The other side of the fence and other things – Week #2

During the second week I have been getting used to the routine here.

I wonder why they won’t take down the balloons at the entry way door, the terrace door in the livingroom and their bedroom? Don’t they trust me? It must be the yearning I have in my eyes when I sit on my scratch post or when I stand up against the window looking outside. As much as I have thought about it, there seems to be no way around these balloons.

I like to follow them around the house. THEY get to go outdoors anytime they want, but THEY don’t allow ME to go outdoors every time with them.

In this house livingroom, diningroom and kitchen are connected. Between the livingroom and the kitchen there is a sliding door. From the kitchen and livingroom the hallway can be entered. Guess what they did? Mr. & Mrs. Nice put the door handles upright!! Don’t they know that I cannot open the doors like that? One would think they’d have given this much better consideration and thought about my needs!! When Mr. Nice mows the lawn and Mrs. Nice works in her flower beds, they trick me. Quickly they lure me into the entry way and they shut these two doors. Then I have to stand against the doors, make the most miserable sounds, waiting for their pity … but to no avail. I am not allowed back in until the yard work has been completed and I can go outdoors on a leash with them. That’s not fair, Mr. & Mrs. Nice! You better believe me, I will remember when they use the trick on me next time. I am wondering this may have something to do with my first Saturday here when Mr. Nice had to climb through the kitchen window?

Mrs. Nice noticed I was loosing some hair on my right ear. It worried her. She is always worried about me, my (now) beautiful shiny coat, that I drink enough, and eat enough. Something else that she cares very much about is cleanliness. My scratch post is being vacuumed every other day. She says, even though I don’t shed as badly as her old shorthair cat Streaks, she does not want my hair everywhere. When she vacuums I watch from a distance. As strong as this vacuum cleaner is, I am surprised it does not suck the carpet up as well. When she is done, I get right back up on my scratch post. As you see, I have my personal maid as well. That’s a life of luxury. They didn’t do this in the animal shelter.

Mr. Nice always told me during the first week, that he doesn’t care to walk along the fence in the yard all the time. He likes to sit in one spot and cuddle. Doesn’t he know that I am curious about what’s past this fence? Who cares what he likes? My needs are important!

Mrs. Nice started taking me past the fence on the leash. Now I know what the front of my house looks like. It is very sunny there in the evening. Mrs. Nice and I sit there on a pretty bench. She gives me enough leash so I can go across the street to the other neighbor’s fence. I smelled another cat there, too. There is a nice lady with a husband and another set of twins living there. They came out to welcome me to the neighborhood and warned me about some of the mean cats around here. There is Tommy, another cat in the neighborhood, who watched me during my first outing on the other side of the fence. Mrs. Nice tried to make him leave, but he kept following from a distance. I’ve got to watch out for this fellow. We even walked to the creek which was neat. I wonder what comes after the creek?

Here is where we sit when we go out front.

When I get tired of being on the other side of the fence, I walk back into the garden with Mrs. Nice. It is usually time for me to eat something and get some rest.

This is the view I get. Now tell me, would you run away from here?


This all I have to tell you about my second week in my new home.

Taking it nice’n easy

I finally met the missing member of the family. He’s not home much, but I guess that’s normal when you are his age. He has a twin they tell me, who has already moved out. I guess young Mr. Nice is the one I need to wrap around my paws if I want to sleep on a real bed every once and while.

Do you think he would mind when he is not home or at work if I laid down there a little? Look at the picture of him and myself. He likes ME, Stella-The-Cat. I greet him when he gets home from work with Mr. Nice and cuddle with him just like I do with Mr. & Mrs. Nice.

Mrs. Nice is at home at the moment because she is not feeling too well, so I really need to enjoy the time while I have her for company during the day. She’s told Mr. Nice that I am like medicine for her – whatever that means. I just love that I get held, my coat brushed and attention whenever I need it.

Mrs. Nice is busy in the house and doesn’t always have time for me when I want it, but I have learned to get her attention. I just jump up into her lap and make room for myself. Who could resist when I do that and when I purr like I do?

Mrs. Nice is stricter than Mr. Nice and she tells him about the little tricks I use. She caught me jumping on the diningroom table and I reeeeaaaly got fussed at for that. I better not do that again. As it is with everything in life, you have to try something to find out if you are allowed to do it or not.

I don’t jump on kitchen counters either. Mrs. Nice thinks I have really good manners. On the couch I have a soft blanket where I am allowed to sit. My favorite spot is on Mr. Nice’s belly. Here is a picture Mrs. Nice has taken when I do that. Mr. Nice thinks this is pretty funny how I demand attention and compares me to the cat his family used to have.

