one could almost be fooled into thinking they are not mortal enemies
March 10, 2013
Skeeter and Wanda, sleeping on the couch very close to one another, pretending like it’s no big deal.
It is a pretty big deal.
Posted by jodi on March 10, 2013 at 11.11am
standoff
December 10, 2012
Posted by jodi on December 10, 2012 at 2.37pm
will you just look at these gorgeous pickles
December 5, 2012
Seriously.
Posted by jodi on December 5, 2012 at 4.25pm
attack!
October 29, 2012
Things are still fairly tense between Skeeter and Wanda, and they seem unable to chill out and ignore one another yet. Skeeter’s file at the shelter said that she’d been surrendered by her owner because they had “too many animals”, and so much of the drama between the two of them happens around the food dish that we’re starting to wonder if Skeeter grew up in a house where she had to fight to get food. We’d previously just assumed that “too many animals” was a cover up for “she’s mean to other cats”, but the more we watch them, the more sure we are that most of Skeeter’s aggression is motivated by fear. Still, it’s annoying as hell.
She was sitting around the corner from the food staring into the heat vent as if watching Wanda through it, and just before I reached for the camera Wanda had looked up from eating to stare through the vent from the kitchen side. Then, not knowing Skeeter was on the other side, she started around the corner.
This is where I warned her to slow down, but she kept going.
D’OH!
I feel horrible for laughing at Wanda’s having the wits frightened out of her, but you’ve got to admit that posture is pretty funny.
Posted by jodi on October 29, 2012 at 8.47pm
so, this happened
October 21, 2012
For a few moments, anyway. Skeeter and Wanda stood within a metre of one another and BOTH ATE FOOD OUT OF THE FOOD DISHES AT THE SAME TIME. It seemed like major progress at the time but they quickly went back to growling (Wanda), chasing (Skeeter) and hiding in the basement (Wanda). Skeeter isn’t always 100% the aggressor, but she is the more bold of the two. At this point we don’t care if they every become friends and will be satisfied if they can just settle into ignoring each other.
Posted by jodi on October 21, 2012 at 9.27pm
meet the kitties
September 20, 2012
This is Skeeter. She is about a year old according to the shelter’s estimate, and she is named after a country singer. This photo was taken on her first day with us, right after I shouted “oy!” to prevent her from scrambling from the window ledge onto the piano keys, Kevin style (yup, she’s a peckerhead). She’s inquisitive and full of energy, and had fully explored the main floor and basement within the first five minutes of arriving in her new home. On just her second day of going outside on her own, I looked out the dining room window just in time to see her come careening across the back patio in hot pursuit of a squirrel, both of them rolling over a few times before crashing into the side of the house together. Yup. She’s a peckerhead.
She does have all four legs, some of them just move quickly.
Skeeter likes: head scritches; running up and down like a wild animal; going outside and wedging herself under the front porch; being picked up and cuddled (for a little while); licking things; playing the bite-me game; scratching furniture. Skeeter dislikes: wet cat food; being touched on her sides; the guitar; the name tag that dangles from her collar; Wanda.
And this is Wanda. She is also around a year old, and she is named after the grandmother of rockabilly. Wanda is a little more cautious, and had found a good hiding spot behind the furnace within her first five minutes in her new home. Here she is on day two, nervous on the basement floor after I’d coaxed her out of her corner:
Wanda has long fur growing out from between her toes, which gave me the wiggins at first (although I’m beginning to get used to it). Although she seems to weigh about half a kilogram, she’s got a rich, deep, resounding growl which she employs pretty much every time Skeeter gets close to her.
Wanda likes: quiet places; pretty much every kind of snuggling; curling up to sleep next to wet, blocking knits; chasing yarn; yogourt. Wanda dislikes: being picked up; loud noises; Skeeter.
Wanda spends much of her free time peeking adorably out from absurdly inadequate hiding places.
Skeeter spends much of her free time blending in with the chesterfield.
