PAGE TWO

Thomas's Home Page

I've quite settled down here now; it's not a bad home so long as you keep the youngsters in their place. Mind you, as you can see from my ear, it isn't always easy to keep them under control. And the other ear looks a bit raggy since that picture was taken. Angela says I fight a lot, but that's just been my philosophy. Where I came from you had to fight; dogs too sometimes. At least we don't have any dogs around here. Well apart from that big black labrador that comes visiting with Pat, and he's scared stiff of us cats. Hides in the car!

I said I would introduce the girls, and this here on the right is Princess. I ask you, what kind of a name is that to give a cat. No wonder she puts on airs. She's the newest one here (actually she came from the SPCA cats refuge, but we don't mention that in case it embarasses her that her last owners didn't want her). I don't really mind her, think we're going to get on OK eventually.

But I was a bit worried when Angela got out the camera to take a few pictures. Well! You'd think she was a model the way that Princess went on. Posing this way, stretching out that way. She even got on top of that "thing" that Angela brought home as our "Christmas present". Tell you more about the "thing" in a minute. Just take a look at some of these poses, and tell me is she a show-off or is she a show-off?


Bet you don't know many cats who go on like that!

Right, I said I'd tell you about the "thing". Just tell me, what do YOU make of it? So far as we can make out its a sort of carpeted birdcage with sheepskin on it. Angela brought it in the car all the way from Hamilton as a present for us cats. But we aren't allowed to keep birds around here. She gets really mad if we bring one in. Princess seems to be having fun with it, but if she goes on scratching at it with her claws Angela is going to get mad, mark my words. I know people, I can tell you a few stories about people. Somebody said I've outlived three owners; I can't really remember. They don't survive very long these people, do they?

Anyway, enough of this chatter. I'd better introduce you to Polly and Sweetie Pie and then let the boys have their page back.

That's Polly on the left. Don't be fooled by that sweet look. She's always causing trouble somewhere. Hides round corners and jumps on you when you're not expecting it. I have tried to teach her some manners, some respect for her elders, but all I got for my trouble was a chewed ear. Literally.

And here on the right is Sweetie Pie.
She came before me. Well, lets be honest, they all did except Princess. Sweetie Pie's not much trouble. Her biggest problem is she can't cope with her long fur. Always seems to have big tangles in it. So Angela and Julie (that's Pat's daughter) spend hours untangling it. Not that it does any good. She looks great for a day or two, and then gets it in knots again. The trouble is that her fur seems to be longer than her neck. She has this beautiful long ruff around her chest, but when she tries to wash it, she stretches her tongue all the way down the fur, but she can't reach the end. I've watched her do it. I'm glad I don't have long fur.

You might be wondering why I don't call Angela "Mum" like the others do. Well when you get to my age, it would seem a bit silly wouldn't it? I think I must be older than she is anyway. I'm getting a lot of growls from that Thomas. So I'll hand them back their page and go and see if Angela's is going to do our dinner on time tonight, or whether it's late as usual!

Hi there, my name is Sooty, and although this is strictly Thomas's page (he was the first cat in this family and he thinks he owns the place), I'm bigger than him, and a couple of years more senior. So respect where it's due I say.

I haven't got time to write anything new, so if you've been here before, I'm sorry a lot of this is all old hat, sort of.

When a cat has his own web page people say that someone in the family must be an internet addict! I've figured out that it's probably our mum, Angela, that's the internet addict. She sits for hours in front of this screen with colours and moving things on it. Worse than those people who sit in front of television sets! But we don't really mind. We're quite fond of sitting around ourselves for long periods. It's cheaper if you don't bother with the screen, though. Tried to tell her that. She doesn't always listen to good advice, though.

I'm going to hand over to Smokey now. Don't be fooled by his innocent sweet look. He can be a grumpy old stick if he doesn't get his own way. Personally I keep out of his way. Visit us again soon, won't you?

