Howdy my friends. I’m sorry about not posting last week so I’ll get you caught up on the news today. Titanescu has made great strides in adapting to life in our apartment. He’s still a grumpy ole fart, but he no longer growls and hisses at the other two. Instead, he has been cooing and trilling at Tito in order to entice him to play, so now he and Tito are having regular romps complete with cat drifting. Titan and Miss Jenny are now beginning to play a bit as well. He still tends to smack them with a paw when they get too close, but it’s a gentle smack and more out of habit than anything. Tito and Miss Jenny don’t bat an eyelash when he does it. 🙂
They aren’t snuggling together yet, but they get a bit closer every day. Titan seems to be happy and being able to run is good for him. He’s a lot lighter on his feet now.
Tito and Miss Jenny having a snuggleTitanescu watching over his domain
Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without some drifting cats.
Eventually I manage to kind of “bat” Jenny away just long enough to check the time, 9:39 a.m., crap I’ve only slept three hours. She walks back and forth across the pillow and darts when I pet her, almost coquettish “oh no, monsieur, really you mustn’t! Hee! Hee! Hee!”
Back and forth, back and forth.
With this tail I offended myself…
It dawns on me she’s digging around my night stand for something specific. She picks up an eyeglass cleaner in its wrapper and spits it on the floor, bats a small bottle of aspirin aside and gnaws at a pen, her eyes big as saucers and purring up a storm, with the determination of a French cop from XIX century literature, coquetry out the window now.
Jenny Javert, Javert-Jenny, whatever, I’m doomed by strawberry-cream jellybeans…
I get it, finally, and palm the toy laser before she picks it up to spit in my lap. She hasn’t seen me do it but she ‘senses’ I got something, so she walks over still purring loudly, extends her neck to smell my face, maybe give me a morning kitty kiss. She half closes her blue peepers, then vurps a small cloud of fishy breath up my nose.
But there’s worse now around here… Speaking of literature, of a Russian flavor this time. Titanus Grumpicus being treated for halitosis, his ‘affections’ can be fetid, especially after he’s nommed his canned food: I mentioned before he slobbers a bit. Well, that, combined with dragon breath and the tiny bits of Friskies mixed in spit he dribbles shape my dreaming into an episode of “Alien” where the freaking monster corners me in a dark service corridor and prepares to spear my forehead.
I crush you.
And do be careful trying to shoo him away, no matter how gently: he’ll swipe at your hand with surprising speed with a slavic-accented yowl you can interpret as “I crush you!” Old bastard.
Ah but Tito, the gentleman, rolls back and forth on the kitchen floor cooing, trying to prod the old coot into a game of tag, drawing him away from my eyes still puffy from sleep, cat vurps, farts and spittle, bless him. Of course, eventually, he’ll chase Jenny around and they’ll race across the bed, launching off of us like gut-punches or a brass-knuckled haymakers to the face. To the face…
Oooooh…. Pretty!
So fine. I’m up. And we know Jenny and Tito have their theme music, but now we have to think of something for comrade Titanescu, something purple maybe? Like our bruises..?!?
Tito is a paraclete. Notice the small ‘p’. The capitalized version has a religious definition.
Tito was a dear when our first kitty was sick with lymphoma. He was much younger, but he tempered his play knowing that The Boober didn’t have the stamina.
Kitten Tito and The Boober in the salad bowl
Later, he greeted Kitsy enthusiastically without a hiss.
Tito and Kitsy catching rays on the futon
He did the same with Miss Jenny.
Tito and Miss Jenny
He has really shown off his ability to be a paraclete with the adoption of Titanus Grumpicus. Titan is a grumpy senior kitty who spent far too long in the shelter and had to endure two failed adoptions. He came to live with us one month ago today.
Titan in the midst of a nip trip
Enter Tito, the paraclete.
Tito has really worked at making friends with Titan. Titan would hiss, spit and swat (no claws though). Tito would just carry on without a twitch. Since it’s taking Titan longer to adjust to Miss Jenny, Tito tends to place himself between them in order to avert any animosity.
Last night, Tito managed to coax Titan into a short game of tag. It was impressive. This morning, for the first time, Tito and Titan sniffed noses. Titan finally remembered to hiss, but Tito just did his kitty version of a shrug and went off to nap.
Titan is on the left and Tito is on the right. As you can see, Tito didn’t go far for his nap
Tito deserves as much credit as we do (if not more) for helping Titan to adjust to his new home. Don’t get the impression that Tito is an angelic kitty or something. He’s far from it. However, he knows when his paraclete skills are needed and uses them well.
I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was too pooped to type. I spent the day at the fire department taking part in a disaster operations class for some volunteer work I do. The class was fun and I managed to stay awake though I hadn’t had any sleep in over 24 hours. Once I got home and sat on the bed, I melted. So today you have it. Hopefully, next Caturday will go up as planned.
Tito is adjusting well to the new tyrant. He pushes things with Titan a bit, but not in an aggressive manner. He walks up to him and doesn’t let a hiss deter him. As a result, Titan hissing a lot less. Tito is a beautiful little soul.
Watchful and patient
Miss Jenny is more careful around Titan. I think she got her feelings hurt when he smacked her nose a while back. She’s not scared or aggressive. She’s just more careful to give him space.
She’s probably dreaming of taters
Mr. Titanescu or Titan of the White Whisker has made plenty of progress this last week. We leave the door to his room open unless we’re both going to be out. He’s exploring the apartment more and more. He’s finally beginning to explore our bedroom and the place where the other two hang out most.
