The Aftermath

 Rocio:  We are all resting up after the party last night.  I had a wonderful time and I hope that all of you who came had one, too.  I think a few of you slept over and got to see the return of Bird TV.  The finches and starlings came back this morning, I think because the wind was blowing the other way and we no longer had ash falling and the smoke wasn't nearly as bad.  The fire is pretty far away from us and Mom hopes that it stays that way.  Thanks to all of you who came to my party and helped me celebrate my first birthday.  Niptinis are awesome and I danced with all the lady cats, except Oja.  She still doesn't like me, though I have been mostly nice to her lately.

Karen Jo:  Mostly doesn't quite cut it, Rodio.  You have to be nice to her all the time, like Jose and Spyro do, if you want her to like you.

Rodio:  I don't think I care very much if she likes me.

 Spyro:  The sun came out and it's much too bright.  I might have had one or two niptinis too many.  Make the bright light go away and let me sleep and sleep.

 Oja:  I agree with Spyro.  The sunlight is much too bright today.  I just want to snooze the day away.

 Bambino:  Silly grown up cats.  I just had a little nip and danced with the lady cats.  I feel fine, if a bit tired.

Jose:  The light isn't as bright in the kitchen in the laundry basket.  Something seems to have happened to my body, though.  Where is the rest of me?

It's Official!

The Boys:  It's official!  We have been adopted.  Now we can stay here together for the rest of our lives!
We are so happy!

Austin:  As you can see, we are making ourselves very much at home.  I love sleeping up here in the sunshine.  It feels so good on my furs.

Rocio:  I love sleeping on the big bed.  It's especially nice when Mom is here with me, but I like it anytime.  It's the only place Oja is actually nice to me.  I tried to climb in a chair with her and she gave me the big hissy.

Karen Jo:  There isn't as much room in a chair as there is on the big bed.  She might have felt crowded.

Rocio:  But she curls up with Spyro in a chair and I curl up with Spyro in a chair.

Karen Jo:  Spyro likes to curl up with another kitty a lot more than Oja does.  Also Oja has known Spyro for a lot longer than she has known you.  I think the time will come when Oja will curl up with you on a chair.  She already does it on the big bed.

Rocio:  That only happens when you are here, too.  When it's just the two of us, she stays apart from me.

Oja:    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb]'/';.....

Karen Jo:  Oja just added that herself.  I think she just gave you a raspberry with a juicy ending.  I think she will get friendlier with both of you in her own time.  It took her months to get so friendly with Spyro.

Karen Jo:  I have decided not to rename the blog after all.  I will try to make a new header to include The Boys, though.  I don't know when.  I am not very adept at graphics.

Caturday

 Oja: The vet visit went fine.  I was just weighed and got my chest felt.  I lost two pounds since December 1st!  I am down to 11.7 pounds.  The vet lady said that I should weigh 9-10 pounds, so I only have one more pound to go, then no more diet for me.  Mom decided not to stay in bed all day today after all, so we should be able to do some visiting, which we haven't been doing for such a long time.

Karen Jo:  Mom is getting thoroughly sick of bed.  I went to bed right after supper last night and got restless almost immediately.  I made myself stay there, though and got lots of rest for my ribs.  The news from my doctor was worse than I was expecting.  I fractured four, maybe five, ribs but there was only a tiny bit of displacement, so no treatment other than bed rest was necessary.  I get to have them x-rayed again in a couple of weeks.  I am going to try staying up and using the computer, but no housework and see how I do. If I start aching, it's back to bed.

Oja:  I wouldn't care if you went back to bed right now.  I love cuddling with you.

 Spyro:  Mom's been taking more pictures of us than she used to, so she will be using whatever one she likes for the post.  This is over a month old, when we had sunshine.  I scared the heck out of Oja this morning.  Since Oja has lost weight, she has been going places she didn't used to go.  I have gotten used to having the area around the computer desk pretty much to myself.  I darted behind the desk and Oja gave me the "rip your ears off" yell.  I didn't even know she was back there; she never has been before.  I came tearing out from under the desk at top speed.

Oja:  Sorry about the yell.  It's a dead end back there and I had no place to go if you decided that you wanted a rumble.  I hate feeling trapped by another cat.

 Austin: I just love all this knitted stuff.  It is sooo comfy.

Rocio:  When I say that I check out ALL the napping places, I mean it.  I don't quite fit here, but I just had to try it.

Karen Jo:  I have seen other kitties sit in that little box, but you are the very first one to nap there.  All the kitties have been having a great time.  Oja hardly hisses at any cat now.  All three boys rassle with each other and Oja rassles with Spyro.  Austin tried to start a rasslin' match with Oja this morning, but she growled at him and he backed off.  When I put Oja in her PTU, all the other kitties acted very concerned.  Rocio pulled at the bars to get her out; Spyro purred at her and Austin tried to make a game of it by playing footsie between the bars.  Oja didn't like that last move at all.  I think Rocio licked Oja's head last night, but Oja trotted away from him so quickly that I couldn't be sure.

Spyro:  I really like the computer room.  I jump up and help Mom with the computer all the time.

Karen Jo: I have discovered one tiny drawback to having a nice big computer desk with room for everything: there is also room for kitties.  My old arrangement was so crowded that only Oja could fit in my lap and there was no room on the desk at all.  Now there is room for any of the kitties to walk all around the desk and get between me and the monitor and walk on the keyboard.  I don't mind, really.  It's kind of cool to watch Spyro watch the cards when I play card games.  Oja has more room to be lap kitty while I compute and Rocio has room to be a lap kitty, too.

