Kitty cats and Mormon missionaries

I heard a knock upon my door the other evening and opened it to find two Mormon missionaries standing upon the porch. So I invited them in to meet the cats. Here they are, the young Elder Smith and the young Elder Wadsworth, posing with Royce, who is very old, even though he is younger than they.

Muzzy comes to get in the picture.

He terrifies the missionaries, so I have to take him to the garage.

Martigny comes to bless them with her presence. The missionaries wanted to baptize the two cats, but both refuse. Mormons believe in total immersion. These cats will not be immersed.

Wry and Royce.

Some of you may have already discovered that that other Wasilla blogger in the parallel universe has posted pictures identical to these on his blog.

He does things like that, sometimes. It makes me very angry.

I punched him in the nose, once, but the blow broke my own nose, so now I just let him get away with it.

Wry, Royce and cheese - the love story between the orange cat and the baby-turned-toddler-turned-little boy continues

Wry grows ever more articulate. In the evening, I point my camera towards him and he suddenly shouts, "Cheese!" Another word in his vocabulary! But where did he pick it up from? I never tell anyone to say cheese. To do so would be to violate my photographic technique.

It must have happened at day care. At dare care, he gets his picture taken every day for the class on-line newsletter. The picture taker must have told him to say, "cheese!"

Wry and Royce.

Wry gives Royce a smooch.

After the smooch, Wry smiles.

Then he notices that I am still taking pictures. "Cheese!" he shouts again.

Wry gives Royce some love.

He pats his furry belly.

"Cheese!"

Oh, I tell you, this Royce is an indulgent cat!

We are very thankful for Wry and Royce.

Charlie the cat man comes to visit

Charlie understands cats and they understand him. Here he is with Royce, both observing the same thing.

Royce needed a good brushing. Charlie gave it to him.

A bit later, little Wry came along, carrying socks.

Little Wry raises the socks into the air. What do you think he is thinking? What will happen next?

Good grief! Royce is wearing socks!

Royce goes to Tryskuit.

Royce and Tryskuit.

Royce relaxes by himself for awhile. Where is Charlie?

Why, Charlie is with Jim!

Zed - the latest addition to the Kracker Cats

Here is Nabysko with Zed - the latest addition to the Kracker Cats. You will recall that Bryce, Nabysko's boyrfriend, is allergic to cats. That's why they went so long without a cat. But finally they got Juniper and, despite a bit of extra suffering, Bryce wanted them to have two cats.

Bryce liked Jim so much that he wanted that cat to be black. So, recently, they were down in Homer and they came up with this black kitten, Zed.

They bought a big, fancy, air cleaner that is going all the time. It has air-quality indicator lights - blue being best, red being worst. If the cats are a distance aways, the light is usually blue. If a cat come close, it turns red.

And here is Zed.

It is very dark in Nabysko's apartment, and I complained about how hard this made it for me to take a picture. (Oh yes, I know, I could have used flash - but I HATE flash.)

Tryskuit inserted a little light into the picture.

Tryskuit lights up Juniper.

Zed sees the light. I can't help but wonder if he saw anything, afterward.

Nabysko and Zed, in silhouette.

I call him, "Zederick."

I should note that I originally prepared five additional pictures for this post, of Diamond and Slick. However, Bill Hess needs to make a post on his blog in the parallel universe and both he and I are very tired, so we agreed that he would post the other five there, which you can find here.

However, if you click on the link and do not find the cats, that is because you have gone there before 4:00 AM AKDT, Sunday, October 25, 2009, when the Wasilla blog post is scheduled to go up. That would be 8:00 AM East Coast DT.

Royce grows old

I hate to say it, but Royce is growing very old and ever more feeble. I don't know how much time we have left with him. Yesterday, Sunflower wondered if we should dig a hole in the backyard before freezeup. That could be any day now. Last year, it had happened by now.

It is very hard to dig a grave back there, once the ground has frozen.

