The kitten was being demanding earlier while I was on the phone so I passed him over to his babysitter :-)
July 8, 2009
July 2, 2009
Cat v Kitten
We have a new temporary resident - a kitten we found late one night last week in the middle of the road in Dunshaughlin and, as no owners could be located and tiny kittens don't tend to do so well with traffic, we brought him home. Isn't he cute? Bet you're making awww noises right now, aren't you? Unfortunately extreme cuteness is a defense mechanism employed by all small despots and this kitten is no exception. Determined, demanding, obnoxious and a purr louder than a jet engine. Pure trouble :-)
Anyway, most of the older residents of the Horde are fairly good with newcomers (they've had lots of experience) so I've only been worried about the reactions of the younger cats. Mia hates him with a passion, Mao doesn't give a damn and Lily can't figure out what he is.
Cheesecake, however, is ecstatic, he's obviously experiencing a second kitten-hood and having a whale of time playing with the teeny ball of kitten fur. The kitten is also besotted with the Cheesewhizz and thinks nothing of taking on a cat that's easily 10 times bigger than him. It's a good thing that kittens are made of indesctro-fur and it will teach him about important things like bite inhibition and proper hunting methods but still, it makes me wince to see 600g of fluff skidding along the floor with 4kg of pure cat in hot pursuit. Then again, he doesn't actually have to sneak up on a sleeping Cheesecake to eat his ears really does he?
The kitten is the spitting image of a much loved departed feline of a friend of mine so I'm hoping he might have a new home close by. Keep your fingers crossed!
June 20, 2009
Birdies in the house
Today I transcended from somewhat tolerated owner to most beloved.
A canary attempted to commit suicide on my watch earlier and, after nursing the little monster back to something approaching health, I ended up bringing him home to keep an eye on overnight. In my experience birds are prone to sudden bouts of suicide and, occasionally, death so I wasn't taking any chance. According to the collective cats the only thing more entrancing than a sickly canary is one that is feeling better. And fluttering around in a cage.
(especially one that decides to take a bath right in front of the cats. Mesmirised doesn't even come close to describing it)
Cheesecake adores me right now (though that might change when he realises that I have no intention of opening the cage in his presence) and Lily thinks I'm the best owner ever. I plan to have at least two locked doors between the bird and the cats tonight...
A canary attempted to commit suicide on my watch earlier and, after nursing the little monster back to something approaching health, I ended up bringing him home to keep an eye on overnight. In my experience birds are prone to sudden bouts of suicide and, occasionally, death so I wasn't taking any chance. According to the collective cats the only thing more entrancing than a sickly canary is one that is feeling better. And fluttering around in a cage.
(especially one that decides to take a bath right in front of the cats. Mesmirised doesn't even come close to describing it)
Cheesecake adores me right now (though that might change when he realises that I have no intention of opening the cage in his presence) and Lily thinks I'm the best owner ever. I plan to have at least two locked doors between the bird and the cats tonight...
May 7, 2009
My desk at home is tiny, a mere 80cm x 55cm shoved into a corner out of the way. The printer lives on a shelf alongside my camera, my external harddrive etc. I have a mac mini and a 12" powerbook so in theory I dodn't need a big desk - everything I use fits into a small space.
OH's desk is easily three times the size of mine (all the better to fit the pair of 22" widescreen lcd's that are essential to his gaming habit) and hulks in the far corner. It's not a cat friendly spot ever since that incident involving a cat sleeping on his keyboard and 127 popup windows... (I laughed, he didn't!) His collects junk, mine is usually fairly clear. I have a bonsai tree that I'm petrified I'll kill, my pretty disco-light speakers and my desk light.
And at least one cat at all times.
Here's Cheesecake listening to Stephen Fry:
OH's desk is easily three times the size of mine (all the better to fit the pair of 22" widescreen lcd's that are essential to his gaming habit) and hulks in the far corner. It's not a cat friendly spot ever since that incident involving a cat sleeping on his keyboard and 127 popup windows... (I laughed, he didn't!) His collects junk, mine is usually fairly clear. I have a bonsai tree that I'm petrified I'll kill, my pretty disco-light speakers and my desk light.
And at least one cat at all times.
Here's Cheesecake listening to Stephen Fry:
May 4, 2009
Here little fishies...
Dear Mintoe,
I'm sure you'd thought you'd finally join the league of grown up cats after your spectacular kill earlier this evening. I understand that every cat is born to hunt and that it is your nature.
Unfortunately I cannot accept peeing in the fish tank as an appropriate way to gain status as a Big Hunter Cat. 85% water changes at midnight are not my idea of fun and I will be very annoyed if the remaining 8 fish are dead in the morning too.
Yours,
The Human
Dear Cheesecake,
You were right, they were in a bowl and things in a bowl are usually food. This is not always the case though and tonight the things in the bowl were not most definitely not meant as food (and no, the fact that they tasted nice doesn't count). I'd really would have preferred it if you hadn't eaten the recently murdered fish almost as fast as I removed them from the tank.
