these two figured it out the first day.

Tai is somewhat of a Spidergirl cartoon character. She flings herself at the couch and simply sticks there like a string of al dente spaghetti. Then she climbs the rest of the way up to the top. The first couple of days, she jumped up there like that and her tail flipped back and forth nonstop. She resembled that retro black cat wall clock, whose tail acts as a pendulum.  Chi's extreme intelligence shows when she sits there looking at an object or a situation and figures things out for herself. She'll put two unrelated objects together and create a new toy and a new game. A plastic frozen yogurt spoon, for instance, moved in the direction of an empty bandage box creates a cool noise. I'm not sure what exactly it is to them, other than a fun noise, but it was intriguing enough to entertain them for at least thirty minutes. Once one of them figures anything out, the other one figures it out too, usually right away, or at least the same day. 

This shared intelligence is pretty interesting but it's also accelerating the rate at which they learn how to do things, which as I'm sure you can imagine, can be a good thing or a not so good thing. With all the other kittens, I knew I had a week or two of grace time when I could use the top tier of the cat tree as a kind of tower prison. It looked fun to be up there, but once you were up there, getting down was not so easy. Not with these two. They conquered it the very first day they were here, and I haven't yet figured out a good replacement spot. The bathtub is my last bastion of hope for a few minutes of peace. It didn't take Li'l long to figure that one out, but Pixie and Yeti were slower with this obstacle. 

We survived the fourth day and night. Beebee is still vocalizing her displeasure, and Li'l is still hiding pretty much all the time. He comes out to eat and that's it. He's moved his protest headquarters to the top of my closet, which will require both time to grow and a keen intellect to allow the kittens access to his fortress up there. I give him about two weeks respite up there, but I sure hope he will rejoin the family long before that. Given how social he is, I have to think that this has more to do with the skin allergy than the new kittens. One or the other is enough to deal with, but both together is too much. I see his point and am being appropriately sympathetic. 

Day Three-- Parrot Perches and Team Work

Day Three

I have decided that Chi is part parrot. She loves to curl up on my right shoulder and stay there. Like nearly forever. It's really cute and not at all troublesome while I'm sitting down working. It gets slightly more problematic if I need to get up and go somewhere. I've decided just to put her on the seat of the walker and take her with me. Once I'm walker free again, she can just ride on my shoulder if she's still doing that by then. She reminds me very much of my past kitty, Zuki, who has been on my mind a lot recently. Which made me start to wonder. So I asked her today if she was in fact Zuki returned for another life. She said yes, which didn't surprise me particularly, but which could be an issue later. I told her that she would need to bond with Jan too and be her kitty this time. I asked her if she realized that and was okay with that. I got another affirmative. The plot thickens. She really does have to stay here, because if I take a 4th cat with me when I leave, it's going to be Pixie. So unless they all do a lot of negotiating and shuffling, she's got to be Jan's baby this time so all of this shoulder cuddling needs to transfer to her mom in this lifetime. Of course Tai has rather attached herself to Jan, so Chi going to have to do some serious maneuvering to get herself sorted properly. In the meantime, Tai is nowhere in sight and Chi is lying rather adorably upside downwards on my right shoulder. No doubt the better for me to see how cute she is lying there all comfy and settled. This new revelation puts Li'l Grey's response to the kittens in a new light that makes perfect sense. 

Li'l spent most of the day yesterday in the tub again. He only got out when I kicked him out so I could get a shower. The good news is that this time he didn't get back into the tub after it dried. I don't know where he is exactly, but at least he's out of the tub. He'll come out when he's good and ready. In the time meantime, I'm reassuring him that he's still top cat and he always will be. He yielded to Zuki's senior status when she came to live with us after Bingo's death, before I got Bootsy (formerly Bingo) and Anjolie. He was so devastated after he lost his best friend of eleven plus years, that he didn't really care about anything any more. It wasn't until after her passing, that the light went back on in Dustin's life that he was top cat again. This status he has maintained even as a kitten when he returned. Neither of the twins every took over Dustin's roll after his passing. I think he's questioning his status. Nothing has changed as far as I'm concerned because the kittens belong to Jan, not me, and that is how it will remain. So now I just have to convince Li'l that all is well in our household. Where is Pixie when I need her? I'll have to see if I can get her to come in every hour or so, go to Li'l Grey, and announce in that adorable voice of hers, "All's well, Li'l. You're still top cat." That might help. I'll have to work on that today now that I have figured out how to work with the on/off kitten switches. I'm getting more work done today, yay!

