Katerina

Katerina is our newest WUWL (wandered up and wouldn't leave) cat. She is adorable and the same size as Tallulah, maybe a shade larger, and she is all gray just like Tallulah is all black. We first met her in mid-September and she wasn't shy about coming straight into the house and making herself at home. But we always let her back out and figured she went home because we saw her intermittently. We thought she might belong to someone who only let her out a few days at a time. However, last weekend when the weather turned cold and Katerina had NO interest in going back outside, we let her spend the night. And she didn't want out the next day either. We also decided there was a good chance she had worms.

Aunt Meg, the family vet, determined they were the type caused by fleas. She came by last week and made "friends" with Katerina by shoving two worm pills down her throat and then giving her a rabies shot between the shoulder blades. The best part of the visit was that she brought Kirby, her large poodle, because Amelia had a blast showing Kirby around the house and then tethering her to a Pooh chair in her room while she wrote stories. And then Kirby wouldn't let me into Amelia's room - I didn't know poodles were so protective!

Since Katerina had worms and she loved to lay on the couch, I showed Amelia how they looked like rice. Amelia likes to lay on the couch first thing in the morning sometimes (at o'dark thirty, so I am still in bed myself) and I didn't want her laying on worms. Amelia found some on Katerina's circular cat scratch/ball toy that she spends a lot of time on, too, but I told her that was okay since Katerina was the only one who ever sat there. This morning, Amelia says (at o'dark thirty while I am still in bed), "Mommy! There are worms in my kitty book!" Thinking that the worms should be gone by now but not wanting her touching or spreading the worms around the house, I jump up out of bed. On a Saturday morning. I thought maybe Amelia had left the book open on the ottoman last night and Katerina had been sleeping on it. No, this was a kitty book she got at her school library yesterday that had a chapter on vaccinations, worms and the like. So while there indeed were worms in her book, the "worms" were a topic! She cracks me up. Now that chapter will have so much more meaning for her!

Katerina is very patient with Amelia, so we may have finally found a cat for her, since our other cats have always run from her! I love this picture where she chose to sit on the pillow after Amelia was already working on the floor on her kitty calendar. Katerina is a sweet kitty and purrs easily. She doesn't seem to care about the other two cats who glare at her, so it might go well this winter. We'll see!

In unrelated news, this morning Amelia asked me to help her with a word in her Otis book. She said it looks like "chick-a-go" and it didn't make sense. I looked and it was the city Chicago. I laughed because she is right!

[pictures dated 10/24 & 10/27, respectively]