Mojo was out and about everywhere by the looks but Rosie was a bit more reluctant to venture outside into the screened enclosure. I have my theories on this. The fortnight we went away coincided with some pretty hot weather. Glenda is kind enough to air condition the indoors on those really hot days. Mojo loves the heat but Rosie, like me, struggles with it and prefers to stay in cooler temperatures. It really wouldn’t surprise me if she stayed inside purely to make the best of the cooler temperatures.

Thank you very much Glenda!

Thankfully, the time of the Christmas tree is nearly over

Mojo and Rosie would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas! If you have cats, I hope you have got plenty of tinsel on the tree for them to pull off and chew to bits. It may make a huge mess but at least it distracts them from the food cooking in the kitchen.

Playing with the latest additions to our aquarium.

We started off our tropical tank with a small amount of mollies, a yoyo loach and one very big cat fish. The mollies have since gone to the aquarium in the sky having lived their short life span. Unfortunately the catfish put an end to any plans to have a self-replenishing group of mollies as he’d just gobble up the young as soon as they were born. The yoyo loach seemed a little lonely, so he got some new friends to play with last year. They’ve all grown bar one which we think is just like a runt of a litter. While the others have quadrupled or more in size, he remains very small.

Still the tank looked a little empty, particularly with all the bottom feeders. So off to Pet City we go to get four rosie barbs to add to the tank. So far it’s all happy families and no losses. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

They previously spent four days at The Cats Retreat in North Maclean while we were moving out of our old house and they seemed to cope okay so we decided that another two weeks  wouldn’t hurt them in the slightest. If you have nervous cats or ones that aren’t used to being boarded while you are away, I really do recommend this place. Auntie G looks after her charges very well and she is able to pick their personalities very early on to cater for their individual whims. I was a little worried about how Rosie would do given she had a recurrence of her skin problem but it has healed up nicely. Mojo has put on a little weight while he was in which is fantastic as he usually goes off his feed when a big change is in the air. And Rosie managed to lose a little of her winter flab as well I think. Auntie G even caters for nervous owners – I could send the cats an email and even a few photos from our trip away and in return, I got an email about how they were finding their boarding experience and photos of them during their stay.

I’m sure that given a choice, the cats would rather stay home and not have us go anywhere. But as a home away from home, I think they’d both agree it is a wonderful place to stay.

The cats have settled in well at our new home – we have moved to a peri-urban area. So it’s close enough to convenience but far enough away not to be bothered by it. There are cut-outs in the walls throughout the house to facilitate natural light and air flow and the cats are enjoying using them as short-cuts between areas. We got some new furniture when we moved in and the moggies didn’t miss out either – they got a new scratching tower which blissfully does not look like the leaning tower of Pisa. It even has hidey holes in it – not exactly a Funky Hollow but they like it all the same.

Sometimes, when my imagination takes me, I wonder whether they are secretly plotting. There COULD be some secret tunnel into my house whereby hundreds of cats gather in my house to plot the demise of the human race. After all, they already have us under the paw and they know which side their milk bowl gets placed. You might think I’m crazy and if I was actually serious about this, you’d probably be right.

But there are things I can’t explain.

Like at least 4 to 5 neighbourhood moggies who have taken to hanging out around our house. They don’t fight, they don’t cause a fuss. They just sit and well, they wait. A few of them have even waltzed right on into the garage of our house – almost as if they think they live here. I can’t explain why my house has suddenly become a magnet for moggies.

Has the word gotten out about the plush pet beds? Or maybe the cat park and promises of a bigger, better one at our new house? Or maybe Mojo’s boasting about how he gets roo meat at least two times a day and more if he asks for it? Hmmm….

I swear, if I see a white fluffy persian start frequenting my turf and he just happens to answer to Mr Tinkles, it may seriously do my head in.

( Yes, Cats & Dogs is one of my favourite movies of all time – maybe I’ve just watched it too much lately. )

Hey buddy - this is a two cat household ONLY!

Rosie on the other hand is easy enough to catch to put in there but once she’s in, the wailing doesn’t stop. And that’s before we even get out of the house! For the duration of the trip and until she’s allowed to get out at the other end, there is this continuous siren of hysterical wailing. Consequently, we don’t just go for drives for the hell of it and keep it to times when she absolutely has to go somewhere….usually the vet. Hmm….maybe the association of carrier + car = vet is the reason for her hysteria but honestly, where else would we go? It’s not like you pop your cat in the car to go to the beach or the park like you would a dog.

But I digress. It seems that both the cats are well with no apparent issues which is always good to know. Mojo is extra unimpressed this visit – being over 10yo, he was up for a senior health check, comprising of his vaccination, blood tests, urine sample and having his blood pressure taken. If you’re wondering how they get the urine – they stick a needle straight into the bladder. So you can see why he would be extra shitty with the vet but fortunately she clipped his claws before she took him in for the rest of it…smart woman. He’s a tad on the scrawny side again but otherwise good as gold. Rosie on the other hand has found his missing weight plus a bit more. So she’s off to a weight management clinic the Wednesday after Easter. It’s a free service The Cat Clinic runs (sponsored by Hills) because there’s been a bit of an influx of overweight kitties….they talk about portion control, best food mixes and trying to get them more active. Sounds a lot like going to a human dietitian….if it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for her too I think!

Are we there yet???

So of course, I went for my usual victim and I’ve started a new Macro Shots set on my Flickr stream. I took a fair few, love the rapid fire that I can do with the 40D. So if you’re bored, that’s where you’ll find the new macro stuff – the old stuff, well it’s just in the photostream somewhere to be sorted at a time to be arranged in the future. For the uninitiated, that means never.

Do you think she's flipping me the bird?

I took this one on my old Panasonic after about 50 shots in macro and to be honest, I can’t even remember what it was I was trying to capture. I guess I was feeling a bit fussy like Rah and wanted it to be just right. Regardless of what I was going for, Rosie demonstrated quite nicely that even a poser has her limits – no more photos today thank you!