LostWoods Blog

Sometimes my mind is a complete blank when I’m trying to think of something to write here. Oh, it’s not that I don’t know of some educational topics that I could cover, but if I write about them, I want to do it right. That is, give you a good understanding of the issue without talking totally over your heads. In other words, take something serious — and occasionally scientific — and make it into something that is interesting, understandable and relevant for a cat owner. Sometimes that’s easy for me — in case you hadn’t noticed, written language is one of my skills — but other times I’m completely useless. So tonight instead of writing something fun or useful, I’m mostly just rambling.

I don’t know if I mentioned it on the blog, but Galia has had a color change. You might not notice it if you aren’t looking for it - and even then, unless you see her in person you still might not notice, but she is a black SMOKE and white, not a black and white. Remember when I wrote about silver — the inhibitor gene? A refresher if you don’t remember, or if you’re a newer reader who hasn’t slogged through all the previous posts… The inhibitor gene or silver gene, as we sometimes call it, inhibits the placement of color on the base of the fur. So next to the skin the fur — depending on what color it would otherwise be — is white, pale gray/blue, or very light cream. The gene is variably expressed, meaning that in some cats, the color will only be inhibited for a small section of the hair, while in others it may prevent color on nearly the entire hair. On Kefira, for example, her hair is nearly all white, with color at the very tips only. While I became a silver breeder accidently, I’ve fallen in love with it — especially silver torbies like Kefira — and am one of the few NFC breeders around that really likes breeding for silver.

Back when I talked about the inibitor gene before I posted pictures of Dilan and Taiba. Both of them are tabbies, so we call their color “silver” or a variation thereof. Dilan is a red-silver (cameo — for who knows what reason in CFA!), while Taiba is a blue-silver patch tabby or blue-silver torbie.

Now Miss Galia, she’s not a tabby. You can see quite clearly in her pictures that she is a solid colored cat with white. I know, that sounds silly. Solid somehow indicates that she’d be one solid color all over. Strictly speaking, I guess you’d call her a bi-color. But genetically, she is a solid colored cat with the white spotting gene. And she also has the inhibitor gene. If you look at the base of all her hair, it is nearly white. The description of a smoke says that at rest they should look like solid colored cats, but in motion, you’ll see the lighter color. That’s Galia exactly.

I think black smokes are stunning cats and I’m so excited to see her color develop. With Finny being a silver, I knew that if he and Kali both carried solid (they are tabbies — the dominant gene, while solid is recessive) that they could possibly give me a smoke, but I didn’t think either Galia or Charlie were. It’s just been in the last week that I can really see Galia’s smoke showing up, but there’s no doubt. Put them side by side and look at their fur and they are very different.

I think the kittens are drawing straws for who has to keep lisa-mom and Ken-dad trained in the proper way to sleep with kittens. Every night this week a different kitten — just one! — has shared our bed. Tonight will be either Crenshaw’s or Pepino’s turn.

Oh! I just remembered! I didn’t share the helpful kitten photos with you all. I just posted them to the discussion groups. I told them I didn’t know why I’m always so tired. After all, I have very helpful little kittens. At least Galia and Charlie. First they helped me do the dishes last night.

Then after they finished with that, they helped fold the laundry. 

While I don’t have pictures of their efforts, they are also very happy to help with the litter boxes and with sweeping the floor. They make sure I don’t miss anything by batting at any bits that fly up from the broom. Such helpful little kittens!

Guess I had more to say than I thought, huh? It’s like they teach you in writing classes, sometimes you just need to start writing, then the words will come.

Yes, I’ve been busy tonight. On my site I’ve added the 14 week photos of the Warrior Cats and the eight week pictures of the Melons. I also made a few updates to the Cats and the Alters pages to note the HCM results of the cats that have been tested. Thunderstar left for his new home on Saturday, so I updated his page, too.

On the Rockatts site, I added the Warrior Cats pictures, plus 11 week photos of the F Litter. I can’t believe they are so old already! I think it’s time to bug Jim & Donna for new pictures of the Hurricane Litter at ForestKatz now that I’m caught up with these two sites. And yes, someday I need to get to work on the RedCanyon site for Brenda.

