Ramses knows better. He's not supposed to be at the table. But oh my! There are fishsticks for dinner! Rice and corn too. Get rid of the ketchup and put a few marshmallows on the plate, and he'd be in heaven. No wonder he is confused about who's supposed to be sitting in this chair - that looks like a meal fit for a cat! Honor had to push him down and tell him no several times... but he just kept hopping back up as if he belonged.
Actually, a precedent was set, many years ago, and he apparently hasn't forgotten. Brian learned to enjoy fishsticks because of Ramses. I picked some up when he was 17-18mos old because I thought they'd make a fairly healthy, toddler friendly, snack. Fishsticks are iffy foodstuffs in my book, not great, but not awful - ok in moderation. And as Brian was growing fast, I needed to keep things on hand for when he absolutely needed to eat, right NOW!, and they are handy to fix up.
But, they looked too weird for Brian's taste, when I presented them. No. Do not want. Ramses came sniffing over, so I offered him a bite. "See Brian, Ramses likes them." (give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything...) And Ramses did like them, very much. He hopped up next to Brian in his chair, reached out with a paw, pulled a piece of fishstick close to him, and ate it. Very naughty, but Brian thought it was hilarious, so I indulged them. Ramses finished the first, cut-up fishstick this way and grabbed the next to pull it to him - Brian grabbed it back! Brian ate most of it, but gave some to Ramses. So, giggling and grabbing, the two of them finished the snack. We don't like the cats to beg at the table. They are about 80% 'good' about it too. Nor do we advocate letting kids and animals share the same food - well, not usually! But I guess it is a good way for them to bond and be friends, and this was a breakthrough food for Brian. One of those that I could use to get him to try other new foods without fuss - "Remember how much you liked fishsticks? Maybe you will like this too?" Ramses was also encouraged, by Brian, to try new foods too. He usually wasn't interested, he didn't start broadening his food horizons until Honor came along. She could hand Ramses anything: broccoli, macaroni, a handful of grits, whatever, he'd accept anything from her pudgy little baby fingers... and until now, he always wants to share the fishsticks.
Last night, as we went to bed, we found our little cat Ramses had passed away. He had always been very skinny and frail, and only became more so as he aged. He'd had to have surgery as a kitten merely to survive (he could not eat enough, and pass it through to his intestines, to thrive - surgery helped, but he was always very thin). He missed his big brother Misty very, very much. He'd never had a good prognosis, but he'd always kept on going. We had hoped that he would keep on doing so, that we would be with us longer. We'd been giving him lots of attention and extra love. He'd even been active and playful enough this past week to learn a new trick... Honor would hold a basket and ask him to get in, he would, and she'd carry him around the house for a ride... he also re-discovered the fun of sitting on my lap and 'helping' me as I used the sewing machine. But he was distressed and lonely too. Maybe he got a cold? Maybe his heart was stressed? This came on suddenly, but was not too unexpected given his long term, general condition.
Ramses was always my special baby. Siamese cats can be very personable anyway, but Ramses demanded love and attention from all who knew him. I cannot believe we have lost both of our kitties so suddenly. I am not handling this loss very well. I guess it was easier with Misty because he was a 'mature adult/elderly cat'. Ramses was at the end, as he always was, my baby. He was so sweet and trusting and needy. He was a baby, and babies do not die of old age. My brain tells me I'm wrong, I know that Ramses was as old as, and definitely more frail than, Misty, but my brain says that our kitty-baby was stolen away wrongly.
I am glad that Misty and Ramses are together... but our home is so much emptier now. He missed cuddling with his big brother while the kids were in school, and adopted this big toy sheep to snuggle... now he's with his real buddy again. His first toy was a small furry mouse, tied to the string of a giant batman helium filled mylar balloon.
He later found 'the pink thing' ... an ugly knobbly cloth cat toy, bright pink, with a bell on its tail... he loved that toy so much he would beg to play fetch. We had to hide it at night.
