My Friend Made Me This Blog

My Cat Likes to Hide In Boxes

Instead of Fancy Feast inside the cat - it is cat inside the Fancy Feast!

She loves this box. Cleo does too - but I suspect she knows I am trying to embarrass her by taking a picture of her rather large bottom trying to fit into this little box so everytime I get the camera out she instantly stops and walks away.

 



 I have also been liking boxes. For Christmas I was given 6 really lovely mugs ( thanks 2paw) and they came in very nice boxes. I decided to use them to make I Spy boxes. I have seen the comercially made tubes but they are quite expensive. So I collected a bunch of wee things...not so tricky in this house...and half a container of old rice and ...WALLA!...an I Spy box as a learning centre for the first week. I have 60 things in there...I wonder if any of the kids will manage to find them all.
 

As you can see.....Muppin is willing to have a go! And yes...I have taped the lid on REALLY WELL!!

 

The Sword Of Damocles

I still have holidays left (don’t hate me) but the return to work has begun. Last year I had to set up my class room in 35 degree heat and it nearly killed me so I promised my poor unfit couch potato self I would go and do all the big stuff on the next cool day. Well the next cool day when I could get someone to come with me. My God-Daughter …also one of my Padwan learners…. feels like she owes me and offered to help and I accepted!!! She had the ulterior motive of learning some things that might help her set up her room for her very first day of teaching and let her get her hands on more resources. We are teaching similar grades this year so that makes things a bit easier to explain. So she helped unpack the office….I can’t begin to describe what a mammoth task that was, and to drag all the tables, trolleys and book cases around into place.

I also had help at home when I wanted to make up some questions about the Prehistoric Map as a Learning centre for the first couple of weeks ( dinosaurs…you can’t lose even though they won’t be on the National Curriculum…I DON”T CARE!!! Kids love them and will read and learn….wish that was part of the Nat Curric….let teachers use what ever topics possible to get them learning…sigh.) So I needed to spread out the map so I could see it and design some tasks. Although Caramello was first to “help” Muppin wasn’t far behind. The funny thing was there was no hissing or spitting from Caramello as they both walked, sniffed, tunnelled under, wrinkled and slid around on the map. Sigh.

I put the map up on the couch so I could actually see it better.

Yep that helped sooooooooooooooooooooooo much. NOT!

Cleo actually came and slept in her little bed next to Muppin last night. This is the first time since Muppin arrived that she has done that so progress is made!

However there wont be any sharing while the Baby sleeps like this. She is taking up all the space in her (well it was Caramello's spot but she wont come anywhere near it at the moment...I'll buy a 3rd bed soon and see if that helps...it wont...she is too crabby! Still she has 4 beds, 2 chairs and a couch to choose from..she isn't sleeping on the cold hard bricks or anything!!!)

Stolen pet milk....soooooooo much tastier than the very same stuff in her own dish!!!! The big girls don't really like it but they want some coz the baby thinks it is as delicious as Brown Bros Moscatto...mmmmmmmmmm is it too early for wine??? There is still about 4 hours of the Border Security Marathon left and a glass of wine would be nice.


See ya...I have been distracted!

 

 

I'm Stuck!

She can get into this bit of the catmahal but she cries until you go and get her down.

And if you go outside and leave her even for a minute she cries at the door, then climbs the wire....and gets stuck and has to be rescued. ( please ignore the grot on the door..it is mainly leaves...and grot...I am terrible at house work...so I don't do it.)

She doesn't cry when she sleeps on top of the cat carrier...but Caramello is very sad since she has decided to like sleeping in there...but of course she can't go in there with the horrible stinky interloper being so close. She doesn't quite have the idea of the scratching box yet...she likes to eat the loose bits that the big cats have clawed out of it. Look at that little cute no tail bottom...awwwwww.

But isn't that a cute nose...even with the bits of her dinner still on it...obviously Cleo hadn't got around to cleaning her yet!

