Hi, is Jen. I heard that perhaps some people were wondering where the heck
I was!  I haven't really been readying any newsgroups lately.

I'm still in Calgary, but wouldn't you know it we're all moving next month
(that sounds about right for us, moving once per year!  Kid and Muggles are
3 and about to move into their 5th home/apartment - Inky, it's his first go
at a move and lengthy car trip).  Pete and I love/loved Calgary a lot - I
was so happy moving back here (especially into a townhouse). So, naturally
the drama continues, and we move to San Francisco next month because I got
a job there (very happy about). Have to finish up writing another book
before then though, so as usual the paniced rush.  

So the cats, what's probably the main interest (if any...!!). Oh, Muggles -
I noticed that that was posted :)  He was shaved because he had mats in his
fur. There were a bunch of them around his lower-back/bum region and I just
couldn't get them out (and he HATES being brushed, particularly around the
tail... part of the problem). He's the cat who will scream bloody murder
after you pull a comb through him a couple times (with no mats). Getting
him shaved was the right choice, we discovered - he seemed much more
chipper and lively after we got it done (after the initial tragedy with the
shaver - he hated it, but it did pay off). Plus, we don't have all the
fur/shedding issues now - and with his big trouble last year with being
bunged up from fur, we avoided that potential issue too. So we're probably
going to do it each year, and the lady said they get used to it to some
extent. Anyway - his fur is still really short, and he looks pretty good
that way to boot :)  Muggles is still pretty dumb though - but Muggles and
Inky (aka "boycats") are still the best of buddies (their difference in
smarts, size and personality works to their advantage, I think - as far as
you can intellectualize that stuff).

Inky is still SO small for a cat. He's 1 yr 5 months old, and still way
smaller than Kid. I think he stopped growing a long time ago too. He wears
a harness a lot, and we haven't made it bigger since we bought it in
January. And I can still fit my fingers through!  He's very wiry, and
certainly not underfed (he has a small paddle too). So I guess he just
decided to quit growing - and honestly that's pretty good because he likes
to try to escape out the door (he LOVES outside) and he's easier to handle
when he does make a run for it. He's SO agile - he walks along our
bannister all the time, and it's only an inch wide - and we can't stop
him....  This little dude is insane.  He's a bit of a spook, and not
outwardly friendly with other people. He's terribly confident, but spooks
very easily - if that makes any sense. He will eventually make friends with
strangers, the very same evening, but it takes awhile and out of nowhere
he'll come and sit in your lap. Our cat sitter still couldn't even touch
him for the entire week she looked after them at Christmas, even though she
came here to feed them! Same deal when she came here a few days when I flew
to SF for my interviews (a set of 12, if you can believe it).

Inky has turned into one of those sneaky avid hunter cats - he adores
outside, and will go hunting at the end of a leash (though he doesn't have
a hope in hell of catching a bird, he'll try and leap 4 feet in the air
believing he could catch one at eat it). *moth warning* Kid is our moth
hunter - each night she goes out on the balcony and waits for moths to
arrive, and then she brings them inside - and she's very good at it. I have
learned to dispise moths like the other moth-haters here. She always
catches huge ones, and I'll shriek when she carts them up here to the
computer room to release and chase them. She will eat them, which is so
terribly disgusting - I want her to though, to get rid of the damn things!

Kid and Muggles still hate each other. Kid doesn't like Inky, and we
couldn't leave them together, but she doesn't despise him. She *hates*
Muggles, and won't even tolerate him to look at. About a year of this now -
they haven't co-existed, and despite complete separation, there's no
change. I think the damage was done... sometime. So, she spends her days
with us in the computer room, or (usually) in the bedroom. She knows that
each night the boys go to bed (she hears us prepare them for bed, and
starts meowing), and then she's let out to hunt moths for the njght. It's a
pretty good system - they all know the system, and she's happy as a clam
being an "only cat" in a sense. She knows they're out there, and she's ok
with it as long as they don't touch her or invade her rooms. She seems a
lot happier in general though, happier than I've ever known her. And so
much more personality (which is saying a lot, because she already had a lot
of it!)  - I just love Kid to bits. So I guess it was meant to be.

So that's the complication with moving again - finding a good apartment for
cat-segregation. We're planning on finding a place with a walk-in closet
and ensuite for Kid, so she has more room in *her* bedroom. What we do for
cats, eh? The boycats are actually going with my parents to live in B.C.
for a couple months, so we don't have to take them in the car together, and
battle it out in the temporary housing (now THAT would be tough!) My
parents then drive them down to the new place in November. Kid comes with
us (but loves the car and changes, so she'll be fine). Muggles is used to
all this, so although it's not his preference, he should be fine too - it's
Inky though that will be the big question mark. But he's resiliant - I'm
sure he won't mind too much.

So that's the news from here! Oh my goodness this is long - bet yer all
sorry you asked ;)

Take care, and thanks - is very nice to hear that some people are wondering
where you are - it's rare that it happens, so it's much appreciated.

Regards,
Jen, Muggles, Kid, Inky.

My SIL lives in Punta Gorda.  She had phone service (underground
wires), but no electric.  She lost her carport and shed and the lanai
on the other side of the mobile home.  One window was broken out, but
the mobile home was livable.  She also lost Honeybun, her little cat
that was in the lanai.  She's hoping that Honeybun survived and is
just too scared to come home.
--

Nan

A wise man talks because he has something to say;
a fool talks because he has to say something.