With the painful absence of Quasi in the household tensions between Catch and Risa have reached an all time high. The growling and hissing have become extremely frustrating, breaking reading concentration and nights of good sleep. It soon became a near constant reminder of the loss of Quas and the dramatic change in wrought in our lives.
It was clear that Catch needed a new buddy, someone who would actually play with him, instead of growling every time he came in the room. So we visited the local
Humane Society and had a stroll around their cattery. I wish I had a photo, it was such a neat way to meet cats. They had cat toys, beds, perches all spread out in one room, allowing the cats to run around and play with each other, or sleep on a windowsill or bird watch. They also had cubicles off to the side where sliding glass doors separated shy kitties and new additions from the cattery floor and one very small wall of cages for kitties recovering from surgery. We went on a weekday afternoon and visited with the kitties and talked about what it might be like to integrate another cat, and if we were really ready. It felt like it was so soon, too soon.
We talked about it all week, and then on Saturday morning went back to Greenhill to visit with the kitties again and see how we felt. We met a tiny little kitten who had just come out of surgery, "Raisin." He was situated in a cage on the wall and was performing an excellent spiderman impression, defying gravity by clawing around the cage wall upside-down and sideways ("spider-cat, spider-cat, does whatever spider-cat does"). He chatted with us, meowing loudly and one of the volunteers opened the cage so he could come out and meet us. He almost immediately climbed onto my shoulder and struck such an impression of Catch that we both thought he'd be a perfect playmate.
So, one black cat, no big deal. Two black cats, probably okay too. Three black cats seems to be a bit like smacking superstition in the face, perhaps we'll break a mirror to retain equilibrium.
We're pleased to introduce our newest: Pocket
Here he is coming home in the car on Joe's lap.
The first day home had me on tenterhooks as the hissing and growling in the house increased two-fold. I was afraid we had made a terrible mistake. Pocket, however, was unfazed by it all and continued to play all over the house, perhaps happy to have a big place to roam around having been in a cage for the better part of his life.
When he was surrendered to Greenhill he was a mess. His ears were all torn up and he had sustained a laceration on his right eye that had healed poorly and was infected and caused his eye to be mostly shut. The ear tears healed in such a way that he has a confetti like look on them both, giving him some character.
But the eye had to be operated on to open it back up and clean up the infection. So his right eye has a slightly permanently surprised look, but it's all cleared up. We adopted him just 6 days after his eye surgery and he's already causing trouble.
After a 24 hour period of establishing hierarchy where I did my best to ignore Pocket while Catch was in the vicinity and gave Catch as much love as he could possibly stand, Pocket has been adopted into the clan. Risa has bopped him on the head and Catch has found a level of play and energy release that makes his hours of sleep seem more reasonable.
I wish I could explain just how tiny he is. We watched as he climbed onto our newly begun game and fell instantly to sleep. It seemed such a shame to wake him.
But he took very little offense and instead installed himself on the arm of the couch.
A self portrait, all three cats helping me study:
Finding the sun:
He's such a little guy that right now we have the door to the mudroom open so that he can get to the litter box (which he's having differing degrees of success with). He is just barely 3 months old and is just shy of weighing 3 pounds and cannot possibly weigh enough to get through the cat-flap in the door.
He makes Catch seem huge (which is an accomplishment) and I have these moments where I'm afraid one of us will squish him he's so tiny. But he has a good and loud voice and so far, is a great addition.
I received an email the other day from a friend who is abroad complimenting the garden photos from April....well, what a difference a month makes...
I'm not going to lie, I have spent way more time planting and playing in the garden then should be reasonable for a PhD student.
Joe's birthday surprise this year was a trip to the coast for the weekend. And by surprise, I really mean surprise, I picked and packed the clothing, gear and foodstuffs and let him know that he would be whisked away no later then 2pm on Friday, but that was it.
On Friday evening we walked out the back porch of our room in the south wing and ventured towards the beach to have a look. It was raining sideways and we emerged on the beach half soaked. The cool part of this particular location as a place for windsurfing and kite boarding is that you get all the wind that you would playing on the ocean, but in the comfort of a freshwater lake. So, the wind offered a challenging walk to the pebbly beach and back. But we changed into dry clothes and headed back north for dinner in Bandon at the Wild Rose Bistro (fantastic!).
The owner, kite instructor and weather guru made claims that the less than fantastic weather would pass before midday and Joe could go out and see about some kite lessons. He was correct and despite a few droplets every once and awhile, Joe (and after a few hours of homework, I) played around with the trainer kites on the beach of the lake.
Sunday greeted us with sunshine which made me feel slightly better (having thrown Joe into this). Joe went out early and donned a wetsuit and watched the wind change over the lake. Eventually the wind began to cooperate enough to get out on the water and he slid around the lake with various kites. I ventured out of the room to sit on the windy beach and do some reading and observing.
I have to say, kiting looks rather fun and with the major advances in wetsuits since
I last wore one (eh...20 years ago) I think I might be tempted to get out on the water myself.
The dunes in Oregon are simply fabulous, but lakes like these will soon disappear in the erosion of the sand (the dock barely touches the water anymore).
But the eye had to be operated on to open it back up and clean up the infection. So his right eye has a slightly permanently surprised look, but it's all cleared up. We adopted him just 6 days after his eye surgery and he's already causing trouble.
After a 24 hour period of establishing hierarchy where I did my best to ignore Pocket while Catch was in the vicinity and gave Catch as much love as he could possibly stand, Pocket has been adopted into the clan. Risa has bopped him on the head and Catch has found a level of play and energy release that makes his hours of sleep seem more reasonable.
But he took very little offense and instead installed himself on the arm of the couch.
A self portrait, all three cats helping me study:
