Happy 2025

 We didn’t make it ‘til midnight. Some of us are too old to stay up that late.

Our Lovely Game

Kenta and I have this secret game that I LOVE. I find his favorite toy, now named Harry the Hedgehog/Porcupine or Porky the Porcupine/Hedgehog. Wherever I ‘hide’ Harry/Porky, Kenta finds him and carries him somewhere else in the house. Lately it’s been mostly bringing Harry/Porky downstairs by the meal dishes. Kenta is trying to make sure we feed his friend. 
 

Hiding Spots

Not realizing Norma was hiding, I tried moving this ‘tunnel’ to a different spot only to discover it was much heavier than normal. Norma squealed.
 

Legacy

I bet Kenta just loves hearing all about the cats who preceded him in our house. That’s good because he hears about them a lot.
 

Nutcracker Fans

Visions of the sugar plum fairy that never showed up still dance in their heads…
 

Merry Xmas

 Merry Christmas from Kenta, Alias and Kenta’s hedgehog (and Norma, not pictured here).

Santa

Alias is hoping Santa brings something special. I admit it likely won’t happen. A random catnip toy at best? His food guy is failing him. 
 

Boop

Kenta is booping Alias’ nose. Alias didn’t approve of the boop and he eventually pounced on Kenta. Of course the reason Kenta was booping Alias in the nose in the first place, because it was quite clear Alias was positioning himself for a pounce.
 

A/I Alias, Norma, and Kenta

I used a new feature on the iPhone that generates A/I images. Not perfect. Norma is shown with green eyes instead of blue eyes. And Kenta has a black nose. But pretty cool. 

Crazy

I fear we are in for a long cold winter. I don’t recall such heat seeking this early in the winter as this one. Someone posted on social media that we are supposed to get 25 inches of snow the next few days based on information from our city’s website. I don’t know if that’s true, all the weather sources I trust don’t seem to agree, but if we do, I’m never going to leave our house again.
 

Treat

Sometimes I’ll look over at Norma and Kenta and Norma is chewing on a tuft of Kenta’s fur. I think she really appreciates his floofiness. 
 

Teddy Hedgehog

Finally got a picture of Kenta and his BFF hedgehog. Usually he just carries it to a different part of the house but yesterday he was playing with it on the stairs so I was able to grab my phone. Kenta loves his hedgehog.
 

Cuddle Puddle

I guess we should move to a place that has a fireplace…
 

Spillage

Leave it to Kenta to figure out how to fall out of bed…
 

Suspects

Someone knocked a glass off the kitchen counter. Thankfully it didn’t break. I was upstairs when it happened but I’m guessing it was one of these two since they both love to knock things onto the floor. A lot of hollering followed.
 

Heat Check

Proof positive the landlord is cheap and won’t turn up the thermostat.
 

Snooperviser

Norma likes to supervise whenever I’m setting up computer equipment, printers, and in this case a new router modem. I call her my I/T gal. 

Empathy

I was having yet another horrible anxiety attack. Kenta came over and placed his paw on my hand. We were holding hands! He’s an amazing cat and I love how he does all he can to fit in with Alias, Norma and me. 
 

Hugs

Kenta decided Alias needed a hug. Happy to oblige.
 

Sunny Side Up

Kenta has learned it’s very important to keep your tummy warm.
 

Musical Beds

Kenta is in Alias’ favorite bed. Alias is in Norma’s favorite bed. Norma is in the bed she and Alias often nap together. To be fair to Kenta, he’s in his favorite bed too.

Heat Pad

I can’t remember the last time Norma took a nap on my lap. She used to do it all the time when she was a kitten. Now days, she’ll sit on my lap when I’m working at my desk but she doesn’t relax much. She loves to rub her face against my chin and turn circles in my lap. Yesterday she sat on my lap on the living room couch and napped for over an hour. I wanted to get some stuff done upstairs but it felt so nice having her nap on me that I stayed for as long as I could.
 

Kenta’s Kangaroo

This is Kenta’s favorite cat toy. At first I thought it was a porcupine then I thought it might be a possum. I googled possum and it definitely is not one but a picture of a hedge hog also came up and that’s what I think it is. We’ve had it for many years and it used to be filled with catnip. My dad used to give da Boyz a package full of cat toys every Christmas. Even I never bought them gifts. None of da Boyz played with toys much. Theo loved playing fetch with crinkly balls; Mr. Max and Thompson played with catnip toys once in a while. Diego-San was too dignified to play with toys. 

Alias and Norma aren’t much into toys either. Norma does love to stab a toy with her front paw and and standing on her hind legs, fling it around the room squealing all the while. Alias has a favorite mouse toy that he’ll play fetch with.

So there’s a large bucket of mostly unplayed with toys that Kenta has checked each one out at some point. He loves his hedge hog most though. No matter where I put it, he’ll grab it with his mouth and bring it somewhere else. I constantly ask him,  “Where’s your porcupine?” A few days ago I put it on top of the living room sofa for the first time. Kenta either couldn’t find it or determined I finally figured out where the hedge hog belongs. 

This morning he was lying on my lap on the living room sofa so I pulled the hedge hog down to him. He immediately picked up his friend and brought him halfway up the stairs. From there he batted the hedge hog down to the bottom of the stairs and pounced on it. He then lay on his back inviting a tummy rub from me. He repeated this several times and was delighted I was helping him play. For the first time in the history of the world, a cat displayed absolute glee.