Maystar CatWomen and CatBoys are so unpredictable! I say Maystar, because Faith, herself has a different upbringing and is a complete angel.  Lillibet, Jasmine and their brother Jamie, on the other paw are incredibly bold and just a tat outspoken.

We hear fresh from France that Jasmine is a complete and utter madam with a capital 'M'.  She was taken to see her vet for their 'arrival' check up and claw clipping after their long journey from Ireland and Jaz disputed that she needed to see a vet at all and complained to Eva & David that there really wasn't any need. So, to prove her point she threw a tantrum at the vets and bit the vet!  Bit him I tell you, clean through his hand.  Jamie is not an innocent in all this either, he has on more that one occasion taken out his frustrations on the vet and only recently he had to go in for a check up too because he literally 'swims' in his water dish and it upset his constitution somewhat and he 'gave out' to the vet too!  Momma was horrified that they should behave like mini hooligans, but Jaz was even more outraged that Momma said she needs to visit and re-train them!

Lillibet has always been a hot head too, not quite as much as Jaz though, oh no, she is determined, but wiley all the same. Just the other day (and that is another story) Lillibet ate too much (as I say - another story) and her derriere was a little, lets say, unclean! Momma unceremoniously washed her behind and Lillibet was good, really good and momma went with her as she walked forward on tippy toes so as not to distress her too much.  Then Momma had to hold her for the last bit and Lillibet hissed!  Well, it was the funniest thing you ever did hear, this hiss.  It was quite a feeble hiss, but she did mean it.  She also wasn't quite sure where exactly that hiss had come from and looked around for the cat who had done it. This was Lillibet's very first hiss since she was a tiny kitten.  She looked totally perplexed!

Well, later on that day and with new found confidence, she hissed again at Momma when Momma asked her to come out of her food hut.  She didn't want to come out of her food hut just yet,(she was dozing) so she hissed!  The thing was... that hiss scared Lillibet so much that she shot out of the food hut and then returned on her stomach to investigate who had been in there with her? She then spent the following hour stalking the food hut until she fell asleep, with one eye open you understand!

KS =^..^=

I can honestly say, this was the best Birthday I have ever had. It was good fun and not in a forced way and a little unexpected because it was tinged with a sadness as my Father, Castlerock Linford, had just passed away at age nine from a quick and acute kidney failure and my Mother being seriously ill with nasal cancer, I wasn't really expecting great things from the day.  But, I tell you, it was fab and the highlight of my year!

Now, I think it has something to do with the Atopica, because I just felt very jolly and quite the clown.  I was a bit perplexed as why exactly I needed a Birthday Bath, but I got one and instantly my skin felt cool and smooth and it washed of all of the crusty bits that had healed over and after my bath, it's like I had new skin. I had the power, I raced about YAWPING at the top of my lungs and unmade both beds in the house and then raced along every windowsill and performed the wall of death in the lounge where I came to a halt as everyone stared at me in disbelief. 
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Alright then." 
I resumed normal status of a slow stroll and the odd thwak enroute, then ran up the stairs again at full pelt, Yawping to my hearts content.

I had a special visitor as well, Pixie Love, she brought a toy for me that Lillibet has now taken charge off and added it to her collection under the bed.  She is a hoarder and has no qualms about stealing other folks stuff, EVEN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS. I am shouting, because I think she is going deaf. Not deaf Momma says, just subjective hearing.  Any way, I digress. That Lillibet gets into every story and it's my day!

ManSlave came home early from work and brought me a special Yeowww toy, they are my favourite, I love the green striped stinky sardine. He makes my toes curl.  We all had to wear our collars too and this was exciting because the the little bells tinkled and that made us all frisky.  They were the special velvet collars, with the diamonds in, well, ok, glass!  ManSlave then went out at dusk and collected up some poor bewildered Daddy Long Legs from the garden and the odd moth so we could have a darn good frolic chasing them about the house. I am a bit concerned, we found most of the insects, but the moths all disappeared... watch out for your clothes Momma!     

The day was topped off with a special hand made fish cake each.  I love fish cake.  We didn't have candles this year, because last year I singed my eye brows trying to tuck in before I blew out my candles and with eight to blow out this year, it would have been like a mini inferno and I fear I would have lost more than my eyebrows in my haste to devour the cake. Faith also loves fish cake and ate Lillibets, she really isn't fussed with all this cake stuff, she is much more interested in how it's made, rather than how it tastes. I am with the latter, who cares how it's made.... it's cake!

KS =^..^=

You would not believe the way in which these two CatWomen conduct them selves around here.  I actually felt quite sorry for the Parentals this week, they were doing everything in their power to make sure we were all happy by bending to our every whim.  This was inevitable as they had just been away for a few days and we were making sure that they felt guilty for leaving us behind.

It all started when the Orb came down to grace us with it's warmth and that meant we could venture out into the CatPod and have a cool breeze race over our fur, well, skin in my case. It meant freedom to come and go and sit and ponder and watch birdies and chase flies and generally have a relaxing time.  It was great on day one of the Orb, but on day two and after seeing our Garden Cat Ipek out and about, the CatWomen wanted out too!  They were literally 'climbing the bars' to escape and anyone leaving the CatPod received a flying Devon Rex as a lucky charm to visit the refuse bin with.

With this constant bombardment on the Parentals lives and the constant screaming if they were left behind, Momma decided that a few minutes in the garden would do them both good.  I have to have strict supervision because I eat everything I find, so I was left behind! YAWP! But, as I watched Faith take the lawn in her stride and teach her Daughter 'just how it's done' as she walked daintily around and followed Momma and then took the lead when her confidence grew, I felt proud of them. I was especially proud of Lillibet, because I honestly thought she would get to the end of her leash and spin and twist to escape, but no, she walked behind or with Faith and Faith taught her how to be a lady.  It was a small miracle really, because she is one very determined little woman!

