Monday 12 September 2011

Status report

The Lovely Son came and went, taking time to mend a chair and to change the twiddly wall lights for something more neutral that can be painted to match the walls and thus become barely visible after a time. My taste gets plainer and plainer as I get older, and fearfully boring.


In return, he left me a cat.

She (working title Catkin, a term of endearment used by the Lovely Son, who could never decide on a name for her) is settling in, purring loudly for me and growling ferociously at everyone else.

Admittedly, Millie needs to be growled at to stop her from committing murder; Lottie just employs the renowned Death Stare.


Poor Tosca, who has done nothing at all to deserve Catkin's growls and dagger-like glares, is oblivious to the peril she is in as she potters about short-sightedly, too close to the portly newcomer. Flossie has the sense to sit quietly in her basket and avoid making eye contact or her usual friendly overture - even her uncomplicated mind recognises that this is not a cat whose ample behind can safely be sniffed.


Hamish and Scooter respond as we have come to expect; they flee, they hide, they behave as though someone was after them with an axe. I notice that it doesn't affect their ability to know when it's dinnertime.

But by this evening it begins to feel more like a ritualised form of  pseudo-warfare; a Haka as performed by actors rather than by a group of truly dangerous warriors. I feel less anxious about Catkin, although I expect some blood-curdling cries in the night - my bed is Queen Lottie's territory, and is not always willingly shared.

Five cats. How did it come to this?


(image courtesy of The Simpsons)

14 comments:

judy in ky said...

Aw, poor little Tosca... I hope she regains her sense of equilibrium without too much trauma. Five cats! You have outdone me... I have only four. I do hope they all come to be friends... or at least, learn toleration.

Amy McPherson Sirk said...

Watch out. I used to have 5 cats. Now I have 15. You could be next.

flwrjane said...

Any dogs on the way that you've conveniently forgotten to tell us about?

Is my life as full of surprises as yours?

I think not.

xo jane

BumbleVee said...

that's it then...you have officially become "that crazy cat lady" we all hear talk of....

Anonymous said...

I hope you managed to have a good nught, uninterrupted by warring cats and dogs! Catkin sounds a good name to me ..... I never was very good at pet names - the poodle was Bonnie (short for her pedigree name, Bonnie Wee Lassie) and the spaniel was Honey (simply because she was honey coloured). I think my childhood goldfish answered to Bubbles, Cuddles, Fuddles and Muddles!!
I like the wall lights -we have similar ones in the hall.
Hope you have survived the storms - we had a lot of wind and rain, but nowhere near as bad as the west.

Lucille said...

I am a Simpson's addict and the crazy cat lady doesn't appear nearly often enough. She sometimes has spells of lucidity so there's hope for you.

the veg artist said...

Regarding LS - many women wish for a handy male. You made your own. A perfect solution!
Regarding Tosca's photo - not at all satisfactory against that carpet. You will have to change the carpet!
Regarding yet another cat - nothing to say! (although I'm glad to see that she knows how to blog!).

Arthur Ransome said...

Hamish and Scooter's axe worries are completely shared by my Sam and Tuppence. I do find it odd as they've never had anything but love and kindness and have never even glimpsed that axe I keep handy but hidden . . .

Rose H (UK) said...

If only our one cat could stand ANY other cat I would have more...My friend has five and they make a great job of ignoring each other most of the time, but occasionally there's a spat.
I'm sure yours will work it out, and I'm the crazy cat lady with one real one and a hundred or so pottery ones.....

jabblog said...

I hope Catkin settles soon and the others with her. Poor little Tosca - all she wants is a quiet life.
(We had nine cats at one point, as well as four dogs and four children.)

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

I think we've all been Cat Woman at some stage .... one leads to five leads to one hundred and five with startling rapidity ! We were TWICE given a pregnant "kitten" by people !
Catkin is a perfectly splendid name for a cat . My first MIL had a tabby called Pusskins .( It later turned out that people up the lane called him George ... and also fed him twice a day ) .

Annie said...

I have five whippets ... I often ask myself a similar question. Sadly for as long as I have a pack of whippets I can't safely home a cat. One day.

Hugs to Tosca :D

Lesley said...

2 cocker spaniels but thinking about pups which will, inevitably, mean 3 cocker spaniels. Cats not a real option at the moment given the dogs' unfamiliarity with and general fondness for chasing them. But I never say never.....

Catkin seems like a proper old-school scary cat!! Love the pictures of her behind bars.... I'm looking forward to watching her adjust to her new home with great interest.

But Flossie has my heart, as ever.

Lesley x

Planet Penny said...

Wow FIVE! You are very brave, I have one cat, one dog and they dominate my life!

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