So this was it now - MY NEW HOME... I must say, I seem to have jumped up the ladder of life quite a bit. My new humans are living in a decent-size house and there is always more than enough food for me. So far, so good, that's the bare essentials covered... When it comes to knowing how to handle me, they haven't turned out half as bad as I thought they would either. For myself, I have decided that we just got off on the wrong paw in the beginning (WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT if you pick a home and somebody who you don’t know just comes and grabs you by the scruff?). But really, they are quite decent to me (cat forbid - I'd never let them know though). What had me a little bit worried was the long journey we took from Mary's place to the new one - what if I ever wanted to go back?

Time in general is a funny thing for us felines:

Unlike the humans, we measure time using activities rather than metric values. Whereas the two-leggers are very accurate about their timing, cats are way more flexible. We split our days into four principal “time zones”. There is eating-time, washing-time, playing time and, most importantly, SLEEPING-time. As a consequence, I measured our travelling-time as follows: 2 full sets of washes, 1 decent meal and 1 middle-length dose. Given that our travel covered nearly every “normal” activity in a cat’s day, you will understand, that the travel for me was very long. Plus, we felines do not like those metal cans on wheels AT ALL - they don’t do our sense of balance any good. By meowing as much and as loud as I could, I tried to protest. But again - humans don’t understand cat-language. So what was the point in wrecking my voice? At least Vicky had the sense to try to talk to me and pad my paw - obviously she was trying to calm me down. Alex couldn’t do much because he was stirring the metal tin. After a while, I tried to go to sleep - lacking anything else to do…

In total, we spend about 2/3 of our life sleeping or dosing. On average, a healthy cat will sleep (or dose) about 16 hours a day. We do not need the same amount of sleeping time throughout our life however. When we are young or very old, we sleep more than at a middle age. As for me, I would say I sleep between 11 to 15 hours per day - depending on what’s up for me to do. When we live together with humans, we tend to adapt ourselves to hour human’s daily schedules - after all, we are not as solitary as is often assumed. We do like company and we do like to be awake to enjoy it.

To give you an example:
If our humans disappear in the morning (to “earn cat food“ as Alex always calls it), we spend most of the “alone-time” sleeping. In the evening then, when we are well rested, we can spend some “quality-time” with our humans until it’s time for them to go to sleep.

Did you know that I really pulled the lucky number there? When Vicky and Alex go to bed, I GET TO SLEEP in the bed(room) as well… How cool is that - especially after having to overnight in a garden-shed???
Personally, I think that is by far the best part of the deal. The bed is soooo nicely big and comfy - I can tell you. And if I play it right, I get myself right in between Vicky and Alex… That means under-floor heating AND draft-exclusion in one. I think that’s great.

The only downside is Vicky: Even though she would be more comfortable to lie on top of, she is a bit of a washing-machine - twist, turn, warp - THE WHOLE NIGHT. Makes you crazy after a while - especially when you are trying to get some sleep. Just when I get comfortable, SHE TURNS - and I take a turn with her and wake up again. Pretty annoying that - after all, there’ is not much I can do on my own in the bedroom. Alex usually closes the door and if I start throwing one of my toys around, they give out to me because it makes too much noise. So what else is there to do? Since I do not want to spend the whole night starring out the window - unless there is something interesting happening out there, I either end up on her pillow or on Alex. He is quite quiet and comfortable too but does not like it too much to have me lying on top of him. Keeps saying that “he does not want to wake up ‘S-HOOKED’ just because of me.” But I don’t do anything! REALLY. I just need to get myself tucked into his neck, that’s all. But maybe being tucked into his neck, isn’t exactly the best thing to do - maybe humans are not like us cats who like to curl up as close as we can? I hope that, in time, I will find a way for all of us to be comfortable at night…

Vicky usually get’s up quite early - just after sunrise. I think she has to travel a distance to get to wherever she goes when she leave the house. Then she feeds me (FIRST THING OF COURSE), disappears into what I call “The Wet Room” and rushes out the door. She does not have the same schedule every day and I like the days she works at home much more than her “rush-out days” but what can you do?
After Vicky is gone, I usually go back to bed for a while. Alex does not bother me when he gets out of bed - he just gets up and is gone. But he has a weird schedule. You never know when he disappears. Could be early morning, lunchtime or evening - I am dying to find out WHAT he does “to earn cat food“…

The downside is that, at least so far, I haven’t been able to explore the territory around the house. Vicky and Alex seem to believe that I am a “house-cat“… Wrong assumption guys, I am an “out-cat”. I need to know what’s going on in the garden. And there are those beautiful HUUUGE trees just in front of the house. I keep seeing them from the bedroom window and I can’t wait to find out what it is like to run all the way up to the top and back down again. Sounds silly, I know but for a cat like me, it is great fun. And all those funny birds that are chirping the whole day. Why don’t they let me out when they leave so that I can have fun outside while they are doing whatever they are doing the whole day?

I could be so much happier if I could spend my time outside rather than in the house. I wouldn’t mind being inside if one of them was at home with me - but being alone all the time? Not so nice. I get bored very quickly (after all, there is only so much fun in those small cat-toys. I can throw them around alright, but since they do not react like leaves that get blown around by the wind or a mouse that is stupid enough to cross my way, I only find them entertaining for a certain period of time.

Two days ago, I nearly managed to skip out the door with Vicky, but unfortunately, she was quicker than me. She grabbed me around the tummy JUST as I was halfway trough the door and put me back into the kitchen. D… it - I nearly made it.

But the next time I will get out…