It's only been 10 days

Yes, the newbies have been making furtive forays into the rest of the house.
No, no pix yet because they are still 99% hiding in the far depths of the library.
Some signs:
Mya was caught in the kitchen yesterday evening by Sienne, who is not yet ready to share.
Mya was also spotted by JP fleeing the living room when we got home last night.
Someone made the floorboards creak on several occasions during the night, and it wasn't Sienne because she had been tossed outside to give us all a break.
The litterbox in the kitchen is far more popular than the one in the library. It is filled with clumping cat litter, while the other has plain litter. The trek to enemy territory is apparently worth it.
Dyson (sorry, but I just can't have a cat named for a woman-beating criminal. I think the cat will get over the switch to a D from a T. Otherwise his name would be Number Twenty-Seven.) allows himself to be petted from the depths of the cloth armoire where he usually hides.

Progress

Would update on the new cats, but this is all there is to see:

They are hiding in various places and refuse to come out. So much so that the one hiding in the library will not use the litterbox in the next room, but has peed all over the rug.
Thanks. Appreciate it.
Outdoors, the apricots are getting on. The old tree has plenty this year, but they are very very high up, and the tree is not strong enough to lean a ladder against to go get them. Best I can do is shake the branches and hope what falls doesn't get too badly bruised.

Never satisfied

Why is it that bringing home something large and red like a goat gets no response at all, but creatures cat-sized create a whole hub-bub?
Huh?
Oh!
Oh, it's because they are in fact actual cats.
And the other cat thought she was already The Cat.
Thought that she had finally gotten away with poisoning the others and was set to collect all the catfood and petting from here on out.
Got that.
The whole thing was just a diabolical plot to become Top Cat, by having no other cats around.
And now I've gone and ruined the whole thing.
I guess I should get on home now, and see if everybody is still there.

Cats of Arkansas

Snoopy!

ssshhhh... do not mention the tail. She's very sensitive about her sad little rat-tail.

No laughing!

Charlie, with his cat-sitter.

Yeeesss, Charlie, your people will be home soon.

Lucy.
This is the barfiest cat in the universe. Beware when walking to the bathroom in the night with the lights off. In the morning be sure to watch for fresh hazards. This comes with sound effects, too.

Snoopy again!
Snoopy is a very fine cat. Foods can be left out on the countertop without any fear of molestation from her. She simply cannot get up there unless they leave the kitchen stool nearby. She's not much better at jumping down, either - I saw her getting down from the card table and nearly miss the chair just a cat-height away. She is pouting now because Dad and I laughed. We will not be forgiven until dinnertime.

Bruno.
Bruno is large and can easily make it onto the countertop so we think we know who was tasting the muffins while we were out searching for lunch yesterday. As you can see, he is too large for the cat-tree and hangs over both sides when he lays down. Bruno likes to go out on the sun porch for a closer look at the birds and squirrels bustling about the birdfeeder. But then he remembers it's cold out there.

In or Out

In the summertime when it's hot out, I like to keep the kitchen door open, to get some air moving between there and the bedroom window on the opposite side of the house. I suppose opening windows in the kitchen and dining room would be just as well for the air and avoid certain problems. But that's too much work. My plants, of which there are many, live in front of the windows. The windows all open inwards, so opening a window means moving aside everything in front of it. 

Nah, that's too much work. And besides, where would I put it all?

So the windows stay shut, except for the one in the bedroom, and the door stands open.

Natalie knows she is not allowed to bring her toys into the house, but Sunday she did anyway.

She came in with a young shrew, which she let go of before I could shoo her back outside. She let it go under the dining table, in the forest of table and chair legs, and the quick little thing made it to the safety of behind the armoire before I could get to it.

Since then I have had a shrew loose in my house.

Last evening about 10 it ventured out for a stroll around the dining room, but made it to hiding in time. I hoped it would make a dash for the open door, but maybe there's too much open territory to cover.

