Friday 29 October 2010

Important Jobs

Now, you kitties all know that we have very important jobs to perform around the house.  We have to check the perimeter every morning for introoders.  We have to snoopervise the general day to day running, etc, etc.  You kitties all know what I am talking about.

Today, I have two very important extra jobs.  Firstly, rug guarding.

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Now, you might think I'm asleep, but I'm not.  Here's proof.  You wouldn't catch me napping on the job.

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Secondly, an even more important responsibility.  Can you guess what it is?

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Need a clue?  Mum, what happened to the top of my head??

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That's right.  I'm the official remote control warmer!

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Whenever they can't find the remote, Dad says "is it under the cat?"   I take my responsibilities very seriously!

And another thing - less of the cranky pants!!!

I'm a big fat ginger responsible cat.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Don't Mess with Me!

This is my stern face.

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I'm a big fat ginger cat who shouldn't be messed with!

Wednesday 27 October 2010

What's that?

Can't you see I'm busy!!

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I'm a big fat ginger busy cat.

Friday 22 October 2010

I am nice to Next Door Kitty

Now, I know some of you may think that I don't like Next Door Kitty, but actually, she's kinda cute.  She has taken to just waltzing into the house, and I did get a bit upset yesterday when

a)  she sat on my cushion, and

b)  she tried to get into my Kitty Condo, and

c)  she went upstairs in search of the bed.

I did get a bit upset about that, and we had to have words.  Anyway, here's proof that I don't mind sharing with Next Door Kitty.  Here we are treat sharing.

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See how close together we are.

CIMG1514.JPGIt does seem, however, that Next Door Kitty isn't very worldly wise when it comes to the flashy box.  I don 't think she knew what to make of it all, but managed to pose for a cute close up.  Don't you just hate that?

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and she's off, in search of more noms I expect.

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See, I am a nice kitty!

I'm a big fat ginger cat who quite likes Next Door Kitty.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Cushion Time

Cushion time!

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I might look asleep, but really I'm keeping one eye open for the Snorgle Monster!!  You know who you are!

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See the outstretched paw?  I'm a coiled spring in disguise.

I'm a bit fat ginger pretending to be asleep on my cushion cat.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

From the Floor

There I am, sitting on the floor, minding my own business when along comes the flashy box.

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Actually, I look quite handsome from this angle.  I'm a bit worried about Mum though, if she gets down here with her knees she might never get up again.  I know she can't reach my noms from here.

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I'm trying not to look too interested in what she's doing.

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Are you finished now?  There's a sunspot coming my way.

I'm a big fat ginger waiting for the sunspot cat.

Monday 18 October 2010

Happiness is ...

A sunspot by the door.

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I'm a big fat ginger pretending to be asleep in the sun cat.

Friday 15 October 2010

Library Cats - a Long Post!

Tober, the very famous Thorntown Library Cat, wrote recently that he was now even more famous as he had appeared in a video about a super-famous library cat, Dewey Readmore Books, who lived in the Library in Spencer, Indiana after having been posted through the book return slot in the freezing cold.  Apparently he's even had real books written about him.  You can read about Dewey and his story here, and watch the video here.

Dewey was undoubtedly a real cutie - unfortunately he is no longer with us, but he lived to a ripe old age of 19.  He just looks famous, doesn't he.

dewey.gifAt the end of the video, it mentions www.ironfrog.com, who catalogue unusual things.  According to them and as of May 2009, there are a total of 808 known Library Cats worldwide.  If you follow country links, there are some real cute pictures of the cats.

It seems that Kitties will take over the World.  This post is all a bit disjointed, but Mum was quite taken with Dewey's story, and the fact that there are cats living in libraries right across the globe. The lady who found Dewey has written a book about him, and here's an excerpt from that book - "Dewey, the small town library cat who touched the World".

Edited to add:  I just saw on the Cat Blogosphere that Kimberly and Mr Jingles are running a contest where you can win a copy of the book.  Just go to their blog for all the details.

Chapter 1 - The Coldest Morning

January 18, 1988, was a bitterly cold Iowa Monday. The night before, the temperature had reached minus fifteen degrees, and that didn't take into account the wind, which cut under your coat and squeezed your bones. It was a killing freeze, the kind that made it almost painful to breathe. The problem with flat land, as all of Iowa knows, is that there's nothing to stop the weather. It blows out of Canada, across the Dakotas, and straight into town. The first bridge in Spencer across the Little Sioux, built in the late 1800s, had to be taken down because the river became so jammed with ice everyone worried the pylons would collapse. When the town water tower burned down in 1893—the straw packing used to keep the riser pipe from freezing caught fire, and all the nearby fire hydrants were frozen solid—a two-foot-thick, ten-foot-wide circle of ice slid out the top of the tank, crushed the community recreation center, and shattered all over Grand Avenue. That's winter in Spencer for you.

