Facebook has been reminding me of my epic, life threatening, cat bite.
This is what I was doing hours before Pyret bit me.
I got cold, put on my Aby hoodie, and goofed off with Logan.
Well, to be fair, he fit really well in the pocket.
Logan was such a little sweetheart. I know, Izaak is almost as good…but I still miss Logan everyday.
This afternoon, we took the cats outside. The grass on the hill is really tall right now, and Izaak was looking at it longingly.
Because he always follows me everywhere, I went down the hill myself to give him a little push.
And, of course, Zak marched down the hill to meet me.
I love watching him move through the grass. It’s almost like he’s swimming through it.
Meanwhile, Alfred was coming back up the hill.
The grass where Freddy was is even taller than the grass Zak was in.
Lorelai was in the tall grass, too. Even though she was restricted by her leash, her joy at being outside after a week of rain was undiminished.
Everytime I see the cats in the tall grass, I wonder what it must be like to be a small cat in the big world, where walking through tall grass is like strolling through a jungle.
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.
Björn’s daughter Emma is visiting us this weekend! She’s here for her birthday, which was last Friday, but as Björn’s holiday started today, here’s here from today until Wednesday morning.
Tonight, we had options for dinner, and Emma chose ribs.
So, we had ribs.
And when we had finished, we let the cats gnaw the meat of said ribs.
Emma doesn’t have a cat at home in Stockholm, so she was quite amused to watch the feeding frenzy that ensued.
After the cats had their ribs, Emma had her cake.
She also mentioned that she didn’t like wearing a mask, so I gave her my two cat-face masks. I mean, if you don’t like wearing a mask, it’s easier to wear a fun one, amirite?
Do you hate mornings?
Alfred is definitely not a fan.
I caught him NOT getting out of bed the other morning.
Freddy’s face is a whole mood. I get it, Freddy.
A couple in the C part of our building recently got a Swedish Vallhund puppy. We’ve seen them walking him outside, but we had yet to be outside with the cats when they were training him.
Until last Thursday, when we took the recyclables out. As we know, Lorelai likes dogs. But she’s never really met a puppy before.
The pup is really young, and he’s squirmy and yappy. At first, Rory was a little taken aback.
But eventually they touched noses.
Then Alfred strolled up to meet the puppy, whose name is Toke (Pronounced “TOH-kuh”).
It was pretty funny to see how big Toke made Freddy look. Toke looks a little intimidated. Toke’s humans were happy to introduce him to our cats; they want to get a kitten as well.
And then Izaak joined the party.
“That sure is a funny-looking cat!”
“Wait…That’s no cat!”
Sometimes, after being outside for a while, the cats slow down. That’s when we know it’s almost time to go back in the house.
Lorelai often gets up on Björn’s shoulder. She’s a very accomplished shoulder rider.
Izaak usually wants to stand or sit on me…but this time, he really looked like he wanted to be on Björn’s shoulder, too.
And Zak seems pretty put out that he can’t get up there, too.
As I mentioned the other day, Dashiell is gradually becoming more comforatble outside.
You can see it in his eyes and in his gait.
He’s getting much braver. We still have to catch him and bring him outside – he doesn’t eagerly race out like the other three – but once he IS out, he enjoys it.
But look how incredibly shiny his coat is! I don’t remember Jacoby being quite this shiny. I think it’s because Dash eats more raw food. Jake refused to eat it. He would eat his other food and leave just the raw behind (kind of like Izaak in reverse). I can’t wait to take him to a cat show!
Following up on Thursday’s post about about Izaak’s bouncy gait, here is Alfred casually walking across the grass.
Freddy saunters when he walks with very little bounce.
You can see it in the line of his back.
He keeps it fairly level with each step.
Freddy walks like a cat on a mission.
Even when he’s only leisurely strolling down our hill.
This is what Freddy walking looks like from the front. Look at the determination in his eyes. He’s so intelligent, and you can see that in his face.
Because of Covid, I have not had the energy to clip the cats’ claws on our regular schedule (it takes a LOT of energy to clip five cats’ claws and do all the other necessary grooming).
That turned out to be a good thing when we took the cats out for the first time in forever last Thursday.
Because Lorelai ran right up a tree with the intent to catch a wood pigeon!
She actually got wicked close, too.
She was also fearless and überconfident up in the tree.
Rory was in complete control up in that tree.
And when she decided to come down out of the tree, even that was deliberate and measured.
I mean, look at the focus on that face. She’s in complete control.