Approximately during the middle of my first week at my new home, I felt good enough to start talking to my family. Now I meow and they talk back. At first, I wouldn’t do that and they thought this was strange. Don’t ask me why, but talking to them makes things much easier. They seem to understand what I am telling them.

The very first Saturday in my new house Mr. & Mrs. Nice worked outdoors in the garden. Hey, I wanted to go there, too. The door was only pulled shut. I jumped up, but the door did not open. Terrace doors seem to work differently than the regular doors in the house. You should have seen all the excitement escalating outside. Suddenly I hear someone working on the kitchen window which was on tilt and here comes Mr. Nice through the kitchen window. He is no small fellow, you must know. Pretty smart, don’t you think? Going out the terrace door and coming back in through the kitchen window. The next time I went to my terrace door there was a balloon hanging there. What a surprise! It looked so inviting and I jumped against it. Have you ever heard a balloon pop? Surely, you have, but you don’t know the effect it had on me. It really scared me. I wonder why they did that?

One night I wanted to play with Mr. Nice, but he was in bed already. Mrs. Nice was at the computer. Naturally, I went upstairs, jumped on the door handle, grabbed it with both paws and my weight opened the door with a loud sound. That must’ve scared him! Quickly I was put back into my basket in the livingroom by Mr. Nice. I don’t think he was too happy about me waking him up. The next day they had a balloon on the bedroom door handle as well. I am scared of balloons, so I’ve decided not to try that one again.

I can’t complain, though. Every day I get to go outdoors. Early in the morning, Mr. Nice brushes me before he is off to work. When Mrs. Nice is up I get more food, more loving and lots of attention. I think I will try not to upset them and mind them. Looks like I am the one being trained, doesn’t it?

That is a summary of my first week in my new home. The story of week #2 follows soon.

My First Visit Outdoors – Day #2

On Monday, May 21st, I must have made a face sad enough to soften Mr. & Mrs. Nice’s heart. I was sitting at the window, looking out, looking at them, walking to them, going back to the window numerous times. Hey, it worked! Mr. Nice said, he would take me outdoors! World, here I come!

Well, it was not „World, here I come“. It was „World, here I come, as far as this leash he puts on will let me.“ It is better than nothing, right? You have got to see this garden. Lots of green grass, beautiful roses and other flowers and a Swedish garden house. Can you imagine how it feels to sit inside on your scratching post and to be exposed to a view like that, only guessing how it could feel to be out there? No, you probably can’t since you get to go outdoors all the time, but TODAY I GET TO GO OUTSIDE WITH MR & MRS. NICE!

Mr. Nice put my little harness on and this expandable leash. I will forgive him for this one since the leash is for dogs, but he means well. They take a lot of pictures of me of everything I do. Sometimes it bores me, but it makes them happy.

Here I am leisurely enjoying the grass.

There are more pictures of me outside. I think I will show them to you. The leash really isn’t too bad. At least I get to go outdoors. They tell me I will have to wear it on all my outdoor visits until I know where I belong now. When I do I get to go outdoors by myself. Mrs. Nice said I will have a curfew and not allowed outdoors at night when they are in the house. They are trying to train me to be a 75% house cat. We’ll see how that will work. I am sure I can change that. Just got to work on my training. 🙂 Mr. Nice doesn’t want to be recognized, but I had to show you this picture. He allowed me to sit on his shoulders. Anything that makes Stella-The-Cat and Mr.&Mrs. Nice happy.

Here is another one of me just loving the peace and quiet. You will only enjoy this kind of life if you have been inside an animal shelter for a while. I know what I am talking about. Mrs. Nice keeps saying she would hate for me to run away from their house and that she already loves me so much. Running away will be one idea I won’t even give any consideration.

This is the end of the story of how I got Mr. & Mrs. Nice to take me outdoors.

Putting their mind at ease

More Day One ….

Of course I wanted to know where my toilet would be located. After all I am a clean cat! You wouldn’t believe Mr. & Mrs. Nice, though.

I was given a walk through my new accomodations. Guess, where they took me first? You guessed it, my bathroom. It is located in the basement where the washer and dryer are. Off it went to the two other rooms in the basement where Mr. Nice keeps his tools and another huge room they call „The Hobby Room“, whatever that is. Looks more like the place where they keep everything they don’t really want upstairs.

On the first floor I already knew where the living- and diningroom, kitchen and guest bathroom („Off limits“ to me I overheard them say) were located. I dine in the kitchen near the refrigerator out of three brandnew bowls. One for water, one for dry food and one for canned food. As you can see, I am not lacking anything. I’ve overheard them talking that they have bought different dry and canned foods in case I was a picky eater. „People! I’ve lived in an animal shelter! You eat what you get there or you will go hungry!“ Well, I won’t spoil it for them since they have so much fun spoiling me, Stella-The-Cat.