When we lived in a house with a mail slot on the door, he trained all who used it to play tug of war... we were used to mail and papers delivered with claw marks.
He was afraid of new flooring and could meow loudly for 550 miles.
He loved to gaze lovingly into my eyes, and would grab my face with his paw to make sure I gazed at him when it was gazing time.
He lay across my tummy and purred at the babies when I was pregnant with them, he lay under the babies on my tummy... who needs a special boppy pillow?... as I nursed them.
He snuggled. It's hard to find a picture of a sleeping child without a snuggling Ramses.
As the kids got big enough to crawl, he followed them around and played with or near them... there are times that I am sure he knew what he was doing when he made them laugh.
He trusted the kids to 'drive' him madly around the house in the laundry basket.
He has been a constant companion and cuddle buddy to both of the kids as they've grown, and demanded attention from each as they came home from school... he'd hide in the entry closet to make sure he was the first at the door to greet the kids.
He loved. Ramses loved us. He loved our kids. He loved our visitors, friends, neighbors or strangers, and un-cat-like that he was, he even loved the loud and playful children that sometimes came with our visitors. All were loved.
He loved his brother Misty. I believe that Ramses was definitely affected by losing Misty. Perhaps if he had been a stronger kitty, he may have made it past this depression. He was getting tons of extra love from everyone, but he had become listless and was not interested in eating like usual... and his usual has always been very little. We even tempted him with chicken, soup, ice cream, and fish sticks - his favorites. He'd eat a little to please us, then walk off. Perhaps if he'd had more reserves, he may have had the strength to survive losing his appetite temporarily, but he didn't have an ounce of fat. When he started down, he had a very short trip.
Honor repeated again today that the trouble with having a cat is that you love them so much that it hurts when they die. But you love them anyway.... you better believe it.
By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill, Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still. Where the friends of man and woman do run, When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next, Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest. On this golden land, they wait and they play, Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness, For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness. Their limbs are restored, their health renewed, Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care, Until one day they start, and sniff at the air. All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back, Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met; Together again, both person and pet. So they run to each other, these friends from long past, The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart, Has turned into joy once more in each heart. They embrace with a love that will last forever, And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.
Ramses loves to be carried around. A chance to ride in Honor's baby crib was worth being treated like a babydoll. He tolerated being dragged around the house in the crib, covered in blankets, given a pillow, etc. Honor talked to Ramses, Ramses talked to Honor.... Mama? Ramses hopped out when Honor got distracted and ran off to do something else for a bit. I guess he gave up on more rides and went off for a nap some where. Honor demonstrated that she can still, barely, fit in the toy crib. Amazing that this cheap little toy has held up to this kind of abuse for so long - over a year now.
Ramses (11yo Chocolate point Siamese) LOVES rides. He loves riding in boxes, and especially laundry baskets! Once upon a time, probably until Honor was 18mos old, Ramses would want to get in the baby stroller and go with us - where ever, he didn't know, he just wanted to ride. We couldn't actually let him though because we didn't want him riding loose outside, under or on the baby!, around dogs. We had to sneak the stroller outside unopened in order to use it for walks.
He used to always ride in the laundry baskets. Misty would sometimes join him. Nothing like 'housework as exercise' when you have a multistory house, laundry room in the basement, and 30+ pounds of cats added to your baskets! Especially as they would not be content with one ride. Take one load up, and they'd beat you back downstairs for the second trip! Or, they'd stay in the basket the whole time and ride down too. It was heavy, but sweet as anything, so we spoiled them and let them have their rides.
When we moved here, a single-level apartment, the nanny took over laundry duties and she didn't let the cats in the laundry baskets. It's been 3 years, but I am home again, and have taken the job back... and guess who is back in the basket?! Either with me, or with the kids (how brave is that?!), Ramses has been hopping in and meowing until someone picks him up and carries (or pushes) him around for awhile. We had a ton of laundry pile up over this long weekend, and I was folding the kids' clean clothes into the basket, to be put away tomorrow. Ramses hopped in and waited, very impatiently (meowing and tapping me with his paw), until I was done folding the whole pile, stacking it all in on top of him. Yes, I gave him a little bit of a ride... spoiled little kitty!
