Very, very early in the morning, when Viola’s still asleep in her kitchen island box. Well, mostly asleep, she listens to the sounds of her people getting up. First is Dad in his bathroom closely followed by Mom taking a shower and getting ready for work. Down in the kitchen, Dad makes Mom breakfast tea and a small ramekin of oatmeal with some walnuts on the side. And still, Viola lays in her box and waits. She’s purring by now because Dad’s nearby but she’s waiting.
The very moment she hears the upstairs door close and Mom clamoring down the stairs, Viola’s up and out of her island box to give Mom an earful.
“Mom! I’m half-starved! This niblet needs a pre-breakfast kibble snack right away!”
Every day is the same whether it be a workday for Mom or not, this Viola Niblet remembers that even though she’s a wet canned food girl, she always gets 10 pieces of kibble every morning from Mom.
Now that we think of it, Viola always was a demanding kind of girl. Not sure how we might have missed that clue
Neighborhood cat KeeKee (formerly known as Mr. MewMew) says, “Sure, I’ll be your friend, as long as you keep supplying the catnip. Oh, and don’t touch the belly. Fair warning!” You can be sure we take that warning with all seriousness. Mom might even have a scar to punctuate the importance of that!
We have raccoon babies! Unfortunately, we just don’t have pictures of those babies yet. Three came with mama Bea the other morning, before light, and are very, very small. We heard their chittering voices, saw one rush up to another and pounce like a kitten would to a sibling and then, mama Bea scolded the bunch and they all fell in line behind her, silent as their shadows.
Later and alone, mama Bea wandered around the fountain, undoubtedly looking for safety infractions that will be mailed to us later as a report on what must be fixed before she allow her children to swim and clamor over the rocks. Dad admits he’s let too much algae accumulate here and there and then, on a day off, Mom hosed the whole thing out which provided a good influx of fresh water.
Short of making tiny life vests available, we think the fountain’s ready for this year’s batch of babies. Let’s hope for baby photos soon!
~ ~ ~
Thank you again, from our hearts, for all your kind words and comments. Thank you so much, dear Friend of Colehaus for your kindness and generosity. The Colehaus Cats, Tessa, Quint and Viola, spent a couple of days looking for Pia, who usually spent time by herself. Quint and Tessa are now spending a lot more time together than they had in about a year, snuggling and napping together in a sunny window. Though Pia was a quiet cat, our place does seem to feel a bit more quiet than we expected it would and will take some adjustment for all of us.
Thank you again, for visiting and helping our hearts heal.