September 24, 2005

• Domestic Tranquility
  
  For
  a few moments today, some of the kittens slowed down enough for me to
  take some pictures.  This day was remarkable in that none of the
  kittens had to be chased out from behind the Navajo rug that hangs on
  my wall.  It’s bad enough when they climb the front of that
  rug.  When they climb the back side, it’s unnerving–just these
  little shapes moving around behind the rug, reminds me of when I did
  acid and the walls rippled.

  These are the two males from Hilary’s litter.  On the left is Cecil, on the right is Beau or Bobo or Bobobo-bo_Bo-bobo. 
  The apparent difference in their sizes is purely a matter of
  perspective.  Cecil is actually a little bit bigger than
  Bobo.  His feet are almost as large as Auntie Orange/Nemo’s. 
  Doug is predicting that he will be huge.

  I have had very few opportunities to get pictures of these guys. 
  Either they are curled up in a pile, asleep, or they are bouncing
  around at full gallop, usually.

  Fuzzy Alice, the girl of that litter, is getting a butt-sniff from Koji at right.  Cats are like flowers to that dog.

  Alice is also known as Alice Blue, Alice Fluffbutt, Alice Blue Gown,
  and HEY, GET DOWN FROM THERE!  She is, of course, the one who
  originally was designated, “A”.  Superficially, she looks bigger than
  her brothers, but it is all fluff.  Frequently, when the kittens play,
  Bobo and Cecil (originally designated “B” and “C”) pair off together
  and Alice plays with her foster brother Albion.  Hilary is so small it
  is difficult for all four kittens to lie side by side to nurse, so
  often I see her nursing just the two boys above, or just Alice and
  Albion while the other boys sleep or play.

  Albion,
  at left, is the odd one of the bunch.  His mother is Greyfox’s cat
  Frankie, who is also the mother of our ginger cat, Nemo.  They are all
  free-range alley-cat mixed breeds, and Frankie has the crossed blue
  eyes and darker “points” typical of Siamese cats, all overlain with
  very faint calico markings.  Albion here also has the crossed blue
  eyes, snow white fur longer than Frankie’s, and ginger  points.

  After a few days of rejection when I brought Albion home, Hilary
  accepted him as one of hers and doesn’t seem to show any
  favoritism.  He spends more time with her than her own kittens do,
  probably partially out of insecurity due to his being uprooted, and
  also because he is the only one of the kittens who goes outside.

  At
  right, Albion explores the great outdoors.  One of the reasons I
  didn’t wait longer before bringing him up here from Felony Flats was
  his adventurousness.  The night I brought him home, I had to track
  him to a neighbor’s porch.  Greyfox and I were worried that he
  might get
  into trouble or into traffic if he stayed there much longer.  It’s
  a harsh life down there for cats, as well as for domesticated primates,
  and there aren’t nearly as many trees and weeds around there, either.

  At
  left, Cecil and Koji go nose to snoot, with twice-fuzzy Alice (fluffy
  fur and out of focus) in the foreground.  Please ignore the
  unmade bed.  Would you believe that it does no good to make the
  bed when it serves all day as the critters’ playground?

  It only takes a few instances of Koji jumping on and off the bed to
  push the mattress out of place.  I always have to realign the
  mattress and put the bed back together before I can crawl into it at
  night.

  Okay, just one last pet picture, Koji and Nemo obviously wondering why I’m creeping around with the camera.

  The reason I titled this entry, “Domestic Tranquility,” the ONLY reason
  the menagerie was tranquil enough for me to get these pictures today,
  was because Hilary, sweet little insanely overprotective mother Hilary,
  was outside at the time.

  BTW, people, I put together a little gallery of a few of my favorite
  pictures from the recent past for some new friends I’ve made at a BBS
  site where I post now.  You can see them HERE.

  • 1:03 am
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