The Kitties

Aww.  My precious little fuzzies humored me while I played with my camera in the fading evening light.  ^_^  It made quite a bit of sound they weren't too sure about...  Which makes me all the more impressed by those who can achieve really spectacular wildlife photographs.

Koshka sees the human hiding at the top of the stairs (trying to get the camera ready to take pictures without being noticed) and comes to investigate.  Unfortunately, she was a little fast for me so I only got the one picture and the focus turns out to be on her paw, not her face.  So sad!  I'll have to try again some other time.

After "playing" with me for a bit, by which I mean she had me scratch her ears and tummy, she now sees the much younger, boy-kitty coming out to "play" too.  By which he means running and tumbling around and tooth/claw involvement is a very certain probability.  He plays a little rough for her taste, so she is tensing to jump out of the way if need be.

Mugetsu has joined the fray.  Koshka has found that if she is on top of the kitty stool, she can bat at the boy-kitty without really being too involved.  A rather advantageous position for a kitty who has 12+ years playing with a kitty who is only 8 months old.  Mugetsu is already bigger than Koshka and hasn't finished growing.  This human feels that he will soon be huge (if the size of his paws are anything to go by.)  Fortunately he is a short-haired kitty.  If he shed as much as Koshka who is a medium-haired kitty, I'd never be able to wear anything!  (Black and white cats, see?  If not one, then the other.  Hair would show up no matter what color the clothes...)  Now, both have stopped to watch the other human as he talks to the photographer.  It doesn't take long after this picture for Koshka to run away.

"What is this strange black thing you have pointed at me that keeps making that weird clicky sound?"

"I do not recall giving you permission to stop scratching my tummy!"

Mugetsu enjoys sitting in windows, watching the world and feeling the sun.  Two of the window are along a moderately busy street.  Sometimes I wonder if people think I am a witch, with all her strange plants in the windows, who has a black cat who stares at them... ^_^

I liked how the light caught his eye.

Oooh, the claws.  When I got Mugetsu at the city pound, his (then) little claws had never been trimmed.  He's sitting so quietly in the little cat carrier box in my passenger seat while I tell him all about what his new home is going to be like.  At a stop light, I notice his little eye pressed up against the air-hole facing me, watching me.  Then he sticks his nose next to it.  Silly human, I put my finger next to the hole so he can sniff it and am rewarded when he takes it as an invitation to play.  Yes, there was blood.  This human immediately realizes that harmony in the household may be better achieved by taking a quick detour to the vet before going home.  Koshka has trimmed claws, all the better to protect the furniture (etc) from sneaky kitty scratching when the humans aren't around, and having an introduction will be hard enough on her without having to deal with sharp little claws that are ready to play.  Unfortunately, him being younger and all, his claws grow back out quite a bit faster...  He has started to take full advantage of that fact when running about the house!

A word or two about their names.  Koshka means "cat" in Russian.  She was a stray who walked into her humans life around a time when he was more fluent.  Hence the name.  Mugetsu was a little more difficult.  During that first trip to the vet, I asked their opinion of a couple names I was kicking around.  They told me about the prevalence of a couple of the names.  "Four dogs and a couple cats, etc."  Those names I decided against.  When they heard some of the other names I had come up with, they fervently hoped, for professional reasons of course, that I would pick a name they would be able to pronounce.

"Hello, Ms. Stockhouse, I'm calling to confirm the appointment for...  um... Fuuuuuujiiiiii...  uh... your cat."

Yes, I can see how that might be a problem.  ^_^  When I returned for his first check-up, I told them I had picked two names.  "Mugetsu," they tried to hide their looks of dismay, and "Mugen."  So when they call to tell me the kitty is due for his next check-up, they will be able to easily pronounce what they have typed in their computer: "Moo-gan."  I still have to smile, I didn't have the heart to correct them.  "Mugetsu" means new moon or no moon in Japanese.  A fitting name, I thought, for an entirely black kitty with no markings.  "Mugen" means infinity.  I still think "Haku" (my third choice) would have been a good name, but I liked "Mugetsu" better.