As you might recall, I have been trying to document Izaak’s swagger for a while now.
Yesterday, when we took the cats outside for a walk, I think I finally managed to get it.
You can really see his bum swing in this series of photos.
Compare the way Zak walks compared to the way Alfred walks. Freddy’s back stays straight and he bends his wrists and ankles more.
Here’s a short video showing Zak’s Singa swagger on YouTube.
Today I found a silly old video I made back in 2017 when we only had three cats.
We were all in the kitchen, preparing salmon for dinner.
Angel, Jacoby and Pyret.
I don’t even know why I was taking photos. I mean, it was just an ordinary, everyday thing.
But sometimes, those little bits of random normality are nice to look back.
And I really don’t know what possessed me to make a video…but again, here we are.
Today we took the cats out with us to take out the recycling. Emma got to handle Lorelai’s leash.
It’s been raining most of the week, so the cats haven’t been outside in a while.
While we usually let Izaak and Alfred follow us at their own pace, Emma wanted to try and keep them all with us.
When we first saw this little Yorkie, I was afraid it was going to start yapping and being annoying, but it actually seemed curious about the cats.
Rory was curious, too. We let them say hello.
Rory and I continued to the garbage bin whilst Björn and Emma tried to get Zak to follow us (he had been spooked by the neighbour boys and was hiding from them). On the way we passed one of the rug racks being used for its actual purpose.
In the end, Björn and decided Zak would be fine until we got back, and finally made it to the bins. When we got there, we met an adult Vallhund!
At first, the dog was a little too eager for Rory’s liking.
But don’t worry. Although she be small, Rory is mighty fierce. She can hold her own.
Eventually, the Vallhund settled down, and they and Rory had a nice little meeting.
Freddy got to meet the Vallhund, too.
When Björn went to Stockholm yesterday to collect Emma, he’d left his bicycle next to the bus stop. It was very convenient to fetch it on the way back from the bins. As Björn was wheeling it up the path, Rory did something surprising: she jumped up on the chain guard!
The thing is…she didn’t jump off even when Björn continued to move the bike!
She rode on that chain guard for a while, too.
Long enough, in fact, that I was able to make a little video. Click on the image to watch it in a new window on Flickr.
This was today. Izaak wedged himself into Angel’s bed…again.
Although, she seems to be getting kind of used to it.
She might even, dare I say it…actually like having the little guy around?
Zak seems to really love cuddling with her. It’s funny, but they don’t really ever associate apart from the afternoon cudddle sheshes.
Maybe she just enjoys the free grooming in the spot she can’t reach.
Here’s a short video of them together…what do you think? Friends?
Our Somali friend, Summer is in a movie! Take Me To Tarzana was released yesterday. It is a dark and slightly surreal movie about a pair of millennials who want to stick it to their evil boss… and unearth something bigger and more bizarre along the way.” Because Covid, it’s not in theatres, but you can download or stream it from such sites as iTunes, Google Play, YouTube or Amazon.
Summer and her human actually did get to see the film on the big screen in November at a film festival. Remember drive-ins?
You can watch the trailer (which does not include Summer, sadly) on YouTube.
This is part of the backlog of photos I have; these were taken 27 June 2017. This was before we had fixed up the balcony; Alfred had been with us three weeks and Logan had been with us just over two weeks. Already the “brothers from another mother” were fast friends.
Freddy grew up with a bigger version of the IKEA tube with his littermates, so this was especially fun for him.
Logan loved it, too.
He pretty much loved anything Freddy did.
That tube was a lot of fun, but they eventually outgrew it. Maybe when we get more kittens, it’ll come out again.
I also took a little movie of them playing. It’s so cute.
We went outside with the cats today. Lorelai was the most eager, as usual…
She has zero fat and thin, sleek fur, but she doesn’t seem to feel the cold at all.
The boys, on the other hand, kind of hovered by the door.
Finally, Alfred decided to explore. Seeing as he’s got the most insulation, he should do…
Our upstairs neighbours were outside sledding. Oksana is always happy to see Freddy.
He and Rory explored their sleds.
Eventually, everyone decided they had had enough snow and wanted to go back inside.
I also made a little video of our outing. Enjoy!
We got the cats a remote-controlled rat toy for Christmas. We thought it would be a lot of fun for them.
It…didn’t go quite as planned.
I’m not sure if it was the motor noises or the crazy, self-righting wheels, but they seemed a little intimidated by the thing.
So, Björn got the idea of putting a bit of ham on the back of the rat. Well, that got Alfred’s attention.
And then the ham fell off.
And…then Freddy ate the ham. So much for that idea.
