Recently in Cats Category

A couple of surprises this week: Who says "No, thanks", when you are asked if you would like a ticket ( and dinner) at the Australian Open Tennis? Certainly, not me.  First match of the evening will feature Rafael Nadal, ranked 2,  playing Philipp Kohlschreiber at 7pm, followed by Svetlana Kuznetzova, ranked 3,  v Angelique Kerber.

Living in Melbourne at this time of year is fun, some of our team managed to be only a few steps away from the second in line to the British throne last night at the tennis, and there are many other celebrities and sportspeople in town.

And in another unexpected, but welcome surprise: two tickets each for Gold Class Cinema have arrived on the desks of my colleagues and me.

A long weekend is about to start, too, which I hope will mean several long sleep ins, if the cats allow. Sometimes, they just want to get up and play. But if the morning is cool, they love to luxuriate in the bed, liking nothing better than a slumbering human to smooch up to.

Australia Day is the official reason for the long weekend (on Tuesday) and of course , there may have to be a lamb chop on the barbie to celebrate....(BBQ)

It has been pointed out that it is some time since I wrote in this forum, and that my last entry said that there was life after football, but there clearly isn't....as I haven't been able to bring myself to write anything at all until today.

Maybe if my team was Collingwood, it would be a bit easier to get over it, they have been in 13 losing finals apparently, not that I care about them....

It's just that the excitement of getting there was fantastic, but the disappointment is palpable, still.

I'm not used to extended heat waves in November, either...can't really come to terms with night after night being hot. Not helped by three felines cuddling up in the night.... I sincerely hope this is not a harbinger of a hot summer to come, otherwise the aforementioned felines will be in another room.

I made the mistake of leaving the bag unattended one night, and I could hear some scuffling noises, and a ball of wool was discovered on the floor the next morning in a knotty mess.

Their antics certainly make us smile, on another night when I was just settling down to sleep, I heard an unusual noise at the door, leaned over and switched the light on, and Millie was half way up the door, climbing on a coat which was hanging on the back of the door. In our pantry room, she loves to climb to the top of the door, to sit on the top of the door, surveying the mayhem below.

We have a magenta coloured cat "house" which is a promotional item from one of the big pet food manufacturers, which is normally sitting on the landing upstairs. Recently, the house has migrated downstairs, two or three times. We haven't seen it moving, so we have no idea how it has got down the stairs, except that it just appeared.

The weather has got much colder in recent weeks, and if one of us is not home, this leads to three cats on one pair of knees. Good for keeping the knees warm, but just a little cramped.

I read somewhere that it is better for cats to have company, they get into less trouble that way...

This morning it was 12 degrees when I was driving to work, hard to believe just under four weeks ago it almost made 48 degrees in  Melbourne. Snow flurries in the Alps today, but good news continues, in that only two bush fires remain to be contained.

Cooler weather means that cats like knees even more than usual. The two little ones find room on one pair of knees, and Coco takes over the other set. Whether or not one wants a warm knee is not at question, it is what must happen.

Mille has now been with us for nearly four weeks, and she and Mischa spend a lot of time chasing each other around the house. That, and sleeping. I would say that Coco tolerates the two babies, but would prefer on the whole to be left to solitude. She has realised that first in is best dressed, though. We've had some enquiries about Millie but noone has yet been keen enough to come and have a look. In the meantime, she is happy, which is a good thing.

Meanwhile, at work, many of the people in our team have enrolled in a 10,000 step a day walking program. The idea is that one determines a base level of activity, which is what we are doing this week, then work on increasing our steps until we are doing at least the target number a day, using pedometers to measure the steps we are taking. I may need to do some shopping trips, because I don't seem to notice the extra steps when out and about thinking about other things. The program lasts for 10 weeks, so we should all notice a big level of improvement in fitness over coming weeks.

In the meantime, it is a source of wonder that some can sit, unmoving for hours and only tally up 200 steps by lunch time, and for others doing 17,000 can be done with relative ease. There have been arguments about what should be done when the pedometer does not mention steps accurately when running, and whether running uses the same number of kilojoules per kilometre travelled. It doesn't really matter, I guess, because if we are doing more then we will be improving fitness.

The household is settling down after the arrival of Mischa the Siamese kitten a few weeks ago, and we now have a much happier Coco, who seems to realise that this little interloper is not going away, and even provides a bit of fun, playing "chasie".

Coco also has got the hang of first in, best dressed, so if she wants to sit on a particular knee, she needs to be there first, but there are also compensations in the form of play during the day when the humans are absent.

It's been an interesting journey, watching the establishment of order, with the occasional spat. Coco was rather peeved by the new arrival, and told us so in no uncertain terms. Watching the chases, the little one with a much shorter turning circle, means she can change direction much more quickly than Coco. The sight of the pair of them racing from one end of the house to the other on the polished floorboards has provided us with much amusement. A sudden change of direction by Mischa, leaves Coco scrabbling, and wondering where the little one has gone.

Today the order will be disrupted again, as we await the arrival of a litter brother to Mischa who will be housed temporarily at our place, while a new owner is found.

Stay tuned for more reports.

Seems like I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the weather, but, after all, it is Melbourne, and we often have four seasons in one day.

