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From the Archives: Old and Not So Old, December 14, 2005

two old cats
Stanley and Moses curled together.

Stanley and Moses curl up together in fine symmetry like double quotes; Stanley was 24, Moses was 19, and the two had always been friends but were inseparable for that last year Moses was with us. When my little formerly feral kitten was forced out of her room by the arrival of Fawn’s mother, she latched herself onto the gentle Stanley, who was a little frightened at first to find this skinny gray kitten literally leaning full-body against him and trying to walk with him but eventually showed her around the house and licked her face for years.

Here they are curled up at the foot of the stairs where there have been so many other photos of twos and threes and piles of cats because that is a furnace vent in the bottom step. The attraction is not just the vent itself, but the fact that there had been a floor vent there until I added the landing and closet above, and the floor and those three steps—the vent comes up into the bottom step to meet with the vent—are really nice and warm! I also use them for shoe and utility storage, with hinges to lift up the step itself, so warm air is caught in there, all in all very nice for kitties.

Note that for safety, the vent cover is coated with Teflon to reflect the heat. I’d started finding a few dry and scabby areas on Moses’s lower back, and traced it to her habit of sleeping right up against the furnace vent in the bathroom and kitchen in her last two years. I’ve replaced them all except the studio with Teflon for safety.

The two are also literally “underfoot” as the wooden furniture legs you see there are for my easel when I worked in that corner of the room downstairs, and the stool I used to sit on or set my pastels on. Moses, especially, settled under my feet in her last year, and I never minded carefully stepping around her. I was working on a smaller portrait at that time and I could easily stand in one spot. We would lose Moses the following February, and though I didn’t know that I could see she was holding on to the end and she was happy whenever we could spend time together.

. . . . . . .

Two Styles of Tortie Nap

two tortoiseshell cats on bed
Cookie and Kelly nap on the bed.
tortie cat with her paws over her face
“No, don’t take my picture!”

Meanwhile on the same afternoon, Cookie,13, and Kelly, 12, were having a nap on the bed upstairs. Well, Kelly is attempting to have a nap while Cookie is putting on some sort of a performance. Kelly really looks like she just wants Cookie to settle down so she can catch up on her sleep. Likely Cookie was having a really fun bath, rolling around and washing her face and toes and tail in no particular order, then especially when I walked in the room she started showing off her belly in various fun and interesting positions.

That is, until she decided to play hard to get and hide her face. Kelly had decided to get up and move to another spot off to the right, still determined to nap with her trusted tortie sister. Eventually Cookie did settle down for a nap, though the room was too dark by that time to get a good photo.

In the spare cat room next to my bedroom, Peaches and Cream were napping; Peaches had begun her transition to the household, but I still kept the two in the room for a while each day for fluid therapy and intensive food fests. Sophie and Namir were probably keeping watch at the front windows.

Just a quiet winter afternoon in our house, December 14, 2005.


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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

2 thoughts on “From the Archives: Old and Not So Old, December 14, 2005

  • Paulette Smith

    I love reading your posts about your fur family! Lucky cats to have you as their Mom.

    Reply
    • I think of them all the time, Paulette. It’s so wonderful to remember an entirely different household of cats.

      Reply

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