Catching up on my sleep

Sleep! Blessed sleep! Through most of the night – there were some cat and kitten noises, which I determinedly ignored. I woke up late, which is not surprising considering the past two nights! I also woke up to an empty nest.

That didn’t perturb me, though, since I’ve been hearing cat noises all along. I looked to my left and found both cats and all four kittens moved to the carpet between bed and window!

The puzzle here was: how did the kittens get there – all four of them? Did one of the adults finally figure out how to pick them up? This puzzle was only solved late afternoon – I had placed a kitten on my bed for a photo-shoot.

Both cats came out and sat down at the bottom of the bed, complaining. Then Shadow jumped up and took the kitten back to the nest! Clever Shadow! Her technique is still a bit clumsy, but it’s a start!

I also think I’ve worked out why Shadow keeps growling and huffing – it’s not directed at Silver, but at me! I’m not her chosen servant (aka owner) and I keep interfering with the kittens, even picking them up, taking them out! Silver doesn’t mind – but Shadow does.

Shopping trip was a bit late – but it’s done. It was a lovely sunny day – but the strong breeze made gardening too cold for comfort. Maybe I get lucky tomorrow – weather-wise.

My neighbour came up for another episode of “Crowded Nest” or “Two cats, four kittens, one nest”. The episode was a bit dull, so we spiced it up by weighing the kittens! That livened things up a bit as both mommies took exception to the procedure. Well, the first-born tabby weighs 280 gr, the twins weigh 260 gr and 230 gr and the calico patch weighs 260 gr. That’s at 10 days old – and from what I can find online, it’s above average. Even the 230 gr.

I still have some sleep to catch up so I’m having an afternoon nap.

Two hours later, I hope I’ve caught up ALL missing sleep now. Silver is being testy again – I’ve tried every which way, but as I feared there is no way to keep her indoors! Whenever she came to the front door, I would ignore her then go to the nest. At the nest I’d fuss and pet her – but anywhere else: Ignore. No matter how loud she meowed. The intervals got shorter and shorter, and on her last attempt she turned to the window. Now, that’s quite a drop – and rather than have her injure herself, I let her out. Shortly afterwards, it started raining – that doesn’t bring her back, though. Fortunately I have a surrogate! She does take breaks from the Mini’s every now and then as well – but not outside the room!

Shadow has finally stopped growling at me – she even purrs now, when I pet her! As long as I don’t make any kitten cry. All their eyes are opening now, I’ll try another photo-shoot tomorrow. Maybe put the lot on the bed and just separate my current target. But that’s tomorrow’s fun – for today, I’m done. Early night again.