 

 

Death Kill Maim

Isn't that the Sandra Bullock line in Demolition Man???

Anyway...that is the only game in town here in Kitty Central. If she isn't feeding her face or sleeping she is generally looking for something to hunt and kill......hands, feet, toys, shoes, chairs, big cats, boxes, dust, paper...you name it...Muppin can kill it to death.

Time does't matter to her. The death kill maim games can be played at any and every hour of the day or night. We have had a friend and her 4 kids staying for the last couple of days so she has had lots of people to play with her. It was funny to see Cleo and Caramello going to them for pats and attention this visit...usually they pretty much ignore visitors! Allthe extra play time made her sleep better at night but now they have gone home she is mine all mine. Right now she is climbing up my back to bite my hair...I am not paying her enough attention.

On the less amusing side my holiday time is seeping away...soooooo sad.

 

Progress Report.

Muppin is growing bigger everyday but this is not surprising since she eats like a pig.

Cleo has begun to accept her a lot more. She has taken to licking her when the kitten is sleeping on the couch near her and there is less hissing.

Caramello continues to be in a big snit and to hunt Muppin down and bat her heavily around the head if she gets too close.

Both the big cats have begun to return to some normal behaviours though so it is all coming good.

Muppin has begun to want to do everything her big sisters do and she is VERY interested in the cat door but luckily she is just too small to open it. She is little enough to get out of the bigger chicken wire if she does make it outside so hopefully her growth will mean she can't open the door till she is too big to get out of the cat run. She has managed to get to the top of all the inside cat towers even though they are high and she is still tiny...the kitten knows no fear!

In the middle of the night when we were having our 3am food and play session Martha was on the TV and it was her cat special. There wasnt much on it I wasnt covering already except brusing their teeth regularly. I value my fingers far too much to try that with my cats. That is something that is doomed to failure. The most amusing thing was the pet guy ( odd bod if I ever saw one) who had constructed a cardboard box building for the cats to play in. His was made out of nice new all one colour boxes with perfectly circular holer cut in it. I already had something similar...not as pretty since it is made out of the hoover box, a printer box and the 2 boxes that hald some of the cat run construction equipment.

Mine looks like this.

You can just see Cleo's head sticking up out of one of the holes and a hopeful little kitten watching the big cats play. She really wanted to join in but wasn't allowed.

So I am taking full points for success but 0 points for aesthetics!!!!

Unbearable Cuteness Of Being.

Did you know that if you have to shut a small kitten in her room ( for her own personal safety) while you go out for your Mum's birthday she will sleep for the whole 5 hours and then play like a mad thing for 3 hours and all the games will involve YOU!

I got home at 10 and she played till 1 am. I didn't have the heart to put her back in there just so I could do something so unnecessary as sleep.

Did you know that a kitten can eat and drink her body weight at least 4 times a day but she will wee and poop twice her body weight 15 times a day.

Did you also know that kittens have the uncanny ability to ignore you and play happily by themselves while you read LOLCats, emails, failblog, do moshi puzzles BUT as soon as you need to actually type anything the will instantly need you to hold them at a ridiculous angle so they can sleep. This makes posting to your blog slower and more difficult than usual so I wll just put in this collage to explain why I would put up with all this.

She is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!

Local Wildlife

Just in case you thing life here is limited to me and the furry ones here are 2 examples of what else lives around the place.

I took the 2 big Girls out for a walk on their leads the other day and they were keen to be over the fence and into the field and THEN...they just wanted to investigate this.....

...a beautiful Blue Tongue lizard...not  a snake. The cats were fascinated...it was not so interested and slowly wandered away back into the long grass.

Less beautiful were these.....

 

It is amzing what goes on in your house in the middle of the night. These rather enormous slugs were in the laundry eating the left over cat food. YUCK!!!

Maybe thats why my big girls dont usually eat the rest of their meal through the night...too sluggy! The outside cats don't mind though....poor things. I didn't know I was giving them slugged food. I have dealt with the slugs and there were none back last night...relocation has worked at least for one night....maybe they are just slowly working their way back.

