Drat this working for a living all to heck.

So. You know my old Chuckster passed away. As I was gathering up his stuff to give it away, I realized that sooner or later I was going to get another cat, and would actually need most of the stuff. I was also feeling pretty bereft.

So I went to the local rescue organization and got two six-month old kittens. They weren't litter mates, but I am not as active as I should be, and they were/are going to be indoor kitties, so I knew they needed proper cat companionship for mental and physical well-being. So I got two.

One is a little grey bullseye mackeral tabby, originally known as Lovebug because her entire nature is one big cuddle. All the people who fostered her treated her well, and she is bold and fearless. I renamed her Suzi because it seemed to fit.

The other is a little dilute calico with white legs, tummy, and chin, with botches of grey tabby and orange tabby along her head, back, and tail. She had a rougher start and so she is much more cautious around people. She wants loves and wants petting, but being held or picked up is way too scary. She hides when other people visit. The person who finally had a chance to foster her properly and treated her really well named her Maggie, which seems to fit well.

So, it took a few days but they have adapted to each other as though they are litter mates. They squabble like sibblings - and sleep in a heap. They are keeping each other fit, since mobile homes have long hallways and they zoom up and down it like the wind. Well - more like a herd of elephants - noisy elephants. It is amazing how much noise a six pound cat can make with just four tiny feet. They chase each other, so it isn't just one harrassing the other.

Which is not to say that they aren't trying for head cat. Suzi is pretty straight forward about her bids, shoving Maggie out of Maggie's food bowl when she's done with her own. Sometimes I intervene, but mostly she is just cleaning up the crumbs that Maggie will leave anyway - but it is important to Suzi to make Maggie "give". On the other hand, Maggie is more crafty. If Suzi has the favourite sleeping spot, Maggie will go find a toy that makes a lot of enticing noise, and while Suzi hustles over to take it away from her, Maggie saunters off and takes the favourite sleeping spot. Suzi falls for it every time.

I always give my cats extra names, like the time-honoured Stop That. Suzi is without a doubt both Lovebug - and Thunder Bunny. Even though she weighs two ounces more than Maggie, she is little and bunty, with cute bunny feet. She makes the most noise in the hallway, and throws herself fearlessly at everything. If Thor had a cat, it would be Suzi the Thunder Bunny.

Maggie is a little more difficult to pick just one extra name. She is a sweetheart, so Sweet Pea gets used. She has a lot of Siamese/Oriental in her, so her limbs are long and narrow and delicate, so those of you who are old enough will remember Tinker Toys, which were hubs and slender sticks for making structures. She also has a delicate digestion (legacy of hungry times), and so occasional dire rear, so Stinkessa has been used. She just may get a lot of extra names. :)

They are both talkers - but in quite different ways. Suzi narrates everything she does with little merps and mrows. Maggie comes up to you at full volume and siamese yowls her insistance that she needs some form of attention right this minute.

Erm.

I had forgotten just how destructive young cats are. Holy moly. And a pair of them just egg each other on. All my house plants now have gravel and pointy wooden sticks in them - points up. ;) I have always had cats, so I don't have breakable ornaments out - but it's amazing what a determined cat can find to break. Oh well, eh?

I still have trouble posting pictures here, but you can see them on FaceBook if you find me there.

Definitely making self isolation less dreary. ;)