I have never been a morning person, especially on a dark and cloudy January day, but I have always been dedicated. There were a few cars on the road at seven thirty, when I drove the ten blocks to work, but as usual mine was the first car in the parking lot. Across the street, the Spencer Public Library was dead—no lights, no movement, no sound until I flipped a switch and brought it to life. The heater switched on automatically during the night, but the library was still a freezer first thing in the morning. Whose idea was it to build a concrete and glass building in northern Iowa? I needed my coffee.

I went immediately to the library staff room—nothing more than a kitchenette with a microwave and a sink, a refrigerator too messy for most people's taste, a few chairs, and a phone for personal calls—hung up my coat, and started the coffee. Then I scanned the Saturday newspaper. Most local issues could affect, or could be affected by, the library. The local newspaper, the Spencer Daily Reporter, didn't publish on Sunday or Monday, so Monday was catch-up morning for the Saturday edition.

"Good morning, Vicki," said Jean Hollis Clark, the assistant library director, taking off her scarf and mittens. "It's a mean one out there."

"Good morning, Jean," I said, putting aside the paper.

In the center of the staff room, against the back wall, was a large metal box with a hinged lid. The box was two feet high and four feet square, about the size of a two-person kitchen table if you sawed the legs in half. A metal chute rose out of the top of the box, then disappeared into the wall. At the other end, in the alley behind the building, was a metal slot: the library's after-hours book return.

You find all kinds of things in a library drop box—garbage, rocks, snowballs, soda cans. Librarians don't talk about it, because it gives people ideas, but all libraries deal with it. Video stores probably have the same problem. Stick a slot in a wall and you're asking for trouble, especially if, as it did at the Spencer Public Library, the slot opened onto a back alley across the street from the town's middle school. Several times we had been startled in the middle of the afternoon by a loud pop from the drop box. Inside, we'd find a firecracker.

After the weekend, the drop box would also be full of books, so every Monday I loaded them onto one of our book carts so the clerks could process and shelve them later in the day. When I came back with the cart on this particular Monday morning, Jean was standing quietly in the middle of the room.

"I heard a noise."

"What kind of noise?"

"From the drop box. I think it's an animal."

"A what?"

"An animal. I think there's an animal in the drop box."

That was when I heard it, a low rumble from under the metal cover. It didn't sound like an animal. It sounded more like an old man struggling to clear his throat. But I doubted it was an old man. The opening at the top of the chute was only a few inches wide, so that would be quite a squeeze. It was an animal, I had little doubt of that, but what kind? I got down on my knees, reached over to the lid, and hoped for a chipmunk.

The first thing I felt was a blast of freezing air. Someone had jammed a book into the return slot, wedging it open. It was as cold in the box as it was outside; maybe colder, since the box was lined with metal. You could have kept frozen meat in there. I was still catching my breath when I saw the kitten.

It was huddled in the front left corner of the box, its head down, its legs tucked underneath it, trying to appear as small as possible. The books were piled haphazardly to the top of the box, partially hiding it from view. I lifted one gingerly for a better look. The kitten looked up at me, slowly and sadly. Then it lowered its head and sank down into its hole. It wasn't trying to appear tough. It wasn't trying to hide. I don't even think it was scared. It was just hoping to be saved.

I know melting can be a cliché, but I think that's what actually happened to me at that moment: I lost every bone in my body. I am not a mushy person. I'm a single mother and a farm girl who has steered her life through hard times, but this was so, so . . . unexpected.

I lifted the kitten out of the box. My hands nearly swallowed it. We found out later it was eight weeks old, but it looked no more than eight days old, if that. It was so thin I could see every rib. I could feel its heart beating, its lungs pumping. The poor kitten was so weak it could barely hold up its head, and it was shaking uncontrollably. It opened its mouth, but the sound, which came two seconds later, was weak and ragged.

And cold. That's what I remember most, because I couldn't believe a living animal could be so cold. It felt like there was no warmth at all. So I cradled the kitten in my arms to share my heat. It didn't fight. Instead, it snuggled into my chest, then laid its head against my heart.

"Oh, my golly," said Jean.  "The poor baby," I said, squeezing tighter.  "It's adorable."