On day three, the pair found the vertical blinds in the front windows. They also discovered the window sill. That alone will provide hours of entertainment at this stage of life. Now I need to figure out a way to coordinate their naps with my writing, so I don't have to wind up locking them up for an hour or two at a time. Granted the "lock-up" place is like a kitty heaven, but I'd rather they be able to run free in the house and just be respectful of my writing time because when it comes time to work on the poetry anthology concerted, I'll need a kitten free zone around my laptop. Some of the older cats, including Yeti, already went another step in the process of accepting our new little sisters. Both he and Yeti spent a little time chasing them. If I can get Bootsy, Anjolie, and Li'l involved, then I'll have built-in babysitters who can wear the kittens out for me. Jan and I can play with them some too every day. Then I'll take over letting them sleep on my while I type. Seems like a reasonable plan. These cats are smart and helped out this way when Yeti was a kitten.

I just presented my plan to them, so we'll see how fast the word gets around, since Yeti and Pixie are on the catio at the moment. Hopefully we'll be like a well-oiled machine tomorrow, the way we were with Yeti. We raised Yeti collectively, so we can raise these two easily too, if we all work together. I realize there are two of them, but that should only make it easier since they can wear each other out some of the time too. Yesterday ended up successful use of the litter box and loads of praise heaped on each of them for these successes. 

Day Two

Tai and Chi swing between Yin and Yang and often in opposition to each other. Tai usually starts out being the more active one, and then when she's tuckered out, she flops down somewhere to take a snooze while her now alert. /;gy.dgdee eeeee uuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudwwwwwwwwwwww-f sister, Chi, becomes more animated as though someone somewhere is turning switches on and off. My task today is to find those switches! As you see above, Chi is determined to have her say in this blog too. I told you they were literate. Chi was trying to use the telephone a little while ago. Now she is tuckered out and is sitting beside me reading what we've written so far. Proofing, no doubt, and for good reason, as many of you know. While they are both clearly smart little kittens, Chi seems to be more determined to figure out how the world of technology works. This morning the phone was the center of attention. She's already figured out how to work the laptop. Running over the keyboard at full speed seems to activate a lot of things, like changing it over to airplane mode, which is something I may need to know next time I fly. I hope I have a kitten with me for the next flight, so I'll know how to do. 

The other cats in the house are learning how entertaining the mini sisters can be. First Bootsy and then Anjolie sat for a while in the living room, safely out of danger, and watched the morning kitten show. This morning their active time started immediately after breakfast, which Chi ate in bed. She thought that was pretty cool. Tai showed up in the kitchen to eat with da big katz, while Chi was trying to slip in forty more winks. I didn't let her get away with that though, because meal time is a project with this many cats, vuyweyoe33333333333333333 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 3ee33333gt5iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioo5o5, and if someone lags behind too much, they miss out altogether. Anjolie and Bootsy were such slow eaters as kittens that I had to put them up high to eat so their much older sister, Zuki, who wasn't very tall, couldn't muscle them out of meals. She was a Munchkin kitty, so the kittens were the only beings in her world that were actually smaller than she was. Yes, she tried to take full advantage of the situation, and I don't blame her really. She spent most of her 17 years being the smallest one in the house, no doubt. Although Bootsy is the largest boy, he's still a little timid at feeding time, but since he's big, he usually goes around and cleans up leftovers because of his appetite. I still feed Anjolie separate from the crowd because she is the world's daintiest eater, which is part of the reason she has the title of "Princess." She is hale and hearty, but I've spent over five years trying to make sure she's gotten a chance to eat before her brothers are allowed to move in to clean the bowls, which one of them at least makes a point of doing. 

Chi is nose down now on the arm of the sofa, which is the only reason I'm able to write this morning. Typing fingers are such a temptation. They look like toys waiting to be pounced on and chewed. I have decided to allow da girlz' addenda to stand as is, so you'll just have to figure out what I was writing before I was so cutely interrupted. Da girlz have slept a good portion of the morning so I have gotten some work done. I have, however, spent as least two solid hours doing not much of anything besides being a cat bed, which is an art, I've decided. In fact, I see a future book or at least a chapter or blog entitled, "Zen and the Art of Kitten Watching." There truly is an art to it, and I think that Bootsy and Anjolie will get to assist me in writing that bit because they are really good at it. They know how to do it surreptitiously. Yeti and Pixie haven't yet learned the fine art of kitten watching. Yesterday, their first full day at home, Yeti kept poking his nose through the kitty door to see if they were still here. As soon as he saw them, he'd sort of storm back out to the catio, slamming the door behind him as best as he could manage with a flexible rubber door. While he couldn't make the preferred noise, he did manage to exude all the teenage angst he was experiencing, having recently been upstaged as the "baby" of the family by these two admittedly adorable little girl kittens. All 6'5" of his teen self (comparable in kitty speak anyway) showing the disgust and anxiety appropriate for the circumstances. 

