Weekend Kat and Cat Blogging: The Girl and Grimble

Grimalkin is one of the smartest cats I have ever known. Not only is she intelligent, able to open doors, and very full of opinions on all matters involving the household, she has a sense of humor. She plays jokes on the other cats, and on her favorite humans.

We used to live in a house that had a walkway over the “great room,” which is a fancy way of saying, “a giant living room with a vaulted ceiling and a big stone fireplace.” The “L-shaped” couch was partially under the walkway, and when Grimble wanted to play fetch with her little furry, rattling mousies, she would go upstairs, peek out from the walkway, and drop a mousie onto the lap, open book or head of whomever was on the couch. She’d also wait until another cat was asleep on the couch and would drop a mousie on top of them in order to awaken them. Every time she got another cat to jump up in surprise, you could see the grin hiding in the corner of her mouth and in the sparkle of her green eyes.

She even, when our friend Howie was painting our house, after jumping back and forth over the paint pan many times in a row, dipped her paws in, and went running down the hallway. Dismayed, Howie cleaned up after her, but she sneaked behind him, and added fresh blue pawprints back down the hall going in the other direction. Even as I was washing her feet in the hateful, evil bathtub, I swear she was laughing. She as so proud of herself.

Here you see Grimble sitting with Kat.

Grimble likes Kat, but only when she is asleep. She curls up with her, and lets Kat her put feet on her tummy, and purrs, but as soon as Kat wakes up, she usually sidles away, because she rightfully doesn’t trust Kat not to try and hug her. And while Kat is quite gentle, such clasping hugs of Grimble’s person are seldom allowed to adults, much less drooly little babies who make loud noises and have sticky fingers.

So, the photograph above is a rare and beautiful thing.

In the next picture, you can see that not only has Kat realized that she is being allowed to pet Grimble while she is awake, but Grimble has realized that heathen sticky fingers are currently touching her rump, and from the set of her ears and the narrowing of her eyes, you can tell that she is not really approving of this turn of events.

Grimmy would never swat Kat–she is too good natured for that. She doesn’t swat at humans–other cats are another matter–but people are always treated gently, especially little ones. If Grimble is in a situation with people she doesn’t like, she just looks for the nearest escape route, and disappears.

Which is what happened here. While I was focusing the camera between the previous shot and this one, Grimble decided it was time to leave.

And leave she did, with a little huff and a swish of her tail.

Right now, Grimalkin is on the back of the couch, behind my head, purring. It is her favorite nap spot these days, Kat often stands up on my lap and reaches over my shoulder to pet her, which Grimmy now takes with good grace. She trusts me to keep the stickiness and ungentle thumping from the small one to a minimum.

As you can see, Kat is quite pleased with herself for having successfully petted Grimalkin, the stripiest of stripey cats.

5 Comments »

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1. What a lovely story! Grimble sounds like a wonderful cat! I love our tina to bits but she’s as thick as two short planks!

   Your beautiful photos of Kat and the cats would make a lovely picture book, especially with the gorgeous colours that you dress Kat in. Not to mention the wonderful expressions on both of their faces! Classic.

   Thanks for making me smile when I’m totally shattered!

   Comment by Jennywenny — February 17, 2008 #

2. She is SO photogenic to begin with and too cute for words. That smile just slays me every time.

   I’m so glad you share your spectacular little gal with the rest of us.

   (If I ever have kids, I can only hope they are even half as adorable as sweet as she is!)

   - Cindy

   Comment by Cindy — February 17, 2008 #

3. Thank you for this, I really needed something to make me smile today and restore my faith in humanity. Kat is gorgeous as ever.

   Comment by Mamlambo — February 18, 2008 #

4. A lovely endearing tale! (tail?)

   Comment by aforkfulofspaghetti — February 18, 2008 #

5. oh.. how cute is that!!

   Comment by Liz — February 18, 2008 #

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