The Odd Glance

Packing for the move is proceeding apace. I am putting all the books in the library into boxes, though it is taking time – and a lot of boxes. Half the time, I think that I am leaving it too late; the other half, starting too early. But it’s better to finish the packing with plenty of time to spare than the opposite.

The cats are noticing the disorder. Aside from boxes appearing everywhere, things are vanishing. I was sitting in the library with Indigo, and saw Brazil trot past the doorway. He stopped and almost did a double take: the first three bookcases were empty. He came in, sniffed about, stood on the lowest, nearest empty shelf, and lie down on it, as if to prove to himself the void. Having established the emptiness, he departed, but not without a last glance back.

There will likely be quite a few astonished glimpses here in the near future…

Personal Effects

I am packing away items for the big move, which is now just under a month away. One notices immediately a diminution of space. When one packs up, for instance, books, one cannot put them back where they came from - a bookcase - because the bookcase needs to be empty in order to be moved. This results in heavy boxes all over the little floor space available, and pathways, as in an ever-growing labyrinth.

So far, I have observed only two changes among the cats. One is negative, but mild. Neville doesn’t care for encountering other felines during his ambling through the apartment. Indigo, who dislikes my other beasts, will sometimes object to the Nevsky’s proximity in a manner which frightens the latter. Nev has therefore become a little more careful in his navigation of the forming routes through his home.

On the plus side, Indie has started to come out of the library more. She had begun this prior to the start of packing up, but that activity seems to have accelerated the process somewhat. This is good, since, if I am lucky enough to capture the outsider-cats, one, or possibly more, will have to go into the library for acclimatisation, and Indigo will have to stay out. This will be a big enough change for her, without a head start now.

Otherwise, the cats are taking the changes in stride. Imogen keeps trying to jump from the micro-wave oven into empty boxes, which usually tumbles them, and her, over. Brazil periodically races about among the new obstacles. Though he may miss Tempo’s companionship, he is making his own fun.

So far, not so bad…

Coming Around

Indigo has changed quite a bit from when she first came to live with me. She is, I have determined, a people-cat. She is available for adoption and, I think, would become quite attached to a new person, given time. She is diabetic and responding well to her twice daily injections of insulin. To achieve this, I started giving her injections while sitting with her for a few minutes in the mornings and evenings. I can’t spare much time in the mornings, as I am getting ready for work; nonetheless, I sit with her for ten minutes or so, and give her a shot of insulin then. I sit with her longer after dinner. I also try to give her time before bed.

The interesting thing is that she want me to sit with her. After dinner, especially, she is watchful, and gives a creaky cry when I come in to spend time with her. Throughout our time together, she purrs, even when I am not petting her. Pair her with the right person, and I think she will enjoy a human’s presence very much.

She is not a cat-cat. She doesn’t care for feline companionship, though I keep hoping she will come around, perhaps with a new beast. Her liking of me and her dislike of felines combines when she jumps up on the bed when I sleep. She will stay and purr while I pet her, but, needing to sleep at some point, I stop and roll over. Then she loses interest in being on the bed and usually leaves.

A big change will be coming at the end of October, when we all move. Indie will lose her safe-room - which she doesn’t really need any more - and have to spend all her time among the others. I will also have to adjust when and where I give her insulin. This period should prove interesting. I don’t think Indigo is a cat who likes ‘interesting’…

Not Helping

There are many problems with packing up to move. One of them is a matter of space. You put all your belongings into boxes, but the boxes have to take up what might be called new space, because what is in them cannot go back to where they were. I have begun putting my books into boxes, but the boxes cannot go where the bookcases are, because the latter must be empty to move. So the boxes with books just sit on the floor, taking up new space.

Another problem is assistants who don’t help…

Squeaking

Imogen enjoys a vigorous petting session, especially having her head rubbed fast and hard. In this short video, you can hear her talking as I stroke her fur, though she is distracted by a fly, which I believe she later caught in the bedroom.

Operation Creamsicle

There has been a revision in the plan to capture the outsider cats. Originally, I had intended to try my luck at trapping the three of them in the fortnight during which I had access to both my old apartment and the new house. After discussion with a friend, I decided that this was too restricted a window of opportunity, especially when it came to capturing Arliss.

