And last but certainly not least in my twelve days of donating is the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue (VOKRA). VOKRA is a volunteer-run, no-kill rescue organization that helps about 1200 surrendered, abandoned, and feral kittens and cats per year by finding them permanent homes (or, for feral cats that aren’t adoptable, through their trap/neuter/return program). While cats are waiting to be adopted, they live in foster homes rather than a traditional shelter. And, of course, VOKRA is where I found my kitties!
It’s been another trip around the sun for my kitties, Watson and Crick – today they turn 71 Being cats, their lives aren’t that exciting, to be honest. But in the last year…
Plus I got my condo painted this summer and when I’d pulled the old cat tree away from the wall for the painters, I noticed that there were black marks on the wall where the cat tree was leaning against it (the old cat tree was black) and since I didn’t want that happening on my freshly painted walls, I figured that a lighter colour cat tree – and one that was more sturdily built than the old one – was in order. [↩]
Can you believe I’ve had my kitties for FOUR YEARS? I totally thought it was just three, but when I went to get the link to the blog posting from when I got them, I saw that it was FOUR YEARS AGO! So I’ve had these little fuzzballs for more than half their lives. Well, if you count in conventional years. If you count in cat years, I’ve not had them that long, because according to the Internets, cat years work like this: their first two years of their life = 25 years, and every year after that = 4 years. When I got them, they were 2.25 people years, which is the equivalent of 26 years old in cat years. And in the 4 people years since then, they’ve only aged 16 cat years. Cat math is weird.
At any rate, every day I’ve had these cats has been the best. They are so loving and so funny, and even though Watson can be an asshole sometimes and Crick will claw the shit out of you if you piss her off, I wouldn’t change a thing about them. Best. Cats. Ever. I mean, look at these guys:
Went to the gym after work today for the first time in more than two weeks – I’d put my membership on hold for two weeks as I was away for a week in Squamish doing data collection and then away for a week in Washington for a conference – and then I’ve spent most of my evening uploading photos to Flickr because I hadn’t uploaded photos for ages and I have ever so many. Anyway, now it’s nearly 11 pm and I’m still not done uploading photos and my brain is too tired from a hectic week of work to think of anything good to blog about, so instead I give you these pictures of my adorable cats!
In honour of the sixth birthday of my little fuzzballs, I give you this video of them chasing a laser pointer. I accidentally filmed it in slow motion, which means that the times when they sit and stare at the red dot seem even more absurdly long than in real life, but the parts where they chase and jump are hilarious – I especially love the sound!
The kitties were spoiled today with new toys and some special treats – though I’m not sure any toy can be more appreciated than a box!
Three years ago today I adopted my little fuzzballs, Watson & Crick. When I first got them, they were very much people cats, but they’ve gotten even more cuddly and affectionate. Crick started out as a kitty who would like to be curled up next to me on the couch or in the bed, but now she’s a full on lap cat, who will sit on my lap when I watch TV and who more often than not curls up on my chest to go to sleep at night. Watson still likes to sit just out of arm’s reach and meow at you because you are not petting him when you sit on the couch, but now he’s willing to curl up next to me on the couch or the bed and on the weekend he even sat in my lap while I watched two full episode of The High Man in the Crooked Tower! I was in heaven!
In honour of their third adoptiversary, I bought the kitties a cat house that looks like a shark because that’s hilarious. Here’s a video of them checking it out when I first gave it to them:
I like that they politely took turns getting into it. Much unlike their cat tree situation, where Watson inevitably attacks Crick if she sits on any level of the tree, even though he only ever wants to sit on the very top.
So far, Crick seems to like the shark more than Watson, as she spent a fair bit of time hanging out in there:
Watson went back in again after that, but quickly got out once I started taking pictures:
Happy adoptiversary, my sweeties! You make my life better every day!
It’s my kitty cats’ 5th birthday today! Because I’m the worst cat mom in the world, I’m on the other side of the planet. Fortunately, they are cats and don’t know how to read a calendar, so I can spoil them when I get home and they won’t know the difference. Special thanks to their Aunty Heather, who is looking after them when I’m away, with help from Uncle Dwayne and from Aunty Ellen!
So now that spring has sprung in Vancouver and all of the various pathogens with which I’ve been infected appear to have left the building, I’ve gotten back into the swing of things running-wise. I’m really, really slow from having taken so much time off from running1, but I’m confident that if I keep getting out there, the speed will eventually return.
I met up with my BMO Marathon Relay teammates for brunch on Saturday to discuss logistics, and I’m really looking forward to that event, which a mere 20 days from now! Fortunately, I’m training for the Scotiabank Half Marathon and the 13 km I will need to run for my leg of the relay is in line with my training plan2.
