Introducing Rusty

With this posting Rusty Staub makes his official debut on the blat. You can see he's already shedding on the furniture, which had really not been an issue when Dingers was an only cat.

A little too big to be comfortable

When she was little Ding Ding loved to lie on my shoulders. As she got bigger this became less comfortable for both of us. Still, every once in a while she thinks she'd like to try those shoulders again. Here she is with Rog--who is none too pleased since he's trying to grade papers.

Ding Ding Returns!

Ding Ding regrets her long absence from the blogosphere, but she is a very busy cat--so just suck it up. Dingers finally met Henry over July 4th, and nothing horrible happened to either baby or cat. So that's good. But now a new challenge lurks in the form of Rusty Staub, an orange male cat who first arrived on the scene about two months ago as a pretty pathetic stray.

We began feeding him, because he was obviously hungry, and finally won his trust. At which point I lured him into a travel container, and we took him to the animal shelter. He's now back with us, minus some basic male equipment (although he doesn't seem to hold that against us). I am hoping this is not a gigantic mistake, but we are still in the getting to know you phase. Rusty lives in his fortress of solitude, otherwise known as the guest bedroom, while he acclimatizes to his new situation--and Ding Ding tries to wrap her brain around the fact that she is no longer an only cat. Pictures of Rusty and Ding Ding to follow. Dingers is complaining that this blat is beginning to look more like a blab, what with all the baby pictures.

Everyone's a Critic

Due to complaints about the infrequency of posts of the Ding Ding Chronicles I am moved to write, albeit not for long. Ding Ding's newest relation continues to grow. I believe he now weighs more than she does.

New Family Member

She doesn't know if yet, but there has been an addition to Ding Ding's family unit. Her humans have become grandparents. It's possible she will meet Henry this summer, and I hope she will be as accepting as Henry's cat Lola has been.

No boundaries

I've had complaints about the length of time I've left the dead rodent up on Ding DIng's blat. Tonight I will remedy that. Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures of the Dingers lately. That doesn't mean she hasn't been busy--in fact she's been demonstrating new levels of fearlessness (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it). I just don't have photo documentation. Several weeks ago I saw DIng Ding stalking a raccoon across the neighbor's lawn. It was like she was herding it. More recently both Roger and I saw her tailing a possum. She lived to tell about both adventures, with no scars as far as I can seel--but I worry. She has no sense of her place in the universe. Since I don't have a new picture of her I am adding one from a previous visit to her island getaway.

Deadly Ding Ding

The rodent pictured here died this fall. We don't know that Dingers was the assassin, but we are suspicious!