I can’t find him anywhere.

As you can see from yesterday’s post, little Sam is quite the wrestler, but this hasn’t always been the case. During his first week with us, even this little furry mouse was able to pin him to the floor. Cut him some slack, though, he was just a little kitten.

Perhaps a better question to have asked is “Is this the end of Emma?”.

You’ll have to tune in tomorrow to find out. Same cat time, same cat channel.

I trimmed the claws of all three cats today, and even though Sam wasn’t too happy about it at the time, if you’ll look at Emma’s paw I think he was appreciative of it later. No matter how it looks, this was all in good fun and part of their normal horseplay. Sam is still smaller than Emma but at least it’s not as lopsided as it used to be — not that his small size ever stopped Sam from rough-housing as a kitten.

When we first introduced Sam and Emma in the guest bedroom, Sam played with the typical kitten zeal, while Emma sometimes did and sometimes preferred to play out of sight under the bed. This is one of her traits that didn’t last, however, and was a sign of her still getting adjusted to life in her new home. She still sleeps under a chair or couch if we’re sitting there, but in general she prefers open spaces to shadows.

You can also see a lovely clash of colors on the bed, this was taken in late December when Sam and Emma (and their litter box) were confined to the guest bedroom. Not only was it a small closed space, but their digestive systems were still adjusting to the high quality food we were feeding them, so we had no choice but to open the window from time to time to air the room out. We grabbed blankets with regard for warmth and not fashion.

Another of Emma’s traits that showed early is that she’s pretty good about playing on her own (at least until she shoves her toys behind a door). I also like how this picture shows the size disparity between the two cats at the time.

… and there are a lot of things I don’t know, but how exactly are we supposed to play with our mice if you keep shoving them under the door?

This is one of Emma’s traits that showed itself right from the beginning.

… close your eyes, fall asleep, good good. Now prepare to be Sammied!

Sam and Emma at the end of their first week with us in late December, they proved to be good playmates right from the start.

There’s only one thing I don’t like about this picture, but that one thing is the reason I took the picture in the first place.

Emma had been with us about a week and was sitting in the nice light of the late afternoon sun. We were still getting to know each other and while she was more than ready to be out of isolation, she was otherwise very good-natured and playful. She must have squinted a bit when I tripped the shutter, turning her expression from peaceful to severe.

She’s really a sweet girl and not an angry young cat, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

… you’ll put the camera down and let me sleep!

This time, I wanted to emphasize how cute he was so I zoomed in for the full-on kitten cuteness.

A picture of Sam zonked out on our couch, taken back in early January when he was just a little kitten and had only been with us a couple of weeks. I wanted to emphasize how little he was so I zoomed out and took a wide angle shot.

When I saw Sam sleeping in the heated bed with his ears sticking up over the top, it reminded me of this picture of Templeton in a similar pose and I couldn’t resist paying tribute.

I haven’t done any hiking the past month or so, choosing instead to stay at home over the weekends. There have been different reasons on different days, sometimes I’ve had to work, sometimes I’ve been too tired, sometimes I haven’t felt that well, sometimes there was other stuff to be done.

Today was a little mix of everything, I did some work early in the day, then worked in the attic to clean up the debris that fell when the new roof got put in. It was hot and tiring work and afterwards I needed to lie down for a while, then in the evening the cats and I went outside. Sam and Emma are well behaved enough out there now that I got some yard work done, trimming some plants and watering and snacking on blueberries and strawberries.

Sam and Emma have been with us for over six months now and have really brought a lot of joy into our lives, waking up at 5 a.m. to your toes being gnawed on notwithstanding. This picture of Scout playing in the catnip is from last weekend.

So perhaps my exposé of the catwalk was just a little contrived. One of Sam’s paws was moving in his picture anyway, so it was pretty obvious he wasn’t sitting still.

It was easier for Templeton to enjoy catnip since he loved to eat it and I could feed it to him inside the house, but Scout much prefers to roll around in it. Some of the neighborhood cats have been wreaking havoc on the catnip growing in the backyard, killing one plant entirely and breaking stems on the other. I decided to cut a few of the stems and lay them on the sidewalk in our backyard to let Scout have at it.

I was surprised to see Sam join in the fun, as Scout didn’t care for catnip as a kitten, but as you can see she has a grand old time with it these days.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the catwalk is that it does not discriminate against the young or the old. This kitten, estimated at only 10 months old, has already given in and given up. I queried his owner (who refused to give his name) if he wasn’t ashamed to see his young charge in such desperate straits. He shrugged and said only in reply, “At least he’s not chewing on anyone’s feet.”

While I love living in Portland, it has a dark underside that most choose to ignore. Known as the catwalk - short for catnip sidewalk - once promising felines lie about nearly comatose, drugged out and destitute. Once a cat ends up here, they are unlikely to ever leave, unlikely to ever recover.

Like most cats, Scout doesn’t like a lot of change in her life, but she’s had to adapt to quite a lot since December. First her beloved Templeton died early that month, then two strange kittens showed up at the end of the month. While she wasn’t happy at their presence when they were kept in isolation, she quickly warmed up once they were all in the house together. She bonded quickest with Sam, the youngest, but was more on friendly but cool terms with Emma.

Over the months though she’s opened more and more to Emma, and lately I’ve noticed Scout specifically get up and lay down near Emma. This is one such occasion, she had been sleeping in one of the chairs in my office but got up to join Emma on the carpet. It was all I could do to not pick up Scout and give her a hug, but that’s one thing that hasn’t changed — as affectionate as Scout is, she hates to be picked up — so I let sleeping cats lie.

But I couldn’t resist a quick picture.

I hate to be so judgmental, but if this picture doesn’t make you want to go out and hug the first cat you see, there’s something seriously wrong with you.

We have a couple of these heated cat beds, this one sits beside my desk. It was one of Templeton’s favorite spots when he was still with us and has now been claimed by little Sam. Scout sleeps here sometimes as well, but Emma prefers sleeping in the open on the floor or on the desk itself.