It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

A Tale of Two Kitties

I couldn't resist this (no doubt) overused opening for this post. But really, though, I think it's the best of times for both Ellie and Mae. The worst of times came, of course when they were spayed and spent the next several days recovering. I'd say they're 98 percent back to their old selves, meaning rambunctious, cute, energetic, loving, and two very combative army girls. They do NOT prefer playing dolls.

Maybe male cats calm down when they're neutered but spaying my little females didn't calm them down, but at least they'll never suffer "heat" and the (perhaps) dubious joy of motherhood. But since this is the tale of two kitties let me tell you some of their differences:

Here's Mae getting in on the
building of the second section
of their cat tunnels

Ellie is the climber and jumper
Mae spends more time on the floor

Ellie meows
Mae purrs

Ellie likes to sleep on my chest
Mae likes to sleep in the crook of my knees

Ellie is petit
Mae is a bit taller (when both girls are on all fours)

Ellie is the first one out the door to the bedroom when I open it to let them out into the rest of the house.
Mae is the first one to examine a new item, unlike Ellie, who is a bit leery of something new, especially if it is big, like the cat tunnels I made yesterday.

And while there are differences in the two kitties, they're sometimes indistinguishable to me in other ways. Their markings are remarkably similar with bits of differences that I still have to check to know which girl I'm dealing with.

Did I mention that they're both cute?

You can barely see Mae
inside the tunnel, but her
eyes are lit by the camera light.

Now this is the first tunnel I made, and my idea was to place another tunnel at right angles to this one, so that they would have to negotiate a turn before they could emerge from the other side. But I've never been much of an engineer. I didn't do very well on the aptitude test the Air Force administered when I joined up, on those items where you had to decide what an object would look like once it was folded up. You were only given a drawing of the flat object with lines showing where it would be folded. So I'm still working on the corner. I did build another tunnel, and when I set them side-by-side, the girls run through one and immediately turn and run through the other.

Forgive me if I dote. When I decided to adopt a cat and I saw these two kittens, they were like bookends, and I knew I couldn't just take one of them. There are times when I would be less distracted if I didn't have either kitten. I could work longer times at the computer. I could take a shower without first having to put the girls into prison in what I call the romper room, where they can look out the windows. But I knew I could never separate them, and so I took both, because they need each other. That way I can be gone from home for hours at a time and they will not be lonely. I have no idea what will happen when they're bigger than me and can push me around if they choose to. Stay tuned!