I heard this thumping sound against the balcony window and wondered what was up. I walked into the living room in time to see Misty run face first into the window, repeating the 'thump' noise I'd just heard, so it obviously was not an accident. Silly cat.
Usually he is the coordinated one. Misty plays soccer with toys, chases a laser pointer dot, etc. He's the sporty feline in the family... Ramses, well, he tends to be the one who leans over too far and falls off the edge of the couch. The only sport Ramses enjoys is riding in the laundry basket. Misty ... usually.... has all the grace and style. So, why was he repeatedly ramming his nose into the glass? The glass is dusty (yay sandstorms!) and covered in safety film, with a sheer curtain right in front, not exactly invisible!
It was a bird. We do not have anything on the balcony to attract birds... no seeds, no water (I'd like to have feeders, but do not want to attract rats).... the balcony itself is rather useless. Barely a foot and a half deep. Nothing for anybody to do out there. Definitely nothing for a bird to do... except bug the heck out of our cat...little instigator... and the way he was hopping around on the floor. Coming right up to the window. Jumping from floor to railing and back again.... this was definite purposeful harassment.
The bird was inches away (through the glass) and Misty couldn't resist jumping at him... I do not have too much sympathy for his bruised nose though. He knows better. Sitting up there on the railing, looking all innocent. Oh yea... we know what you are up to. Now, Misty will be plotting and scheming and checking the windows for the rest of the day. He does not give up easily. Every once in awhile he searches around our freezer, and you can tell he is remembering his rat... he sniffs around, looks up to the top, meows some questions, and that was over a year ago. He has also been known to hunt earthquakes... he's been through a few good-sized ones and after each, he'd spend the rest of the day patrolling every inch of the house... sniffing and searching... trying to hunt down the invisible house-shaking monster. Good thing I watered the plants yesterday - I don't think I want to open the balcony now. A distracted cat on the edge of a 3-story balcony? Not a good idea.
Oh, and here's a question for those with cats. Does your cat have radar? I can always tell Misty is hunting something when I hear this particular clicking noise.... (and no, he usually does NOT signal his hunts with window thumps! He was just being a goofer today).... The noise is an open-mouth, kinda vibrating/rattling, "tch tch tch" sound. He's done this, instinctively, since he was a kitten. Funny thing is, when Ramses was younger and willing to join Misty on 'hunts', he learned how to use this click noise, that we call "radar", too. He doesn't do it anymore though. I have no idea what this noise is called or if it is common. I'm curious if others have seen this behavior?
As much as we love our new babies, we still miss our old kitties terribly. Misty and Ramses were very special cats and we were blessed to have them as a part of our lives for so long. As a memorial, this summer we looked for, and finally found, a couple of little cat statues at our favorite pagan store in the US. These little guys even had wings!
We have these statues sitting on the mantlepiece in our main sitting room, and one morning, I found a note from Honor:
“Good morning Ramses and Misty. Come on Saturday. I want to see your pretty wings and your pretty house. I miss you. I love you. Come at 8:50”
Ramses would have you believe that he is a sweet, innocent, little baby of a Siamese cat. Even though he is 11+ years old, even though he can be very pushy, when he wants to, against his big 'brother' Misty (big, as in, Misty outweighs him by about 10 pounds), and other evidence to the contrary. Truthfully, Ramses really is a sweet, innocent, little baby. He loves to be loved. He is big into eye-gazing, and rapt and total adoration. But, he is a lot more clever then he would like to let on. I'll share.