On a similar theme, the investigation into food intolerance and allergies continue, with clear culprit in the diet being yeast, and yeast containing products. I don't eat that much bread, normally, except as toast in the morning, and the occasional mid night snack, so it hasn't been too much of a hardship to give it up, and there are some suitable substitutes, so that I have occasionally been able to enjoy poached or scrambled eggs on yeast free bread such as sour dough. I would have sandwiches for lunch maybe once a year, when all other choices on the cafeteria are unacceptable, so it's not too bad.

The days that I really notice it are those when I've been shopping, and I go past one of the bakery chain stores, where they bake all day, and the delicious aroma of baking bread wafts through the shopping centre. I know I can't just go and buy a Danish, or a yeast bun, as in days gone by, because I don't want to deal with the consequences. Indeed, in my family there has been a long tradition of buying some fresh bakery goods like a Boston bun or a coffee scroll when doing the weekly grocery shopping, so that has just had to stop. As has the occasional breakfast treat of croissants, or just going out for the big breakfast at one of the local cafes. (Mushrooms, another of my favourites, are also on the do not eat list, as is wine, beer, yeast extracts, and anything with yeast extracts in them, such as stock powders)

The good thing is, there are lots of other choices, and I know that removing yeast from the diet has worked, evidenced by a return of more severe symptoms when it is re-introduced.

Tummy upsets are not pleasant at the best of times, and I spent most of the day at home, sleeping the afternoon away...with the two cats keeping me company in bed.

Kittens have a way of worming their way into one's affections. Some years ago, we discovered an absolutely delightful book by Paul Gallico, called The Silent Miaow, which is now unfortunately out of print, which describes this phenomenon beautifully.

In the case of Mischa, the miaow is certainly not silent, more like a squeaky gate, and she certainly likes to have her say on a wide range of topics. After a week, she and Coco have settled into a sort of truce, but Coco is definitely the more aggressive of the two at the moment, and has no hesitation in chasing Mischa around to show who she thinks is boss. Mischa always finds a safe spot, under the coffee table, or in the pantry or some place else in gaps too small for Coco to enter. Then, she waits until the coast is clear, before going off to play kitten games.

Last night was the first night when both cats consented to sit on our laps in front of the TV at the same time, so we are getting some progress in establishment of a pecking order. The worry is that G and I are at the bottom...

Welcome to the new member of our household! She is Siamese, born in the middle of October, and is very cute and cuddly, and very pleased to meet new people. At the moment, Coco is not impressed, so it is not likely that we will get a photo of the two of them in the same space for a little while.

She is the daughter of the late Eugene and Tatiana, who I have written about before,  and while I am contemplating Mischa as a name, we are letting a few days go past before we finally settle on one. Guiness, Sable, Pippin and Mali are also on the list. It's always difficult to choose a name, but we usually find that the passing of a few days will settle the matter for once and for all.

Wishing you and yours a happy New Year.

After a disturbed night, when music would not soothe, and Coco kept getting up and down, five thirty came around at the usual time, but it sure felt like much earlier. I stayed in bed, resolving to get up an hour later, get dressed, and head straight into work, to enjoy breakfast there, rather than at home.

Before I had a chance to get out of bed, my mobile rang, a colleague alerting me to a road accident on the Monash which was sure to result in delayed travel. I went back to bed to catch some extra shuteye, stirring later, with the idea of leaving around nine, and missing the majority of the traffic jams. A check of the vicroads traffic updates, and radio updates before nine and the decision was made to work from home instead.

This is the third day in a row where there have been major disruptions to peak hour traffic. Usually, I travel early enough to avoid most problems, but not today.

The benefit of working from home is that there are less interruptions, but less interaction with work mates. Result, more work done, but less fun... and some frustration as the wireless connection keeps dropping out.

Lunchtime brings on the next of my food challenges after the elimination diet, as possible food suspects gradually get added. The thought of eating plain baker's yeast does not appeal at all. But, surprisingly, I am able to consume half a packet, mixed with half of a large banana. Not so bad, after all. Just not on the list of preferred foods.

At the weekend, all going well, tomato can be added, then next week citrus fruit, chilli and spices and finally varieties of nuts, one at a time.

Coco is very pleased to have someone from her human family at home, but loses patience after a while with not being able to get on a knee.

The street is not quiet, construction noise from the new build two houses down provides a background hum, as the contracters hurry to finish everything off before Christmas.

A trip to our chiller warehouse in the afternoon to inspect some product in -10 degrees C temperature provides an interesting interlude in an otherwise quiet day.

We went shopping on Saturday afternoon, and spent the princely sum of $38 AUD and bought ourselves a web cam, as we'd been meaning to do it for some time... A little time loading software, and less time configuring, a download of skype and away we went.

And what fun, last night to hear the "incoming call" ring, and have Aussie Lass on line, unexpectedly. After the happenings of the weekend, the first live pod cast, with about a hundred people on site at a pub in Paris, and about 50 more people on line, she was in a bubble of excitement about the whole event when we spoke to her last night, nearly two days later. And, she was pretty happy that she and Muffin Man had had the foresight to book a day off for Monday.

Coco the cat was not terribly impressed at being an Internet star, so she decided not to sit on my knee, preferring to sit, just out of reach, making the occasional comment.

G decided that as it was a formal, albeit unscheduled occasion, he would wear a bow tie. On live video streaming, with a hastily erected lamp to provide additional lighting, he looked like a dork. Which is what he intended to do...