Pixie, on the other hand, is handling things much better. She's so easy going that I knew she'd be okay with our new charges. I think she was put out for a few minutes until I pointed out how badly these little girlz were going to need a big sister to show her the ropes. Pixie is all about being helpful. She volunteered for the job of kitty guard since we got back from Washington at the end of last year. No one asked her to come in every hour or so from the catio and do an inside perimeter patrol with posts at the most significant windows in the house. Being the little earth angel she is, she knew instinctively that there was a need, so she volunteered to do the job. She goes to the windows and looks out and lets us know that "all's well," if it indeed is. If not, she gives a different call to indicate that something might be just the teeniest bit amiss out there. Usually it's just that Beebee is out there in what she presumes must be clear and present danger. Even the neighborhood marmalade cat is out there, she gets agitated until I reassure her that Beebee is in or I go to the door and call her in so she won't get her butt whooped by said cat. Once she's reported to me and has been appropriately acknowledged, she jumps down and proceeds with her day. If I don't acknowledge her diligence, she will carry on at the window a while longer and finally leave in a huff if no one mentions how hard she is at working on behalf of the whole household. All she asks is to be heard, seen, and acknowledged. She's the easiest cat I've ever met. Completely guileless. She is like my twins. She loves every one and accepts everyone. Those three are already making inroads with the kittens, looking out for them, sniffing noses and tails. They are all bonding already. There will be no head bopping unless they need to set boundaries if they're too rambunctious. 

Yeti, on the other hand, likes to bop the kittens on the head. He's not rough with them. He just doesn't know quite what to do with people so much smaller than him. While he's moved past the teen angst of yesterday, he's still not quite sure about the tiny pair. When he came in today from the catio, he was more curious about this little sisters. He even got to sniff their tales a few times. He's adapting very fast to having new cats in the house. It's really hard to stay upset with beings that are that small and cute. Even Beebee, who usually not very sociable, is less than aggressive towards them, and that's saying a lot really, given Beebee's background. She's gotten increasingly more reasonable with each new arrival. She's managed to get a few non-aggressive sniffs of the girls' tails. All in all, that's good news for da little girlz. That's downright good for Beebee, given her past interactions with other cats. She's really come a long way since she was a kitten.She'll probably be the last one to get warm and fuzzy with them, but she's doing better each time. I don't see them snuggling up together any time soon, but I'd be happy with peaceful co-existence.  

Li'l is the only other one who hasn't interacted much with the kittens. He will at least eat breakfast right next to them. Li'l hasn't been feeling well, so he's spent a lot of time in the bathtub away from kitten capers. I'm not sure if he's purposefully avoiding them because he doesn't feel good, or if it's because he's worried he's being replaced, which we all know is impossible. He's my forever feline soul mate. We've spent 26 years total together. These are Jan's kittens. Do I love them? Certainly. Just as I've loved each of her babies, but they're her babies. Not mine. I help care for them, but they are not my feline soul mates. I have to assume Li'l is feeling insecure. Last night, I shut the two of us in my bedroom for several hours so we could have some cuddle time. I think it helped some. I'm going to do it again tonight for as long as it takes for him to come back and join the family for me than mealtimes. He's my forever boy and I've got to make him see that nothing has changed between us because Aunty Jan adopted two baby kitties.

Their second day ends with them having won over most of the house already. I'm sure by the end of the week they'll be an indispensable part of the family.  By the end of the year, we won't remember what life was like before they arrived. 

Day One: Rescue Kittens Get a Forever Home and New Names

Day One

My housemate adopted two kittens yesterday from our local vet's office. I blame this recent outbreak of kitteness on my youngest boy, Little Grey. We had to take him to the vet Friday to get him treated for skin itchiness. We are not sure what was causing it, but I hope 2 new kittens is enough to cure him. I think it has probably done the trick. 2 kittens, 2 shots, and a pill crammed down his throat should cure him forever of even thinking about another bout of itchiness. After meeting these 2 kittens at the vet while we were there, my housemate called to adopt them the following morning. I confess to massive enabling in this matter. To her credit, she tried to drag her feet for about thirty seconds, but my powers of persuasion being what they are brought her to her knees with minimal argument.