Still, I don't think we will dig that hole now. Perhaps Royce can make it through another winter. I hope so. I think so. I'm not sure.

Of course, we are never sure, about any of us.

We are going to lose Martigne and Muzzy very soon - but for a better reason. Toast Ed and Sunflower are in the process of closing on a house in Anchorage. Once they do, they will move these two and little Wry into that house with them.

What will we do out here then?

A warm gathering between toddler, dad and cat ends in a high note

Little Wry, Royce and Toast Ed were all snug and warm on the couch, enjoying each other's company.

Little Wry was overcome with an innocent, sweet, expression. This is when a toddler is at his most dangerous.

Suddenly, little Wry jumps up and kicks Dad... well, you know. Dad screams.

Now little Wry drops down with his knee. Royce is worried, but holds his ground.

Wry is very pleased. Royce ponders his own safety. Toast Ed squeaks out a few high notes.

For you, Heidi: Pistol-Yero

Heidi, I took these pictures of Pistol-Yero just for you. Here he is, on the bed where he sleeps with Jim and me (and when Sunflower heals, her, too).

He ponders my lens.

He reaches out to touch it. I pull it away before he can.

Jimmy grooms Pistol-Yero, Pistol-Yero grooms Jimmy.

Pistol-Yero and I, in my office.

To anyone else who may stop by, I did this for Heidi because she made a special request in a comment that she made on my last post.

The negligent cat blogger

I have been most negligent concerning this blog recently. It is not because I want to be or have lost interest, it is just simply that I have become spread altogether too thin. Furthermore, I have become exhausted. I am exhausted when I go to bed at night, I am exhausted when I get up, I am exhausted at every point during the day.

But still I do quite a few things. The other day, as I walked, I saw this black cat ahead.

Funny. More than eight years have now passed since I lost my original black cat, Little Guy. I searched relentlessly for Little Guy. I made posters and put them up everywhere.

I drove to the pound, 12 miles away, again and again and again in the hope that he would show up there, even though I knew he would not.

And when I saw this black cat, eight-and-a-half years later, my heart leaped to my throat.

And then the cat saw me and ran off into trees.

And here is my shadow, hanging over Varmit, who lives with Dan, the camera shy man.

Varmit.

And here is a calico that I spotted yesterday as I pedaled my bike about Wasilla.

And here is my own calico buddy, Chicago, with Royce, today. They are enjoying a wild, raucous, time, chasing grizzly bears through their dreams.

One of these days, I will get caught up, rested up and I will steam forward on this blog once again. Don't give up on me.

Juniper comes for a visit, gets together with Wry

I looked out my front window and was surprised to see that there was a tiny cow out in the yard, grazing on the grass. A really tiny cow. The tiniest cow that I had ever seen. I went out to investigate.

Why, it was not a cow at all! It was Juniper! That must mean that Nabysko was nearby.

Little Wry spotter Juniper, too, and skedadeled over. He was surprised. Wry does not see Juniper often.

"H'mmm," Wry contemplated. He seemed to wonder if she was safe to pet.

Nabysko appeared and gave Juniper a pet. This gave Wry confidence. He reached out to do the same.

Wry gives Juniper a pet.

Juniper escapes to the Escape.

Juniper poses by Nabysko's Cavalier.

From inside the front room, Martigne looks out the window. She is jealous. She wants to be out there, too.

Soon, the action moves to the back yard.

Juniper spots a bumble bee.

Juniper does some more grazing.

Toast Ed made this pile after the snow melted. We are waiting until the snow falls again and then we will burn it. Juniper decides to climb it.

Wry discovers that Juniper has climbed up the rubbish pile.

His dad gives Wry a boost so that he can better see. Juniper decides to leave.

Down Juniper goes.

But soon, she climbs right back up. That's because she can see the entire world from up there. Juniper believes that the entire world belongs to her.

And so it does.