While searching around destabee's place for Kikinator this evening to scoop her up to bring her out to the trailer for bed, we heard some yipping noises coming from Kele's basement.

Cherie and I descended the stairs and turned on the light and found our little girl chasing a cute little mouse around the large dark room.

Upon seeing us, Kiki scooped up the mouse, dropped it at our feet, and then proceeded to chase the limping mouse anew. Her parent's were wild barn cats after all, so we shouldn't be surprised that mousing is in her blood.

As our eyes followed her darting around the dark basement, we started to realize that she wasn't just playing with a single mouse. The entire floor of the basement was littered with little carcasses. It was a veritable killing field, with at least eight bodies lying about discarded.

Our sweet little kitten is a mass murderer.

The horror!

Ever since we left Cherie's beloved Alma behind in Florida, we have been contemplating the possibility of someday finding a "trailer kitty" to join us in our traveling.

We knew that we would need to start with a kitten that we could raise to be comfortable with traveling, trailer life, and walks on leash. It felt wrong to try and force an older cat (like Alma) to adjust to life as a Catnomad.

But we weren't in any hurry. We figured when the time was right, the right kitten would find us.

I think perhaps we have been found.

Introducing Kiki:


My dear friend Martha, her boys, and her housemate Leslie have been raising Kiki, her near-twin brother Simon, and her sister Bear since they were still needing to be bottle fed. They found the kittens abandoned in their chicken coop, and they stepped in when the mother (presumably one of the barn cats) failed to return.


Simon, Bear, and Kiki take over Cherie's lap...

We stopped in to visit with Martha and crew in Oregon on our way up to Seattle this week, and we were instantly overwhelmed with kitten cuteness. Kiki was the mellowest of the three, and she seemed to instantly bond with us. When Martha offered to send Kiki with us for a trial run to Seattle and back, it was as if fate had spoken.

The first few days with Kiki have been mostly great. She is a very sweet tempered and loving little kitten, playful, and a great traveler.


Cherie and I have both fallen in love with our little bundle of claws and cuteness...

But every night around 9pm, there is a transformation... Kiki's tail starts to twitch at double time, her motor revs up, and she starts to bounce off the walls. And up our legs. And into our skin!!

Kitten claws are SHARP! *ouch*

I can totally relate with this hilarious video now:

Fortunately she seems to respond well to a little bit of time-out in her carrier, and usually it isn't long before the sweet little Kiki is back.

Tomorrow is the next big test. How well will Kiki handle a day home alone while Cherie and I are off working with a client? We'll see...

It is 3:30AM. I've been up late handling some HD backup chores, and reading political blogs.

Just as I am wrapping up for the night, I hear Alma's cat flap door open in the dining room. Somebody forgot to lock her out.

I start debating with myself whether to catch her and put her out, or let her in to sleep with us (and face the consequences) when I hear a loud "meow", and a thump.

She has just dropped a live mole (!!!) in the entry to the room!

Quickly before the mole can scurry away into the bedroom where serolynne is sleeping, I grab the only container within reach - a beautiful small antique ceramic vase the the Purge Genie had been listing on eBay earlier in the night. I plop it over the mole, and try to shush Alma away so that she doesn't topple it.

As I look around to find a more appropriate container, the vase starts crawling across the floor. Egads!

Somehow I manage to find a tupperware filled with electronics, screws, and wires from the closet, which I then proceed to dump all over the guest bed. Hurrying back, I manage to stop the runaway vase (and pursuing cat) just before it reaches the hallway.

Lifting the vase, I quickly re-capture the mole in the tupperware.

It's now 3:45AM. I have a tupperware container full of scurrying, waddling mole. It has giant flipper feet, a cute snout, and seemingly no eyes.



First a snake, now a mole... What next?!?

Alma is the most amazing, lovable, and low maintenance cat I have ever lived with. She isn't needy, she feeds her pet snake, she doesn't demand food at particular times, and she doesn't even need a litter box. And best of all - she causes me NO allergic twinges whatsoever.

She is quite possibly the perfect cat. Cuddly, lovable, personable, low-maintenance, and all-around wonderful.

Except in the early mornings, when we let her sleep with us...

This video might as well have been made about Alma in the mornings:

Alma wants us up in the morning. Not to feed her - her dish is usually still full from the day before. But she wants to be walked to her dish, and then for someone to watch her eat. Uh, ok?!!?

Early mornings around here usually involve stumbling out bed zombie-like to watch Alma eat. Either that, or snatching her and tossing her out.

You can only ignore the purring and the squeaking for so long...

A few weeks ago, while helping serolynne out with a Purge Genie client, the little girl at the house let me play with her small snake that she had caught in the back yard.

When we got home, I asked our cat Alma to bring us a pet snake.

Two days later, to my utter disbelief, she did.

She brought home a gorgeous two foot long Everglades Black Racer, totally unharmed.

Cherie and I were amazed, and we went out and bought a small bedside tank for the snake so that Cherie could have company while recovering from her surgery. Cherie named the snake Snoopy.


In the first photo you can see Snoopy ignoring a cricket. In the next, she is ignoring a feeder fish. What a picky eater!

On the recommendation of the pet store, we brought Snoopy both crickets and feeder fish. She ignored them. After a week with no results, I then tried digging all around the yard until I found some earthworms and various bugs. Snoopy continued to have no interest, and she was seeming less active every day.

The last alternative would be to try frozen and/or live pinky mice. We were contemplating needing to go to a speciality pet store today to get some. If the mice didn't work, we would have to let Snoopy go.

Yesterday - I asked Alma to bring us some food for her pet snake. I told her that lizards might work, but that they would have to be smaller than the usual size she brings home.

This morning - she brought me an unhurt, perfectly sized lizard.

I took it and dropped it in Snoopy's tank.

Five minutes later, Alma returned with another perfect lizard.

Amazing!

Fifteen minutes later, Cherie calls me in to the room to catch the last moments of Snoopy swallowing the first lizard!


In this picture, you can see the last of the first lizard's tail hanging out of Snoopy's mouth. The second lizard can be seen in the back corner, looking rather scared.

I just checked again, and the second lizard seems to be missing too. Snoopy is now a very happy snake.

And Alma - wow, what an incredible cat. She not only brought us a pet snake when asked, but also the perfect food for it. I am totally amazed!