It’s getting to be my bed time, though, so little news tonight. Kittens and cats are all well. The Melons are getting braver by the day and have conquered the lower couple levels of the big cat tree. Kali continues to kill household items for them. Shira thinks she’s a kitten and insists on playing in the bathtub every night. Peanut has been very loving, reminding me to keep his claws clipped or it hurts when he kneads on my chest. Yes, life is moving along as usual at LostWoods.

We got up very early this morning to make the six hour drive to Washington State University to have echocardiograms done on Peanut, Talia, Kefira, and Basia to screen them for HCM. After thorough physical exams the cats were left in the care of Dr Heaney for the echos.

A few hours later we came back to the excellent news that all four of them are normal!

I’ll write more about all this in a day or two. This post is being written from my crackberry so I don’t want to write a lot on the tiny keyboard. But I’m happy about the results and wanted to share the news.

Two posts in one day! Whee! But this evening I picked up the mail and to my delight there was a package from Preston Smith with Basia’s photos from Wichita Falls. Preston did an awesome job and I couldn’t wait to share them with you.

Now I have to decide which one goes on my website… It was so hard to decide on just a few photos and I think it will be nearly impossible to pick out one favorite!

I do have new pictures of the Melons to put on the website. I was finishing up the photo session when I got called into work, so I didn’t get the site updated last night. I will do it this evening after I get home.

I decided to take outside pictures this week since the kittens are getting bigger. They weren’t quite sure what to think about the great outdoors - which is quite alright. Crenshaw in particular was absolutely certain this was not a place he wanted to be - especially up in the tree. He told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted down NOW! Galia was the most at ease with everything and even played with the shrubs a little bit when I had her posing on the rock in the back yard.

I decided to put the pictures of them on the rocks on the website, so here are tree pics of each of them (including a very unhappy Cren.)

Kefira also had an outdoor adventure. I was thinking I hadn’t taken any new pictures of her in ages, so this would be a good time to do so. Ha! She thought it would be a good time to run up a couple trees and to race around the lawn chasing bugs, just out of my reach. I did get a fun shot of her in a tree, but I forgot to send it to myself at work, so I’ll have to try to remember to post it another day. I will be out of town the next couple days, so it will likely be after that sometime.

As for the Warrior Cats… I’ve been begging for new pictures. They start going to their new homes this weekend and I need at least one more set of photos before they leave. The begging will continue…

And in news from the weekend, NFCs all over the country — okay in Texas and California — had a good time at shows. Ariane was shown only on Sunday and got finals in four of the six rings. I hear that Magic was also wowing them at the same show, as was ForestKatz Gabriel of AZWegies. Down in TX, ForestKatz Mr Wickett of KSNorskatt and ForestKatz Faith were making an impression on the judges. It’s so nice to see wegies getting some recognition in the show hall. Congrats, all!

Just in case you’ve been wondering if Kali is still “killing” various household items for her children (if you were a reader of the blog last summer you’ll know what I’m talking about), the answer is yes.

Kali is still especially fond of killing spoons and bringing them up to the bedroom for the Melons. Baby spoons — the ones I use to give baby food treats at shows — are still the most common ones I find on the bed and floor. This morning I saw one on the rock, rattle, and roll toy. I’ve seen the kittens carrying the spoons around, so apparently her lessons that these are  toys and/or a source of tasty food are sinking in.

So far Kali has not brought up any knives, forks, or cat food cans like she did last year, but the kittens are still young. She did steal a piece of pizza and take it to them the other night, though. I didn’t see her take it, but I noticed it was missing from the pan on the counter. I looked around the kitchen but didn’t see it. When I went up to bed later I found the crust on the floor, thoroughly stripped of the cheese, sausage, and sauce. Only the crust remained, and even it was well nibbled.

Kali has also been carrying around the catnip cigar. I suppose she’s taken to heart the t-shirts that say, “If you don’t talk to your cat about catnip, who will?” She is telling the Melons all about catnip — and I imagine she’s telling them how wonderful it is, because she seems to think so every time I let her have any. When we planted the garden this spring, I planted a couple of catnip plants. They haven’t exactly thrived, but I have hopes that in the coming years we’ll have plenty of fresh catnip to keep Kali and the rest of the furries happy.