And speaking of the Scotiabank Half Marathon, I’ve signed up to run as part of Team VOKRA, which is raising money for the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Organization (VOKRA), which I’m sure you will remember is where I got my kitties from. They do good work in rescuing kitties and finding them safe and loving homes, so I’m happy to help support their work. While VOKRA is run by volunteers, there are lots of costs that need to be covered when it comes to rescuing, caring for, and eventually placing homeless cats in their forever homes such as:
prenatal, natal, and bottle feeding program
trap/spay or neuter/return program
supplying all foster homes with food and supplies
medical emergencies/medications
The team has a goal of raising $10,000 through our Scotiabank Half Marathon fundraising, so please consider donating on my fundraising page:
Watson & Crick say “Please Sir or Madam, won’t you donate to help the kitties?”
Not to mention the [redacted number] lbs that I gained over the winter thanks to taking so much time off from running and also Drink-cember. [↩]
I’m scheduled to run 13 km the week before BMO, as it so happens. The weekend of BMO is supposed to be a “rest” week where I go back to 8 km, but I figure two 13 km long runs in a row will be fine. [↩]
So I won a free photo collage mug. And I’m sure you can figure out what kind of photos I put on it!
Sorry the photos of the mug suck – the mug is really shiny, so you can see the reflection of me taking the photo in the mug. I’m a crazy cat lady, not a photographer.
Two years ago today, I picked up two little kitties, then named Simon & Blue but whom I immediately re-branded as Watson & Crick, from the foster home in which they had been living for the past five months, and brought them home. They eagerly jumped into my cat carriers as if they were just delighted that I was to be their new cat mom, but on the long car ride there were some sad little kitty cries that made me think “Omg, I hope they are going to be happy in my home!” They were very curious when they got to my place, checking out the entire apartment and then settling in quite nicely1. And in the last two years, they’ve just gotten more and more comfy in our2 home, and gotten more and more affectionate.
They have each established their own little rituals and favourite places. Crick loves to nap on my kitchen chairs when the chairs are pushed under the table3 and at night when I got to bed she comes with me to do a little kneading and then curls up either on my right side all cuddled up with me or on the pillow next to me. Watson likes to get his evening exercise by bursting, out of nowhere into a run down the hall and parkours off the front door, lands, and then just walks away like nothing happened. He likes to sleep at the foot of the bed, and that is in keeping with his general philosophy of wanting to be near you, but not necessarily touching you. This philosophy is a bit at odds with his desire to be petted, and this contradiction manifests itself with his tendency to sit on the floor just out of arm’s reach when I’m sitting on the couch, but then meowing and meowing until I pet him. He also enjoys watching me get ready for work in the morning, during which time he also meows until he gets petted. Both of the cats coming running to greet me at the door when I come home from work and they run into the kitchen when they hear me making tea and give me puppy dog eyes, because they know that I’ll give them treats4. The most exciting thing for them, however, is when there is a pigeon – or pigeons – on the neighbours balcony.
Watching an exciting episode of Pigeon TV.
As I’ve mentioned before, Watson really like eating cucumber. After much trying5, I *finally* caught it on camera.
Also caught on camera was Crick opening a cupboard door:
In honour of today’s cativersary, I bought a giant cat tree, which the kitties absolutely love. In fact, as soon as I took the pieces out of the box to start assembling them, they climbed right into it!
I assembled it, which was reasonably easy despite requiring a bit of moving of cats off of the next piece that I wanted to add to the structure. And then once it was all done, the kitties were able enjoy climbing around on its various levels and playing with the attached fluffy toy.
In conclusion, my cats are the softest, sweetest, funniest, bestest cats in the whole universe and I made an excellent choice when I bought their lives.
I love you, my crazy little muffins!
Though Watson was a bit of scaredy cat at first, preferring to sit on the window ledge behind the couch, but that only lasted for that first day. [↩]
I say “our” because they are totally the bosses of me and this place is theirs! [↩]
She probably feels safer because Watson can’t attack her when she’s there. [↩]
Because usually when the cats are doing sometime adorable and I get my camera out to try to capture said adorableness, they immediately cease doing whatever the adorable thing was. [↩]
And last but certainly not least in my twelve days of donating is the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue (VOKRA). VOKRA is a volunteer-run, no-kill rescue organization that helps about 1200 surrendered, abandoned, and feral kittens and cats per year by finding them permanent homes (or, for feral cats that aren’t adoptable, through their trap/neuter/return program). While cats are waiting to be adopted, they live in foster homes rather than a traditional shelter. And, of course, VOKRA is where I found my kitties!