No photos of the possums that ran across the roof last night. Next door are planning on cutting down their scabby and diseased kiwi vine so that is one less reason for the furry thieves to be over here at all. The possums are the only ones who ever got to eat the fruit when it was a good plant...and no one wants them now except the possums. The pottaroos are no problem as I dont have any garden for them to eat. They can get rowdy at the fish pond some nights but since there is plenty of rain they haven't been in for a drink.

Muppin continues to thrive. We have had 2 accident free nights and she is eating enough for all of them put together. I remembered why I thought I should get kittens in the winter as she surprised me yesterday and climbed up my bare leg. I am sure the scars will fade. My brother is buying me a shopping trolley for my birthday to complete my mad cat woman outfit.

Oh Dear.

Just a heads up in case you are considering getting a kitten of your own.

When you have had a big play on the bed and she settles down next to your leg and sits there and you are reading a book and it is quiet and calm................the warm sensation on your leg isn't her body heat...it is pee.

You will have to change the bed.

One tiny poo covered paw can cover about 50% of your doona cover with tiny stinky prints before you can pick her up.

You will have to change the bed....again.

Midnight snacks of kitten crunchies and ocean fish pate, snarfed down at top speed followed by a big drink will be vomited up on the bed in  3 warm, wet piles before you can get the paper towel or move the kitten.

You will have to change the bed....again.

4 am snacks following the previous rules will result in the same consequences as before.

You will have to change the bed....again.

Just as well I have doonas on beds for visitors!!!! Well I did until 5 days ago. Now I have a lot of doona covers and sheets in various stages of washing and drying and doonas in at the dry cleaners.

She is still totally cute.

She just walked on the keyboard....now I have no tool bars at the top of the page and 5 pages of Firefox help are open. At least I dont have to change the bed....again.

The big girls are still not very happy but there have been some instances of nose touching and less hissing...progress!

Naming Complete

Ok.

She is called Muppin.

Let me explain. Everyone wanted to call her something different but it ocurred to me that the word of this Christmas was Muppin. My 3 year old nephew...variously called Fat Boy or Boof Head amongst other things doesn't say F sounds in the middle of words and has spent a lot of time over Christmas making muppins on the big ipones - his mother and sisters new ipads. He made about a million dozen virtual muppins and decorated and ate every one. He didn't share them at all....little bugger. We got to choose theflavour, colour of icing, paper cups style and toppings  but he was the only one allowed to touch "mine ipone" and to eat the creations. We did a lot of work on Muppins this holiday and in honour of our budding Virtual Master Chef - Junior Edition, I name the fluffy scrap....Muppin - insert your own middle names of choice.

Yep...Crazy Cat Lady conversion 100% complete.
The kids already call the crazy cat lady on the Simpsons by my name....thanks guys.

Demon Spawn niece was besotted with Muppin....who she is calling Cookie no matter what. I am instructed to send many photos.

Noses are still considerable out of joint in the world of the big cats but it has only been a few days. Muppin did a wee poo in their kitty litter today...can't imagine that will make them any happier.

Not a lot of sleep happening yet but fingers crossed that she will decide that sleeping upside down draped over my head with her nose on my nose is too uncomfortable...but it is unlikely.

She has helped my take down the Christmas tree and the decorations today...she should sleep like a log! The other 2 supervised and helped only a little. But Cleo has managed to claw an escape hole in the screen door as her side project for the day do even though there is a slightly cool breeze out there we can't have the back door open till I fix the hole.

 

A Slight Snag.

So naming this little scrap of furry amusement is proving hard.

At the moment ...after everyone has had a say .....she is called....wait for it.......

Agamemnon Cupcake Hermoinie Cookie Carter Callie The Third.

Or....Who The Hell Are You And Why Are You In Our House Hiss Spit Snarl ...which is what Cleo and Caramello call her.