Neither of us said anything for a while. We were just staring at the kitten. Finally Jean said, "How do you think it got in there?"

I wasn't thinking about last night. I was only thinking about right now. It was too early to call the veterinarian, who wouldn't be in for an hour. But the kitten was so cold. Even in the warmth of my arms, I could feel it shaking.

"We've got to do something," I said.  Jean grabbed a towel, and we wrapped the little fellow up until only its nose was sticking out, its huge eyes staring from the shadows in disbelief.  "Let's give it a warm bath," I said. "Maybe that will stop the shivering."

I filled the staff room sink with warm water, testing it with my elbow as I clutched the kitten in my arms. It slid into the sink like a block of ice. Jean found some shampoo in the art closet, and I rubbed the kitten slowly and lovingly, almost petting it. As the water turned grayer and grayer, the kitten's wild shivering turned to soft purring. I smiled. This kitten was tough. But it was so very young. When I finally lifted it out of the sink, it looked like a newborn: huge lidded eyes and big ears sticking out from a tiny head and an even smaller body. Wet, defenseless, and meowing quietly for its mother.

We dried it with the blow dryer we used for drying glue at craft time. Within thirty seconds, I was holding a beautiful, long-haired orange tabby. The kitten had been so filthy, I had thought it was gray.

By this time Doris and Kim had arrived, and there were four people in the staff room, each cooing over the kitten. Eight hands touched it, seemingly at once. The other three staffers talked over one another while I stood silently cradling the kitten like a baby and rocking back and forth from foot to foot.

"Where did it come from?"

"The drop box."

"No!"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

I glanced up. They were all looking at me. "A boy," I said.

"He's beautiful."

"How old is he?"

"How did he get in the box?"

I wasn't listening. I only had eyes for the kitten.

"It's so cold."

"Bitterly cold."

"The coldest morning of the year."

A pause, then:

 

"Someone must have put him in the box."

"That's awful."

"Maybe they were trying to save him. From the cold."

"I don't know . . . he's so helpless."

"He's so young."

"He's so beautiful. Oh, he's breaking my heart."

I put him down on the table. The poor kitten could barely stand. The pads on all four of his paws were frostbitten, and over the next week they would turn white and peel off. And yet the kitten managed to do something truly amazing. He steadied himself on the table and slowly looked up into each face. Then he began to hobble. As each person reached to pet him, he rubbed his tiny head against her hand and purred. Forget the horrible events in his young life. Forget the cruel person who shoved him down that library drop box. It was as if, from that moment on, he wanted to personally thank every person he ever met for saving his life.

By now it had been twenty minutes since I pulled the kitten out of the drop box, and I'd had plenty of time to think through a few things—the once common practice of keeping library cats, my ongoing plan to make the library more friendly and appealing, the logistics of bowls and food and cat litter, the trusting expression on the kitten's face when he burrowed into my chest and looked up into my eyes. So I was more than prepared when someone finally asked,

 

"What should we do with him?"  

 

"Well," I said, as if the thought had just occurred to me, "maybe we can keep him."



Thursday 14 October 2010

Treat Jar Refills

Today, and it's about time, my treat jar got refilled.  It's Temptation City round here.

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I am sure that Next Door Kitty's been sneaking treats out of my jar when I'm not looking.  Of course, I kept an eye on proceedings, just to make sure Mum was doing it right.

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She seems to have the hang of it though.  That's what I like to see, a nice full jar.

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Mind you, it wasn't long before Next Door Kitty appeared.

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I tasted it all, just to make sure, although Mum says I'm not supposed to eat them straight out of the jar,

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She's still watching.  She's seen the jar, I just know she has.

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I'm a big fat ginger keeping watch of my treat jar kitty.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Slack Mum!

Don't know what's been going on in our house, as Mum's been a bit slack on the blogging front.   I may have to take charge, when I come out from under the sofa where I'm hiding from the dustmen, of course.

So, the sun's been shining so I spent a little time in the garden on my favourite step.

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I wasn't asleep, I was just pretending.  What's that??

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See, I told you I wasn't asleep.  A big fat kitty's got to be on guard for introoders, especially from Next Door Kitty, who last night made a big advance right into my very own living room, totally ignoring me.  I let her do it, honest.

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See, she's just waiting to get in here.  I can tell.

I'm a big fat ginger pretending to be asleep on the step kitty.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Tricky Cushion

Sometimes my cushion can be very tricky.

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Sometimes you have to keep your paws together to stop yourself from falling off.  Sometimes you just can't help yourself.

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I'm a big fat ginger cat who nearly fell off his cushion.

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