A litter of three had been found in the woods and brought to the vet for rescuing and adoption. The tortie in the litter had already been adopted, but these 2 had been there a week and were apparently awaiting 2 women with the word "SUCKER" tattooed on their foreheads. We showed up dutifully with required forehead tattoos, as well as hearts wide open and an empty pet carrier. We brought them home and put them in my bedroom, since my room is the only room in the house that is fully equipped for kitty incarceration. There are places to lie, places to hide, and places to play, including a kitty tree. There are also bowls of kitty food, a litter box, and plenty of toys. As I said, the only room in the house that is fully equipped for situations like this, so we let them loose in there to begin their journey of being assimilated into this already full cat house. I have at least 3 children already. 4 if Pixie decides to go with me and my 3 again when we finally move on from this place of temporary refuge. My housemate had 2 or 3, depending on which side of the equation Pixie lands. Now she has 4 or 5, depending on what Pixie decides. She is of course welcome in either family and much loved no matter what she decides. 

Since we already had plans to go see my family in Orlando, we loaded up the kittens to go with us for the visit. Leaving them behind with all the cats so soon was not advisable and leaving them home to sleep in my bedroom was simply a missed opportunity for fun. I knew my mother, sister, and niece would be up for the adventure, so after a couple hours of advanced warning, we packed up and headed to Orlando. The girls chirped like little birds for a while, then settled down to sleep for the hour-long ride. At the other end, we closed off some of the house, so we would have a chance of finding them when it was time to leave. Then we sat back to watch the fun of their explorations of Nanny's house. After loads of photos and videos and hours of kitten entertainment, we packed the girls up and headed back home. They chirped and cheeped for a few minutes until we stopped for gas. When their mommy went in to pay, the girls fell silent and didn't make another sound until we were home again and ready to unload. They had successfully navigated their first day of adventure. 

While we had been gone, the residents of the cat house had gone into my bedroom and investigated the evidence of kitten infestation that had been left behind while we were traveling. They were all scowling disapprovingly upon our return with the cause of the infestation. Dinner was served up in the kitchen for those who weren't about to miss supper just because there were suddenly 2 more tiny mouths to feed. The Princess Anjolie, however, was noticeable by her absence. Normally she eats in my room by herself or with Li'l Grey when he chooses. Instead, the kittens ate in my room, and Anjolie was nowhere to be seen. She ate breakfast with the rest of the cats in the kitchen this morning, while the kittens ate up in the cat tree, away from the hustle and bustle of feeding time with 6 grown cats. 

Night was interesting and cuddly. The pair played quite a bit, but didn't hold a candle to the circus cats of 2008--my twins, Anjolie and Bootsy. These two were busy playing and exploring but they were not nearly as rambunctious as my two had been in their early days, which translated into the fact that I actually got to sleep a little bit. While we didn't have any older kitties crawling into the sink to avoid being pounced on by a pair of kittens, Li'l Grey did spend the night in the bathtub, while Pixie, and sometimes Bootsy, slept on the floor in the bathroom, knowing that they would at least see their mom a few times in the night, since they couldn't get into the room where I was sleeping. I'm pretty sure Chi spent most of the night in my closet, while Tai spent most of the night sleeping on the bed pillow above my head when I refused to stay still enough for her to sleep wrapped around my neck, her first choice of sleeping places. I must have made one too many trips to the bathroom in the night, but it's hard to sleep all night with a kitten with tiny sharp claws wrapped around your neck. Once I awaken, a trip to the loo is not far behind. I was actually able to sleep in later than normal though, since the culprits of the early morning risings were unable to reach me with the bedroom door closed. When I did finally awaken, Tai was still fast asleep up above my left ear on the pillow behind mine.

 Note: The kittens are showing telltale signs of being literate. They spent a lot of time clambering among my mother's bookshelves and sleeping on stacks of books. They also enjoy walking on the laptop. One of them has already sent their first Facebook message. To someone in England even, so literary kitties with a flair for international communications. I suspect my feline nieces will go far in this world. 

Tai (left) and Chi (right)

Tai catching up on her reading

Reading puts me to sleep too, Tai.

"Hey, I heard there was food over here."

Tai meets Nanny

Tai ready to launch.

Tai showing her colors

Chi showing her colors

Chi ready to type

Chi trying to get the camera out of her face

Chi exasperated by the "Mamarazzi"

Chi bathing

Still bathing

Chi exhausted from bathing falls asleep