Now you tell me, can life get any better than that? Three bowls, my choice of food and grass!! This is like eating in a restaurant.

Then we went to the second floor where three bedrooms and the master bathroom are located. Not bad, I thought. I guess I’ll stick around for a while. Wonder if they will let me sleep in their bedroom sometimes. Oops, just heard Mrs. Nice say, that sleeping in the bedroom is a „no no“. Oh well, someone else sleeps in this house. His room is on this floor, too. I can work on him when I meet him. Then there is the third bedroom which is used for a guestroom. Mrs. Nice said, I can go in there, but not sleep. I guess she is afraid I will claim it for myself and not let any visitors sleep in there. We’ll see about that. 🙂

The third floor has a huge bedroom that they are working on at the moment and another room where Mrs. Nice has all her painting and craft materials.

In conclusion, I must say, I am going to like it here very much and I am glad I got out of this raggedy joint at the animal shelter.

Do you remember my previous post where I told you about my fuzzy coat? Well, I am looking pretty good now. I have got this neat little brush and comb all to myself and it sure is nice having someone helping me with this long hair. I love being brushed and combed.

This is my new life. Now I have got the difficult task ahead of me of training Mr. & Mrs. Nice.

Oh, before I forget it. They took me about five more times to my bathroom in the basement. Like I am stupid or something! Well, to make life easier I used it and they could rest easily that night.

Ready or not – here I am

Day One Continued ….

I had to go on a scary ride in the car. Who knows where they were going to take me? During the ride Mr. & Mrs. Nice were talking in the car about their plans for me, i.e. like not being allowed outdoors for the first few weeks without leash. I started to wonder if I really picked the right couple. The ride did not take too long and we arrived at my new home. Since I had to sit in the carrier I couldn’t see my new house when we got out the car.

I heard the door open and being locked with a key. Riiiiight, they remembered – I OPEN DOORS! Pretty smart Mr. & Mrs. Nice! They must have the memory of elephants.

In the livingroom my carrier was opened where I peaked outside. „Looks pretty nice“, I thought and got out. Then I looked for the new stuff – toys, scratching post and sleeping basket WITH a soft pillow. They must know about cats. But why on earth is the scratching post next to a couch and not near the window? THAT has to change. I’ve got to take it nice and slow though. First I must make an impression on them.

Here I am looking around my new place.
Not bad, tiled floor. Don’t mind my fuzzy coat please. They didn’t brush me very often at the shelter. You can’t be too picky at a place like that. I am going to change this at this house. This place is like an oasis! I must have picked the right couple.

Check out the basket! Pretty neat, isn’t it?

Hey, this is a house with a view! A garden!


Well, Mr. Nice came to me begging, „Stella, the scratch post was quite expensive, why don’t you use it?“ I wanted to say, „Dummy, there is no view where you’ve placed it now.“ But Mrs. Nice said, „The cat doesn’t care what you paid for the thing. Move it to the window.“ „Pretty smart Mrs. Nice! I think I am going to like you!“

So, here I am on my expensive scratch post. Satisfied, Mr. Nice?


After all this excitement it was time for a nap. I will tell you more soon.

How I picked my new owners

On May 19th, 2007 this really nice couple came to the shelter where I have been living for several months. They were looking for a kitty because they had been without an animal for a long, long time.

They were telling my caretaker that they wanted to look at a BKH-mix they had seen on the web page. What they didn’t know was, that I reaaaaly wanted to be with them. I took the first opportunity available and jumped on the lady’s shoulders. When Mr. Nice stood close, I went right to him, too. I must have done a really good job because they went nuts about me, stroked me and gave me lots of love.

Then I heard my caretaker telling them that I was a really good cat and liked only myself and the people around me. Nevertheless, they still wanted to look at the other cat. I decided to go outdoors while they were looking, but imagined that my chances were pretty good that they would end up coming back to my room.

Patience pays off! They came back to MY room and THEY wanted ME! ME! ME! There were some hurdles to get past, though. My caretaker is a careful one and she told my prospective can openers that she would not allow me to live near a busy street and she wanted to see the house where I was going to be living. She also told them that I knew how to open doors. Why did she do that? Couldn’t they find out themselves? Then I heard the nice couple tell her that they would go to the store and buy a new scratching post, food, a sleeping basket and toys. It sounded like they really wanted me and were willing to spend some €€€€ on me, Stella-The-Cat.

Another long night passed and the next morning on Sunday, May 20th, 8 a.m. they arrived with a new carrying case for ME, Stella-The-Cat. My caretaker put me in there. Then I had to wait and put up with this obnoxious terrier mutt sniffing at my new case while my new friends had to sign adoption papers.

Off I went to my new home!