Mortal combat
posted in Alaska, Holidays and Festivals, Livestock and Pets, OmegaDotter, OmegaGranny, Wildlife, Winter |So we put up the tree this past weekend. Since we rearranged the living room a few months ago, we had to make a new place for the tree—rather than in front of the window, as in past years, now it is in a corner by the stairs up from the entryway. It’s very pretty.
This is the tree:
Here are OmegaDotter’s ballet slippers (the ornament):
A nutcracker:
A snowman:
OmegaDotter’s horsie ornament, given to her by GrannyJ a few years ago:
The pickle:
Another snowman:
And many more eclectic ornaments, gathered over the years. A pineapple, a strawberry, mushrooms, red-and-white striped balls, tapestry spindles, an artichoke, an onion, a garlic, a collection of glass petit fours, stacked glass presents with a bow on top, cowbells, wooden apples, horns…
This is the new cat:
He looks the very picture of innocuous innocence. Sweet, kind, unassuming, loving, overweight. He is the cat I brought home from Mom’s house in February, when I returned after moving Mom into the extended care facility. She didn’t want the responsibility at that point—she didn’t even want more than a couple of her immense collection of plants, because it seemed like too much to take care of them. So the cat returned to Alaska with me.
He likes to lick people. He has the teeny-tiniest purr, barely audible. So he purrs, and licks, and drools, and then starts nipping, all very gently, but quite persistently.
We think he has never experienced a Christmas tree before.
O, the delight! O, such glittering goodness! O, such tinkly bells! O, such rustling needles when you bat at the ornaments! Truly, a Christmas tree is a heaven-sent gift for felines!
Right?
Worst of all, this innocent cat has been leading Wooly, survivor of many Christmases at our house, astray. Newman bats at the ornaments, they sway and jingle and glitter, and Wooly has to bound over to see what’s going on, slither around the base of the tree, and bat at an ornament or two himself.
I have spent every evening since we put up the tree hunting down ornaments, or sweeping up broken ornaments. So far, thank heavens, the only ornaments that have been broken are the boring ones, the plain glass balls of various ho-hum colors.
At least we haven’t had any cats climbing the tree.
Yet.
I leave you with a shot out my office window, a “this is Alaska” moment. Today, while I was working, I heard a crunch-thump very close by, and caught a glimpse of a large shadow; I turned and there was the moose, and then there was the mooselet. They sauntered stilt-legged across the backyard, nosed in the snow-covered raised beds for a bit, then cruised past the (long dormant) ornamentals and flowers by the greenhouse wall. So of course I had to catch a picture of mama and baby:
We were rumored to get northern lights last night…alas, I did not see any. Maybe tonight.
