Tag: kitchen adventures

I’ve mentioned before that the kittens are everywhere and getting into everything in our house. Unfortunately, their new favorite spot is the kitchen counter.

I had hoped that they might just not become interested in it.  Emma and even Clementine always left the kitchen counter alone.  But Anabel and especially Sally are VERY interested in the kitchen counter, the kitchen sink, and anything sitting on or in those places.

My favorite way to store fresh, store-bought herbs is in a vase of water on the counter.  Try it! It works really well for parsley especially. When it’s not too hot and you change the water regularly, stuff will last for a week.  And the bonus is that you get a happy splash of fresh greenery in your kitchen. So, the other day when I bought a bunch of parsley for shrimp risotto night, I just put it in a vase on the counter like I usually do.  I forgot that these are unusual times.

My darling Sally seems to really have something against fresh greenery. That, combined with his bourgeoning leaping prowess, meant that he was incessantly on the counter getting after the parsley. The fastest way to get him down was to pull a stem out and use it to lure him onto the floor where he would chase after and attack it until he got bored and went back for a fresh sprig.  Anabel really likes to play “attack the parsley” as well.  As far as cat toys go, it’s not too bad.  Mr. Man looked it up and parsley is not dangerous for cats (unlike pretty much most any houseplant and several types of cut flowers).  And, a bunch is under a dollar.  That is days’ and days’ worth of kitten entertainment on a budget.

I think that the parsley unfortunately turned them on to the fascinating world of the kitchen counter and now I can’t keep them off it!  They like to supervise when I’m doing dishes. And don’t think that Sally let’s me put his wet food in a dish and then put it on the floor.  He is right there the second that I crack the can. Even Anabel, who most days can’t even be bothered to get up when it’s meal time, has gotten into the eating on the counter act.

I tell you what, I know that I judge people who can’t control their dogs or children. And here I am with kittens running amok in my kitchen.  What’s the saying about casting stones?  Yes, that rock smarts when you have to throw one at yourself too.  Hopefully, if I remember to keep the parsley in the fridge, they will grow out of it/get bored with that part of the house…eventually.

Kittens sure grow up fast!  In these past few months it seems like they  reach a new milestone on a daily basis.  Its been fascinating to watch them develop literally before my eyes.  I mean, there have been days when they wouldn’t be able to do something in the morning but they had mastered it by 5:00pm.  Most of these “accomplishments” involve them being able to climb or jump onto something bigger and higher.

For example:

After about a month, it was time to give them full-time access to the whole house.

Up to that point, we were keeping them in the sunroom, then in the sunroom and office. I would bring them into the front room under close supervision only. We also practiced wearing their collars, which would make them nuts.  The day that I decided that they were big enough to have free reign of the house was the day that they needed to start wearing their collars full time.  They were so excited about exploring everything that they forgot to be annoyed by the bells. 

These guys still are very good at getting underfoot, but the bells give us a little warning.  It creates a sort-of background music when they are running amok in the house – hunting stuffed mice, attacking empty paper towel tubes, hiding loose change and hairbands, and attempting to destroy any other random things they can get their paws on.

Of course Anabel decided to climb the fireplace screen because there’s got to be something interesting inside the fireplace, right? Good thing that these kittens are so tolerant of being handled because I am not tolerant of her white feet being black (yuck!) and we had some washing up to do after that adventure. Sally followed her in there the next day.  Luck for him, his feet are black, so I never really knew how dirty he got.  Currently the fireplace has this attractive barricade system.

It was a big day when Anabel made the leap to the window over the fireplace.  This was Clementine’s favorite place and we knew that the kittens would love it there once they discovered it. There were a few oopsies before Anabel made it, but she is a determined and fearless girl. Once she had established her cool, new spot, Sally had to figure out how to get himself up there too. Now they can help me keep an eye on the neighbors (in-between naps).

This morning I dropped the kittens off at the vet to get fixed! I’ve never had to do this before, the last ones had already had that done before they came home to us. I just hope that the doc doesn’t accidently remove any of their sweetness when he’s in there.