Hi, Smokey here. I haven't really got time for all this nonsense. Need to catch up on some sleep; you've probably noticed we cats need a lot of sleep. I wouldn't be bothering with you at all if it weren't for the fact I feel a sort of obligation today. Angela came home last night with a whole bag full of fresh fish, no bones, no skin, and all cut into nice sized bits. Well lets face it, you've got to co-operate a bit when she gets it right. Anyway, nice talking to you. I'm a bit tired, so here's that young up-start Thomas to take over.

Well! It's about time you took some notice of me. Thomas is the name. I do all the work around here, and what thanks do I get? Left out of the picture, that's what. Well here I am.

I've heard Angela (our mum) say its just because I like to get into the pictures. Think that if you like. Typical ungrateful attitude you get around here, that's what I say.

I've got a few more good pictures of myself here that she won't include. But I'm going to sneak them in at the end.

This lazy fellow here is Tam. He thinks he's a baby, and the way Angela goes on with him, I think he has her fooled. He follows her everywhere. Cries outside Gladys's house next door if she goes over there for a cup of tea. Anyone would think she was leaving home.

Well to be honest, a few of us get a bit anxious about that now and then. It would be a disaster for us, you know. We've spent a lot of effort teaching her what we like and what we won't eat. So sometimes we all go over when she visits Gladys, and sit outside waiting. Just to let her know we need her at home, and not to get any ideas.

I was supposed to hand over to Sylvester about here. But as you can see he was busy and he wouldn't come. And that's Louis he's playing with.

I used to have this house to myself, you know. If I hadn't been nice to that Sylvester when he came to visit, none of this would have happened. But he just took a look around, liked what he saw, and decided there and then nothing was going to make him go back to live in Auckland. I've never been to Auckland, but he tells me there's lots of traffic and it gets cold in winter. So Angela let him stay, and then there was Louis, the big fellow with the long black fur. Turns out he was Sylvester's best friend in Auckland and he was pining for him and his owner was going overseas.

So what does she do? Now get this, I hope you're listening. She goes to Auckland and collects this Louis and brings him here! He must have thought he was in seventh heaven. Picked up in Auckland, brought to live in paradise (that's what they call this place, although I've also heard it called the Bay of Islands) and there's his best friend Sylvester, already got the place sussed out.

I can tell you I was put out. I mean, I'd let this fellow Sylvester settle in, made friends with him even . And no sooner were we getting on OK, than this old mate of his turns up and neither of them care tuppence for me now. Not that I care. That's him, Louis, on the right. I think he's downright effeminate, with that long hair and pretty face. But Angela seem's to think he's lovely. Just goes to show, no accounting for taste.

And it's really gone downhill from there. I mean, I keep telling Angela, no more. We've got enough cats. We don't want any more. Well I don't anyway. If I didn't love her so much I might think about leaving. Well I might; don't laugh. I beat them all up now and again, just to remind them its really my place. And then I get told off! There's a lot of unfairness around, I can tell you. Anyway, I promised I'd introduce you to some visitors we've got here today.

This is Deb's cat Bob (short for Karina) who is actually female. In fact rather a nice female, though I'm a confirmed bachelor myself.

She's one of those pedigree types, British Blue they call this kind.

Puzzled by the name? Well there was a girl in Black Adder whose name was Karina and she was called Bob for short.

And here are Bob's friends, Tabatha (black and white) and Nikita (Russian Blue).

That looks like a nice deck they've got. Bet they've got more sense them I had. Don't let any more cats in there, girls!

And now I've done my duty introducing people, I can show those pictures of me.

You see how helpful I am. These are the ladders they were using to get good photographs, and I just popped up to the top to give them my opinion of the best shots.

Anyway, nice talking to you. This is my homepage, so I hope you'll call in again. And if you want to write to me, enclose a photograph and tell me a bit about yourself.

Well, what do you know? Here's an email for me! From a fellow called Buster in Texas. Wow! That's a long way away from New Zealand where I live.
Here's his picture. He says he's put on weight a bit since this was taken. Thought you might like to read his message, so I'll hand over to Buster here.

