Cats and Plants

 Here are some recent pictures of the cats and the plants enjoying the sun as spring approaches.  😊

Kira's Gotcha Day

I'm late in recognizing Kira's Gotcha Day.  It was April 6, but that was in the midst of Link being at our house so I was too busy to celebrate her.  Kira also had a vet appointment last week, which she doesn't like.  She's lost another pound since the vet saw her last year, and overall the vet was quite happy with her, so that was great to hear!  

Kira is such a great cat, and I think she is often overshadowed by Arien.  Kira doesn't always want tons of attention, but if she is in the right mood for snuggles, she'll climb right on you and make herself at home.  Kira is quite ornery when she does want attention.  She often sits on my mouse pad to try to prohibit me from working.  I generally banish her to her window hammock, which to be fair, she absolutely loves.  I think one of my favorite things about Kira is that she knows her name and will often come when called.  I wish all cats were like that!  It truly is so convenient if I don't know where she is and I think I may have trapped her in a room.  I just call her and wait until she comes running at me, meowing all the way.  She's seriously so awesome!  I love her so much!

A Bit More of Link

 

Link goes home soon so I wanted to post the rest of the pictures I've taken.  The second half of this week has been much busier, and we've had to separate the cats so I haven't taken many pictures.  Basically, Arien went from hiding from Link to using the cat door (which she rarely does) to go to the basement to attack Link.  So, we've had to make it so the cat door can't be accessed unless we are home and Arien is sound asleep.  It's been a bit annoying fiddling with doors and a gate just to get things secure enough that Link is safe and Arien is somewhat happy.  Link has been very lonely, but I've been spending as much time with him as I can while keeping him tucked away downstairs.  I have also been letting Kira go to the basement to visit him as much as possible.  Kira still sometimes hisses at him if he's moving around, but she doesn't attack him and mostly seems happy to be with him in the basement.  I caught them sleeping on separate couches.  They are so cute.  

All in all, despite having to enforce the "worst case scenario" plan of keeping the cats almost 100% separated, Link has been a sweetheart and is handling it so well!  I was afraid he'd destroy things out of boredom or frustration of hearing us upstairs but being alone.  But he's being an angel.  That said, I doubt he'll be visiting us again.  Arien has been so stressed and upset whenever she hears him, sees him through the cat door, or smells him.

Link's Visit

This big big boy is visiting us this week.  Link is my brother's cat, and they are on vacation for Spring Break.  Link needs medicine twice a day so instead of me driving out to their house, we decided to have him come to us.  He's mostly living in the basement, but during the day when we are home, we are letting him upstairs.  I'm pretty sure he is in love with Kira.  He is trying so hard to win her heart, and she hisses at him and whines at him to go back to the basement.  Occasionally she charges at him, but he backs away and so does she.  Sometimes when the basement door is open so Link can join us upstairs, Kira sits at the top like a guard dog, and he chirps and sings to her.  😂

Arien wants nothing to do with Link which is why she's not in any pictures.  At first she hid from him.  Then she grew comfortable just ignoring him and letting Kira take charge of keeping Link in line.  But I guess Arien felt Kira wasn't doing a good enough job and decided she'd handle Link herself.  When she saw him upstairs yesterday, she chased him through the house going in circles a couple times because Link missed the exit to the basement.  They knocked over a plant before I got them to stop.  😑  I escorted Link to the basement, and Arien calmed down.  However, we do have a cat door installed in our basement door.  Link doesn't know how to use it so it's enough to keep him downstairs.  Kira has occasionally wandered to the basement (she helped Link empty his bowl of food once when I left it out for him 😒), but she mostly likes to sit and watch him from the other side, but if he is up close, she'll hiss, smack the door, and walk away.  Arien won't go downstairs, but being the little firecracker she is, she always hisses when she passes the door to make sure Link knows how much she doesn't like him.  Hahaha!

 

Shenanigans with Kitties

Arien snagged a turn in the basket while I was in-between photographing the hamsters.  She seemed to think it was for her, not them.  😅

 

More Plants

I recently got this gorgeous Philodendron Brasil from Young's Greenhouse & Florist.  I'll admit that I haven't always been that interested in these, especially since I've learned of the cream splash variety which I think it so much prettier.  But the cream splash is pretty much unavailable to me, especially in a price range that I'd even consider, and when I saw this, I actually thought it was so neat that I couldn't pass it up.

This is my Global Green Pothos that I got at Lowes.

My Fiddle Leaf Fig is exploding with new growth right now.  I think there are 5 new leaves coming in right now.  😮

Look at how much my String of Pearls has grown!  And it's even bigger now as I actually took these pictures a couple weeks ago.  It's been so neat watching this grow!

I really love the Calathea Vitatta, so after my first one tanked because I kept doing all the wrong things, I decided to get a new one and actually do my best to do all the right things.  It is currently living in a terrarium I made along with my Fitonia and some prayer plants.

I LOVE my Manjula Pothos!  I especially love that I found it at Walmart for $3.50.  😁  I actually ended up giving part of it away to a new friend who was sad that she missed out.  But I'm starting to see new growth on mine so hopefully it fill out again.

I never thought I'd get a Peperomia, but this Frost has stolen my heart with its shimmery leaves!  It's stunning!  I found this beauty at Lowes.  😊

I picked up this Scindapsus Pictus Exotica from a lady on a Facebook group I'm in for plants.  I'm so excited to watch it grow in to a full plant!

This Philodendron Brandtianum was another Lowes find.  Half of it died off pretty fast, but the rest hung on and I've seen a lot of new growth.  I know others who got plants from this same shipment lost their plants completely.  I'm not entirely sure what the issue was, but I'm glad my has survived.