I like all the old white guys in top hats and tails, gathered around a stump, laughing while one cuddles Puxatawny Pete. Pete seems pretty used to people and crowds and doesn't look like he minds. He must get a lot of love from the club all through the year to be so comfortable. I wonder what generation of Puxatawny Pete we are seeing.
Six more weeks of winter. I don't mind that much either.
The cats are getting bigger and bigger. Elwha, the tiger, went broad as well as big. They are about 6 months old, probably born some time in August. They are already bigger than any of my previous cats. Here is a kitten growth chart: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/469148486160150887/. If they are 24 weeks, they will get quite a bit bigger. They could be 28 weeks. They did not come with a lot of history. Judging by their eating, they spent some time without enough food. They have food insecurity, especially the male. He would have been growing faster. He is quite willing to shoulder Sol Duc out of the way for food. I give them just a very small amount of canned food in the morning. I now give it in separate rooms, so that Sol Duc can eat more slowly without getting bullied. She has decided that the food source is good and reassuring. He is still freaked out about food.
Elwha's fur is a little shorter and softer. He has beautiful stripes and has a broad face and shoulders. He really wants to wrestle and Sol Duc doesn't as much. I put on the oven mit and wrestle with him, which delights him. He can kick the oven mit and fight fiercely.
Sol Duc is black except for a small patch of intermingled white hairs on her chest and lower on her belly. She has what look like white guard hairs and black guard hairs. She lets Elwha have my lap in the early morning. When he goes to sleep she comes and purrs and purrs and purrs, hugging me. She has a narrow face and body. She is trying to open doorknobs and is studying drains as well.
Both cats are trained to harness. I get the harnesses out and they sit by the front door, waiting for me to put them on. Sometimes I follow one around while carrying the other. Elwha gets freaked easily and runs for the door. Sol Duc will sit down and watch. She is studying the cars and everything else. They like going out in the early morning when it is still dark best. TicToc, the Anna's hummingbird, will buzz me and tick at me when I bring the cats out in the day. I am alternating walking the cats alone with taking both out. I would like to get them used enough to it to be able to take them camping in the little trailer. We are not there yet. I need a second cat carrier, a bigger one, because I can't stuff both of them in the small one any more. Elwha would be very confined in the small one. I am watching at Goodwill for a couple of larger ones.
Elwha can bully Sol Duc physically. However, she is the brains. Her response to bullying is to hide the toys, especially his favorites. He loves the toy platypus and the toy mice best. She hides some in the shoes by the front door. It cracks me up to watch her. Sneaky.
Elwha's favorite game is the oven mit. Sol Duc likes the laser pointer best and runs like black lightening from one end of the house to the other. She is fast. She is pretty sure by now that I am controlling the laser. She knows where I keep it, too. I expect that eventually she may steal it and try to sort out how it works.
The other toy that both cats love is the hair catchers. My house is from 1930 and has interesting antique plumbing. The tub is not footed, but it is metal with enamel over it and I keep a hair catcher in the drain. The sink also has a hair catcher. I went to buy two more of each because the cats steal them. I think they are probably under the bed in the guest room, but I have not tried to sweep it out yet. That is where I put a lot of the recently collected beach rocks when my daughter came in December. I have a plan for the rocks, but limited energy. I have to pick what I do based on the spoons.
Yesterday drove 40 min to the eye doctor. I am happy with the contacts: monovision. Left eye distance, right reading. That doc is really smart. He said some interesting things. Looking straight ahead at a computer makes your eyes more tired and looking up is even worse. Looking down, as at a laptop, is less hard on the six eye muscles. Lately I've been using my laptop more for writing. Good, he says, and eat your greens. Lots of lutein.
My vision is also sort of improving. I am very nearsighted, glasses since 4th grade. Right eye worse than left, so I used the right for close and the left for distance. Nearsighted get worse and worse into the 50s and then start getting better. Weird. I topped out at -6.50 on the right and -5.50 on the left. Now I am at -5.00 right and -4.50 left. My last glasses were from 2017. When I got the pneumonia last March, my eyes changed quickly. I couldn't see through the 2017 glasses and dropped back to the 2015 ones which were less strong. I tried all my old glasses to decide which would work. I will get a new pair now, but am waiting to see how much the insurance will pay. It might pay for both contacts and $130 of glasses (mine cost close to $1000 now) or it may only pay for contacts or glasses. The optometrist is supposed to call me. Meanwhile I am wearing glasses at the early hour of stupid when I wake and then switching to contacts after bath or shower.