Monday, October 24th, 2005

Nimbus is my very best friend. We had so much fun last night.
He got under this great big towel on Velvet's chair with only his
tail sticking out. He was going wild under that towel and I
jumped on it. We played like this for a while then Nimbus came
out and we had a love grapple. We played together all night.
Sometimes I chased him and sometimes he chased me.

Mom and Dad were being lazy and looking at books. Boring!
Mom did stir herself and play with us for a little while. She got
out the mice on shoestrings. These are always good for some
fun. Nimbus, Velvet and I all went after them. You have to
watch out for Velvet, though. If you get in her way you're liable
to get a poke, a swat or a scratch. If you're really unlucky she'll
bite! She tried to bite Mom a couple of times last night but
Mom's wise to her.

I think that Velvet got extra mad at Mom because Mom caught
her sneaking up on Phoebe while Phoebe was in one of our play
boxes (the ones Mom and Dad make and cut circles in). When
Mom saw Velvet going over there, she picked Velvet up and
turned her around. Velvet HATES to be picked up! Velvet was
kind of hissy after that.

Mom tried to sweeten Velvet by letting Velvet nibble and lick
on her fingers. This seems to soothe some of Velvet's meaness.
Velvet wasn't sweetening that much, though. She was still being
mean. She gets a squinty eyed look when she's on one. She also
has her ears a certain way. You want to walk far around her when
she's looking like this. If you have some really bad luck she jumps
on you from her chair.

We all have our own chairs. Nimbus has to share his with
Lightening and Guiseppe. Sometimes he lurks when they're sitting
in his chair. He likes to intimidate Lightening. I've told him that he
shouldn't do that because I've seen Guiseppe protect Lightening.
Guiseppe, as I've previously mentioned, will bite. Once Nimbus had
Lightening trapped in part of the livingroom. Guiseppe had to leave
his chair and escort Lightening past Nimbus. Dad thought that was
pretty funny.

The same thing used to happen when St. Sage was alive. St. Sage, so
I've been told, was even meaner than Velvet. He was never mean to
Mom. He just hated other cats and some dogs. Mom was his best
friend, though. He knew the sound of her car and would greet her
when she got home from work or errands. She'd yell at him to get
out of the street, but that never stopped him. One of his nicknames
was "Frankenkitty" because he used to rip off the screens to get
outside, fight with the neighborhood cats, then have to go have tubes
put in his head to drain out the puss. Yuck!

Thomas, Mom's oldest cub, came home to live for a while (this was
before he got married) and brought his big ragdoll cat named Sapphire.
Frankenkitty, I mean Sage, used to torment that cat. He'd try to get in
and kill Sapphire. He'd bite the windows, slobbering all over them, and
pound on the door while howling horribly. He'd stick his paw under the
door and try and rattle it open. I think that Sapphire was relieved to
finally move out.

One of Sage's other nick names was "shitty kitty bang bang". He got this
nickname by always going out at night then demanding to be let back in
the house at 4:00 A.M. by banging on the windows and howling and
screeching like a wild banshee. He was so loud that even the neighbors
would complain.

What a trouble maker. I don't see why Mom still cries over him. He's
been dead for almost 2 years now. She even gets to have four fine felines,
instead of just one big mean one. I hope that she will eventually get over it.
We're all trying to help her out. Even Velvet gets disturbed when she cries
and comes and licks her face. If mean old Velvet cares and tries to help out,
Mom should just get over it. We're the best cats, IMHO, that can be got.

Mr. Snapper's the same as yesterday. I'll let you all know when Mom brings
him in the house. Maybe I can talk her into taking his sleeping photo for his
Phoenix story;)

love,
Dakota, Pixie-Bob