Friday, August 31, 2007

Time To Clean

Wake me up when this place is cleaned up!

Recently our house has spiraled into a state of total messiness. This has happened before, but now we have to get everything tidied up before little Vladimir comes home. We did the same thing before Tanj & Usch came home, thinking any stray object could be a potential toy or safety hazard. T&U turned out to be disinterested in our goodies (or garbage), so we've gotten pretty lax in leaving things lying around. Time to clean up! Of course T&U are ready to "help"...

This tub looks dirty, look at all of those pawprints...

Uschi "patiently" waits for his blankets...

Tanj investigates some of the goodies we have set out for Vladi...

Uschi wants to keep this toy for himself.

Here is where the big boys eat...

and here is Vladi's new dining area
(like Tanj and Usch won't be head first in these bowls!)

Vladi's new hangout

Most of the articles we have read suggest that a new cat have his own room and that he acclimates slowly into the household over a week or more. Well living in a one room house is going to make this a bit difficult. We do have a bathroom, but that is T&U's indoor litter box room and they love to drink out of the tub, and the sliding door is heavy and a potential hazard. So, we are going to be watching the boys VERY closely, not leaving them alone together for the next few weeks.

Why is our portable kennel getting cleaned??

The sad truth is that we don't "deep clean" the house very often, so once we started moving furniture to vacuum, the boys immediately knew something was up. Usually we do a thorough cleaning before we have visitors, i.e. not very often. After vacuuming we were watching TV, and when there was knocking on the show, Tanj dove for cover under the ottoman thinking that visitors had arrived at the door...

Time to comfort Tanji...

You will always be our best
brown-spotted tabby bengal!

Tanj is probably thinking
"As long as we don't have any visitors, I'm O.K."
(Uh-oh)

Uschi is as calm as ever, of course this may be
the calm before the summer snow storm >:-)


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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Securing The Boys

The boys' kennel is made out of a tough polypropylene deer fence. The stuff works great but we wanted to have metal fencing along the bottom for added security from the outside, inside, and the weed-whacker (i.e. me). The first thing I had to do was to clear away all the brush along the fence.

Daaaad, what are you doing?

Then I dug along the fence so I could
bury the metal fence a little. Later,

Uschi helps,

by investigating the trench

as does Tanji.

What ?

This trench is good for running.

Finally the new fencing is in and backfilled.

You can hardly see it.

I also reworked the fence by the window,

and now the view into the kennel
from inside the house is like you are at the zoo.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Vladi Fix

With less than a week until Vladi comes home, we are very excited. Yesterday he got fixed and apparently he came out of surgery like it was just a nap and was playful as soon as he got back to his toys. Here are a few more photos we took of the little darling when we visited three weeks ago...

A quick glance over his shoulder...

Would you play with me?

Someone is melting.

Hey, no hugging...

I'm born to run!

What's that?

Oh boy, a feather wand...

This is fun!

Gnaw, gnaw, gnaw

Feathers taste good!


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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Lunar Eclipse

Early this morning there was a beautiful lunar eclipse.

Last night when we took the boys for their evening walk,
the full moon was already rising steadily and brightly.

As it got darker, it was time to take the boys inside, but we had a surprise in store for them. At around 2:30 a.m. we leashed up T&U and took them back out for their first late night walk. Both were hesitant to leave the house and their pupils were huge with excitement. Uschi decided that he wanted to explore, while Tanj sat securely by the door. We held on tightly to their leashes and snapped photos as the eclipse began.

Look Tanj, your first eclipse!

Uschi is more interested in exploring the deep night.

To see current Vladi photos, click here.


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Monday, August 27, 2007

Ready to Rumble

Would you please wrestle with me?

Tanj and Usch don't wrestle as much as they did when they were kittens. Tanj is ready to play all of the time, but Uschi usually only wants to battle in the early morning (4-7am!). This means Tanj spends a lot of time chasing Uschi, and Uschi does a lot of growling and hissing. When they are both in the mood, it is a sight to behold...

You can see it in their eyes, they are ready to rumble...

Tanj pats Uschi on the head. Its on!

Uschi responds with a neck grab...

Watch those feet, Uschi!

Tanj has had lots of practice with the kick-pickle.

Oh no, it would be terrible if someone jumped on me...

Grrrrrrrooooooooowwwwwwwllllllllllllllllllll

Boys, what is all of that noise??

Can't wait until there are three
little menaces rolling around!


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Sunday, August 26, 2007

Vladi Dreams

Its been a busy day, and we are ending it with photos of Vladi from our visit with him a few weeks ago. Just enough pictures to send us to bed with smiles on our faces...

We imagine Vladi had a busy day playing...

And has eaten his dinner...

Taken care of business...

Cleaned up...

Gotten comfortable...

and settled in to sleep.

Sweet dreams Vladimir!


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