Wilhelm Montage

The fascinating thing about having a kitten is watching him grow and change so quickly.  The round little face lengthens, the tiny ears get huge (then the body catches up), the plushy kitten coat turns to sleek fur, and the tentative wobbly walk becomes running and bouncing.

He has turned out to be a completely charming little cat.  Not only is he very affectionate with the two of us, but he is determined to make friends with every other cat in the household.  Some of them have been easy; RiverSong and Noko Marie almost immediately adopted him as a new kitty toy, and Nazgul is a fine fellow who gets along with everyone (except Apache).  Fiona stands on her right as Queen Cat not to mingle with the underlings,  Pookha doesn't like any other cat (except for Nazgul), and Apache doesn't like any other cats at all.  Wilhelm remains undaunted: "Are we playing hitting growling games?  I can do that."

So here is six weeks of Wilhelm:

At his bottle (although at 9 weeks old, he still likes to drink from his bottle)

 

Learning how to eat real food with Riversong

 

 

Figuring out that maybe he can sneak up on other cats by hiding in the food dish

 

 Maybe it works--he was able to sneak up on Apache

To get close to Fiona and Pookha, he sneaks up on them while they're sleeping.

While he takes a somewhat more direct approach with Nazgul

I don't even have a good picture of him with Noko Marie, because all I can get is a big furry blur.

But speaking of big and furry, his favorite place is still with Bob.

We'll never know how he got away from his mother, or even be able to trace the convoluted chain of events that ended up with him being handed to Bob.  But we are reasonably sure that he is happy in his new home.

Halloween Puppet

It may seem a little early to be working on Halloween stuff--but not for us.

An online Halloween forum sponsors an annual "Prop for under $20" contest, ending June 30, and I decided to enter this year.   My prop was a puppet inspired by a vulture that I used to work with.

And I am beyond pleased at how well he moves.  It seems weird to watch it, because he looks so natural that I forget that I'm the one doing it.

 

 

I'm so happy with it that I don't even care if I win the contest--I'm just happy that it inspired me to do this.



Slipcovers

We have a couch and chair in the den that we sit on.  That seems a logical thing to do, but I mean we can really sit on them.  If we come in from the garden or from kayaking and want to take a rest before showering, we do.  The cats sit on them.  We can eat while we're sitting on them.  They're the "comfortable" furniture.

Of course, with this rather cavalier treatment, they do need washable covers.  For years I've contented myself with just throwing canvas drop cloths over them.  I actually like the look--it reminds me of the old homes where people would cover the furniture with sheets before heading off to the summer home.   They would start off looking properly casual.

But after sitting and sprawling and wiggling the covers would get a little wonky, and end up eventually looking like this.  A little too informal, even for me.

So, having a few days of being "temporarily underemployed" (meaning the time period between the university jobs ending and the museum programs getting busy) I decided it was time to make fitted slipcovers--still using the drop cloth canvas because I like it (and it's cheap).

Usually I do my sewing in my little cottage (aka Chez Wicca).  But I wasn't about to go running back and forth endlessly, so I moved my sewing stuff to the living room.  The downside of that is that the living room isn't cat-proof--and RiverSong and Noko Marie happily helped in the laying out of the fabric.

Then they decided that they should teach young Wilhelm how to be helpful.

When I took a break, they made sure my fabric didn't get away.

Finally I got the chair done, and I must say I think it looks pretty good.

Being a glutton for punishment--and as I had the living room fairly well trashed by now with bits of fabric and sewing paraphernalia--I thought I might as well do the couch while I was at it.  Noko and River and Wilhelm never flagged in their assistance.  Here River makes sure my zipper is sewn in properly.

Eventually the couch got finished, and they all inspected their handiwork.  How could I have even done this without them?

 

 

Poor little Wilhem was tuckered out by all this, and had to take a nap with his toy mouse.