Introducing (belatedly) Stratagem, who showed up in our yard and announced that he was our new kitten in August. Because he is gray (though he has white markings), he was named after the gray kitten at the Tower of Iron Will in game. He is amazing. He has grown into quite a large and prosperous young man. He loves riding in the car, he is playful but very loving and sweet, and nothing bothers him much; we've never yet seen his tail fuzzed. He doesn't even mind getting his claws clipped. He likes to sleep stretched across your neck at night. He's just a stellar cat. Here are some pix from when he was a kitten.
Asleep after wreaking havoc, resting up to wreak more havoc:
[/img]Pretending to be an inanimate object (he later destroyed all three of those Afghan Hound figurines by chomping their noses, the fink):
Playing with his tail in the paper recycling basket:
Playing with the irresistible peacock feather (which is the perfect kitten extraction device for when they get into inaccessible places you don't want them to be):
And sitting in a corelle bowl:
Now for the new kitten. We just got her on Friday night, and pictures will be forthcoming later today I hope. Her name is Tenuviel, which is Nightingale in Tolkien's Elvish, and she is a seal point Balinese, which is just a fancy way of saying she is a long-haired Siamese. Balinese have nothing to do with Bali; someone just decided to call them that because Balinese dancers are graceful like the cats are, and Balinese sounds sort of like Siamese. Which I find reprehensible. But I digress. She is the first cat either of us has actually paid money for (other than shelter or rescue fees); it's weird. She has a pedigree like a dog, and a contract. She came from Long Island and is used to the finer things in life. It was very clear from the e-mails back and forth that her breeder was in a different tax bracket than we are; she said things like: "You should get a crate for her, they are ONLY fifty or sixty dollars at Petsmart." We get our crates from the Goodwill, and we pay five or ten bucks. But we didn't tell her that, we just kept our mouths shut and got the kitten. She is 8 weeks old, and hilarious and adorable. She is very bold and outgoing and playful. In typical Siamese fashion, she miaows all the time, even when asleep, even with her mouth full (which sounds very cute). She has a nice loud purr (as does Stratagem; our long-sufferring old lady cat, Val, has a stealth purr). She has two speeds: Full Speed Ahead, and Full Stop. She shows signs of someday being graceful (Akai, to kitten: "Try not to launch yourself head-first into solid objects.").
We are in the process of introducing her to the other two cats. We only wanted two cats total, but Gem came along and that was that. We would like everyone to know that the position of Makeshift Acre Cat is now filled, and we do not expect any vacancies for hopefully another 20 years or so. Val has so far been very gracious, and Gem doesn't know what to do with her; she fuzzed and hissed and growled at him (she is like one fifth his size).
That's all for now; I'll try to add photos of Tenuviel as soon as I can!
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