Now, because Ipek is usually in the garden, the timing had to be just when she had left to go home for her tea.  But on one of the evenings, Ipek arrived back in double quick time and strolled out of the bushes and right up to Lillibet.  The only thing separating them was the hose pipe.  I could hear Ipek making noises at Lillibet and in return, Lillibet had gone 'still'... too still.  I jeered at them for a fight, but Ipek backed off because the sight of a snaking chocolate wild beast was more than her sweet nature could take.  She is a gentle cat, but her and Lillibet have always been at odds with Thwakking through the CatPod door. This is Lillibet's territory and she will defend it and everyone in it.  She is a fighter and a warrior princess that one.

It sure did everyone good to have time out and none of us asked again. It seemed to be enough to just have a quick paddle about the gravel on leads and even I got a few spins out at the front whilst ManSlave cleaned the cars.  He let me sit on his tool box, which their old cat Dewie used to do.  I am prone to wandering of though, so it takes a bit of cat watching on ManSlaves part, but he is easily distracted and I am of checking out the stock for the plumbing or chasing the odd spider.

KS =^..^=  

Oooh, visitors that like us!  Well, I think they like us?  They sure did tolerate us. We tried really hard to impress Momma's Welsh relatives.  We cavorted and raced and hung upside down and raced again and made them laugh and in the early hours of this morning, I did me a major YAWP and the kitten room door was opened and I looked in on the rellies.  They giggled at me saying I was like a little Alien! Well, I am secure in my mind I have impressed them then - that is quite a compliment!

Momma hasn't seen her sister Mikki for a number of years and she brought with her a lovely guy called Ron. Ron is a cattle farmer and rather cleaver one at that. We liked him a lot and tried to show him just how much we liked him at breakfast, where Lillibet and Faith acted as look out for a stay sausage on Ron's plate, but they were all snaffled up.  Mikki, I found, was very charming and quite giggly, it must run in the family, that little giggle. She has kind hands and tried hard to understand my lack of fur. Ron was right in there where I was concerned, I guess I felt like a little udder to his seasoned hands. 

They are creating a home business that will have them renting out a converted farmhouse for holidays on their lovely farm near Chester and they think perhaps that good, well behaved cats and their owners may be able to have a short holiday away together, which will be great for us and of course, we will test it all out and let everyone know just how good it's going to be!

But, in reality, they are genuine people, with a real love for all animals, but I hasten to add, I think they are with the canine fraternity. Those woofers are just much more useful on a farm for rounding things up and barking at the postman and holding those daft sheep still.  But give us a chance, us felines are more than just barn mousers, we are the gin to your tonic, the pea to your pod, the bow to your arrow and the pain to your bum!

KS =^..^=

Whilst the Parentals were away, Uncle Paul came and fed us our specially weighed out Noms.  Well, Lillibet and I got our specially weighed out Noms and Faith got something different.  It's quite hillarious really. Lillibet's food was in little bags with her name on and Faith's food was in little boxes. But Uncle Paul got confused with all the little boxes for Faith, because both Lillibet's name and my name were on them too. So Uncle Paul measured out, each day 40g of food for Faith using the little measuring pot.  The funny thing is that Faith was the one on the diet and she ended up getting so much food that her bowl was overflowing when the Parentals came home.  

You see, the measuring pot is for another type of kibble that is much bigger, and the CatWomen's kibble is tiny, so 40g is actually around 90g!  Faith also had wet food at night topping her food allowance to a staggering 175g a day. She was in her element, stuffing her tiny face whilst Lillibet and I looked on in wanton food lust.  Also, Faith's feeding station is in the lower food hut and Uncle Paul can't bend down that far, so we guess he didn't see the mounds of food that were over flowing in the dish.  Momma takes the blame for miss matched  boxes with names. Shrug, "It happens. Every one got fed, what's the stress?"

All I can say is WHY does it NEVER happen to me?  YAWP!

KS =^..^=

I noticed not a few days ago that the Parentals were packing their rucksacks. The rucksack packing means a longer time away from us.  It means it's not just a night or two away, but maybe a whole week.  

It's always a time to make sure their bags are checked and on more than one occasion, I tried to get into the bag so that they wouldn't leave me behind.  Lillibet thought it was great fun and Faith hates every second of packing and makes Momma's life a misery in the final day. We sure will miss them but also look forward to Uncle Paul coming to feed us.

Of course, the biggie here is that we are reduced to two meals a day and it makes it hard to adjust in the first few days.  Our stomaches are still expecting the four small meals a day and to be cut down to two meals a day is both confusing and hurtful to the mind. It's at times like this that I want to pick up the phone to CatLine to complain about our predicament, but I know from experience, that all they will say is 'tough'. You have three water dishes, two square meals a day, snacks in the late evening and games and toys to play with and warm heated beds to sleep in - think your selves lucky they will say.  I still feel unloved and starving.

I did make sure that I left copious amounts of sick for Uncle Paul to clean up and Faith poohed on the bathmat for good measure and yet, he still doesn't mind coming to care for us and Faith was just disputing the fact that Momma had left her.  Uncle Paul never gets mad with us and just tidies up and washes our blankies.  It's meant to make the Parentals feel guilty that they are off getting full on Orb, whilst we are left to compete for false love and the Cat Frenzie toy.

I sit now, looking out of the window waiting for the postman, the milkman, the bin man, Uncle Paul, but hopefully, the Parentals. Please hurry home, Lillibet is growing her fur and you are missing out!

KS =^..^=