Happy Gotcha Day!

Two years. Can you believe it has been two full years since my life has changed because THIS had been brought to our door??

Oh yeah, he was so small and he was so cute and he was such a **** from the start. Well, I only really met him after about ten days, but then I knew my quiet days were over. Mom said she wanted me to have a feline companion, but honestly, I think I could well have done without a fuzzy whirlwind trying to take all my spots and eat all my food.
Der Dekan was a bit like a shark caught in an eternal feeding frenzy. Thinking about it, he still is a lot of times, but for me that means I get breakfast earlier than I used to, so I won't complain. Also what he has actually learned is that he won't steal my food while I am eating which is a source of neverending surprise for Mom as he's not that well behaved when she is eating.

We have learned to get along. Every, now and then he chases me, sometimes it's like a ritual which is about the running and not the catching.
There are those rare times when he jumps me full force and I have to screech like a banshee (do they screech or is that owls?) and some fur is flying and Mom keeps yelling "Dekan! Leave her alone!", but it really doesn't happen often.

Mom thinks it would be nice if we slept all cuddled up, but I am an independent woman and also I got Mr. Radish.
I let den Dekan groom me sometimes which I couldn't stand at all in the beginning, so who knows, maybe once Mr. Radish has been slobbered on one time too much and leaves, things will change.

What I like best about the brat, however, is the way he has with Mom. He can turn from cute into a killer in a second and the other way round (Mom still can't believe how humming the Skye Boat song calms him down right away every time he's in biting mode, in her version of the song she has been humming to all her animal companions for decades), from really smart to incredibly dumb.
He certainly keeps her on her toes, makes her despair, but also makes her laugh, and I sit and watch from the sidelines thinking it serves her right ;-)

Well, Dekan. Happy Gotcha Day. I know you'll get a good treat (which isn't difficult to do because almost everything is a good treat to him). You are okay. Never forget, though, who's the boss here.
And for Bast's sake, stop sleeping on the job!

A new gal in town

I still remember when I was the new gal in town, a little more than six years ago. Can you believe it has already been that long?
Now it was time for another lady to move in. She's just a tad bigger than I, has a piercing look, and is very soft. Her name is Leonie.
Of course der Dekan had to try and suck up to her right away, playing the big tough guy card first and then trying to win her over by getting all cutesy with her.

The real reason Leonie came here, however, even if the egocentric little brat refuses to acknowledge that, is so we could become best friends. I can tell her everything and she can tell me, well, not much really, but she's a great listener, I can tell you (Mom says all Steiffs are great listeners, except for Jocko who's monkeying around too much ... which is actually a bad pun on Jocko being a Steiff chimpanzee *eyeroll*).
Leonie makes you feel very safe and relaxed.

The only thing we hate is if Mom is intruding on our feline girl time!!

I am grateful to her, though, for bringing Leonie here (initially as a birthday gift to herself) and then giving her this spot on the bed which she did just for us, by the way.

Love me tender

Thought we had disappeared? No way. Things haven't changed at all. Mom is still telling everyone that she lives with a sweet cat and a crazy cat and it is so true. How can a cat be so smart and so not smart, so cute and so unnerving, so relaxed and so wild, all at the same time? Der Dekan can make me tired just by looking at him.
While I don't mind a little harmless slapping and hissing duel every, now and then, not even a little chase, sometimes it's just better to stay out of the way during his crazy runs.

I have learned to appreciate soft blankets and beds, quiet hours, long naps, and cuddling with a friend. I am talking about Mr. Radish of course.
As you can see, Mr. Radish is no spring chicken. To be honest, he's not even the first Mr. Radish, but shhh, don't tell him that.
We have an on and off relationship. Sometimes we won't see one another in weeks or we just exchange a short hello, but when we spend time together, it's as it has just been a few hours. I tell him about what I have been up to, what has happened in the house since we last met, we talk about catnip (he's full of catnip stories, I swear), about den Dekan, and Mom's attempts to keep him in check, we laugh, and we cuddle.

I hadn't even noticed that Mom took some pictures of our last encounter.

Mr. Radish telling me a fascinating story about catnip.

Just dreaming together.

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