A new feline has entered the neighborhood. Molly and I saw him after school a couple of weeks ago, about two blocks away. Today he sauntered into our yard and dined on the bowl of food always available for strays. While the children think he is a girl ("I can tell by the eyes," said Ethan from down the street) I know better where to look and he's a male. Not much bigger than Natasha, so still under a year old.
He is tame and friendly, even mellow, so he's obviously a pet, not a stray. He is quite beautiful -- I think he might be a Birman-Tabby (or under-the-blanket descendant). Natasha chased him off, as she does every cat not of the household (she allows Jersey to stay, curiously). He came back later and had another helping, so she'll have to work harder to keep control.I think I will call him "Orloff", after the sole male Birman to survive WWII in France. (One doesn't think of the effect on the pets, the most innocent of innocent, of wars. Cats didn't survive the Siege of Leningrad, either.)
And here, an hysterically designed cat-breeder page that I ran across while looking up Orloff's coloring. You can't get much better than this, if you're a web designer and want a quick laugh.
4 comments:
laughed out loud at the cat breeder page. It just doesn't get any better than that.
The new cat is lovely.
I read somewhere recently about the cats and dogs not surviving the Siege of Leningrad. Not a surprise really, since over a million people died of starvation.
Umm, yes, you read about the Siege of Leningrad in the article I linked to in my post, which you had sent me (about cats in the Hermitage). What goes 'round, comes 'round, especially in our hyperlinked world.
The picture of Natasha and Orloff on the red steps is marvelous--so very essence of cat.
I suspect the cats in the Hermitage were eaten during the seige of Leningrad. It was a terrible event, hard to even imagine. But they might just have died of cold and starvation like so many humans.
Yes, common sense and Wikipedia say the cats and dogs were eaten in Leningrad and probably saved a few lives thereby. I look at my animals and wonder if I could eat them. If I couldn't feed them and they were going to starve.
The Russian people - it's hard to imagine what they endured in that terrible siege. We saw a documentary about it on BBC years ago in England. It has haunted me ever since.
Amy -- Oh yes, the cats of the Hermitage. I knew I'd read it somewhere.
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