A new toy

Here is a new cat toy that I found in my garden. I think it belonged to a crow because they are the only black colored birds near here.

Of course I could only find one feather, but we have two cats. This was a problem because when I gave it to Dusty, Kuro wanted to play with it too! Dusty took it in his mouth and ran away with it, growling at Kuro. "Go away! It is mine!"

An hour or so later, Dusty was tired of playing with it and let Kuro have it. That was last week and now the feather is ignored by everyone! Cats are like small children - they only like new toys and quickly get bored with old ones :(  

A new scratching post

The cats have a "scratching post". This is a stand with a post in the middle, that is wrapped with rope. The cats use it to scratch on. Maybe scratching like this is a natural cat behavior because ALL cats do it. If you don't have a scratching post, they will scratch your walls :(


Anyway, the old scratching post was becoming old and the rope was coming off, so we bought a new one. This new one has 4 mice hanging from the top. Kuro LOVES them and started pulling them immediately. Dusty tried to look but Kuro growled and hissed at him.

If you watch the video below, you can see them playing and listen to Kuro hissing. Dusty is trying to bite the string holding one mouse so he can run away with it.

Shopping basket

Here is my shopping basket. Yes, Kuro is in it :(

Cats LOVE sitting in something. When I put a basket, box or bag on the floor, both cats immediately run and sit inside. Of course it is not very hygienic that he is sitting in it. But it's okay - I have alcohol wipes in the entrance and wipe out the basket before I take it shopping the next time.

Pleeeeeeease open the door!

Dusty was asking my husband to open the toilet door. I have no idea why he wanted to go in there; no-one was inside!

I told you he was smart. He tries the handle, he even looks at the bottom hinge, and under the door. This time finally he gives up.

BUT he learned how to open it! Again, this door opens outwards, so that means he first must pull down the handle to unlock it, then pull the door from the bottom.

It is very surprising to be in the toilet and suddenly the door handle turns and he comes in! It is like having a small child - there is no privacy in my house any more :(

Dusty having fun!

I told you Dusty is smart, but he is also strange. He likes to roll around on the chair, putting his head through the arm, and go around and around :)

He'll keep doing this until I get tired of pushing the chair, and I give up.

Hey, look a spider!

.

Dusty: Hey, look a spider! Let's get it.

Kuro: No, look at ME!
             Take a picture of ME!

Dusty is too smart

What is the smartest animal you know? A monkey, dog, dolphin?

Well, maybe it is a cat - to be specific, Dusty!

He can open almost all the doors in my house. He started with the door of the cats' room ...

 Then he progressed to the bathroom door, and next the living room door. 

This weekend he learned to open the living room door INWARDS! That means first he opens the lock by pulling on the handle, and next he pulls the door toward him.

And after that he sleeps in the window in the sun.

The cats' apartment

I promised some of you that I would take pictures of the cats' apartment, and here it is!

Recently in the day time I put it by the patio window in the kitchen that looks out onto the small Japanese garden. (Unfortunately that view is also the veranda where we hang our laundry this season, so please forgive the towels and clothes that you can see hanging in some pictures later.)

Dusty inside on the second floor, Kuro on top, Dusty attacking Kuro, pushing each other on top, and ...

Sitting nicely together. (A rare thing.)

Side view, front view, and an inside view with Makurokurosuke peeping out!

By the way, the apartment is for both cats. Therefore, I have to write the cats' apartment. The apostrophe ' is after the S. 

The cats' apartment. = belongs to both cats

The cat's apartment. = belongs to only one cat

Of course in speaking, we don't know where the apostrophe is so you must explain. 

It's the cats' apartment for both cats.

These are my sisters' books, they belong to both sisters, not just one.

Introducing .... Baby Boar and Baby Black Pig

Let me introduce Inoshishi-chan and Kurobuta-chan, who are from Miyako Island and came to live at our house last autumn.

Inoshishi-chan is supposed to be for Dusty to play with, and Kurobuta-chan is for Kuro. But Dusty isn't interested in playing, so Kuro plays with both.

He carries them around in his mouth and puts them here and there. In this photo, they are together, where he left them after playing. If you look closely, you can see their noses have become really pointed. He likes to pull on their noses so now their original cute flat pig noses have changed to look like mice :)

Sometimes I will find one or the other on my bed where Kuro left it after playing.