All three of the cats were in all night, and for a few hours there was quite a lot of fun for them as the shrew would come out and then be pursued screeching by Sienne or Natalie. Bandersnatch could not be bothered. It's amazing how much noise an animal that small can make. 

Nobody caught it. The poor thing, if only I could get it to go outside. Being chased by two cats can't be much fun, and there's not much for a shrew to snack on in the house.

I wish the french would catch on to the idea of screen doors. Useful things!

Getting to the point

Bandersnatch was out all night, and this morning when I got up she was chasing a mouse around the base of the apricot tree. 

Check back after brushing my teeth, she was still chasing it around the apricot.

Check back after breakfast, still chasing it, only now in the bit of unmowed lawn a foot away.

Check back after showering, still chasing it...

That cat can get a lot of mileage out of a mouse. 

When I finally went outside, the mouse was pretty tired but otherwise in good shape. It wandered off when Bandersnatch said hello to me. 

At which point Natalie pounced upon the mouse and ate it immediately.

No messing around.

In & Out

So the cats were all In this morning, but I had to go home to close the door, and when I left the second time they were all Out. Now it is raining and I bet they regret their choice.

When I got to my office this morning and couldn't find my keys I wasn't terribly concerned. But then I started thinking, and hmm, I went out with my bag over my shoulder and both hands full of stuff for the recycling bin. The walk to the bin was long enough to get me thinking of other things, yeah, ok, it's like 10 steps, but I was done with whatever I was thinking before & on to the next thing, so I just continued on to the bus stop.

But, ah, with both hands full, I could not have closed the door.

It would be ok to spend the day at work with the door to the house unlocked, but with it actually wide open, perhaps not.

So I went home after lunch and sure enough the door was open and the cats were in or out or wherever. There's probably a mouse cowering under the fridge now, hiding from Natalie. I took a look at the garden to see if anything had sprouted in the last 5 hours, but no. At the moment I locked the door to go, all the felines were Out. And then it started to rain.

catstack

Heading out

Cat: in.
Other cat: in.
Other other cat: in.
Extralarge catfoodbowl: full.
Extralarge catwaterreceptacle: full.
Litterbox: clean.
Spare litterbox: up from the cellar & clean.
Lecture:
     No fighting
     No peeing outside the litterboxes
     No hogging the catfood
     No getting in the closet

see ya tuesday, kittykits!

Love poem

A post for the Jam, at last! This week's mission is a love-poem.

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She's so black!
So fluffy
She allows me to scratch her chin.

the trials of being Natalie

The cat, she is Out
she was out all night
and out this morning
early when I left to catch my ride.
Out.
She likes to be out.
She is well-served today
because I'm not coming home tonight
I'm even now on a train to Paris.
The cat is out.
She was out all day yesterday,
coming in for just a snack in the evening,
and all day today,
and she'll be out all day tomorrow
until at last I arrive
on foot from the station
exhausted
too late for the last bus.
She will be so happy to see me
and to rediscover the Others
who judiciously stayed In with the catfood
She will shiver with joy
and shake her tail
and demand caresses
until it's time to go Out again.

Friday Photo Shoot Out: Letter S

S is for Sienne.
S is for String. Specifically, a Shoelace.
S is for Sleeping.
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For more about Sienne, read the previous post.

For more Friday Shootouts, visit here.

Bonne weekend!

100 words: Out

Bandersnatch is in. Bandersnatch is out. Natalie is out. Sienne wants in. Bandersnatch is in. Natalie has jumped from the fencetop to the windowsill and is looking in at me. Sienne tries the other door. I take the trash out: cat exchange! Bandersnatch is out. Natalie is in. Sienne is in. The catfoodbowl is empty. The catfoodbowl is full. Bandersnatch is in. The catfoodbowl is empty. Natalie tries to get out by pawing her way through the window. Sienne is on the bed. Bandersnatch is on the pillow. Natalie is out. Bandersnatch is out. Sienne is out.
I am out.
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A borrowed cat

And now for the Cat of the Month!

yes yes

I thought, my dear friends, there would be no cat of the month. Fresh out of fresh cats.
I've got old cats. But that would be reruns.