Hopefully we won't have a next time like this but, if we do, please do not eat the fish.
Yours,
The Human
I'm sure you'd thought you'd finally join the league of grown up cats after your spectacular kill earlier this evening. I understand that every cat is born to hunt and that it is your nature.
Unfortunately I cannot accept peeing in the fish tank as an appropriate way to gain status as a Big Hunter Cat. 85% water changes at midnight are not my idea of fun and I will be very annoyed if the remaining 8 fish are dead in the morning too.
Yours,
The Human
Dear Cheesecake,
You were right, they were in a bowl and things in a bowl are usually food. This is not always the case though and tonight the things in the bowl were not most definitely not meant as food (and no, the fact that they tasted nice doesn't count). I'd really would have preferred it if you hadn't eaten the recently murdered fish almost as fast as I removed them from the tank.
Hopefully we won't have a next time like this but, if we do, please do not eat the fish.
Yours,
The Human
April 3, 2009
Oh Noes, Cheesecake Ran Away!
We have had some long, complicated, muddy, difficult and thoroughly horrid drainage problems recently. It turns out that you just don't appreciate your septic tank or sewage system until it point blank doesn't work anymore. Ughhh is all I'm saying on that one. Because these things are like busses and like to travel in groups we then had a problem with our water supply. Lets just say that it's been an interesting six weeks involving 2 mini-diggers (the tracks on those things come off really easily), 34 tonnes of 3 inch washed gravel (makes a pile 10 feet wide, 10 feet high and the length of the house) and the sad demise of 10 feet of fencing and one gate (unfortunately we didn't originally spec them to survive 34 tonnes of gravel being dropped on them).
You're probably wondering how this fits into the shocking news that Cheesecake ran away, aren't you? Because we're minus one gate the dogs have to be accompanied on every toilet break in case they decide to go play fetch with the neighbours swing bins (it's happened) or to hide in plain sight amongst a herd of cattle (a black and while Dane looks just like a calf from a distance y'know) or to generally cause mayhem (they're very good at that). The front door doesn't always shut properly behind me but the cats are good, they know not to try to escape. Except Cheesecake and he's been dying to see what's beyond that door for weeks now.
Tonight he managed it. The door was obviously slightly ajar, with just enough room for a daring cat to sneak out. Thankfully I was standing just outside and spotted the jet black streak of determined cat pass me at about 30mph. I legged it back inside, grabed a torch and OH (ever tried to find a black cat on your own in the dark? I wouldn't recommend it) and we rushed back outside.
Turns out there was no need. It's cold out there dontchaknow. And daaaark. And wet. And there might be monsters in the rose bushes. Monsters! I haven't seen a cat flee back in the front door at that speed since the time Homer tried to escape into 6 inches of snow (ever seen a cat twist midair when they realise that the ground is cold and wet? It's absolutely hilarious!) and Homer is a far hardier cat than Cheesecake. Poor Cheesecake, he's currently stretched out on the bed as far away from nature as he can get :-)
You're probably wondering how this fits into the shocking news that Cheesecake ran away, aren't you? Because we're minus one gate the dogs have to be accompanied on every toilet break in case they decide to go play fetch with the neighbours swing bins (it's happened) or to hide in plain sight amongst a herd of cattle (a black and while Dane looks just like a calf from a distance y'know) or to generally cause mayhem (they're very good at that). The front door doesn't always shut properly behind me but the cats are good, they know not to try to escape. Except Cheesecake and he's been dying to see what's beyond that door for weeks now.
Tonight he managed it. The door was obviously slightly ajar, with just enough room for a daring cat to sneak out. Thankfully I was standing just outside and spotted the jet black streak of determined cat pass me at about 30mph. I legged it back inside, grabed a torch and OH (ever tried to find a black cat on your own in the dark? I wouldn't recommend it) and we rushed back outside.
Turns out there was no need. It's cold out there dontchaknow. And daaaark. And wet. And there might be monsters in the rose bushes. Monsters! I haven't seen a cat flee back in the front door at that speed since the time Homer tried to escape into 6 inches of snow (ever seen a cat twist midair when they realise that the ground is cold and wet? It's absolutely hilarious!) and Homer is a far hardier cat than Cheesecake. Poor Cheesecake, he's currently stretched out on the bed as far away from nature as he can get :-)
March 20, 2009
Daffodil Day
Plant a Daff, support the Irish Cancer Society
Plant a ‘Daff’ to show your support for people touched by cancer, in the Garden of Hope. The goal is to plant 25,000 ‘Daffs’ online this year to represent the number of people who will be diagnosed with cancer in 2009.
Plant a ‘Daff’ to show your support for people touched by cancer, in the Garden of Hope. The goal is to plant 25,000 ‘Daffs’ online this year to represent the number of people who will be diagnosed with cancer in 2009.
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