Posted by jodi on September 20, 2012 at 7.33pm
new faces
September 7, 2012
We are diving back in right away and inviting two new kitties into our home. Last night we visited the Windsor Humane Society, where we faced the agonizing challenge of evaluating potential new family members based on their looks and how charmingly they greeted us through glass. Although some of my previous cats have been adopted strays (like Kevin), I’ve always received them from family members (my dad’s house in the country is a stray cat hot spot) and had never been to the shelter before. I had my heart broken a little bit about twenty times in there, but in the end we decided to bring these two sweet little girls home with us.
Bachelorette #1*:
and Bachelorette #2**:
Both of them are about a year old***; Bachelorette #1 is an owner surrender because the owner had more animals than they could take care of; this tells us that this girl is going to be okay with having another cat around. She cottoned onto us immediately, and seems like a perfect personality type for us: chill and affectionate but not too clingy (of course, we thought Kevin was pretty chill at first too, but that was before we discovered his low-blood-sugar MUST DESTROY spazz attack alter ego). Bachelorette #2 was a stray and is a bit more nervous with us, so she’s a bit of a wild card and we’re just hoping against hope that the two of them will get along. We are bringing them home later on tonight.
*, ** not their real names. Their shelter names are cutesy and unacceptable, and we have not yet settled on new ones. I have a few ideas, but Peter is VERY resistant to Kenny and Dolly, for some reason.
***it amazes me that at the shelter they consider one year old cats to be “older”. They kept saying how great we were for wanting to adopt “older cats” after we declared our interest in these two. Our last cat before Kevin was 16 when she came to live with us.
Posted by jodi on September 7, 2012 at 4.33pm
sadness
August 21, 2012
After a sudden and devastating downturn these last few days, Kevin died last night.
We knew that his feline leukemia meant he would have a short life, but still I did not expect to find myself cradling a dying cat in my arms again so soon. In our short eight months together I fell madly in love with this sweet, loving little guy (even if we did often refer to him as “Little Fucker”).
Goodbye, Little Fucker.
Posted by jodi on August 21, 2012 at 9.19am
day 21
April 17, 2012
Yup, still taking pictures of my breakfast and posting them on my tumblr page. If y’all thought twitter was killing your desire to write on your weblog, my advice is to stay away from tumblr.
Quinoa salad left over from last night’s supper: quinoa, radishes, red pepper, sweet onion, shredded Brussels sprouts, and the best balsamic vinaigrette I’ve ever made; I walked away from the vinegar on the stove and cooked it a bit longer than usual, and whisked the olive oil in more slowly, and when I poured it on the salad it was as thick as blackstrap and felt like making candy.
Watercress (so pretty!), shredded raw Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced kohlrabi, romaine lettuce.
I don’t know why Kevin is so interested, it’s not like he’d eat a single thing in this bowl. He just wants to wreak havoc with anything that belongs to me. I can’t believe I ever described this cat as “very chill“. We clearly didn’t know each other well AT ALL.
Posted by jodi on April 17, 2012 at 9.08am
first shots with the fisheye
February 20, 2012
Peter gave me this camera for my birthday in December 2010 and the first two rolls of film have finally made it through the scanner. Here are the first two pictures shot with it pretty much as soon as it came out of the box:
Jesus and Pookio, all got up in their birthday finery. Fuji S400 film.
Our sweet Cleo, in her birthday finery also. Fuji S400 film. You can see in both of these that the placement of the internal flash in relation to the lens is a bit of a problem with this camera, the very large lens casting its obtrusive shadow over everything. Next time this camera is used indoors it’ll be with an external flash.
A few more shots from later on in the spring:
Discarded mattress in our alley. Fuji S400 film.
Michael Snow’s geese at the Eaton Centre in Toronto. Same film roll as above.
And from Pennsic, a couple of shots on Lomography Redscale 400 film:
House Redhair gate, sheet wall and pheons;
And that familiar Cooper’s Lake treeline.
Posted by jodi on February 20, 2012 at 9.57am