Mrowr, Thomas,
I come from the North Side of Fort Worth, man. But I was adopted early on, so I didn't learn all that North Side lingo. I tell you, the first few months were something else. Almost got run over by this giant, loud thing, and one time this kid picked me up UPSIDE DOWN and dropped me on my head. I saw stars for a while even though it was daylight, and my new mom says it affected my vision until just recently.
She's funny, my new mom. It's so easy to get on her good side. She thinks I'm smart when I smell the sardines as she opens them way up on the counter. Truth is, I smelled them the minute she brought the can into the house. It's easy for me. My new dad is something else. I've taught them a couple of games. There's lots of walls in my new house, and sometimes for fun, one of them will stand behind a short wall and wait for me to run up to them. They scream like they are scared, and I run off like I am scared. It's great fun.

Can you feel when your mum is happy? I can. She gets bigger somehow, but it's a nice kind of bigger. One time, a few days ago, my mom got all dark and so much smaller I thought she would disappear. I got as close as I could and she stroked me for a while, and she did get a little bigger while she was stroking me. I think people do that when they hurt. But, since you are older, maybe you know something I don't. If you do, would you please tell me?

My room is almost filled with big pots of wonderful dirt and plants. I haven't been able to convince my parents that I need to dig in that dirt. They get really serious when they see dirt on the floor from where I have been digging, and they say "No" a lot. But, that dirt feels so good to my claws. It's like telling me to stop rolling in the catnip. And that's another story. My mom brought home a fake mouse one day that was filled with catnip. I loved that mouse, wanted to tear it to shreds with all my love. So I did. Got catnip everywhere. My mom cleaned it up, so there went my fun...into the trash.

Well, Thomas, I've got to sign off now. If you ever want to come see what it's like with only one other cat (ME), I'll let you play fetch for a while, but don't try to take over my territory, okay? We Texas cats claw first and ask questions later. I admire how you keep all those felines in line, good buddy.

Keep up the good work, and I'll meow at y'all later.
Buster

I've had another feline email, so thought I'd share it with you. This is from Tracy Diane over there in PA, America. That's an unlikely name for a cat. Must be a story behind that name. Hm, Hi Tracy Diane, I really appreciate your writing!

This is what she wrote (no picture unfortunately, but she sounds beautiful)

Holiday greetings to Thomas and friends!

Loved your web page. My mom let me read it while she chuckled along. I like to sit right on the corner of her 'puter table and read along, all those pretty pictures your Mom has! And, I've learned that if I set there long enough, my Mom will stop hitting on those keys and making all that racket, then I can get a proper nap! I don't have a picture to send you, wish I did, you're so handsome, but I've got long hair like Sylvester, a lush black coat, but with more white on my face, the kind of face they use for cards. Bet I could be a model if the humans would let me.

I know what fun it is to bother the humans when the photographers are here, that's the coolest! I'm like you in that I like their glass and have been photographed too admiring it. Don't think Mom's publisher is going to use those shots in her new book, but a gal can hope. Mom says one of these days she's going to give me some thanks in one of her books, however, til then I'll settle for holding her down nights by curling up on her lap. I thought about settling in for a nap under the Christmas tree yesterday, but that lap is softer.

Do have a super holiday. I'd share my catnip with you if I could figure out which hole to stuff it in on this machine. I've got a fresh piece that Mom snipped for me, it hasn't been cold enough in PA yet to freeze it, so I'm almost in heaven. Hope that jolly old elf comes to visit you soon! Write again, really enjoyed your site! Meoow, Tracy Diane (and her Mom, Ellen)

Thomas again here. Say Tracy Diane, all this talk about catnip finally got the message through to my Mum, but the stuff she brought was in a packet and it was all dried up with no smell at all. She put it all over that carpeted-bird-house thing, can't imagine what for. Just made a mess. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was why don't you send me a picture. You sound a lot prettier than this lot here.

love from Thomas.

You could visit our mum's websites if you like
The Virtual Glass Museum at http://www.glass.co.nz
Gainsharing at http://www.gainshare.co.nz
and Websites for Novices at http://www.webzite.com

Web site designed by Angela M. Bowey. Copyright (c) Angela M. Bowey 1997. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to make a copy for your own information. Thank you.
Graphics by Jelane
URL for this page: http://www.glass.co.nz/cats/

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