Hammock-Ville

Anyone would thing these dark November mornings and evenings were for nothing but snoozing ..

If you had seen The Housekeeper and Jasper curled up in a throw on the settee at 18:00 yesterday, then you have had to agree!

If you had seen The Housekeeper in bed this morning with AMBER under the bedclothes having a proper cuddle, you would have definitely agreed!!!

Love is ....

Sharing a radiator hammock with your brother, even when the central heating is broke !!

Happy Valentine's Day

Fawn Friday

How to Share a Hammock 3 - By "The Fawns" - Crystal and Jasper

T's on Tuesday

Tummy!

Tail!

Top!

Thoughts!

Toes!



Trouble!

By Dino! Pictures taken April 10th 2011

How to Share a Hammock 2

By Jasper and Dino

Cat Profile - Parsnip

The Housekeeper couldn't possibly complete cat profiles for all the other Abyssinians in her life, without remembering her first Aby and soulmate. He was an unusual character, to say the least - but was dearly loved for the all too short time that he was with us. We will tell his full story some other time!

NAME
Parsnip

NICKNAME
Nip, Nippy, Noodle

BREEDERS NAME
Raving Parsnip Purrikiss

DATE OF BIRTH
2nd October 1998

DATE OF DEATH
11th September 2008

NATURE
Parsnip had a very unusual temperament with a very short fuse. he did not appear to have the usual Abyssinian traits. He didn't like humans much but tolerated them until he had enough.

Fastidiously clean. If he was allowed out in the garden, he would come into the house to use his litter tray and then go back out to play.

CUDDLY
Human - On his terms, at night, lying on The Housekeeper's chest, on top of the duvet, or when The Housekeeper was ill in bed.Not a lap cat. He only sat on a lap twice in the time that we owned him

Cat - Parsnip hated other cats. He used to tell them in no uncertain terms that he hated them by growling at them

VOCAL
Mew - Fairly loud
Purr - When he set his mind to it, but not often
Cry - A throaty "yowl" and a growl that a dog would be proud of!

FAVOURITES:

TOY(S)
Culpepper Catnip Fish - The newer the better

CAT FOOD
Whiskas Chicken

HUMAN FOOD
Chicken

PLACE (DAYTIME)
Under the Ceanothus bush at the bottom of the garden, in the shade. Parsnip was allowed out in the garden as he didn't wander far

PLACE (NIGHTIME)
On Mr Housekeeper's feet at the bottom of the bed

GAME
Chasing the laser light pen dot
Playing fetch with screwed up post-it notes
Sitting on his scratching post, playing "catch" with toy mice

The Impossible we can do now. Miracles take a little longer!

The boys and girls now regularly play together after breakfast and spend the mornings running at full steam around the whole house, leaving no prisioners. However when it comes to sleeping everyone tends to sleep alone, with the exception of the boys who always curl up together, either in their fleece bed or a radiator hammock.

Yesterday evening, The Housekeeper finished a phone call and turned around to see three cats sharing the two radiator hammocks in the dining room. Nothing new there - until closer inspection revealed that it wasn't Jasper and Dino curled up together for a cuddle, but AMBER and Jasper. This is the very first time that we have seen any sort of real affection between the girls and the kittens, which made it all the more special.

As if not to be outdone, approx. two hours later, The Housekeepers found that Dino had decided that it was his turn for a cuddle with Amber too!

This is just the best possible outcome of integrating the kittens into the household that either of The Housekeepers could have hoped for. One things for sure. They are not all going to fit into the same hammocks for much longer, at the rate that the boys are growing!!!!

How to Share a Hammock

Silent Night ....

Or ...in the case of this household, silent evening, as everyone is curently asleep. However any Abyssinian owner will tell you that all this changes at 11pm when the wind gets into an Abyssinian's tail and they feel the need to run around the house at break neck speed, yelling like a banshee.

Crystal is in the lounge on the leopard print throw

Amber is in the radiator hammocks in the bedroom, full stretch across both of them.

Jasper and Dino are in the hammocks behind me in the dining room

You can almost hear the Zzzzzz's!

Chip and Pin

oo*yhuuuuuuuucv (said Jasper, as he leapt from the filing box onto the keyboard)

Poor Amber. It's been a bad few days really. Not only is she still suffering from the upheaval from the invasion of the two mini-me's, Amber has a skin condition which can be very nasty but having had a steroid injection on 2nd October, had been under control and the affected area had grown fur and she starting to look very beautiful. Unfortunately, we noticed last night that a patch which had started to reappear in the crease of her mouth had spread, so I rang the vets and got her an appointment for a repeat steroid injection. The vet reckons it could just be the stress of the last few days which has brought it on again - so we shall see in due course.

As I had to go anyway, I also decided to take the boys to be registered and get their microchips done. They were impeccably behaved. THEY played cute in the basket and at the vets and didn't make a sound.

Amber charged round the house crying before she had even seen her box and resorted to hiding behind the freezer in the outhouse. Having been extricated, she did at least stay quiet in the car (first time ever!) but by the time we were at the vets her ears were trembling and she was in a right state. I got her back into the house first and she sat quietly in the kitchen, waiting for some crunchies.

Jasper, however, decided on his return to the house to do a lap of honour at full speed and full voice and in the process frightened Ams who, in an attempt to escape Jasper and his war cry, ran through her cat flap into the outhouse. What she didn't bargain for was Jasper - following her at full speed straight through the cat flap, still yelling! It took him a couple of attempts to work out how to get back through the cat flap on his own without help, but it didn't take long.

Amber then went and settled in her hammock in the dining room, out of kitten reach, that was until the terrible twosome bounced into the one next to her and tried to cuddle up! With a look of sheer disgust, Ams took to the bedroom cabinet and the clean pile of washing, made a nest and has been there all day!

The kittens have obviously decided that the radiator hammocks are a good place to sleep and are now both curled up in the same one, snoozing.