Whimsical .... wayward ... and enthusiastically wicked ..

You would be forgiven for thinking that we only had a hound in this family .... after all, she’s the one mentioned most frequently in my blog ... but yes, there are two kitties that choose to make their homes here too .... and choose to participate in our lives. Helen Thomson once said “One is never sure, when watching two cats washing each other, if it’s affection ... the taste .... or a trial run for the jugular.”  I know the answer to that .... it’s definitely the trial run for the jugular thingy!

The cats that reside here are whimsical .... wayward .... and enthusiastically wicked .... they delight in unexpected attacks of lightning speed .... not just on each other  ... but on the humans that reside here too ..... and the hound ... should she happen to get in the way!

Tiger (on the left) with "Achmed the Terrorist" aka Shimmer
on the right

I always thought cats were light on their feet ...... graceful ...... elegant creatures ..... until the little kitten .... with the shiver at the end of her tail .... grew up!  Shimmer is the noisiest kitty I’ve ever heard .... stealth is not one of her skills.  How she manages to catch any birds in our garden is beyond me, but catch them she does!  When she walks/runs/jumps it sounds like a 300 pound body walking across a suspended hardwood floor!  You hear her coming down the stairs before you see her .... she’s as loud as Callum and he's a whole heap

Chocolat and Tiger .... both 4 months old ... too cute!

bigger! Our sleep is often interrupted by the “thump” of her arrival home ... through the bathroom window ....  in the dead of the night!  Her nickname .... “Achmed the Terrorist” ... because she terrorises every other occupant of this abode ..... feline ... canine ... and .. human!!

Our other kitty is just as noisy but in a different way .... he’s the epitome of stealth .. he’s under your feet before you even know he’s around unless he’s being very vocal ... then you hear him before you feel that body wrap itself round your legs.  He’s got the loudest purr ever .... his whole body vibrates .... and the noise that emanates from his small body sounds like a lawnmower engine!

Tiger doesn’t think he’s a cat though .... despite his penchant for washing the other feline that resides here .... he’s convinced he’s a dog!  He arrived in our home at the same time as the hound ... she’s his best buddy .... and she’s part of his harem ... just like we all are!  Labradors are not known for sharing their food but the hound will happily share the duty of licking a dish clean with him.  He’s our happy wanderer ...  it’s only since Codri got hounds of her own that he no longer graces her home with his presence ... and it’s not unusual for me to see him patrolling his territory far and wide as I

End of Kohi Beach today

 head out or return from my morning ramble.

Bastion Point .. where I walked with T

One of the elderly ladies I meet on my rambles is an expert on the cats that live in our area ... she knows them all ..... by colour ... gender ... name .... and abode!  She feeds the wild birds and .... unbeknown to her ...... the local cat population too.  I happened to come across her on a ramble recently and she’d just finished the daily feed and was heading home.  I was coming in the opposite direction and, as I stopped to pass the time of day, saw this black and white streak land in the middle of the feeding birds ... scattering birds and seed far and wide!  It was so quick and so unexpected that by the time she turned around to look, the cat had disappeared .... I’m convinced she thought I’d imagined it!  The feathers

View over the city from Bastion Point

on the ground soon proved otherwise ....

Feathers on the ground ... and dead rats ..... are things we see rather frequently here.  I don’t mind the dead rats or mice .... as long as they’re not in the house ..... but the feathers make me sad.  I’m sure, hidden somewhere in our locale, there’s a huge pile of kitten collars and bells .... all carefully removed by our clever kitties!  I’ve lost count of the number and type of collars we’ve purchased to protect our flying friends .... all to no avail .... the kitties are Houdini’s of note!  The phrase “domestic cat” is definitely an oxymoron ... there’s nothing domestic about them at all ....