He conquered his fear and claimed the cat tower..for about 5 minutes
This morning he did something amazing. He played. He was in the hall and did one of the quick 180s and dashed into the kitchen. Tito followed. He then dashed into his room at top speed followed by Tito. He did that twice and only at the very end did he remember to hiss at Tito. Tito just looked at him and sauntered away calmly. I swear I saw Tito smiling.
We also discovered that Titan has a bad drug habit.
Waiting for the Pointy Eared people to work out their treaties and other political deadlocks, I look through older photos and forward to the tribe coming together.
So today is part retrospective, part look back to the future…
This is what I want:
L to R: Maz, Jenny and yes, Tito
Tito does the camouflage very well on this dark shiny blanket, but I think Titan will blend in even better…
… This is what I get:
“La Voltigeuse” on a cat tower that’s seen better days
And a really good thing it is that we “moored” the tower to the bookcase, or it would have been toppled countless times…
This is what I want:
I wuvs you Bubby…
The Boober did have the patience of a saint…
This is what I got:
Young Tito pole dancing
Meanwhile, next door:
Titan a.k.a. Captain Stubby
Just under Titan’s stubby tail is a teddy bear. It’s not what it looks like: these are the bears’ eyes and nose.
Maybe in the future we’ll have a cat named Jupiter or Jove, and Titan will moon him, rather easy with that nub of his…
Dedicated to our spectacular dramatis personae Maz Whang and Boober…
Fist things first. We want to congratulate our friend StateOfGrace for her adoption of Pearl, a bengal mix and Mabel, a beautiful black kitty. We know those two furbabies are very lucky and have a wonderful human who will love them, forever. Hugs and head bonks from the JBoD family.
Now… I’m beginning to get cranky. I want my rain and/or fog darnit! There’s too much sunshine. It’s hard to take pics that aren’t over exposed or suffering from terminal purple fringe. Oh well. We managed to escape and Lastech got a few nice pics in spite of the sunshine. These were taken around Lands End and Sutro Baths. It provided me with some much needed exercise as there were lots of stairs to deal with.
Pretty purple flower at Mile Rock Beach by LastechSweet alyssum on the cliff above Mile Rock Beach by LastechThat’s a lot of stairs. This is just one of the ones we climbed. There were many more. Photo by LastechA Great Blue Heron (left), a seagull and seal rocks from Sutro Baths, by LastechSeal Rocks from Sutro Baths, by Lastech
As for that white whiskered tyrant named Titan… He’s coming along. He’s still a hissing spitting old fart. Today we opened the door to his room and left it open for a while. He hissed at Tito. Tito was unfazed and ignored it while exploring Titan’s room. Jenny was napping elsewhere. 🙂
Titanescu looks more like sleepycat in this photo by Lastech
Another Caturday rolls around and life is beginning to smooth out a bit. Titan is still in his safe room but he’s adjusting well. We’re getting him started on kitty introductions. The day before yesterday, he saw Tito at the door (across the room) and he hissed. Yesterday, Tito was allowed to spend about 2 minutes exploring the room while Titan watched from the bed. He didn’t hiss. This morning, I cracked open the door and Titan came over and stopped about two feet away from Tito. He hissed once, but didn’t run away. He studied Tito for a moment and went back to his human pillow (aka Lastech). We’re advancing slowly. 🙂
As for the theme of today’s photos…
The GoodThe Mad (as in stark raving)The Mad… againThe Bored
And now for something completely different. WARNING!! Cute overdose is imminent!
There is a new addition to the JBoD household. Recently, we found ourselves looking at our local shelters online. We weren’t in a hurry, but we wanted a rescue kitty. Last weekend, Lastech found one. His name was Titan and his picture showed him sporting a pair of bat wings. It was adorable.
Titan gazing out of his room at the shelter.
Yesterday, we went to visit him. He’s ten years old and, born without a tail, he sports a very cute little nubbin instead. 🙂 From what we know of his story, he was adopted and returned to the shelter twice. The second time, it appears that he wasn’t introduced to the household properly and he was scared and hiding most of the time. Poor baby. We’ll take our time and introduce him slowly. We have a safe room all set up. There’s a futon, so Lastech and I can take turns staying with him. He and the other kitties can sniff at each other with a door between them for a while.
These are pics I took at the shelter when we met him.
Titan immediately climbed onto Lastech’s lapAs you can see, Titan has one white whiskerHe settled right in and promptly fell asleep
These pics were all taken yesterday.
Oh yes, about Tito and Miss Jenny? Well, we came home with the smell of strange cat on our persons. Tito and Miss Jenny were not amused.
Lastech glanced over and saw Tito and Miss Jenny giving us the stink eye
Today we brought him home. He’s currently hiding under the futon and I figure he’s nervous enough without me chasing him around with the camera. I’ll let him settle a bit before I do that. I would do anything if I could remove the trauma that any animal feels when they meet a new environment. All I can do is be patient and quiet. 🙂 He’s worth it.
Happy Caturday to all. Hopefully all of our friends who are enduring the blizzard are doing well. To make this official, I will NOT call a winter storm by a stupid name. Our National Weather Service doesn’t name them. The Weather Channel and affiliates have done so and it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy. When NOAA decides to name a storm, I’ll be on board.
Lastech is finally recovering from the cold in his dode, so hopefully we’ll have another adventure soon. In the meantime, here are the stars of the show.
I haz clawz! Let me show you themI’ve been taunting the birdies. Now I’m going to harass Tito.There’s nothing better than warm snuggles
For a change of pace, here is a bit of humor starring Ricky Gervais.