A silver ball

For some very strange reason, Dusty loves aluminium foil. If I unroll some foil to use for cooking, he immediately comes running, no matter where he is or what he was doing. He also comes if we open a bar of chocolate wrapped in foil :)

I don't want him to have a sheet of foil but sometimes as a treat I carefully fold in the edges and create a ball. He'll play with it for hours until he loses it under something, or until Kuro steals it. Sometimes he runs around with it in his mouth, growling at Kuro.

 Above I wrote 'aluminium' which is British English. Americans use 'aluminum' which is simpler.

A delivery

Dusty and Kuro don't like delivery people. Sometimes they growl when a van pulls up in the driveway, and then run around in alarm when the doorbell is rung. But after the delivery person has gone, they love to see what kind of present has arrived :)

Especially Kuro loves empty boxes and paper bags. 

This is one of the best pictures I've taken of him, don't you think?

What do cats do?

What do we do in our free time?

Walk on top of the new TV (until shouted at, then understand it is bad - don't do that again).

Walk along the top of the curtain rail in the living room. 

(Continue to do this, no matter how much Mummy shouts.)

Sit with legs hanging over Daddy's computer.

Mummy gets very angry if we walk all over her keyboard or stand on the laptop and press some buttons. She is VERY angry if we press the "control" button and make strange things happen.

Sit on top of the rail in the bathroom.

(Wait here every night while people are in the bathroom, then suddenly MEOW loudly at them when they come out. Roll around and almost fall off ..... Mummy gets very angry about this.)

Make tunnels under the feather-down quilt .... 

..... or jump on top of the quilt because it is fluffy and it is fun to squash the air out of it.

Guard a toy.

And sleep, 

and eat,

and sleep some more,

and run around crazy,

and sleep ....

We love vegetables!

Have you ever seen cats who love vegetables? Dusty not only loves persimmon, but also most green leafy things. If you don't believe me, take a look at these photos:

You can clearly see from the photos that Dusty is in a frenzy to start munching. Kuro will eat a little (maybe just because Dusty is) but soon gets bored and walks away.  On the other hand, Dusty loves leaves and will come running when I bring vegetables home from the shop. I still don't know if he can SEE they are green, or he can SMELL them?

The only thing they don't like is pale lettuce such as iceberg lettuce. In the top photos they are eating broccoli shoots, and in the lower ones, the green part from the top of Chinese cabbage. It is impossible to leave the cabbage on the kitchen bench because he will try to eat it all day!

Last summer I did buy a pot of cat grass from the pet shop, but they played with it more than ate it.

frenzy = very excited, very active

We love persimmons!

Persimmons are a fruit that many Westerners might not have eaten. I was 20 years old before I first saw one, and then that was because my friend's Italian born parents grew a tree in their garden in South Australia. (Actually, immigrants introduced many, many new foods to Australia.)

Anyway, then I came to Japan and found persimmons are a common autumn fruit. Fresh ones are nice, but I LOVE dried ones!

For some very weird reason, Dusty LOVES fresh ones. Now they are out of season, but in autumn when I brought them home and put them on the counter, he would run and jump up on the counter immediately. (Very naughty, but it is impossible to stop him from doing it.) I guess he can smell them? Twice he actually picked one up in his mouth and ran away with it, before I could get it back. It was so funny, a cat with an orange fruit in his mouth, that was as big as his head. I'm not sure if he would actually eat it because both times I took it off of him before he could start to bite into it. And he is not at all interested in dried persimmon.

Sitting nicely!

A souvenir

Here is my souvenir for Dusty and Kuro. This year is the Year of the Rabbit, so I bought a small rabbit for them from a shop leading up to Kiyomizu Temple. The shop had many lovely items and the store owner was a very polite and kind elderly man. I think he would be surprised to know I bought the rabbit for my cats ....

I think it is actually a key ring because it had a small strap and a bell, but now it is a toy :)

I told you Kuro was jet black, and it is very hard to take a nice picture of him! You can see his very big, fluffy feet well, but sorry you can't see his face.

Introducing ..... Dusty and Kuro

A little over a year ago two new members joined my family. Let me introduce Dusty and Kuro.
Dusty is a blue Abyssinian, and Kuro is a black Siberian.



Dusty came first but he was so naughty when he was young that we decided to get him a friend to play with.
"dusty" means "tinged with grey"
 いろがくすんだ, 灰色がかった
Kuro's full name is actually makuro-kurosuke from the small black ball spirits you can see in the Miyazaki movie Totoro.

In English, まっ黒 is "pitch black". When he was a kitten (baby cat) he was totally black, but now he has some brown and dark grey around his neck like a muffler :)