The Week in Pictures

 Sunday, Nov 9, 2014

The dark is here and my S.A.D. is already in full swing. This makes me want to hibernate and not communicate with anyone, and my eagerness to blog has a tendency to go downhill.

So I thought I'd try something different. In this post I'm going to put a series of pictures from last week and tell you what's going on in each, and we'll see how long winded I get.

Apricot on his kitchen outpost last Sunday

I got two short sitting stools with padded tops for the kitchen. The idea is that the cats can sit on them and watch me working with food on the counter while not actually being on the counter in my way. Hopefully it will get them out from underfoot as well. And they are much more convenient for a driveby petting or head kiss/bump too!

Apricot had to be coaxed up a few times, but lately I've been turning around to find him up on the kitchen outpost instead of right behind me on the floor (he cured me of stepping back without turning around months ago). This is quite lovely and I let him know how pleased I am. The more attention he gets while on the outpost, the more likely he is to use it!

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Upside down, the silly boy.

On Monday I was very tired and Apricot echoes my mood, so the feather toy play was extremely unexciting due to both of us being lackadaisical about it. I ended up calling my mom while sitting on the ottoman next to the chair, letting the feathers rest in the braided rug basket.

Apricot came over and jumped in the basket on top of the feathers, and then rolled over so as to (apparently) pin the feathers to the bottom of the basket underneath him. You can see the black string running into the basket with him.

I had to put my poor mom on hold while I took pictures. But you see, this is the first time Apricot has been "safe" enough to go with a full upside-down pose in a basket that if you remember, he was first too afraid of to even go near. Look at that fuzzy tummy!

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Apricot's back end

This was taken last Wednesday. I love how he has his back feet almost primly crossed, like a genteel lady. When the other end, inside the tunnel, is busy attacking the shadow of the feathers on the tunnel's top!

Since the tunnel remains a favored spot to play with the feathers, I have been getting this view quite a lot lately. 

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Kitten pinwheel

On Saturday, two of my friends and I went to a Christmas craft fair in a nearby town. On the way there (I wasn't driving), my phone went ding and I found Mrs. McFadden had sent me video and a picture. The kittens were four weeks old on Thursday and their teeth are starting to emerge. This sort of causes weaning to happen because mommy Cinder is quite motivated to get them to stop nursing at this point. Anybody who's had sharp kitten teeth sunk into their skin can sympathize with her!

I think this is so funny, three of the kittens in a rotation. We're only missing the fourth part of the pinwheel! Cinder is helping the weaning process along by making them eat their vegetables before they can have dessert. I mean, she's making them try eating their milk-replacer-softened kibble before she lets them nurse. She's such a good mommy.

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Max has melted

Saturday night we were at my brother's place. Last year his downstairs chimney had been blocked by something and wouldn't pull a draft so the whole winter he could only have a fire in the upstairs fireplace oven. This year he'd gone to great lengths to clean out the chimney and the downstairs fireplace stove worked a treat! It had flames dancing and everything. (The upstairs version burns too hot to have flames. It's a disappointment that way.)

The sofa is directly opposite the fireplace and it attracted nearly all the cats. Max was in his traditional spot on the sofa but he was all "melted" from the heat, sprawled out and toasty. You could even pet his belly without getting nommed on. Well, if you weren't the fourth person to try it, anyway!

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What's out there?

I have started sitting for short periods of time on the litter box's box in front of the patio window. There is room for Apricot to sit beside me. The reason I've started sitting there is because Apricot loves this way of being together. He looks out the window and I randomly pet him or play with my phone. 

Today when I took this photo I had walked over to the box, said Apricot's name to attract his attention, and sat down. He immediately got up from where he was in the living room and raced over and up onto the box so he could be beside me. I find it so very sweet when he does this sort of thing!

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Here are the kittens, at four weeks old. I do so love getting kitten videos from Mrs. McFadden. The kittens are stronger and more aware of each other as playmates now. Watching them play together makes me very glad that I'm getting two instead of only one. Just imagine poor Apricot if he had one kitten in the house wanting to play with him constantly!