Aug 30 2008

Karra And Muska Are 2!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PersonalChrisM @ 2:17 am

Looking at the pair of them, I can’t believe it was a full two years ago that Dasha gave birth to them. I don’t yet know how we’ll celebrate what is an entirely normal run of the mill day to them, but hopefully we can find some new toys at the local pet store.

Happy Birthday Karra Muska

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Mar 01 2008

IT and Cats

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PersonalChrisM @ 5:04 pm

This week I started giving computing lessons to a colleague of Walton. She came round with her laptop, and we are going through basic skills, as well as how to save time by learning various shortcuts. One hour of pure IT can be a bit much for the non-geeks out there, but luckily Karra and Muska (our kittens) were on hand to provide occasional distractions. Some of the cat products in our flat have seen better days – one of the toy mice had its ear ripped off whilst my pupil was here!
We also got out the squeaky mouse that sits on the end of an elasticated fishing rod-type affair. Karra tends to watch it jumping around, almost as though she is analysing the patterns of its movements, then pounces when she thinks she has the best chance of holding on to the grey squeaky furry thing ๐Ÿ™‚ Muska on the other hand will carry out all sorts of aerial acrobatics in her quest to trap the prey.
Once I had changed the batteries in their other favourite toy, we had a little laser show going on. I picked it up last September, as a replacement for the little laser pen we had previously been using. This version has two lasers, some mirrors and a couple of motors, to create pretty geometric patterns on the floor, and normally grabs the kittens’ attention. Hmmm, how old are kittens once they become cats?

Anyway, we need to find some new toys for them sometime, so I’ll keep my eye out in the local shops and online, to see what can be found.

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Feb 20 2008

Amsterdam Trip IS On

Almost all the details are now sorted… We have bought the plane tickets, paid a deposit on the Apartment, now we just need to sort out a pet-sitter again. Either that or re-unit Karra and Muska with their Mum (Dasha) and younger sister (Tishka) that they’ve never met. Ira thinks 4 cats in one house would be too much work for her parents, so perhaps Mira fancies trying out living on her own again?
Anyway, see below for a map of the general area we’ll be staying in.


View Larger Map

Sadly Alex and Mat won’t be coming this year, as was originally hoped, as their flights cost even more than ours. btw, congrats to Alex – Dryad Musings has just got an Alexa rank… around 12 million, but that is better than the dreaded ‘no data’. At one point this site almost broke into the 200k region, but since then its bounced back up to the million mark again. Which is a little odd, as my unique visitors per month have been steadily increasing, but there you go. ChrisD (who doesn’t have a blog, so doesn’t get a hyperlinked name ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) can’t come either, as his new work randomly tests its employees, and he is worried about passive smoking whilst he drinks.

The apartment we are renting has internet access, but it is wired, so unless Ira’s laptop comes for the journey, we’ll in communicado for a while (my PDA/phone has WiFI and BT, but is obviously lacking an RJ45 socket LMAO)

Anyway, enough on Amsterdam for now, I’m sure I’ll be boring you with more info a lot more over the coming weeks…

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Dec 19 2007

Pet Sitter Found

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 1:40 am

As you know, Ira and I will be travelling to Britain this Saturday, and as her parents are coming as well, we can’t very well ask them to come and feed the kittens whilst we are away. A solution has been found in the shape of Mira, Ira’s colleague from work. She will come and spend some time in our flatยง, seeing what independent life is like whilst not at work very much, and obviously making sure the kittens are fed, watered, and that the litter tray doesn’t over flow ๐Ÿ™‚
Anyway, I dug out her picture from a couple of months back

Mira Muska Laser Our Bedroom

Or at least I am hope that’s the right picture, I very helpfully forgot to include any useful information in the folder name, other than the date. In case you are interested, the object in her right hand is a little laser toy I picked up on my last trip home, mainly to entertain or distract the kittens when we need them to behave well.

Anyway, huge thanks to her for making sure we can sleep well, knowing that Muska and Karra are going to be looked after ๐Ÿ™‚

ยง – I am trying to force myself to use the UK English word, rather than ‘apartment’, as I already find myself sometimes unable to recall which nation’s vocab I am using…

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Nov 15 2007

Up Late

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Kazakh Driving,Personal,Videos,WordPressChrisM @ 5:32 am

My lessons for the rest of this week were cancelled on Wednesday, as the student is busy organizing his relocation to Moscow. This means less money coming in, so I have tried to catch up with a few more sponsored posts. Karra and Muska are a little confused, as since I started giving conversational English classes, my bed times had been closer to midnight than 6am. They have wandered in and out of the living room a few times, demanding strokes, and eventually giving up, to return to the bedroom. Hopefully they’ve not woken Irina up.
Anyway, the following animation was posted to my Facebook funwall, it portrays one cat’s not so subtle attempts to wake its owner.