Someone barfed on the IKEA cat bed yesterday, so it had to get washed.
Lorelai likes to sleep on that bed during the day, and she was really missing it while it was in the laundry.
She was trying very hard to sleep without it.
But it wasn’t working. She kept curling up tighter and tighter…but she just couldn’t sleep. Don’t worry, it’s back now, and clean.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been on the air for 22 years, and I have been watching it since the very first episode. Since moving to Sweden, it’s been hard to keep up with the latest episodes, but I manage.
New episodes air Thursday nights at 9pm Eastern time, which is 3am here, so I watch my SVU every Friday morning (good lord, I sound like my mom). And I rarely watch it alone.
Björn snapped these photos of everyone watching the show with me. This is what our life in quarantine looks like. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year of this.
These photos are from May 2017. Before Logan died, we had entered him in a cat show in Göteborg. Since we had already paid for the entry, we took Jacoby instead. But he was not allowed into the show because the entry staff misread his vaccination records (they said he wasn’t up to date on his jabs, but he was). It was the same trip where Jake explored Göteborg’s future.
So, we went for a walk around Göteborg with Jake. At Östra Larmgatan 13, we found an interesting black and white mural.
We were particularly enchanted by this cat surfing/skateboarding on a fish.
Oh, everybody’s a critic.
This is the whole mural – it’s actually a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Vans shoes! (Photo from Google Earth)
It’s been a busy week…and I got to today and couldn’t think of anything to post.
So, here are Alfred and Izaak, the nap partners.
I never did post the photos from the CFA show we went to in 2017 I was reminded of yesterday.
Jacoby seemed delighted to be back at a CFA show after competing in a few FIFe shows.
And our friend Teresa Keiger seemed delighted to see Jake on her judging table again.
Many CFA judges enjoyed showing off Jake’s “hands off” style on the judging table, and Teresa is one of them.
People never got over how he loved to just stand and pose on the table, with absolutely no desire to run off.
Jake really loved CFA shows.
Even so, later in the day Jake started getting a little antsy, so we took him outside to play in the snow.
The snow was fresh and wicked deep.
I think Jake was happy for a break outside…but a little taken aback by how much snow there was.
That didn’t stop him from exploring, though.
He even plowed his way to a chain link fence.
When he got there, he gripped the links and looked out through the fence.
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It was strangely reminiscent of the way he loved to look through the chain link fence in our little park along the Harborwalk back in Boston.
After the first day of showing was over, we settled into our hotel. Jake knew where his food was!
Jake and Björn chilled on the bed watching TV.
There happened to be a documentary about cats on TV that night!
Jake was very interested in it and watched intently. It was so cute!
On New Year’s Eve, we had a little socially-distanced party in the afternoon.
It was pretty cold, around 2°C with a breeze, but being outside seemed prudent. Since Alfred has the most…insulation.., he got to come out with us. Johan, our upstairs neighbour, manned the grill.
Meanwhile, Freddy charmed Johan’s mother…
…and this little girl.
Bruno was out with us, too, and Freddy was extra friendly with him. It was nice to spend time with other people…even if it was really cold and only for an hour or so.
When I read, I like to lie on the bed. And I usually end up with a lot of company. Izaak and Dashiell are almost always with me, and Alfred and Lorelai join us most of the time.
And then there’s Angel.
Angel comes and joins us every so often, but she doesn’t just nap quietly.
No…she tromps around the bed, kneading and purring.
It’s cute, and it’s sweet she wants to join us…but it is somewhat annoying.
Then, just as suddenly as she appeared…she is gone.
Look at Freddy’s face! He is so clearing thinking, “Good riddance”!
Here we have a photo of all five cats outside.
Izaak, Dashiell, Angel, Alfred and Lorelai, all enjoying the great outdoors.
Okay, so…Angel chose to enjoy outside from the balcony, but still…
The other day when we were outside, a man with a black Schnauzer puppy walked by. Alfred happened to be looking for birds in the bushes nearby, and walked up to the pair.
It was actually pretty funny; the man didn’t even notice Freddy until Björn told him that Freddy was behind him.
Then Lorelai saw the puppy.
As we have seen in the past, Rory loves dogs.
She bolted towards the puppy.
It was the puppy’s first experience with cats, and the owner used it as a teaching tool. He gave the puppy treats for staying in the sit position.
I was surprised that Rory didn’t get any closer to the puppy than this. I guess she was social distancing.
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.
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