Welcome to ricoNet — kitty's world!
Kitty's World proudly presents — Lady Swiffer and Lord Dyson!
Nahhh… that was a bluff: no aristocats (they are even not purebred), but I am anyway proud of our two genuine bastards. I never hated cats, but neither did I own or especially look for it — until, yep, until I got these two furballs in fall 2007. Now I have to admit, I like and enjoy them a lot and every day.
Swiffer and Dyson
Dyson and Swiffer are two siblings (out of four) and real country bumpkins: They were born on August 12, 2007 at a barnyard in Laupersdorf, a typical cozy Swiss village of nearly 1'700 inhabitants in the Balsthal valley, the Jura mountain Hinterland of the canton of Solothurn.
Laupersdorf, a postcard from the twenties — 100 years ago
How come the cats have, say … kinda bit unusual names? The kittys came to us being just a few weeks old, they were extremely curious and lively, and scoutet everywhere they were able to get in (and most time out w/o damage … see below). Her fine, deep black skin electrifies quickly and attracts magnetically all dust — like a Swiffer —, and the guy (although he has a very little squeaky voice) proved to be a terrible hurricane, so obviously he had to be the feline version of a Dyson.
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the first pictures: «double act» from Laupersdorf |
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sibling 1 |
sibling 2 |
sib2 & Dyson |
mum, sib1 & Swiffer |
As mentioned, I never longed for cats. But Nina convinced me that at least •one• would be nice, and I have to say that Grappa and Vecchio — the cats that belonged to her while living in Berne, both unfortunately killed by cars in 2005/06 — were really fine guys. So I agreed to one (i.e. 1.0) cat. But then, looking at the two-pack and learning they like to spend a lot of time together, I was OK for the 2.0 version … To make a longer story short, we got them on October 27, 2007, and looking back, I still believe it was the right decision, not for the cats alone; THX to Nina.
the morning after …
first lunch
These two cuties were so charming, you never could believe they would be doing anything harmful. Yep, just brace for it! It happened the day after arrival: They adventured wherever was something that looked interesting, exploring their new world and investigating every hole that could be a gateway worth to go through. There was a larger picture leaning at the wall (as we still did not know where to hang it), and the fury-balls discovered a game to play around it. As the frame was really heavy, no prob.
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could be interesting, so let's have a closer look … |
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bang 2 |
bang 3 |
bang 4 |
Carrera sketch |
The bang sent her to hide behind a bookshelf (she relaxed surprisingly quick), but he performed a big runaway downstairs, seeking the darkest place under the stairs. It needed about half an hour to get him back, and he was still freakly shivering like a lil mouse …
Our common history begun with a big bang and a lot of cullet, but we became close without fussing. There is a German saying «Scherben bringen Glück», which translates as kind of «broken crockery brings you luck»; so I was and still am quite confident.
bookworms?
PS: The arrival of Swiffer and Dyson was a little embittered, but it was my own fault. Some weeks before October 27, an apparently stray cat came to the house and slept at the porch, day after day. As no one in the neighborhood seemed to miss the gipsy, I begun to feed her and let her in; I liked her, and she found a home. After a while we discovered she actually belonged to someone, and even she had no real home there (because her two youngsters had banished her), the owner wanted his cat imperatively back. I could have ignored the facts and stick to Frau Stämpfli's choice, but it did not really feel OK to me (the owner's kids were involved), plus we wanted our own kitty; so I had to send her packing on October 26 …
Frau Stämpfli, the last evening I allowed her to be at home
I could have been more curious, more patient, and less egoistic, then it would not have been necessary to chase her away; it was not a nice job … Now and then we meet again, but she does not care; it seems, cats are smarter than humans.
PS: Frau Stämpfli died .