The Adventures of Kate and Charlie

Part One: Cuddles, Chaos and things that Crash in the night.

You know how sometimes life runs smoothly and all seems settled and well thought-out? Maybe you’ve planned your next vacations, or decided upon a new direction for your garden, or become deeply involved in a volunteer or work project and are happy with the direction in which it is moving? These are good times, you think. No need to change anything. So, I asked myself the other morning around 4a.m. after hearing a loud crash in the kitchen, “why did we do this?? Why did we change things?” Well, to start, because we love cats and missed sharing our life with cats. Also, in our long life together we had raised 7 cats and 1 dog and now were living a pet-less life, and wanted to share our life with a little 4-legged friend (or two) even while thoroughly appreciating our freedom from pet responsibilities. But this is what Bill and I did – we adopted 2 kittens. We adopted them from a well-staffed rescue organization here in Seattle. These gorgeous little siblings are beautifully socialized (a result of such good staffing), lively, healthy, and very, very active. Active all over the house. Everywhere. We’ve needed to baby-proof the kitchen cupboards again, our kitchen counters are lined with foil (although that no longer works as a deterrent), plants once in windowsills are now wintering over in the shed, and our once-beautiful rugs now look like shag carpets from the 1960’s. But, you know, none of that matters because these little kittens are as fun, funny, lively, and creative as any pet could be. Even when they push an overly-ripe banana off the kitchen counter and look down on the mess as if to say, “Look at that. It spats!” And active – I mentioned that, right?

So, enough introduction. Here they are:

A few more pictures will give you an idea of their personalities. (I apologize for the blurry photos – it’s tough to take pictures while the targets are moving.) Our vet calls Charlie “a little spit-fire”. Katie is a cuddly, friendly, squeaky and very silly little girl. She seems to favor Bill and Charlie seems to be my girl. (By the way, Charlie is named after a character in one of my favorite movies, Brian and Charles. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it.)

Mornings start with a wrestle, of course.

The aftermath of climbing the shoe rack in the back hallway.

Catching a few zzzz’s. That’s Katie in a favorite sleeping position.

More exercise.

The beautiful Katie. But keep in mind – looks are deceiving.

Since Katie and Charlie are coming up on 6 months old, we’ve begun leash-training them. My next post will be about the long, lively, and very athletic responses we’ve received while training them to halter and leash. It’s exhausting – as much from laughing as from the gymnastics. These little kittens are flexible!

Stay tuned!