Day Four
Topic: New Cats

We tried to ignore the hidden kitties but it is hard not to look for them. The decision to add to our household was hard to make and now we wonder if we should have remained feline-free. We had hoped for some adjustment by Day Four. With typical American lack of patience, we are frustrated with living by their rules.

Hooray! Bob talked with Jemma Kitty in the evening and finally pulled her to his chest. She wasn’t upset but she wasn’t happy. I sat with her on the sofa for two hours while we watched the Monk marathon. I petted her and talked with her but kept her between my knees under the covers. Then I put her with her brother with Bob. They generate a lot of heat but Bob stuck it out until bedtime when he left them under the throw. Jemma Kitty is playing hard to get but we’ll win her over. I hope to take photos of them tomorrow. I listed them with Catster so they are officially on the Web.

Day Three
Topic: New Cats

Day three, Tucker was under a pillow on the sofa when I made coffee at five in the morning– encouraging sign. He quickly ran to behind the love-seat. We’ve designated that as their safe place and we won’t disturb them. We left the house until three, giving them time to adjust to the house. Maybe the space is so big it is intimidating. We don’t know if they were confined to a room for their first ten months or not.

Bob reached behind the love-seat from above and brushed the kitties with a brush while talking calmly to them and repeating their names. So much for our promise not to disturb them in their safe place. Once his arm grew tired, he picked up the black one, Detective Tucker, and read for a few hours with the cat on his lap under a cover. Tucker left after an hour, stretched, explored part of the living room before returning to his sister behind the love-seat. She remained hidden all day.

Bob found Tucker and put him on his lap while we watched the CSI marathon that evening. Tucker quickly went under the covers. After an hour, he was so relaxed he lay on his back with his front paws sticking up. From my sofa, opposite Bob’s, it looked like two tent poles poking up from between Bob’s knees. Later, Bob said Tucker was twitching; he must have been in REM sleep. Bob carried Tucker to bed with us and he stayed under the covers, eventually crawling to the bottom of the waterbed. Around one in the morning, Tucker made his way beside Bob’s leg and Bob lifted the covers, letting him out. The black kitty’s designation is now "Detective Tucker, Undercover Kitty."

Jemma & Tucker, New Cats
Topic: New Cats

Dec 30, 2007, Day One

Yesterday was Day One with our two new cats, Jemma Chase and Detective Tucker.

Bob and I live deep in the North Carolina Mountains, near Boone, Banner Elk and Blowing Rock. Our location is in Triplett Valley, the lowest altitude in Watauga County at 2200 feet. Three switch back turns on Elk Creek Road bring us up to 3200 feet at the Blue Ridge Parkway, ascending a thousand feet in three miles. During the spring and fall, we see early season changes down where we live and drive by later blooming or leaf color changing plants on our way to town at the top of the mountain. We have the gift of extended seasonal color.

On the drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday, we drove through fog even though it was nine in the morning. When we broke through the fog, we could see clouds settled in the valleys. Once we left the High Country for Hickory in the foothills, we re-entered the fog which lasted until noon on this day in an unseasonably warm winter season.

We had planned to wait until spring before getting another cat. Hunter, our Havana Brown with a Siamese voice, passed away on October 26^th. We had been together for over twenty years, almost as long as I’d known Bob. Hunter was 20 and 8 months. He even dictated a book, Meow Means Me!Now! If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you know they can dictate. After two months, we were ready for feline company.

Tucker, the black male, trembled in Bob’s arms for long minutes. Jemma, they grey female, was more curious and didn’t want to be held for long. She explored the glassed-in visitors booth and reminded me of the female character in my mysteries.

Jemma and Tucker were retrieved from the Humane Society of Catawba County on Saturday, Dec 29 just after noon. They were with their long-haired grey mother and a black sister in a cage. The building was wonderful and new. The society had moved in on December 12^th so everything was spacious, clean and inviting. Race car driver, Ryan Newman, and his wife, Krissie, were instrumental in donating funds and time to the new facility. Included in the facility are a spay/neuter clinic, isolation rooms for dogs and cats with separate air filtering systems, glassed in visiting rooms for private time with the new pets, a cat play room and a small gift shop.

Both cats were subdued during the hour and a half drive back home. I sat in the front seat as chauffeur; Bob sat in the back and talked with the kitties. Their eyes stayed wide during most of the trip. Once in our home, they disappeared! We played hide and seek for a while. Every time we’d find them, off they’d go to separate and new hiding places. We decided to leave them alone and let them explore without our interference.