I kept finding a kitchen cabinet door ajar. I do not leave it that way, but in a house with kids, it happens. But what about when it's closed at night, and open before the kids get up? Hmm? Eventually, I caught Ramses sneaking out of his fort one morning. I felt bad about it, but I had to evict him. I usually wash anything before use from that cabinet (little used items that get dusty), but I also keep my potatoes and onions down there. I do not need a cat sleeping on our food! I blocked the door. We usually have a step-stool in the kitchen anyway, for my little helpers, so I used it as a barricade. Poor kitty. Well, next morning, I found my rag drawer open. Yes, I keep a whole drawer full of rags - sorted by type and usefulness. I'm picky about what I like to clean with, depending on the job, and I am quick to throw one in the wash and grab another, mid-job if need be, when they get too dirty. I prefer to use bleach and hot water to re-use rags, than throw away tons of paper towels, wet wipes, and all those other throw-away clothes. But what was this??? Somebody had mussed my rags? And is that a dirty paw print?? Oooh!! Well, I neatened things up, and thought that maybe it was a one-off thing. These drawers are obnoxious sometimes. If you do not close them 100%, all the way, just so, they'll slide open again. Maybe that had happened? And maybe the little smartie-(no)pants had just gone around trying doors and drawers until he found another good place to nest? Take a look at this next photo, and tell me, what do you think?! (yea... I think he's laughing too...)
Gotta love our furkids, but it is frustrating when you cannot REASON with them or ask them questions. For some reason, when we went on R&R over the summer - one cat developed litter box issues and started leaving 'presents' around the house. Not urine, thankfully, but still NOT good! Why?! Different litter? Attitude about us leaving? (We've done it before!) They love the people who came by to watch them? Maybe it was a health issue? They are 11+ years old! It continued after we got back. What's up with that??
We can't ask them - they just look back at us and try to lead us to the fridge. Nor does showing them the mess, and taking them to the litter box work. We resorted to jail. Started out with strict confinement to the connected kitchen/bathroom area in the front - sometimes just the bathroom where their box is. Then they got out in the main part of the house with bedrooms closed... going back to confinement as needed. They were definitely confined at night. What a pain. Had to lock both cats up, when we knew it was just the one. Also, we like our doors open, and our kitties WITH us.
We've been working on this for 2 months now, and for the last two weeks, the guilty party has been very good. Yesterday, Honor pleaded for pardoning the cats and letting them stay out at night. We decided to give it a try. When we went to bed, we found Misty waiting in our bed, and Ramses snuggled up with Honor. I woke up with Ramses snuggled under my chin, sharing my pillow and under the blankets, Misty in his typical 'guard the hallway' position.
I sure hope this good behavior lasts... the kids like being 'tucked in' and kitty-guarded as they go to sleep (usually one cat per room), and I like waking up to purrs.
So, I’m sitting here with Pixie draped across my battered arms. Certain animals needed to go see the doctor today and had objections to being put in their crates for the short trip. I swear… I’d give anything to know what it was we did, so many years ago, to teach our old cats Misty and Ramses to get in and out of their crates so easily. It’s not like they did anything fun in them. Ramses was even dumped down the luggage carousel in Atlanta by the Delta baggage handlers once. Those two always got in and out of the crate just easy peasy. These new cats … I could probably bathe them easier than to box them up! Well, we won, and they got their vet visit in fine. Pixie has been snuggly too, so I guess that I am forgiven.
Anyway, here are some photos from our trip to the National Air and Space Museum in Virginia this summer. We only has a short weekend in DC, and we visited with a bunch of good friends too, but didn’t take a lot of photos of anyone! We highly recommend the museum though. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and included an Imax movie of the Hubble Space telescope as part of our tour. Tonight, Honor and I were scanning through photos from the Andromeda Galaxy looking for star clusters and galaxies – part of the Andromeda Project – and her comment? “The Hubble Telescope is COOL!” I love having science loving kids!!