Femme Friday

Oja:  I get the blog all to myself today.  Mom has spent much too much time going on about those boycats, anyway.  I am up on the platform getting some sun in a photo from late last month.  We didn't get any sun to speak of today.  I am still sleeping next to Mom as much as I can, but she isn't spending nearly enough time in bed for my liking.

Karen Jo:  For my ribs' liking, either, apparently.  When I got to feeling almost normal again, I started trying to catch up on the housework, a little at a time, then more and more until I overdid it.  Now I am getting the sharp pain again that had gone away.  I am spending tomorrow in bed again and maybe Sunday, too.  I have to get better again, because I have a three day conference coming up in a couple of weeks.

Oja:  The more time you spend in bed, the better I like it.  You could start by staying in bed right through my vet appointment tomorrow.

Karen Jo:  You don't get out of going to the vet that easily.  Herman's foster Mom is taking us in the morning.  It won't be bad.  You need to get weighed to see if you have lost any weight and we have to discuss what to do if you haven't.  You shouldn't need to get any embarrassing procedures done, though maybe a little feeling around your tummy.

Oja:  I don't mind you feeling and petting my tummy, but I don't want anyone else doing it.  You really are going to keep those boycats, aren't you?

Karen Jo:  Yes, I am.  I filled out their adoption papers and send them in with the check for their adoption fees.  I haven't heard back yet, so they aren't officially my forever cats yet, but it is just a matter of time.

Oja:  Rats!  I was hoping we would eventually get rid of them.

Karen Jo:  Oh, come off it.  I have seen you napping nearly together with Austin and only a foot away from Rocio.

Oja:  But they steal my food.

Karen Jo:  You are getting enough from somewhere.  You are still quite the pudgy kitty.

Oja:  It looks good on me.  I look regal.

Karen Jo:  That you do.

Togetherness

 The sunshine was bright today.  I was hanging out in the living room, away from the other two.  When Oja first came out of her room, Spyro and I got closer to each other.  We would sit together and nap together, but not touching. Today something remarkable happened:

Spyro:  Oja let me come hang out with her in her room.  She's not so bad.  She hasn't growled at any cat today at all.  She stopped hissing at us a couple of days ago.

Karen Jo:  I don't know how long they were together like this, but I snapped the picture just in time.  Not more than a minute later, Spyro came back into the living room to see what Herman was doing.

Oja:  Spyro's not so bad.  I don't hiss any more at all and I have almost stopped growling.  I even let Herman get close to me, but I ran away when he tried to sniff my tail.  Nose-sniffing is fine, but I draw the line at tail-sniffing, at least for now.

Spyro:  I came back into the living room because I was afraid Herman would be lonely.  A couple of hours after these pictures were taken, Herman and I curled up together on the couch, using each other for pillows.

Karen Jo:  You would wait until there wasn't enough light to get a decent picture.  This is the first time that I have seen Herman and Spyro snuggling.

Spyro:  I had to do something.  You wouldn't take me outside.

Karen Jo:  I apologize.  I was expecting a very important phone call.  I even delayed my dinner until it came. I told you that I would take you out as soon as I ate, but when I finished you and Herman were snoozing so peacefully together that I didn't have the heart to wake you up to go outside.

Karen Jo:  I have a message for all of you who have my e-mail address.  My ISP had two domain names and decided to drop one.  My e-mail used the one that got dropped.  That's why I couldn't get my e-mail.  The domain name changed from vla.com to losalamos.com.  If you forget, I am still getting mail addressed to vla.com, but I don't know for how much longer.

Sunshine at Last

We finally got some sunshine again today. Here I am on my platform watching the birds at the feeder. I am also showing off my shinier fur. When I first moved in my fur had no shine to it at all. Mom didn't think much about it because she had only lived with short-haired cats before and had never paid much attention to it, anyway. Then she read up on my problems and realized that one of the things cats with FeLV need more of than most cats is fatty acids and one of the signs that we are not getting enough is a dull, dry coat. The bells went off and Mom started a campaign to get more fatty acids into me. The sardines and The Missing Link are doing their job, because my fur is much shinier now than it was. I'm not there yet, but I am not getting as much The Missing Link as is recommended for a cat my size yet, either. The directions suggested introducing The Missing Link into a cat's diet slowly and Mom is going even more slowly than was recommended because my vet report said that I might have a tendency toward a delicate stomach. Mom is really happy with the results so far and so am I. I feel great now. The morning after the barfing episode I wanted to play more than usual and today I am eating more than I have been. Maybe I'm just the sort of cat who needs a good barf once in a while. Speaking of playing: hey, Mom, where's my nip ball?

Karen Jo: I don't know, Herman. You lost it really good this time.

I want my nip ball.

Karen Jo: I know you do. If I can't find it in the morning I will get you a new one.

You are going out and leaving me on your day off? That's not fair.

Karen Jo: I have errands to run and food to buy. You need some more fishy Stinky Goodness. You don't want to run out of that, do you?

No way! I guess I'll forgive you for leaving me if you bring my fishy Stinky Goodness and a new nip ball. I just got used to your being home all the time on your day off.

Karen Jo: The snowstorms have been so bad lately that I didn't want to leave the house. We have had some good times together lately, haven't we?

We sure have. We learn more about each other every day. Now when I wake you up for breakfast, you give me fresh food, even if I haven't eaten what you gave me the night before. On my side, I don't wake you up again and let you sleep until you have to get up. I have also been keeping my claws to myself and only patting your face to wake you up. I still don't get why you giggle at me when I am trying to get you up, though.

Karen Jo: That's because you stand on my chest and meow at me and pat my face, but won't get off me to let me up. You always look so surprised when I start to sit up and you lose your place to stand.