Caleb the Kitten is Causing Kaos

Caleb at 9 weeks old - not sure what colour his eyes will be yet

The new little man has arrived!  And what an absolute schmoozy, cuddly, sweetie he is.  And a big bossy boots as well – he makes it perfectly clear when he wants to be picked up, have his belly rubbed, fed, let in the bed (big mistake giving in to that one), belly rubbed again, perhaps a little bit more food, and then let’s settle down for some serious cuddling.

His first day at work was yesterday and I expected that he would spend the day snoozing, as you could reasonably expect from a nine week old kitten.  Wrong!  Fat chance of him cooperating and snoozing while I dealt with customers, when there was so much to see and do and explore, new people to meet, photos to be posed for, and squeaky opinions to be given at the top of his lungs on pretty well everything.  By the afternoon he finally flaked out and then nothing was going to wake him, so the afternoon’s tourists had to settle for photos of a very firmly asleep little pussycat.  He had a ball, but is clearly going to be more of a handful than even Calypso, and that’s saying something.

Flaked out after his first day at work

The very first thing Caleb did when he saw Calypso was trundle straight up to her, and we reckon it was because he recognized a “proper cat” when he saw one.  With the others he arched his little back and fluffed himself up and did some very highly pitched growling at them.  At his size, the overall effect was cute rather than menacing but nonetheless everyone, including Calypso, was entirely unnerved and dashed off.  It was funny to see this tiny little nine week old kitten scaring the bejesus out of monster moggies and causing conniptions all round. 



Totally distracting me from photographing
jewellery for the website this week

Naturally, the Gang was in uproar for the first few days, but that’s now passed.  Artemis is letting him snuggle up with her for a little while each night – but he wriggles too much and wants to hit her in the face too much for it to be an all-night snuggle for now.  Calypso is having tremendous fun playing chasey with him, and they both dash about the house doing the scampering gallop that cats do when they’re playing.  When she catches him she totally flattens him, but he bounces straight up and comes back for more.  It took until this morning for him to realise that then it’s his turn to chase her, and she lets him catch her but it will be a little while before he’s knocking her down.  But it will come.  As predicted, at first Mischka made it clear that she hated him to her core, and yet she still couldn’t help following him about and even she is settling down and starting to sort-of play with him.  Klaatu is reserving judgement and keeping well clear for now, and he totally shunned me for the first 24 hours – we weren’t friends any more.  And yet he’s such a cuddle puss he couldn’t stay away for long, so we’re back to being friends.  Mostly he’s ignoring Caleb but when he can’t avoid him, after a tiny little blur of fur comes to a screeching halt in front of him, Klaatu is telling him to bugger off less and less.  So it’s all good and will get better.

Flaked out after his first walk Outside

On his second day with us Caleb was allowed to join in the short walks we take everyone on most days.  They all usually object to having the walks finished, and Caleb was the biggest objector of all at the end of his first walk, but trying to throw your weight around when you’re a touch under 2kg doesn’t get you too far.  By the time he’s a monster Bengal and big enough to cause an issue with his objections he will already have learned that My Word Is Law.  That’s the plan.  But for now he’s a little tyke with a big personality and who knows what he wants and expects to get it.  Yes he is one delusional little moggie, who will need to get over this disappointment in his life.  And after the huge excitement of Being Outside he again flaked out - his life at the moment consists of being a whirling dervish or unconscious.

 In other news, it was a huge week in the shop – the best since the new shipment arrived, and that’s excellent because we’ve had airfares for the next buying trip to pay for, and however strong the Australian dollar gets it seems to have no bearing on the enormous cost of airfares.  This time we’re going via Bangkok, which we haven’t been to for some years, so now I have to do some research to find us somewhere decent but inexpensive to stay. 

The arrival of Caleb means that the window hasn’t changed on schedule, but I’ll see what I can manage without the assistance of my trusty window stylists tomorrow.  At the moment I’m occupied with a furry little bundle who insists that all snoozing must take place on my lap.  He just throws himself backwards and expects that I will catch him.  And I do.  And I always will.

I read this week that a new campaign has been launched in Paris to discourage Parisiennes from being rude.  Bon chance avec that, I say.  But having said that, we’ve found that for the most part Parisiennes are perfectly friendly and helpful and charming.  Not to mention extremely patient with our dodgy French.  Except when you want to buy vintage jewellery in the Paris Markets, and then all bets are off and it’s every girl for herself.  They’re not exactly rude, but definitely assertive in their quest to get the bit of jewellery that I actually had dibs on by virtue of seeing it first.  I’m not sure what French for dibs is, and I’m not sure that they even have such a concept.  But even if they do, I seriously doubt it would be honoured at the jewellery stands among the scrum of gels (and sometimes middle-aged men) who are after the same things I want.  September will soon be here, and France is first stop for this trip, so I shall be girding my loins for battle quite soon and I hope the Politez Vous campaign has kicked in by then.

Caleb hanging with Artemis as she helps me unpack some more boxes