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But wait, my friends Letitia and Bruno are coming for the film festival this weekend, and they have a cat.

Kikou is a miniscule Burmese.

I mean tiny! A six-pound wonder at most. But fierce. She'll claw you as soon as look at you, and don't be looking at her crosswise.

There she is! Beware.

ABC Wednesday

B is for Blob.Blob on the chair. Blob with dinosaurs.
Holiday Blob.

Blob on the other chair.
Happy Wednesday! More B's here.
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The last one.

With this Cat of the Month published, it’s the end of the line. Caught up with the present time. In February, there will be no Cat of the Month. I just don’t have any more.
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The Frumious Bandersnatch. Aka Bandercat, aka Kittybit, aka The Blob.
She’s so black!
She’s so fluffy! She doesn’t make noise, she sleeps peacefully at the foot of the bed, she doesn’t get into stuff.
Bandersnatch does rush for the catfood, elbowing all rivals out of the way. Even for milk, which she doesn’t particularly like. Normally Bandersnatch is a sweetheart who would never raise a paw, but get between her and the food bowls: watch out.
Although a frequent guest star on Pink Rabbit Abroad, where two ravenous dinosaurs dream of devouring the Mountain of Steak, there aren’t many stories about Bandersnatch. She’s just so passive. Such a blob.

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And there you have it, folks, 25 Cats of the Month.
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The penultimate Cat of the Month: Sienne.

Sienne is small and skinny. Maybe it’s just the marks on her face, but she looks scowly all the time. And she’s got this whiny complaining meow. Just how some cats are.
The other cats are classic feline layabouts whenever they’re inside, but Sienne likes to play. And play, and play. There’s a whole collection of things under the kitchen cupboard/table that I’m not really looking forward to finding again when I move some day. Anything at all that ends up on the floor there is great fun at night, until it ends up out of reach.
Then there’s the Shoelace. Hours of fun can be had chasing the Shoelace as it is dragged along the floor and over the armchair (where Bandersnatch is trying to sit with some dignity).
Sienne is afraid of people, except for my brother. For four years now I’ve had the same guy come feed the beasts while I’m away, and he has never once even caught a glimpse of her.
Sienne does not go out. Well, she will go out if I’m out in the yard. But she doesn’t go out when I leave for work, or overnight, like the others do. She’s a homebody cat. She likes to be on things. On the towels, on the desk, on the tall armoire, on whatever there is to be on.

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November is time for Lexington

I didn’t plan on getting Lexington. I’d had Natalie for a couple of months, and she wasn’t great friends with Pandemonium, but he was occupied enough not to need another companion. But then the aging father of a friend of a friend died, and I was asked if I might have room for his cat.
Er, ah, why not?
So I inherited a large, white, male and apparently nameless cat, whom I called Lexington. Pan seemed content enough to share the apartment with yet another cat. Natalie was less content. Lexington thought it was just fine, because while Pan didn’t bother him one way or another, Natalie was a cat he could dominate.
He was subtle about it. He never chased her or growled or put a paw out that I saw. But Nat took to hiding under furniture whenever he came into a room. She was denied the catfoodbowl. After a few weeks she was hiding under furniture whether Lexington was in the room or not.

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So we had to find another home for Lexington. He was used to being the king of the house, but I already had Pan for king, and wasn’t interested in his kind of serf. My friend’s mother took Lexington in, and that seemed to work out pretty well. She does have to keep her other cat in a separate room, but her apartment is large enough for that. Lexington is Hector now, and he’s a true emperor in his realm.
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bad cat!

Hey!
You, Natalie! This is a CFZ: cat-free zone.
CAT-
FREE
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Bandersnatch in Action