So we stopped the rat to see what they would do when it wasn’t moving.
Dashiell grabbed it and started dragging it off.
He was growling as he pulled it along!
I don’t think any of us saw that coming.
Here’s the video of the whole encounter. I sped it up a little bit, so you may not be able to hear Dash growling.
Surprise! On Friday, when I posted about Jacoby’s victories in the “Haute Cat-ture” category, I didn’t realise that there were two judges in the competition. So Jake won AGAIN, earning 6th place in Millenial Exhibitors Judge Romain Attard’s “ring.”
You can see him narrating his final on YouTube.
Autumn is in full swing here in southwestern Sweden. We’re actually a very similar climate to New England, which is nice; it made the transition just that much easier.
It was 7°C (44°F), but it felt colder. Izaak has a habit of holding one foot up when the ground is wet or cold…he was doing that a lot today.
Lorelai and Alfred went out as well; after her escape escapade, we’ve kept her on a leash when she’s gone outside. Today, though, we put on her harness and had the leash on reserve.
It worked; she didn’t run away…she barely ran at all. But at least she had free range. She finally went down the hill to see what Freddy was doing at the treeline.
I guarantee Freddy is in this photo. Bonus points if you can find him.
Eventually, Rory came back up the hill and sat under this abandoned, broken chair someone used as a base to spraypaint something. She looks so reflective.
I wonder what she’s thinking about?
I also made a little video of Zak and Rory while we were outside. I love watching these two interact outside.
So, remember what I said about Singapuras sharing, and the other cats just letting them get away with it?
It doesn’t always go down that way.
You know that IKEA cat bed we have? Well, Alfred was sleeping on it.
And Izaak wanted to be sleeping on it.
So, he pulled his usual “Well, I’ll cuddle on in here trick.”
Freddy wasn’t having it.
He showed Zak the meaning of the word “smackdown.”
At first, I thought Zak was going to give up.
Never underestimate the determination of a Singapura.
After the tussle, Freddy let Zak cuddle in, and they slept together peacefully after that.
Here’s a video of the whole interaction. It’s a bit long, but it’s fun to watch their interaction.
We took the cardboard to the recycling area today, and of course we had help.
We’re fortunate to have two recycling stations right in our Område. We used to have to go about half a mile to get rid of plastic, metal, and glass…which was a bitch in winter. Now, we just go a few yards.
Izaak and Alfred were particularly buddy-buddy today.
I love watching Zak run.
“What?”
I love it so much when one cat jumps over another…
Of course, Lorelai was with us too.
And, as always, she was so joyful when she was running.
Rory loves to run. She practically flies when she runs. It’s joy personified.
Here’s a little video of the three of them having fun outside.
So, here’s the deal. Lorelai’s in heat, and Karin neutered Io before we could have a second go (Which was a condition on the contract, but whatever).
So guess what, now she’s in heat, and I have no male to put her up with. I am beyond pissed off about this, but it is what it is. At least I got the breeding fee back (1500kr/$150).
But the fact is, Rory’s in heat. So Izaak tried to step in. He’s got the concept, but not the theory.
This is what it looks like.
On one of our outdoor adventures, I got the idea to get a GoPro camera and put it on one of the cats. Alfred, being the largest cat, was the obvious choice…but the GoPro Fetch harness was clearly designed for a Labrador or Husky. It was a series of straps that were designed for an animal with a chest and shoulders.
We tried it anyway, and it was a disaster, even with cutting the straps (so bad I didn’t even bother to take any photos). So, I took the straps off the back mounting plate and tried riveting it to one of Jacoby’s old jacket harnesses. That was better, but still pretty crappy; the fabric was too soft to support the camera and mount. Here’s the video from the test run (ignore me picking up the empty cat bowls). So I gave it another go. Using the straps from the harness, I sewed the mount onto one of Jake’s therapy Yap Wraps. I thought the patches might help stabilise the mount on Freddy’s back.
We put the new version on him and went outside. The first thing Freddy did when we went outside was go to his dust rolling place.
Oh, well…that’s going to be interesting to watch.
And then, he actually managed to get out of it! I couldn’t believe it!
I finally managed to catch him and put it back on. Dashiell was curious about the camera…but not curious enough to look at the front of it.
No matter what we did, the camera kept slipping sideways. Apparently, this is a common problem.
The other problem was, Freddy wouldn’t run with the harness on. Until…
…Freddy’s little buddy showed up!
That got him to run…straight into the bushes.
As you can see, it was still having listing problems.
Jeez, Freddy…it’s not that heavy!
