Minxy is so happy here that she's laughing (yawning)! Photo taken at Mr. AOW's side as he's napping.
What of Amber? She's already accepted Minxy as a member of the family. Maybe because we lost Cameo and Mysti within the last seven months. The obvious fact that Amber has accepted Minxy: last night Amber deliberately left two pieces of kibble for Minxy. Cameo used to do the same for Amber.
When Minxy sleeps with me, like Mysti she grooms my hair.
More photos to come as Mr. AOW and I enjoy Minxy's kittenhood. I'm taking photos like a madwoman, and last night, I upgraded my iCloud storage for my iPhone!
Note: all links in this blog post go to posts at AOWS Photos and feature the kitty whose name is hyperlinked in this blog post.
Minxy (b. September 8, 2017) often sits with paws crossed:
Photo date: May 29, 2018
Minxy sits like a human:
Photo date: June 5, 2018
Despite Minxy's her bellicose attitude, that of an alpha, Amber (2012-present) — aka "Long Tall Sally" — wins each scuffle and remains our sweet Amber, wishing not to hurt Minxy:
Like Cameo, Minxy (b. 9-8-2017) is not camera shy:
January 23, 2019
Minxy is a troublemaker. One of her recent escapades, at 5:45 A.M., was knocking off the bowl of dried beans which had been soaking overnight in preparation for ham and bean soup.
Our beloved alpha kitty, Minxy (b. September 8, 2017), a gift from a former piano student, who was fostering a mama cat and her five kittens during the aftermath of Hurricane Irma:
Minxy is a force to be reckoned with! We, including Amber, are grateful that she is so good-natured.
Need-to-know information....I paid my first visit to the kitten we're planning to adopt and will be visiting her again next weekend.
She is the biggest female in the litter and obviously the alpha. In fact, she hissed at me and arched her back! None of the other kittens did so. In fact, they did the opposite and crawled all over me. She sat back and observed — and finally warmed up to me. On her terms.
We haven't "officially" named her yet — although Mr. AOW and I are leaning toward Minxy — based on the definition of minx, of course. But we're open to other suggestions.
(Long personal post! For politics, please scroll down)
Welcome, California Sky! Aka "Callie." This sweet girl takes tidbits carefully, never letting her teeth touch your fingers. No doggie smell! No doggie breath!
Around September 1, 2020, this photo, which appeared on our online neighborhood network, appeared with a desperate plea of needing to rehome a niece's three-year old hound mix (b. August 19, 2017). She likely has Labrador Retriever in there, too:
Callie, with her favorite toy, on Mr. AOW's hospital bed:
The original owner was told that Callie is a Pocket Beagle. Clearly, she is not! But she was very small when first adopted — because Callie was taken from her mama dog at 3.5 weeks:
As of September 11, my husband Warren and I began moving into our Evansville home.
The house and yard are lovely! We have almost 2600 square of living space, plus an oversized two-car attached garage. I finally have a place large enough so that I can display all the beautiful antiques I inherited, as well as some treasures I bought over the past fifty years. Warren, too, has treasures to display.
We're having a major problem with the unpacking, however. I paid for "full pack," and the packers mislabeled so many boxes! For example, and only one example of many, a box labeled "Office" actually contains china from the piano room. Strange! The office was upstairs, and the piano room downstairs in my Virginia home. Ugh.
Unpacking is quite a nightmare! Especially for two people who have never before moved. Thank God that my Virginia cousins, who transported my kitties Amber and Minxy in a non-stop overland trip on September 17, came for a few days to help us. Nevertheless, finishing here is still a nightmarish work-in-progress. My dog Callie rode overland with Warren and me, in the U-Haul truck.
Speaking of "nightmare" and "nightmarish," here is an appropriate musical selection for this moving project (Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King):
PS; Many thanks to my good friend Silverfiddle, who kept this blog running so well in my absence.
(Light blogging alert! Comment moderation will be intermittently enabled. And for politics, please scroll down)
Dear Blogosphere Friends,
2020 – the Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I never thought I’d see the day that Americans were running around in masks! Some are even masked while driving alone in their cars – pure hysteria, in my view. Taking precautions is one thing, hysteria another. One of our precautions has been to postpone our planned moved to Indiana. Both Mr. AOW and I are quite high-risk for this virus. So, here we still sit in Northern Virginia and paying these outrageous real-estate taxes. Thanks, China. **heavy sarcasm**
This has been a sorrowful year for us. Our dear friend Patricia (aka blogger “The Merry Widow”), who helped us so much when I had kidney and other health troubles in 2016-2017 and who was also helping us with The Big Clean Out for our anticipated move to Indiana, died suddenly in Florida on March 29. What a terrible loss! Each of us an only child, Patricia and I considered ourselves sisters. She was planning to move with us to Indiana, too. We miss Patricia so much and on so many levels.
This year, Mr. AOW and I have been having some health troubles – not a surprise for our age group (71 and 68, respectively). As of this writing, he is in Stage 4 Kidney Failure, and the doctors believe that the cause is long-standing diabetes and hypertension. My kidneys have been “acting up,” too; the treatment plan, if any, has not yet been determined. We’re doing our best to slog on. What other choice is do we have? Not much!
Our other big personal news of 2020 is that we got a dog on September 3! Callie is an unruly three-year-old hound and Lab (and whatever else) mutt with poor training on nearly every imaginable scale – and nearly-total deafness, which her owner didn’t recognize before this mutt came to live with us. Her bloodlines and issues aside, Callie is adorable and has brought a lot of joy into our shut-in lives! I’m sure that our kitties Amber and Minxy don’t feel the same, though; they have had to cede to this canine brat quite a bit of in-house territory.
The happiest time for us in 2020, annus horribilis, Governor Northam’s COVID measures permitting, will be another visit from our dear friend and this blog's webmaster Warren. He plans to spend the holidays with us. A wonderful time it will be – even if doing the tourist thing is well nigh impossible with regard to the usual Washington attractions: the Smithsonian and other D.C. and Virginia tourist sites are either closed or have impossibly limited hours during this pandermic. Nevertheless, the Winter Walk of Lights at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, is still, as of this writing, offering their usual dazzling displays; Warren and I hope to take in that beautiful sight. CHECK OUT THESE PHOTOS! GLORIOUS! During the rest of Warren’s visit, all of us will be enjoying each other’s company. A wonderful gift in and of itself, especially during this time of lockdowns and isolated existence!
Celebrating this BlessedSeason and MerryChristmas to all who stop by here,
