Emeraldas continues to divide her time among her admirers. She still spends time with Lefty and increasingly with ‘Nuki. She’s even slowly beginning to seek out bipeds and award them snuggles.
But even so, the majority of her time–more accurately, the lion’s share–goes to none other than Yuki.
More than friends.
Boon companions, facing what comes, be it baseball on TV or hoomins with cameras, side by side.
Something simple as I ease back into posting, hopefully more regularly.
Emeraldas with two of her purrimores*.
* Lexicographic coinage courtesy of Maggie.
My favorite bit is Watanuki’s right front paw there in front of Em. Despite appearances, she did not tear it off him, just casually plunked herself down on his leg. By the time I got the camera, she had started to ooze off. But the bright white paw really sets off her muzzle.
Emeraldas is still dubious about bipeds, though she is slowly warming up to the notion that she can get pettings on the bed.
But when it comes to other cats, she’s much friendlier. She still regards Sachiko with a bit of suspicion, true. Watanuki, on the other paw…
He’s not generally into cuddling with other cats–he’ll groom Yuki occasionally–but mostly he snuggles bipeds.
But with no hoomins or all-black cats around, apparently they’re both willing to compromise.
Those of you who are fans of Japanese animation–or have gotten too close to a fan–are, no doubt, familiar with the catbus:
Allow me to introduce you to a somewhat–actually, significantly–more sedate form of transportation: the cattrain.
This is what happens when the lead engine gets hooked up the wrong way around: no one goes anywhere.
You may have heard that it’s been wet in California lately. I’m here to confirm that the rumors are true.
We’ve had rainfall of biblical proportions*.
* Overstatement. It hasn’t rained continuously for forty days and forty nights (though it does feel like it). But there have been record-setting quantities of precipitation, and I suspect that more than a few residents of the Bay Area wish they had built arks.
Yesterday was the worst so far. Not in the quantity so much as in the special effects department. There was just a tiny bit of thunder and lightning* to go along with the rain and hail.
* Understatement. Multiple thunderstorms with massive, multi-second, literally house-shaking rolls of thunder.
We’ve been fortunate (picture me knocking on wood at this point). No flooding (other than a leak in the garage roof, directly over the spot where our phone line comes in), the foundations are still solid, the storm drains in our area are keeping up with the precipitation, and we haven’t lost power.
But I can say with no fear of contradiction that Bay Area felines aren’t used to thunder and don’t have a clue what to do about it.
Hiding seems to be a popular choice. Sachiko and Lefty disappeared into the master bedroom closet the first time the house shook and didn’t reappear until nearly dinnertime. Emeraldas vanished into an undisclosed location and wasn’t seen until this morning.
G’aw curled up in the Rose Cottage in the back yard, tucked his ears under his stomach and appeared to sleep through the afternoon storm.
‘Nuki, self-proclaimed master of the universe, slunk into my office making pitiful meepling noises and required a good fifteen minutes of snuggles before he calmed down enough to sink a couple of claws into my leg.
Kokoro’s been around long enough to have seen and heard it all; she woke up when the thunder hit, looked around, and went back to napping. Smart lady.
To be fair, Bay Area humans aren’t all that great with thunder either. My reaction has been to hold my breath, waiting for the lights to go out. Hypoxia was a real risk.
Reports say we’ve got at least another week of rain. Here’s hoping it doesn’t include thunder.
I know I just said, or at least strongly implied, that I wasn’t going to post pictures of cats on the bed. But this one is unusual enough to be an exception.
Most often, if there are three cats on the bed at the same time, it’s either Watanuki, Yuki, and Lefty (The Big Bruiser Boys Brigade)–in which case they’re all on separate corners–or it’s Yuki, Lefty, and Emeraldas snuggled up together.
Behold the variance.
I interrupted some serial grooming here: ‘Nuki was washing Yuki’s neck, while Yuki was cleaning Em’s ears. Important work, no question, so it’s not surprising that Em stalked off shortly after the picture was taken, muttering darkly about impertinent bipeds who can’t mind their own business.
Of course, she did come back about half an hour later–after ‘Nuki had migrated to the foot of the bed–and began grooming Yuki herself. But her point had been made.
My computer is largely reassembled. So I intend to relax and take the rest of Thursday evening off.
Emeraldas and Lefty got to that point long before I did.
For individual and idiosyncratic values of “relax”.
I’m not sure how they wound up like this. Less than half an hour earlier, all four cats were snuggled together–the weather has definitely turned colder, and feline snuggling levels have gone way, way up.
Did Em get stroppy? Maybe, though I didn’t hear any feline politics.
It’s probably not a “she who smelt it, dealt it” situation: none of the cats seems particularly bothered when someone emits an unpleasant odor.
It can’t have been a male bonding ritual, because nobody had a drum.
Just one of those “you’re a hoomin, you wouldn’t understand” things, I suppose.
As so many cats before her have done, Emeraldas has discovered just how great Yuki is as a pillow.
Yuki, of course, is resigned to his role. In truth, he often seems pleased to have somebody snoring into his tummy fur.
Koi Scribblings 