Cats are So Cool . . .

We've got a house full of cats right now. Totally unintentional. We've got seven. Two are outdoor cats. Four are kittens - born of one of the outdoor cats.

I'm not a cat-lady, not really. All these cats were strays, or babies of a stray. It happened like this...

1. Mischief. We found him and two siblings as kittens several years back, dumped at the end of our driveway. We gave away one sibling. The other pure-black brother passed away earlier this year. Mischief is the survivor, and will stay with us. He's a black cat, and I'm a black cat lover...

2. Squeak. I didn't name her. My partner (Bob) did. I would have given her a much prettier, more feminine name. She's in love with Mischief. She came to us last year - finding shelter under our house. Soon it was clear she was pregnant. The kittens weren't Mischief's - he's been neutered. We'll be keeping Squeak because (1) she's not a very pretty cat and might not be readily adopted, and (2) she loves Mischief and they look absolutely adorable together. She's smaller than him, with orange splotches all over her black fur.

3. Red (or is it Strawberry?) ... the biggest and friendliest of Squeak's four kittens. Orange tabby, long fur, and absolutely precious. The kittens are all going to go to a no-kill humane society shelter as soon as there's room. We've been on a waiting list for at least six weeks now.

4. Shasta... another very friendly kitten. Amazing markings. This cat is ivory colored with tan tabby markings and dark points on ears and tail. Named for Mt. Shasta... which is where the no-kill humane society cat shelter is.

5. Caspar - kitten number 3. Friendly. Runt of the litter. Almost pure white with blue eyes - but when you look closely you see a bit of the ivory/tan tabby markings on his tail.

6. Darth (or maybe Dartha) ... very furry. Red and Darth got long fur whereas Shasta and Caspar have short fur. Darth is a bit of a problem. He's gorgeous - mostly black fur with a lot of silvery grey. But the big problem is that this is a scardy cat. Whereas the others are friendly and personable, this one will run at the sight of a human being. I try to catch him and caress and sing to him. He seems to like that - but for the most part is still too timid. We still plan to take him to the shelter because we simply can't keep all these cats, but I worry about him finding a forever home with a frightened attitude like that.

7. K3 - named after the mountain, K2. Well, K3 (who I call Kitty K) is a gorgeous male Himalayan cat. He came to us about five months ago, starving and injured. We thought he might lose his eye, or die. Several times he was frightened out of our yard for a week or two each time, by something. We don't know what, but we live in the forest so it could have been a wild animal. Anyhow, Kitty K is now fat, healthy, and gorgeous in every way. We intend to take him to the no-kill animal shelter when we take the kittens. We believe he will be easily adoptable.

After the shelter allows us to bring in the five cats (four of them still kittens) we'll have only two left - Mischief and the mother of the kittens - Squeak. We'll be getting her spayed. No more kittens!

The cats are inside now

Ever since my black cat disappeared right after Christmas I've made all my other cats stay indoors every night. They don't like that. They want to roam... and tonight when my boyfriend came in the two male cats ran outside.

I went out to get Sabrina. I can call her and she comes in as fast as she can get here. But then Mocha ran back outside after I'd already brought him in. I kept trying to get Socks and Mocha inside but they wouldn't come.

Then I asked my boyfriend to get a can of catfood. As soon as he came out on the porch and popped up that lid, both male cats emerged from the shadows and ran up on the porch. Yes, my boyfriend sure has a talent for getting cats to go inside.

A Trusting Cat

I guess our cat trusts us. After spending about two weeks avoiding us, hiding in the woods, she's glad to be home and has taken up a new sleeping spot - on the back of our sofa. My daughter took a photo of her resting there, on her back, stomach exposed.

I just showed my daughter a website about sleep positions and every time we looked at a page she said, "that describes me!"... it makes me wonder if all the descriptions work for everyone... something like astrology.

"Well it did describe me very well," she said, "go back to that website!"

Aretha

After writing in this blog that I haven't seen Aretha for a week, I went outside late last night and called out her name. She immediately emerged from the shadows (she's black so if she doesn't move you can't see her at night)... and came up on the porch with me to eat kitty food... but she didn't want affection. I love a cat that will come when you call her name.

Cherokees, Noise, and Pets

Today while websurfing I came upon the Cherokee website for Western Cherokees.. which my grandmother was... her father was Cherokee. Its a beautiful website and there's some great downloads including free music, screensaver, and language help. I never have been able to find my great-grandfather's name on the census, as I've never been able to find the census. Any leads? His name is Samuel Miller and he was from Talequah, Oklahoma.

Wow.. this house is too noisy! Keith is practicing electric guitar. My children are watching TV. Does anyone think about noise levels besides me? I'm listening to MP3's with my headphones on to try to block out some of the other sounds. Right now I'm listening to the Minarets of the West CD - The City of Love - they sing so beautifully. Too bad they're not singing together anymore.

We have a border collie - Mairi - she's so sweet. I'm the only person here who doesn't really play with her... but she seems to prefer me. She is constantly coming to my side. First I feel her hot breath on my leg... then I look down and she's looking up with a dog smile, big brown eyes full of adoration... and if she wants to sleep, it is often under my desk that she retreats to. Dogs are great - they make you feel so loved.

Cats are another story. So far since the weather got warmer the girl cats have disappeared into the woods and only the boy cats are still hanging around the house.

We saw Sabrina yesterday when we drove up the hill at sunset, but when my daughter and I got out of the car and went to greet her, she avoided our attempts at affection and ran quickly back to the woods, turning from a safe distance to look at us in horror at the thought we might touch her. What got into her? All winter long my bedroom was her sleeping spot. Now she wants nothing to do with me?

I haven't seen Aretha at all in about a week, but that's not unusual for her and I know she can take care of herself. She has her own house out in the middle of a blackberry patch and I'm sure she's very safe there.

Kids and Cats

Well...... I've been having a great week. We went to Eureka on the 23rd. My daughter's birthday was the 20th and Joshua's was on the 24th. My daughter had friends over this weekend (Sarah and M.). I'm still doing the Artist's Way morning pages every day - usually sitting out in the south meadow enjoying the sunshine. The cats play in the tall grasses nearby and Mairi, our border collie, comes close to guard me.

Today I saw Sabrina trying to quietly get some rest in a bed she made for herself in the grass, and along came Mocha and spied on her, then took a flying leap at her from a distance of about four feet. I was surprised at his pouncing skill. Sabrina let him know that his sudden appearance in her territory was unwelcome.

Watching the cats is like a microcosm of human adult life. I identify so much with my two female cats, Sabrina and Aretha. They are also the oldest cats - we brought them with us from the Bay Area. Neither of them wants much to do with the boy cats. Sabrina has mellowed very slightly in the last two years. Aretha has become more independent while Sabrina wants to spend a lot of time indoors.... sleeping.

Okay, enough cat talk. I took some great pictures of the kids on our Eureka trip. One is of my daughter playing in the fountain there. The fountain was one of my best memories of the trip, because my daughter became like a little girl again, she had so much fun playing there. Sad to say, I'm losing her to teenage years (she just turned 13 and has an attitude to match) and now am trying to relate to her in ways we are unaccustomed to.

I took a photo of Aaron a few days ago in our south meadow. Lately he has been asking me to take photo shoots of him. This time he was getting me to snap pictures as he rode his bike. At the end he put down his bike to pet the cat and I got the best picture of all.