a tale of two kitties

Today I am proud to announce that Monkey completed his second ever trifecta. Luckily I had my camera handy, but only after I heard the tell-tale clattering of his body scrambling between the stove hood and the back wall.

Here he is realizing he can't return to the pie safe. I love how I've captured his useless little extra digit. And notice all the paw prints in the very thick dust? Yes, I keep a tidy house, people. And the Christmas lights and garland - very festive, eh? Except it's all leftover from last year and half the lights have burned out... Anyway, back to our story.


Here he is preparing to leave the slanted stove hood, looking forlornly towards the unreachable pie safe. This photo makes it look deceptively easy to navigate the terrain, but believe me, he never really has solid footing up there. What I like is you can see the sunflowers leftover from my sister's birthday and the dried flower wreath my landlady gave me on my wedding day. And through the glare you can just make out my backyard hummingbird feeder...

Sadly, my aging reflexes caught only the final moment of his landing on the fridge. And everything is super blurry, of course.

But here you can clearly make out his pride in a job well done. He's actually beginning to look quite a bit like Blackers, except for the mutant toes, that is.

Meanwhile OC started his day with a warm compress on what might be an abscess on his ear. Finding nothing purulent under his scabs, I spared him a trip to the vet for now. He later spent his free time catching yet another a bird. Perhaps because he remembered that the last live bird he brought in the house was set free, he decided to dine on this one outside. Unfortunately he happened to walk past our front door (which is glass) just as I was passing by myself. After some pursuit and inspection, I found his prey was still alive. Per our agreement, I claimed it as my own. I credit my improved bird releasing techniques to my work with sea lions. Poor Fabe used to get hit with a stick while OC just gets his jaw gently popped open... Anyway, I know the bird rescue lady will protest that OC's snack is now dying of infection in the wild, but I didn't think about bringing them both inside before I separated them and the poor thing flew off instantly. OC tried to give chase but he quit a few feet away, spitting feathers out of his mouth and giving me a dirty look.

Today I think I was inspired to spend extra special time appreciating my kitties cuz I learned from my neighbor that her aging orange cat, Georgie, has finally forsaken solid foods. He had a swell Thanksgiving feast of white meat turkey but has since shown no interest in anything. I'm not sure if / when she'll euthanize but I offered to give Georgie subcutaneous fluids if she wants to string him along for an extra day or two. I know I regret letting Fabe die hungry (I only let him go once he couldn't even do tuna juice...), but I also totally understand wanting to extend the time you've got together. And I know my neighbor loves that cat. She put up with some serious litter box infractions for a very long time (which only stopped when she cleverly replaced his litter with topsoil...).

On an altogether different note, I just got an email from Netflix informing me that My Super Ex-Girlfriend is on its way. I've been dying to see it ever since the eldest nieces informed me that it inspired their grandmother (my mother-in-law) to tell them that, "there is more to love than just rough sex." Seriously, I've got to compile a book of crazy mother quotes (most from my own mom) including the classic, "I don't not dislike you."