If Aurora were the one on the couch, & Aeneas the one on the floor, Aurora would promptly smack Aeneas for walking by.
Aeneas is much calmer, being a few years older and so much more mature. Not half so bitchy, either.
Aurora, Half Lit
TGIF!
Aurora Update
I had the extreme pleasure of taking our little fireball Aurora to the vet a couple of days ago, and honestly, if she had been a human child and I her mother I would have been terrifically embarrassed by her bad behavior.
She was okay going there – seems to like the car ride, actually – and even in the waiting room and waiting in the exam room. After sniffing out the whole place she actually laid down on the exam room floor, not a care in the world. Of course the vet did show up eventually, and then… the fun began. For everyone. Aurora is apparently of the mindset that if she’s going to have a bad time then everyone else is, too.
She hisses and spits and lunges to take bites. She kicks with her clawed back feet and smacks with her front declawed paws. She growls and grumbles and howls and twists and spins and will not stay put. The vet had to listen to her heart rate between low growls (ie, when Aurora had to stop growling a moment to breathe). She hissed when she checked her ears, and then – oddly enough – was quite still when they put the thermometer in her butt. (Betty thinks she’s just smart, and knew she’d hurt herself if she moved too much while it was in her!)
Now this is a 10 lb. cat. Two adults had her triply wrapped in a towel, with one adult, experienced tech holding down her front half (the poor woman) and the vet herself holding down Aurora’s hind quarters with one hand & trying to alternately draw blood/give her shots with the other. What should have taken all of five minutes took about 20, and other techs and vets kept coming to the windowed door of the exam room to find out who was torturing that poor cat.
Ah, she is a redhead.
The good news is that she’s now fully vaccinated and all her bloods are good, which means: she is a healthy 2 or 3 year old (we’ll never know for sure). And I’m pleased. She is not one bit grateful, but she is letting me touch her and pet her today, so apparently she forgave me my part in it.
But wow. For cat lovers out there: she really was something to behold. I couldn’t help but feel a kind of perverse pride in her for taking no prisoners. But we’re also quite proud of having nursed her back to health, and having her become a healthy, cantankerous, fireball of a kitty.
Now I will make sure to make an appointment with the same vet for the boys, as a kind of consolation prize, since they are the most calm, mellow kitties a vet ever examined.
Molly the Cat
A cat got herself stuck in the walls of a building in the West Village. She’d been missing two weeks – and presumed stolen because she’s a pretty cat – but then the walls started meowing.
With the help of remote video cameras, a whole fish donated by a nearby restaurant owner, and a guy named Kevin Clifford, Molly was rescued.
What caught my attention was that Kevin Clifford was described as a miner who extended his workday to help get Molly out, and I couldn’t imagine what a miner who lived in NYC could possibly be doing. But it turns out, Kevin Clifford isnt’ a miner per se, or rather, he’s a very special kind of miner called a sandhog. (I confess, I’m really antsy to get back to working on my novel that concerns – you guessed it – both miners and sandhogs.)
But either way, he loves animals, and Molly is now hiding/resting under furniture in her owner’s apartment after time in spent of flashbulbs, chaos, and crowds. Hopefully everyone’ll go away shortly so that she won’t want to find a new wall to crawl into.
Seven Years Scratched
So it turns out Betty and I scratched the Seven Year Itch, as today is our 8th anniversary of meeting. And since we were practically married on the 1st date – or at least knew we were fated to be together, or something like that – it’s *really* our anniversary, though why not celebrate both? (The other is the day of our wedding, and not the day of our legal marriage, which was the day before our wedding in a no-frills ceremony at Brooklyn City Hall. So we really have three anniversaries, but this is getting ridiculous now.)
To us! To trans couples! To another 80 years (at least, if the marvels of medical technology keep up). To my beautiful, sexy girlfriend and my delicious husband!
(In a week in a half it’ll be 8 years since I first met Betty, too. When she was “Betty,” I mean.)
Tentative Treaty
This scene is something we never thought we’d see: Aurora and Aeneas on the same bed. Endymion doesn’t seem to care much either way, but Aeneas is a little bit more of a momma’s boy, & so jealous of anyone near my side of the bed.
But alas, progress!
Comfort Kitty
After a hard life and nearly dying in the great outdoors, Aurora’s getting awfully used to fluffy pillows. But she sure does still look pissed off, doesn’t she?
He's Not Heavy, He's My Cat
No, we’re not kidding. Endymion is one huge cat, all 18 lbs of him.
The Boys
Aren’t they beautiful?! And today, they’re Irish, but they’re definitely not marching in NYC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. When is the AOH going to get over it already?!
Grumpy Endymion
We must have woken him from a nap – his bed is that Scottish plaid blanket, on the radiator, in the winter. He’s not dumb, after all, just kind of goofy. (Behind him, a somewhat rare Adam & the Ants poster. In small squares of background, you will all see our entire apartment.)