Photo Weekend Extra: Penwiper

Our newest Feline Overlord is Penwiper, and I put some photos on Facebook

Still the Mouser ...

Getting new cat towers required us find what to do with the old ones. The Feline Overlords all agreed when we left two in the downstairs front hall: Keep Them!

We did keep the least abused of the three, but we still needed to dispose of the others. Just as we started to get organized, Kage's valet posted on Facebook that she should have bought two cat towers (instead of one) for Kage and Jasper at Christmas. After having warned her that the old towers are well loved, she was happy to take our surplus, and so with the help a third friend, we delivered them today.

Jasper (Kage's co-overloard) greeted us in the dining room and promptly hopped into one of the newly arrived cat condos.

Kage, true to his days as the Grey Mouser, hid upstairs. We were led to his lair by his valet, but he didn't want to greet us, prefering to retreat under a desk. Oh, well, we got to see him, and he's still a beautiful healthy feline.

And I'm sure he'll like his new furniture, even if it came from those boys.

Kittens' Christmas (2010 edition)

A few holiday notes from here at the Kitten Farm:

• Oscar saw his first (artificial) Christmas Tree this year. We put it up and let it sit unadorned for a few days so he could get used to it, and then we decorated it. He occasionally hangs out under it, but he has left otherwise left it alone, to our great relief.
  
• Oscar also got his first real exposure to our glass enclosed gas fireplace actually running. The warmth made him so happy he was rolling around like we had fed him catnip.
  
• My big present was a Ar Drone, which the cats are not fans of but seem to be able to live with it if it keeps its distance. The pilot (me) has no intention of getting too close with it.
  
• The big present for the feline overlords was three replacement cat towers, two tall and one short, exactly replacing three current ones. The interesting part of this is that two of the older worn towers were moved to the downstairs front hall, where they were promptly popular with Whitey and Oscar. Maybe if one of the old towers is not too worn, we can keep at least one down there.
  

Catzilla-in-Training Indeed

As has been previously noted on these pages, we play with the boys regularly in the evening, especially having Billy chase wanded toys up cat towers. Oscar and Whitey will join in, but both pretty much stay on the floor or the bed, and don't focus on the prey nearly as well.

But last night, while I'm flicking a feather up a cat tower, who should appear but ... Oscar. And not just awkward clamber up the tree, but a bound from floor to crow's nest so fast I thought it was Billy. And he was focused enough to chomp down the the cat toy and try to take it with him. He succeeded taking the prey down to the floor at least a couple of times, just like a big boy.

Repeatedly.

Someone has clearly been studying how Billy hunts (and likes feathers in the manner that Billy prefers pom-pom prey.)

We need to encourage this.

How Cats Drink

From the New York Times...

It has taken four highly qualified engineers and a bunch of integral equations to figure it out, but we now know how cats drink. The answer is: very elegantly, and not at all the way you might suppose.

Almost The Next Best Thing

Whitey was back on his pillow this morning, but after the mid-afternoon kitty treat break, Oscar took a shift. This made Whitey sad when he hopped up on my desk and saw his pillow in use.

However, we made him happy. I cleared off the other end of the desk, and Katherine fetched the mate to the desk pillow from where it normally lives in the library as a window pillow. Now, at both of the extreme left and right edges of my desk, I have a relaxing serene cat each on his own pillow.

And to round it all out, Billy is on the Black Kitty Warmer behind me.

What was Old is New Again

The blue office chair that Whitey prefers for his office naps has been loaned out to help with a temporary housing issue.

Whitey will survive. In fact, as Uber Napper (AKA chief bum), he has exercised his rights and reclaimed the desk pillow that Oscar also takes shifts on.

Looking to my left, this morning's shift is ALL Whitey's. Sleep well, oh Uber Napper.