I think I will check for any blunt objects near the bed before sleeping tonight ๐Ÿ˜‰

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Sep 13 2007

What I Will Miss…

Although I’m obviously hyped up over going back to Amsterdam and Britain next Friday, my mind can not help dwelling on just how much I am going to miss some things over here in Kazakhstan

Obviously my wife, Ira, comes first. I will be away for just under a month, which will be the longest we have been apart, at least since we got married, possibly since we met. (I can’t remember the longest she ever returned to Kazakhstan without me before).

Our friends and family in this country. Although my communication with Ira’s family is still at a pretty basic level, I feel as though they have got to know me a little better at least. Not spending Saturday evenings with Walton and Asel will be strange, though I hope to make up for lost time (and steak, chips and vodka ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) when I return.

Our kittens. As I work from home, Karra and Muska have someone in the flat with them nearly all day everyday, apart from Sunday’s when we visit the in laws. I recently mentioned just how much I’ve changed when it comes to cats – before moving to Kazakhstan, cats were something to look at from a distance – past a certain comfort zone, I always felt like they were liable to claw me without warning. Since we have our own cats, I have learned how to read them a little better, and when they mis-behave, I feel comfortable telling them off – not something I felt able to do with other people’s cats.

Taxis – or rather the fact that almost any ‘normal’ (read not rich) driver would consider stopping to pick up a pedestrian to earn a little extra cash. In Britain, walking everywhere is a lot cheaper than the taxis there, and other than long distance hitch hiking, your options are limited.

Irina – I know I’ve mentioned her already, but I’m not sure what life will be like without her being next to me…

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Sep 08 2007

First 07 Kitten Video, Alex And A Garden

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal,VideosChrisM @ 1:52 am

Other than Ildar’s first day at school, this blog is now up to date with the videos I have shot over the last few months, at least after this post. I’m saving Ildar’s collection until I know whether or not we are meeting him again tomorrow.
Anyway, first we have Tima, the single kitten that Dasha had this year, (the brother of Karra and Muska), shot last week. As he does not live with us, I doubt he will have as many photos and videos of him on this blog, but as a few people asked what he looked like, here you go…

This is the last Alex video, taken when she visited us here in Kazakhstan. Not sure what to title this, other than possibly “Alex No YouTube”? Any other (polite suggestions)? For any fans of hers, we will hopefully have some more during our Amsterdam trip, which should also include ChrisD as well.

And the last two videos in this post are from the same day Alex visited my in-laws, here we have Irina taking viewers on a trip round the garden. Over here, especially in Kazakh (as opposed to Russian) families, gardens (if present) tend to be primarily for growing produce, rather than the British standard of lots of grass and some flowers. Anyway, take a peek, and let me know if you have any questions about the plants you see… I know nothing, but will gladly pass your requests on to Ira or her Mum, who can both tell the difference between weeds and flowers, and thereby best me with their expertise by a long way ๐Ÿ™‚

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Sep 04 2007

In Laws Over

Category: Personal,PicturesChrisM @ 11:11 pm

We recently had Irina’s Mum and Dad over for tea. They had not been here in a while (we do still see them once a week or so, though, normally over at their house), so it was good to see them. Since they last came, we have had the air conditioner installed, and Irina seemed happy that her Dad approved of it. So much so, that he did not even notice where it was at first.

First we have Karra staring into the flash, I hope we didn’t blind her temporarily…
Karra Green Eyes

Next we have Ira, her Mum and Matilda (the little doll in the middle), then we have Irina’s Dad.
Ira Iras Mum Matilda Doll Irinas Dad

Finally we have Irina and Muska both looking very cute ๐Ÿ™‚
Irina Muska Cute

Anyway, a good meal with good company led to a great evening.

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Sep 02 2007

HaPpY BiRtHdAy WaLtOn !!!

Category: Friends,PersonalChrisM @ 4:57 am

Happy Birthday Walton

Hope you do not have a too busy day, and that this coming year is a good one for you…

from,
Chris, Ira, Karra and Muska

PS Please say hello to your dearly beloved as well from all of us.

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Aug 30 2007

Karra And Muska One Year Old Today

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PersonalChrisM @ 7:12 pm

I can not believe it was really a whole twelve months ago that they were born. Until we had our own kittens, I was always cautious of cats. I liked them a lot, but if they were within my 50cm comfort region, I’d tend to feel uncomfortable. I have known a few temperamental cats in my time, who like to be stroked, seem OK, and then without warning scratch and bite hard. Part of the problem, I suppose, is that when the cats in question were not mine, I did not feel comfortable shouting at them if they behaved very badly. If our kittens start climbing the curtains, bite too hard or are trying to steal food from a kitchen surface, I feel ok to tell them off. Anyway, for whatever reason, I am now happy and totally relaxed around most cats (Siamese still require care), and will miss ours when I go to Britain in 3 weeks.

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