I have been trudging through my old photos today, putting them into iPhoto and sorting and categorizing them. While doing so I came across these photos of The Mighty Fang and Mencken shortly after they came home from the Arizona Humane Society. I was living in Scottsdale at the time in a funky 1950's concrete block ranch house just outside of downtown. Some of the other photos of the Arizona wildlife on the Squaw Peak Trail are rather more interesting (this penguin does admire the sight of hot sweaty well-buffed wildlife, yessiree!) but that's another posting :-).
The Mighty Fang is about 8 months old at this time and considerably smaller than he is today. Mencken is about 4 years old and was pulled out of a dumpster where he was foraging for food. Mencken spent about 2 weeks lurking under my bed, coming out only at night or when I was away for food and water and litter box duty, before he decided I was safe and came out while I was around, at which point I couldn't go anywhere without him following me and meowing asking for me to sit down so he could jump on my lap and purr. I decided he needed companionship. TMF -- a playful teenage kitten at the time -- was the result. TMF didn't hide under the bed. He practically mugged me -- and Mencken, who he drove nuts by alternately grooming Mencken and then, during a grooming session, suddenly deciding to wrestle with him.
This second photo is about six months later, after TMF got somewhat bigger (he's now bigger than Mencken, he was about the same size as Mencken at the time of the photo).
Neither of these photos are posed, but both are the result of TMF following Mencken around and doing whatever Mencken was doing. In the first photo, Mencken went to sleep on my futon (much younger and bluer at the time, I need a new futon cover!), and TMF followed. In the second photo, I had a cat lure on a string and had lured them on top of the box while catfishing, and now they're looking down at the cat lure preparing to pounce on it. But at least Mencken quit following me around meowing at me. He was too busy trying to avoid being groomed by TMF, which is why he's had an irritated look on his furry face ever since...
-- Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin
Cute cats!! They always go for the boxes.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures and post. Catfishing... what a good idea. I might just try that. Do you need a fishing pole? Or is it the same as my cats' game of "strings", except you tie something to the end of the string?
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to look at baby pictures!
I always catfish using a fishing lure (no hook, just the fringy rubbery thingy) and fishing line, but you can use string and a stick to move the fishing lure around. I like casting it across the living room and trolling it in like I would if I were trolling for bass. I.e., jerk, tug, tug, hop, jerk, tug tug POUNCE! YANK! (just as if I were setting a hook). If I make it jump in the air, I can even get the kitties to catch a little air :-).
ReplyDeleteThat said, Mencken and TMF no longer seem very interested in catfishing. They've gotten too fat and lazy...
- Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin
Awwwww. What beautiful kitties!
ReplyDelete