What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday did not go as anticipated.

The big event was Valkyrie coming to join the household. Valk is a six month old, rescued from a hoarding situation. She had been living with Xandria in the same foster-home, and was to be brought to the Cosy Cabin because the two kittens got along so well. That was, however, a whole day before.

When Valkyrie arrived, she was not pleased. Unlike Xan, who came out, looked around and decided she would make of the new place what she would, Valkyrie was frightened and upset. Despite not being with Xandria for only a day, she chose not to recognise her, and hissed and growled at her erstwhile friend.

In fact, Valkyrie spent the entire evening hissing and yowling at every cat she saw, even from across a room. She settled on the kitchen table and would not be moved. She allowed me to pet her, though she didn’t care for the action, really, yet howled whenever she could not see me. At night, she remained quiet, though I don’t think she slept at all. This morning, she took up her protestations where she had left off at last light.

This is not greatly different a situation than others I have encountered, though the vehemence of Valk’s displeasure, and the unexpectedness of it surprised me. Nonetheless, the weekend is upon us, and I will have time to work on the newcomer’s concerns. The residents are trying to ignore the new noisy one, though this is not easy.

The day was not improved when, that evening, Moxy leaped up onto my computer desk while I was there, innocently wanting some attention, and knocked over my teacup. My startled reaction - as much to the spillage as to the temperature of the tea with which I was suddenly confronted - threw Mox into a panic and he spun the cup in every possible direction. I would not have thought the old cup to have had so much tea in it, to paraphrase Shakespeare. It spilled across the desk, onto the wall, down onto the power-bar on the floor, on my trousers and onto the new duvet I bought two days ago, on which Neville had puked just thirty hours previously. Now my computer doesn’t work.

I am hoping for a quieter weekend…