Signs of Christmas

This Christmas is the first in a decade or more with kittens.  So unlike other years where a toy or two suffices for everyone, today there are about 40 around, both old and new.  This motorized ‘cat fisher’ toy is a favorite with Davout, as he can play or pounce on the mouse at the end of the wand, that wobbles erratically.  And unlike me, it doesn’t mind if he wanders off after another toy for a moment.

Even Gus takes a turn as long as the area is clear of kittens.  You are never too old…

There were toys sent by the vet, and my mom, and I bought some too.  I stuffed the box with holes toy with about a dozen balls and mice and sparkle toys and Rhea would repeatedly empty it out.   Sometimes she would chase a ball she extracted, but she would soon be back.

Speaking of cats in the yard, here’s an unexpected pair of Cats.  They are doing some work on a gas pipeline, from what I understand.  It all is over the back wall, actually, rather than in my yard, but I liked the comedy of a different sort of Cat.

The other bit of minor drama is the saga of Julie versus the kittens.  He’s the sole holdout to full integration.  Well to be fair, he’s on board with it, but he has been grumpier with the inevitable accidental confrontations in this small house.  It only has led to the occasional hiss or swat, which is not unexpected.

After a break outside in the morning, he came in and flopped in ‘kitten country’, one of the two sides of the room that the kittens have been playing in.  They leave the center strip for the older cats.  Rhea was sleeping nearby…

When he came in, she was sleeping in front of this speaker post.  When I looked up a bit later, she had moved to this safer spot ‘behind’ the post.

But while this would make you think she was learning some caution, by the evening time she was back to her irrepressible ways.  She decided to sit down near him this time, in his part of the room.

She was right near his tail tip, and she would grab it (lightly), sniff it, and bite it.  This last would evoke a hiss and even a halfhearted lunge.  At those moments she would flatten down and wait it out.  But after a moment he would sit back and just twitch his tail in her face a bit harder.

I suppose I should start a pool about when if ever the kittens end up sleeping next to the boys in a big pile.