Scylla doesn't need anything for Christmas other than other people's gifts. Here she stalks through her natural habitat hunting stray ribbons and slobbering on tissue paper.
Molpe, on the other hand, really likes her tiny little stocking full of catnip and mice. We still haven't solved her mouse issue, but this year we got some mice that are about 90% similar to her inaccessible favorite, and with a little pinch of drugs they went over very well.
My final miscellany post of the day... Starting off with the first frog we've seen in our yard since moving here.
NDM's favorite squirrel, which helped us dispose of a pound of walnuts and hazelnuts that have been lingering on since winter. The little tree-rat showed absolutely no fear -- I think NDM took this photograph at a distance of about 2 feet.
The wife hasn't been as industrious as normal this year, what with studying for boards every waking moment, but she still managed to cast some concrete planters. This one was destined to be filled with opuntia and sedum.
Finally, I've given up posting photos of Molpe's garden kills. For a while it looked like they'd petered out with the arrival of the new puppy, but she's in fine form again. She's even done three in a single day now. I'm afraid if I keep documenting that it will eventually be used as evidence in a war crimes tribunal, so here's a picture of a cute, fuzzy, harmless kitten.
Here is a sight that has been rarer and rarer as our kitties have aged... I think it has been over two years since Scylla and Molpe last deigned to sleep together. Must be another summer of love.
This year is off to a late start -- and with both dogs fully active on yard patrol I expect this to be Molpe's weakest year yet. Nevertheless, here is her first of '08. (Líle deposited another bird on my feet last week, but its provenance was unclear, and it might have simply been a natural death that ended up in our yard.)
I am allergic to everything. Everything includes cats -- from my reaction, several times over. I also own cats.
Unfortunately, none of these cats are truly hypoallergenic. People who are allergic to cats are allergic to the DSH protein Fel d 1. Research suggests that the rexes and Sphynx do produce less of this protein, but they still produce it, and so they are still likely to provoke some degree of allergic reaction.
I've ultimately been quite happy with my Devon Rexes. They have great, dog-like personalities and desire lots of human interaction. These aren't fat cats that loll around in the sun all day long; even as they have aged they are still very active. They are also great (and very warm -- low fur, low body fat) lap warmers. I am allergic to them, but much less than to a normal DSH. If I pet a DSH and then wash my hands I'm generally fine, but anything more is pushing it. I can rub one of my rexes on my face for a several seconds (don't ask) and generally suffer no ill effects.
Today, if I were going to get another supposedly hypoallergenic cat, I would go to a rescue rather than a breeder.
Here is a rare picture of the vast majority of our family. Hagar is too wet to be pictured here, and I'm the reason the photograph is poorly framed, badly lit, and out of focus. From top right clockwise, we have long-suffering NDM, little white hissy Scylla, leaky-eyed Molpe, crammed-in Líle, and snoring 'Dolon.
This is almost unheard of in our household -- the peaceful slumbering of cat and dog within the same photographic frame. Normally Mag can't be this close to a cat without barking her butt off; this is the end result of several minutes of slowly inching closer and closer to the sleeping cat until, lulled by her own stealth, Mag dropped off as well.
Probably the last grisly trophy of the year, since the dog door isn't going to have many more balmy days. Molpe brought this shrew inside this morning, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon it before any other household denizens. Hagar had it for a late lunch.
Looks like shrews are really the only thing on Molpe's table this year. As long as she keeps leaving them for us outside, I'm on board. Mag got really excited about this one; I hope she doesn't start stealing them and rolling in them like some dogs I know.
It looks like Mag is going to be photographed with most of Molpe's kills from now on. She was happily playing with this shrew when I clued in to what was going on; I'm afraid the shrew was no longer in pristine photographing condition when I recovered it. Luckily, this will almost certainly not diminish Hagar's enjoyment.
This led to Mag's first enthusiastic cleaning out of an ice cream carton. Her head is not quite a half gallon yet.
The dogs also got to enjoy some soft serve off of a plastic spoon. Only one spoonful each, since Mag decided to eat the spoon as well when it was her turn.
Of course Mag can be happy even without ice cream. Here she poses next to the remains of the radishes she harvested from our garden.
She's quite the troublemaker.
We nearly missed this kill. We only tracked it down because Mag was playing with it in the yard. Best toy ever!
Molpe strikes again! A brief drizzle of rain kept the woofies inside long enough for Molpe to rack up another shrew. The proud girl herself:
This seems to confirm that Molpe no longer feels the need to bring such things into the house, which is a blessing. I do wonder how she finds the time to get her shrew-work done, as most of her day is spent upstairs meowing plaintively at a window since the puppy came home.
We have a new member of our household today, Mag Maxson-Mylniczenko. She is ostensibly a shepherd-lab mix, born March 25, 2007. Her bioengineering is mostly complete except for her rabies and her final lepto, parvo, and distemper boosters; soon she will be invincible.
She's still too zonked from the vet to resist our unprovoked cuddling...really, truly zonked.
She's already met 'Dolon several times at the shelter, so we knew they would get along...
Molpe is another kettle of fish entirely.
Presumably her residual drugs are what makes her vaguely uninterested in food. If she maintains that attitude, she might end up being 'Dolon's evil twin.
(Note biscuit on right paw :-)
It is hard to keep track of Molpe kills this year because, in her infinite mercy, she has decided to stop bringing them inside for us. Thank you, Molpe! Today she brought one close enough for counting, though, dropping the shrew on our patio and serenading us with her victory meow.
More protein for Hagar! Here Molpe basks in her post-kill glory.
Molpe was really excited to see us return from our weekend trip, but she was even more excited that we did some late afternoon work in the back yard. This gardening resulted in the uprooting and crushing of some of her favorite cat drugs.
This last week she broke into a cabinet where we store our substitute mice, and this was the result. Isn't it sad? She ate the tails and then gave up trying to get her buzz on. It makes you want to cry. Is it any wonder she's had to turn to harder drugs?
It is bedtime for me, so I thought I'd slap up some leftover bedtime pictures of the kitties.
Our kitties, who hate each other, still manage to imitate each other's behaviors all the time. Here they are echo-sleeping, providing an extra dimension of kittiness.
We're not exactly sure when this shrew happened, since we just stumbled over the corpse outdoors instead of receiving our normal special delivery. Ick!
Yesterday Molpe got her first mousie of the year, and it survived -- probably to be caught again at a later date. Luckily her excited mewps let us home in on what was happening pretty fast, so we didn't have another multi-day loose animal incident like last year.
'Dolon was pretty interested in what Molpe was doing, but for once he was a good boy and listened to us when we asked him to stay out of it.
Eventually, after some adventures in our potted plants, we corned the little guy and got him safely out the front door. He had no external injuries.