Despite all of the problems, the camera kept filming. I ended up with over a half hour of footage. I’ve edited it down and sped it up so the final video is only about five minutes long (the blurry bit towards the end is Freddy climbing halfway up a tree). I hope it doesn’t make you seasick!
Don’t worry…I am going to rethink the harness and mounting situation (possibly trying something with the chest mounting piece). Stay tuned!
Yesterday, we drove back to Överum to collect Lorelai from her sleepover with Io. When we got there, everyone was outside; Rory in her car cage and Io on his leash.
Look at how handome Io is in the sunshine!
We aren’t sure if they actually mated during the past week
As soon as we got there, we put her harness and leash on so she could say farewell to her beau.
They weren’t unfriendly towards each other…
…But Rory wasn’t all googly-eyes over Io, either.
Rory was super happy to see us again. I wonder if she thought we’d left her and gone forever?
Rory was VERY happy to go for a little walk around Karin’s yard.
Rory said her goodbyes to Io and we were back on the road. If Rory hasn’t gotten pregnant from this visit, we’ll make the trip again in a few weeks. I hope she is knocked up, though; we didn’t get home til after 10pm, which is why this is another two-day post!
On the way back, we stopped at Björn’s brother Örjan’s house.
Looks like someone really missed her daddy!
When we got home, we brought Rory into the apartment still in her car carrier. Izaak and Alfred were the first to greet her. I think Zak missed her!
After her evening chicken neck, Rory was acting like she hadn’t been away for a week. We just need to wait and see if anything developed between her and Io.
I guess the LivePhoto function on my iPhone got switched on again, because all the photos I took of Rory’s journey were also saved as LivePhotos. I compiled them into one video, so take a look at what just might be the origin story of Rory’s kittens.
When we take out recyclables, we often take Izaak, Lorelai and Alfred with us. I made a little movie of us walking over there. I also tried to capture the difference between the Singapura gait and the Abyssinian gait, so there’s some slo-mo incorporated in the video.
On the way back, I took still photos.
For a moment there, I thought Rory was going to go down the slide…
…but, no…
…she took the stairs like a perfect lady.
Zak on the other hand…
…Zak barrelled down the hill next to the slide like a bat out of hell.
I had tried to get Dashiell to come along with us. He was at the door…but I couldn’t get him to go out on his own. Since we were going to the recycling bins and not just outside, I didn’t force him.
When he saw Zak and Freddy having fun outside when we got back to our building, I think he regretted his decision. Ah, well…maybe next time, Dash.
The funniest, cutest thing happened this morning.
Izaak got inside Björn’s duvet cover and was trying to get to me for a cuddle. He got his head through the hand hole…and then got stuck.
Which is funny, because I always thought that if a cat could get his head through a hole, the rest of the body would fit, too. Apparently, not so much.
I had to make a video of him for Björn, who was making his breakfast and couldn’t come to see Zak in the duvet. I thought you all would like to see it, too.
We’ve trained Alfred, Lorelai and Izaak to come along with us when we take out the garbage and recyclables.
And they know, when we let them out when we’re carrying bags, that we’re not just “going outside,” but we’re going out to the bins. These three all know how to walk home from the bus stop from vet visits, and the bins are just next to the bus stop.
They love it…and they do know the difference. Dashiell hasn’t had enough practice outside to do this…and Angel is happier at home.
Rory so loves to run free outside. I say she is the very embodiment of joy when she runs.
Sometimes, she even climbs trees!
Here’s the video I made on the way back (note the Swedish social distancing).
A friend on Facebook posted a photo of her cats today with the caption: “Is this really all we do now? We can’t leave?! When is the next cat show?! We’re tired of sitting home!!!!”
Dude…I so know that feel.
Because we weren’t able to go to our favourite show in Örebro this year, we haven’t been to a show since November, when we went with Lorelai and Izaak to Turku. It’s the one thing I really miss since the pandemic started.
So, I went back in my backlog of photos and found this set of Zak at the Turku show, after our collection of show wand toys fell over.
He was so cute, playing with the toys. We mainly only ever play with wand toys at shows, so this was a treat.
I even made a short video of it (click on the image to view it on another tab in Flickr).
Yesterday, we took the cats outside for some exercise. We’ve had some days of rain, but even though it was a bit cloudy yesterday, the cats wanted to go out, so out we let them…
Lorelai, of course, LOVED it.
As did Alfred.
Dashiell, as I posted yesterday, had his own kind of fun outside.
When Izaak wasn’t striking poses…
…he was exploring the great outdoors with Rory.
I wish I could be as joyful as Freddy running outside in the daisies.
Here’s a short video of the four of them outside.
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 