Now, I will try to trap that white-and-orange boy whenever he shows up. He does so very infrequently, so I cannot depend upon him making an appearance during the last two weeks of October. I don’t know if he will visit even between now and when I vacate the Cosy Apartment. But if he does, I will try to trap him, then get him neutered – I am pretty sure he is intact – and keep him where I can until it is time to move him.

This will lead to problems in itself. If, for instance, I capture him in the next week, he cannot stay for a month in a carrier, or even in a kennel. He will have to be released into the library, where he will be isolated. Then, there will be the difficulty of putting him in a carrier to transport him to the new abode. However, these problems are much less than that engendered by waiting until almost the last minute to corral him.

Operation Creamsicle begins.

Tempo's New Beat

Tempo went to her new home today. It is a trial adoption, but in our rescue-group, each adoption is well-thought out and prepared, and Temps is a fun, loving little girlcat, so I don’t foresee her returning.

She easily got along with me. She purred a great deal, and enjoyed my company, though I think that is a matter of her liking any human who is kind and respectful toward her. She will quickly grow to care for her new person, I’m sure.

Alas, poor Brazil is left without a playmate, again. This morning, while I was preparing for work, he and Tempo had an energetic play-session, which Shimmer will miss. But, he will adjust, and in the changing conditions soon to come to us, he may find compensation.

Changes, Part 3

Now that I intend to move from my apartment to another location in town, I worry about the outsider cats I will be leaving behind. I have long toyed with the idea of bringing them with me if I ever moved. Now that day is actually approaching, and I have decided to try to bring Sable, Arliss and, maybe, Cicero, with me.

This won’t be easy. None of them appears regularly, and all are quite timid, and therefore won’t be easy to trap. I can’t guarantee that I will see any of them between now and the time I leave. My advantage is that I have a little more time than the two weeks over-lap when I will have both my new and old home at my disposal: a friend in the rescue-group will be able to hold one of the cats at her place in a large kennel, and hopefully have her or him used to a carrier (Kept in the larger kennel) enough by the time I move that the cat can then be transferred to my new home. That will allow me to trap at least one as early as the first week in October.

Sable has been coming to the Cosy Apartment for food since I moved there, at the end of 2015. She initially came with her sister, Sablette, who has since disappeared. I don’t want the same to happen to Sable, who is probably about fourteen or fifteen, an impressive age for an outsider-cat. (She is a survivor of a feral colony, the members of which were trapped and fixed some years before I arrived in the neighbourhood.) I worry about her most of all, as she is old and, so far as I know, has never lived indoors.

Her friend, Arliss, white and orange, I see less often. He and Sable are compatible and, probably, could live together in the same room while they are socialised. I have no basis for thinking so, but I believe that he could grow accustomed to humans enough to be adoptable. I don’t think he has a home; he alternately shows up looking well-groomed and scruffy, so I am unsure of his status - though he has been coming to a neighbour’s food-bowl for quite a while. I think he is unneutered.

Cicero is black and white, and, I think, the most likely to be socialised to the point of adoption. He always looks well-fed, but his feet are dirty. My attempts to discover if he has a home - via posters put up around the area - have produced no results.

Each of these cats have, I am certain, other sources of food; I am sure they have shelters somewhere. If they are owned, I will probably find advertisements about them going missing, if I am able to trap them. But I think that, while they may be fed elsewhere, and may be provided with shelter, they are homeless.

I can’t guarantee that keeping them indoors will work. I believe, as I wrote, that Arliss and Cicero could be fully socialised over time. Sable will always retain some of her feral ways, but I want to bring her indoors because of her age; she surely must be approaching the expiry date for an outsider-cat, even one assured of a food-source - which surety may vanish when I move.

These are my plans. They may all come a cropper; they may succeed only partially; I may run out of time to help one, two or all of them. But I would feel as if I were abandoning them, if I didn’t try.

Changes, Part 2

Aside from a possible new home for Tempo, other big things are happening at the Cosy Apartment. In fact, the Cosy Apartment will soon be no more. I will be moving at the end of October.

