Heidi and the kids were here tonight as were Juliet, HRH, and Juliet's 2 kids both of whom arrived only after Juliet had left. No sooner had Heidi and the kids lined up side by side to eat, once again looking like cat's in a Friskies commercial - the one were 'no cat gets nudged away from Friskies' Buffet', than I realized that once again I'd forgotten the camera. A little while later I was really kicking myself for this when Cissy, finding 'her' side of the dish too close to the pool to permit her to stand beside her mom to eat (although she could easily have stood on any of the other 3 sides), perched gracefully from her hind feet on the pool's edge and leaned down with her upper body to scoop up food with her 'hands'. Cissy stayed there balanced with apparent ease as she was on the rim of the pool while eating, not just briefly, but for quite a while. With her upper body reaching down to the dish in front of her, she seemed to defy the laws of physics - although one must assume that her posterior and tail served as a stabilizing counter-weight. It was yet another reminder of their acrobatic prowess.
Blondie, BTW, ate from the other dish. It has been interesting to note that after spending her entire life glued to Heidi's side Blondie has not been seen in that position since the time when Heidi began noticeably urging her to stand on her own. That seems to have gone well.
Dennis came over, and I offered him some of the remaining grapes. He ate a few but seemed less than thrilled to get grapes again. They don't really seem to appreciate the same old treat day after day, LOL. Dennis kept trying to take the whole bag (gently), and I kept offering him a single grape. He walked away for a few minutes and then returned to steal the bunch of grapes I'd put on the chair seat beside me. It was so cute to watch him struggle to reach them, so I let him 'steal' them. He only ate a grape or two before leaving them to wander off again - ADHD - grapes just weren't holding his interest tonight.
Even though the kids had plenty of food in their dishes, when Juliet arrived Dennis wandered over there to threaten her. Juliet ate at the feeding station (in her area) that was farthest away from Heidi's area and closest to the veggie patch. Dennis went over, snorting all the way, to eat from the station in Juliet's area closest to Heidi's side (and farthest from Juliet). My best attempt to describe his snorting sound would be either (1) like the throaty sound often made by people with allergy problems when attempting to clear their throats or (2) like some of the strange sounds that emanate from a snorer. Juliet remained oriented with her face toward him, crouching in a 'business' position, and held her ground to continue eating. Dennis stayed over there eating from her area and snorting at her for a while before finally returning to his area.
After Juliet had left, HRH appeared in the little cherry tree beside the fence, and lumbered slowly up onto the top of the fence. Suddenly, a kit, who ultimately turned out to be Juliet's daughter, darted out from behind HRH and leaped down the fence quickly and with the agility of youth. This prompted HRH to jump into hyperdrive as the two, HRH and Juliet's female kit, raised across the yard and to the food in Juliet's area. It was the kind of race where the two, their bodies mostly side by side, bumped each other repeatedly, each apparently trying to trip the other up. There were, of course, 3 feeding stations over there, all still containing food. The two raised over, arrived simultaneously and stopped to eat at adjacent stations, the king orienting himself so that his posterior was all but in the way of the kit such that she ended up reaching under his big bushy tail to retrieve her meal. Still, the 2 ate peacefully.
The kids played in the pool a bit though not nearly so much as they have in the past...and then they were gone.
Edited to fix a 'boo-boo'
This message was edited Nov 24, 2007 10:02 PM