I was uploading some pictures from my camera and decided this would be a good thing to share tonight - a brief slice of life at LostWoods. We live just outside the Helena city limits on an acre lot just a few blocks from the base of Mt Helena. We have wonderful views of the valley and the mountain as you may have noticed in some of the other pictures I’ve shared. We also have our share of wildlife around.

The most prevalent of the wild critters are the deer. When we first moved to Helena — actually, when  I came up here househunting before we moved — we saw the deer roaming the yards and streets of Helena and it was so cool to see. But now that we’ve been here a few summers (this is our third) the novelty has mostly worn off. I still have a moment or two of thinking, “how wonderful!” when I see deer, quickly followed by a strong desire to throw things at them and yell bad words. You see, the deer eat our roses, our pansies, our cucumbers, our trees… you get the picture. Darn deer!

The other night when I was talking on the phone I noticed a deer at the edge of the lawn. So I quickly grabbed my small camera and stepped out onto the deck to take a few shots. Here are a couple.

Now to make this deer story a little bit about cats, I’ll tell you about Spaz and the fawns when we still lived in the rental house across town.

We had a tiny front yard with a small hedge along the edge of the lawn at the rental. Spazzy was still a youngster — under a year old. Our front door didn’t always completely close and every now and then he’d escape out the front door if we weren’t paying attention.

One evening I walked past the front hall and noticed the door was partially open. Panic! I rushed to the door and just before I went barreling out, I saw Kefira sitting just outside the door and Spaz sitting at the very edge of the sidewalk, intent on something. I looked on the other side of the hedge and there was a doe and her two fawns.

The fawns were small — still had their spots. Every move they made, Spaz mirrored as he crept closer to them. I could tell from his body language that he was convinced he could take them. Silly cat! I watched him for a minute and then decided that it would be best if he didn’t get any closer, just in case mama deer didn’t like him stalking her children. I stepped out onto the front porch, making enough noise to startle the deer. All three took off and I grabbed Spaz before he could follow them. And that was the end of his deer hunting adventure. Although… one evening after we moved to this house, he and Bug were outside when a big buck came strolling across the driveway. Both he and Bug went slinking across the cement to get closer and keep on eye on the deer until he walked on down the road. Maybe they thought if they worked together they could take a buck? I don’t think so…

And to close… a picture of a sunset I took from the deck last month.

It seems that the kittens’ day begins and ends on my bed now that they can get up there. Mornings begin between 4 and 5 a.m. when the babies all come to life and have parties, complete with games, on the bed. Kali joins them and provides breakfast and snacks. By the time I get up — around 6:30 — they are winding back down for naps. At least until I get up. Then they decide that maybe they aren’t so tired after all. All five of them love to “help” me in the morning, in between climbing up my legs to get my attention. Well, Pepino is usually the leg climber. The rest just run around my feet.

During the day I’m usually not there to see what they are up to, but I come home to find evidence that the games and explorations have continued throughout the day. The kittens apparently are worn out from the aforementioned activities, so they are sound asleep on my bed. But never fear! My voice is all they need to find enough energy to awake and wreak further havoc on the bedroom.

The last couple nights they’ve been downstairs socializing. Monday evening I carried them downstairs myself, but last night I called them and encouraged them to follow me down the hall, then down the stairs. As the evening went on, I noticed Pepino and Crenshaw had gone back upstairs and I once again found them napping on the bed. Honey & Charlie were napping on the cat tree. Galia was still wide awake, looking for trouble. I decided this would be a good time to feed everyone their wet food for the evening.

Galia followed me out to the cat room where she was happy to join the big cats for a feast of Fancy Feast Medleys. I took another plate to the living room, woke up Honey and Charlie, then went upstairs and brought Pepino and Cren back down to eat. After having a good meal, the kittens went back to their regularly scheduled mayhem while I watched the Olympics.

About 10 Kali must have decided it was bed time. She came into the living room and called the babies. They she headed into the front hall, still talking and calling. When the kittens didn’t immediately follow her, she came back and talked in a more insistent voice, exhorting the Melons to follow her, NOW! Everyone except Galia obediently followed her through the hall and up the stairs. Galia was cuddled up beside me and there was no way she was leaving to go upstairs. I picked her up and took her to the stairs. She promptly turned around and came back into the living room. I picked her up and carried her up to the bedroom. It wasn’t long before she was downstairs again. It wasn’t until I went upstairs and stayed that she was willing to remain there.