Not long ago, my apartment building was old. The new owners began renovating the apartments as they fell vacant. The vacancy rate was assisted by the new landlords not renewing old leases. This meant the tenants had to move out, and their residences could then be renovated. The tenants could move back in, but their old leases, having expired, were succeeded by new ones. This is the case with me. I have been offered a choice of several apartments in the same building.

The problem with this is that the new leases feature new rent-prices. For a two bedroom apartment, such as mine, the new, ‘renovated’ price will be more than 50 per cent more than mine is now. It’s true that my rent has been pretty good, but such an increase is not something that I can pay with any margin for other expenses. It in fact represents 64 per cent of my take-home pay. So I and the beasts will re-locate.

Fortunately, a friend has a house she recently bought, which will be available for me to rent. The rent will be more affordable than what my apartment would cost. I will be able to take all my cats, of course, and not worry about having more than a certain number living with me.

And so the immensely annoying process of physically moving will soon commence. I would prefer simply to set fire to my belongings and just flee the scene, but I would probably lose much of my damage deposit. I will have an overlap of a fortnight, in the last half of October, during which I will be able to move into the new abode but still live in the old. This will keep the move from being the rush it might otherwise would be. And it will assist in something I have in mind that I hope to accomplish before this latest change. More about that on another day.

Changes, Part 1

Things are happening at the Cosy Apartment. First up is the big news about Tempo. The narrow little tortoiseshell is going on a trial-adoption Friday. She’ll be living with a young woman and another cat, a seven year old mancat, with whom I susopect she will make friend ere long. It looks like a very promising home, so I am optimistic. I will miss her kittenish characteristics here, and Brazil will surely regret the loss of another playmate. The poor fellow makes friends just to lose them.

I will keep everyone updated on Temps’s new adventure as her big day approaches. And stay tuned to learn about the changes that the rest of us will be experiencing.

Water-girl

It seems fitting that the Cosy Apartment should always have a cat who is interested in water. Tempo’s kittenish curiosity makes her a satisfactory heir to my scientist, Renn, though she doesn’t have my big boy’s comprehensively inquiring mind. But she does love to examine running or dripping water. These pictures are typical of how she reacts, watching, tapping, licking; in this case, when water-bowls have been set on the counter to make way for vacuuming. But Temps will look for a chance to question water about its characteristics at any time.

Shimmer at the Window

Sometimes, when you see something unexpected, you can’t recognise it, even if it is something familiar. Coming home from work today, I observed Brazil at the kitchen window. I have not seen him there before; it is usually where Tempo might be found. Therefore, when I noticed an orange cat at my window, watching me, I was puzzled as to who it was. The fact that he was in my apartment did not enter into the mystery; his identity only was the subject of my attention. When I realised it was Shimmer, where he had not been previously, I smiled at him and waved. He was probably confused in his turn, as to who this human was who was waving at him.

The End of the Nylon Tunnel

Today saw the end of the nylon tunnel mark II. Pictured below is its wreckage, and one of the wreckers.

It had been deteriorating for quite a while, the wire bursting through the fabric here and there, and the nylon itself split down the middle. It was a matter of time.

The funny thing is that the nylon tunnel mark I, a red and grey striped item (which may be viewed in some of my earliest blog-entries) was in much better condition when I replaced it  with mark II. I thought I would find others and move on to mark III and IV in due course. But all I’ve been able to find is short versions, which, while they may be adequate, do not provide the same fun as the longer ones. So my later tunnel (now my late tunnel) was much more battered and broken by its end than my earlier. (Mark I was placed in the alley behind my house, and disappeared the next day, so someone smarter than myself saw plenty of use in it, and I hope it gave pleasure to many cats.)

Now, the search is on for a replacement for the nylon tunnel mark II. It seems strange not stumbling over it every time I walk through the sitting room…

It's Chin-rubbing Time

This is Neville asking for chin-rubs. He wants me to sit down so that he can climb on my lap and be attended to. His request does not last as long this time as at others, but this is the best I could record. You may have to turn up the sound.