Monday 29 December 2014

Season's Greetings from Basil and Saffy

So for us, Christmas part 1 is over. Christmas part 2 (with the in-laws) commences tomorrow.

Saffy's 'hearts and minds' campaign continues apace. She's won over everyone on my side of the family including my staunchly anti-pet Dad. Saffy has pretty much managed to out him as a secret cat-lover, it was all very moving.

Basil maintains his distancing policy from the interloper. He's really not happy, spending a lot of time sulking, hiding, growling and hissing. He'll come around though I'm sure.

Here are some pics of them over the last week. Basil has mainly been on the stairs glaring at Saffy (who's being kept in the living room behind a barrier that Basil can clear, but she can't (yet)). Saffy has been alternately murdering all the toys she can lay her paws on, and snoozing in the cosiest spots.









Here's Basil finally relaxing a little bit on Christmas Day: 


And Saffy as fire building apprentice:


Monday 22 December 2014

The New Arrival

She's here! We brought Saffy home on Saturday and after a fairly nervous start, she's settling in well. At first, it was a struggle to even get her out from underneath the sofa, which is kind of fair enough given the level of upheaval for her tiny self.

Just a couple of days later, she's bouncing around like she owns the place. She's a tiny bundle of energy, she's like a little wind-up toy. I don't have that many photos to share as so far they're all just black and white blurs of her tearing around the place. Like all kittens, she's goes completely mental for a few hours and then totally crashes out dead to the world. This last part still mostly happens underneath the sofa.

She's also got the loudest, most enthusiastic purr that utterly belies her size. Her miaow is a teeny squeak that makes her sound more like a monkey than a cat. In short, she's adorable, and we are smitten.










One member of the household who's not quite so enamoured is our dear Basil. We've tried to introduce them a few times. I'm relieved to say he's shown no signs of trying to attack/eat her, and she shows no fear at all. Quite the opposite in fact, Basil just hisses and runs away doing sad miaows (his 'woe is me, what have I done to deserve this' miaows that he usually reserves for the vet's waiting room). I'm sure he'll come around in the end though.

Here he is. He says Saffy gives him a migraine:


Sunday 14 December 2014

Basil the Press Assistant

We spend most of our spare time at home letterpress printing. Basil has been incredibly helpful on that front this week. Setting type, overseeing production, giving his (muddy) seal of approval on our printed cards...






His soon-to-be little sister, Saffy, is now less than a week away from coming home with us. She is very excited:


But also slightly nervous:


We understand sweetheart. Don't worry, you'll settle right in. We promise not to let Basil eat you.

Sunday 7 December 2014

Basil's New Bed

We bought a new cat bed this week. It was amongst the bits and bobs we actually bought for our imminent new arrival, Saffy, but Basil has commandeered it already.



He's also been helping me make our bed, which is very thoughtful of him.



It passes the test.

Sunday 30 November 2014

Basil is feeling mellow

Basil has been pretty chilled out this week, bringing nothing more worrying than mud in with him from the garden. Here's hoping he's mellowing out in time for the arrival of his little sis in a few weeks.








Sunday 23 November 2014

Kitten visit

Cuteness overload! Today we went to visit the litter of kittens and picked out our little girl. So, everyone, I'd like to introduce... Saffy.

That's short for Saffron, sticking broadly with the herbs and spices theme. Thanks for all the suggestions for various names by the way, those that have gotten involved, it's been fun choosing.










I love her asymmetrical markings, it kinda looks like she's got an ink splodge on her face. Supercute! Adorably, she was the only one of the kittens that hung around the whole time that we were there as well, so I think it's meant to be.

And here's their wonderful mum. She's a beautiful cat, about a year old, very petite and incredibly friendly. She's looking for a home too, so if you have a cat-shaped hole in your life, drop me a line, I'm sure she'd be a delightful addition to any household.




In other news, Basil brought in a pigeon this evening. Rather alarming for all involved. No idea how he managed to even get it through the cat flap, and he's never managed to catch anything before. Like, ever. The pigeon was still alive, flapping about on our stairs, and seemingly unharmed aside from being very shaken. We've put him in a cosy box outside with some bird seed, and hopefully he'll recover and get himself out of here. If not, I guess that's just nature.
Basil is currently locked in and howling like a banshee at the cat flap. It's all a bit distressing really. I wonder if this is some sort of psychic statement from Basil as to his feelings about us getting another cat...