After I finally went to bed myself, Kali jumped up on the bed, soon followed by five naughty kittens. Eventually everyone settled down and I heard contented purring as the babies had a late night snack before falling asleep. All was well with the world at LostWoods.

When I was down in Wichita Falls I had the opportunity to have Preston Smith (www.prestonsmithphotos.com) take pictures of Basia. The shots turned out great and I had a difficult time deciding on the six (should’ve been five, but I ended up paying for one more) poses from all the wonderful choices. Today Preston sent me a preview of one of the shots I hadn’t chosen. It’s adorable — was on my short list, but lost out to some other shots. When I get the rest, I’ll share them with you. In the meantime, here’s Miss Buzzy.

I forgot to mention last night that I’d updated the ForestKatz site with new pictures of Buzz’s little sister and brothers. Stop by and see them now that their eyes are open. I think I’m in love with Dolly. NO! There will not be another baby girl coming to live at LostWoods from ForestKatz (not this year, anyway) but she’s sure cute!

Now that Taiba is off living with Greg and Lynn, Basia and Natane have turned to each other for company and play. They get to chasing each other back and forth from room to room — first one in pursuit, then the other. Then one will hide and wait for the other. When the other approaches, the first will jump out and they will both leap straight up in the air and take off in opposite directions. The jumping is amazing — they get great air and often do flips or turns in mid-air like little gymnasts doing the floor exercise. (Can you tell I’ve been watching the Olympics? And the gymnastics - I was once a gymnast — are among my favorite sports to watch?) I love watching them! I tried to get some new pictures of Natane last night, but she wasn’t interested in posing. I’ll try again. She’s still fairly “naked” but she’s getting big and is very pretty.

Speaking of Taiba… She’s doing well in her new home. Greg and Lynn have sent me some pictures of her, so I’ll try to remember to post one or two of them.

I know I’m late with the Melons six week photos. I got called into work yesterday with a problem and finally got home about 10 pm. No pictures. But I took some tonight and they are posted on the website. Crenshaw was being very silly, so it was hard to get him to hold still for pics. Nonetheless, I got some cute ones of him. The rest of the kittens were more cooperative. Charlie thought he should be in every photo and kept climbing back up on the loveseat (tonight’s stage for photos) to join in the fun. Pepino climbed up on my legs and sat there supervising until I scooped him up for his pictures. Galia and Honeydew were happy to run around playing while they waited their turns. I also got a few pictures of all five of them on the little cat tree so there is a litter shot on the Home page as well as the Kittens page now.

They are really getting playful and fun. Fun, that is, except when they decide to have a party on the bed at 4 am. That seems to be the time of day they wake up for their first wild and crazy play session. And now that they can get on the bed, they apparently do not want us to miss out on the fun. It would be okay if we did…

Besides climbing well now, they are all learning how to jump. I watched this afternoon as Charlie went hopping across the floor to wrestle with Crenshaw. So funny! Honeydew jumps after teasers more than the others, although Cren also is getting more intent on doing whatever it takes to get the toy. Pepino is my little lover boy — he’s always climbing on me, chewing on me, and following me around. He’s playful, but definitely the sweetest of the litter. Honey and Galia are also very people oriented, just not quite as much as Pepino. Actually, all five love being with Ken and me. They are downstairs for the second time this evening and don’t seem at all afraid to be in the new surroundings. As long as their mama is around, their humans are here, and they have things to do, they are happy little kittens.

Sondra has been very busy so I don’t have new Warrior Cats photos yet. She was going to try to get them for me, but with school starting soon, she’s going back to work, plus getting ready for her daughters to go back to school. Cross your fingers and hope for new pics soon.

And one last thing… A BIG congratulations to Basia’s littermate, ForestKatz Mr Wickett of KSNorskatt who became a Grand Champion at the CFA show in Overland Park, KS this past week. MW granded in only two shows — quite the accomplishment for him and his proud Sharon-mom. Buzzy says, way to go, bro!!!