”Star clusters are collections of hundreds to millions of stars that were born at the same time from the same cloud of gas. This shared origin makes star clusters unique tools for understanding how stars form and evolve. Additionally, they are useful for studying the major chapters in the history of galaxies. But before Andromeda's star clusters can unlock these secrets, we need the help of Citizen Scientists to find the clusters. Not just the big bright ones, but the small faint ones as well. This is the goal of the Andromeda Project.
Star clusters vary greatly in terms of mass, size, age, and local environment. As a result, star clusters can appear quite different from one another depending on the properties of the clusters and where they are located in the galaxy. This makes the process of identifying clusters tricky and difficult to automate.”
When we arrived in DC, it was RAINING! Such a relief after hot Kuwaiti summer weather, It’s cooled off here, but still no rain in the desert.
First thing that we found at the museum, was Honor’s wall. She loves to find her name on things!
And we stopped to appreciate the sculpture.
Inside was amazing! You do not have to be knowledgeable about aircraft to be blown away by the history contained in this exhibit.
This is one of Honor’s favorite.
And Brian’s favorite too. Yea… I agree. Totally cool!
Wooden propellers!
The Enola Gay – which of course, led to a discussion about it’s part in WWII. As a total coincidence, we also watched the movie “The Wolverine” over this R&R which included this part of history.
Lufthansa! How cool is this?
There were at least three levels of aircraft displayed here.
The Concorde!
and the Blackbird.
And the main reason why I wanted to visit. I wanted to meet a space shuttle!
Brian and Honor were trying to play Battleground. It's actually a very ingenious little war game set. You arrange your pieces on any flat surface - they usually take over a part of the floor - and use rubberband powered catapults and crossbows to try and knock over your opponents pieces with little plastic missiles before they knock yours down. I am sure there are more complex rules and scenarios for older players, but this is simple enough competition - with cool action - for Brian and Honor.
What makes it hard though, is when they set up on the floor, sometimes the battle is joined by giant-sized, furry forces. The rules do not quite cover who gets a point when your castle is knocked out by a cat. Ramses was determined to play, so they went away from the game and tried to call him off the battle field. Ramses came over to them... but brought in a reinforcement! ah well, it was game over, bed time, anyway.
Honor and Ninja Cat have a special bond. All three kitties are sweet and loving, but Ninja and Honor are close. Ninja usually sleeps with Honor, helps to wake her up in the morning, ‘helps’ with dressing and getting ready, and often comes looking for me in the afternoon, meowing questions as if to ask whether or not the school bus is here yet. Coming home from school time, is an exciting time! She’s a big ‘help’ with homework too.
Ninja LOVES all of Honor’s little toys. We often hear “Ninja! Bring that back! It’s mine!” drifting across the house from where-ever they are playing. Fortunately, Ninja is good about returning toys to where she finds them.
Honor is Ninja’s favorite ‘big cat’ and she plays and wrestles with Honor just like one of her siblings.
Ninja doesn’t like to be picked up – sorta how Ramses was. I guess some cats are ‘up’ cats and some aren’t. Like Ramses, she loves to be loved on and to snuggle, but do not pick her up and carry her around… unless you are Honor. If Honor picks her up, Ninja will either tuck her head onto Honor’s shoulder and cuddle, or will curl into a ball, holding her tail in both paws, and nibble at the tip. Too cute! I haven’t got a good photo of her doing it, yet, but here’s one with her curled up contentedly, trying to catch her tail for nibbling.
Sometimes, either because Ninja was off somewhere else, busy or asleep, and Honor just happened to shut her door with Ninja on the wrong side, or, if Ninja gets a bit too demanding and Honor puts her out, I’ll come down the hall and find a sad little kitten standing at Honor’s door. Sometimes she’ll just sit there quietly and patiently, waiting until Honor comes out, but sometimes she’ll start meowing to be let in, and will do so until someone opens the door for her! (even when she is bugged by her big brother, she stays focused on Honor!)
They really adore each other, and Honor is very patient with Ninja’s attack snuggles.
Aww!
I think it is so very good for kids to have pets to love, and to be loved by.
