We will be popping round to the in laws to check up on mother and kitten this evening, but apparently Dasha has given birth to a kitten today 🙂
I am not sure if there are any other kittens still on their way, but I will hopefully have some photos to post later on this evening/early morning tomorrow.
So, Karra and Muska now have a little brother or sister. I do not know any other details right now, and would be interested to see what colour and patterns the new kitten’s fur holds, but I just need to be patient for 3 hours, then we will know.
Up until a year ago, I loved cats, but ONLY at a distance… anything less than a metre away from me, and I was convinced he or she would try and shred my skin with their claws, or just bite me. (Don’t ask, Siamese cats are psychotic little things, that is all I’ll say). However, since we had our own kittens, I have grown used to them, to the point that I can happily fall asleep with Karra snoozing on my chest! I think part of the issue was authority – when the cat in question is someone else’s I did not feel right shouting at him/her if they dug their claws in, nor giving them a smack if they were wilfully destroying curtains etc. (Before any hardcore animal lovers chime in, I am not talking about beating up a small defenceless kitten, merely smacking its bum if it continuously destroys curtains/furniture after weeks of stern “NO”s. However, our kittens are mostly behaving themselves now, apart from our wallpaper…. I don’t think they will be happy, or change their behaviour, until we choose a different style/texture.
Aug 15 2007
Dasha Is A Mum Again!
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Aug 05 2007
Mini-Dashas / Karra and Muska v2 On The Way?
Well it looks as though Dasha may be giving birth soon! See previous posts for last year’s result – our very own Muska and Karra 🙂
Anyway, Dasha is now acting a little strangely, so Ira found her favourite box she likes to give birth in. Later on in the evening, Dasha was trying to paw open some of the drawers in the study, again, apparently she tries to build a nest in them sometimes. Not sure if nest is the right word, but you hopefully know what I mean.
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Jul 24 2007
Rob From Karabatan
I have not searched for any new English language blogs from Kazakhstan recently, but did happen upon a possible candidate – a Brit who works in Karabatan. Although he seems to have fallen into the routine of an ex-pat (not really going out anywhere other than the places other ex-pats already go, for example), he seems to be handling life pretty well. He installs mechanical equipment at tje Kashagan Experimental Program near Atyrau. (Which reminds me, does anyone know what happened to TheAI blog, he was based in or near Atyrau, but the blog has either been wiped off, or taken over by someone else! Check my links page for the link to his site.)
Anyway, check out more about Rob here, I am going away and see if he has any other presence on the internet.
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Jul 14 2007
Karra Has Jealousy Issues With My Keyboard
Every time I spend a little too long with our PC, and Karra does not receive enough attention, be it a stroke, or scratch behind the ear, or a little laser fun, she decides to inform me of my forgetfulness my jumping up on the desk. She then proceeds to head butt my hands until I give up typing, and give her the attention she is apparently over due 🙂
Whilst this is cute most of the time, when she happens to sit on my mouse, or cause me too accidentally delete a paragraph or two, it can be a little frustrating.
Anyway, I probably need to work out some sort of time table – 45 minutes of typing followed by quarter of an hour of attention for the two kittens. Hopefully she will be happy with that sort of ratio…
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Jul 13 2007
Kittens Plus Textured Wallpaper ? Good Idea
The title pretty much says it all….
Despite having a scratching post, a nice scratch board that was originally infused with some cat nip or something similar, Karra and Muska both seem to see wallpaper, especially near corners of walls as something inherently evil that this flat needs to be defended from. We have tried telling them off, and they sensibly avoid the scene of the crime, for a good, well, err, 10 minutes maybe? In one other case, they scratching appears to be incidental to their trying to catch the chain on a light switch, near Ira’s dressing table.
Just in case you think I am exaggerating, please do check the pictures below.
That last photo has been quite heavily photoshopped to try and show where the claws were put to use…
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Jun 21 2007
Cat + Window = Heart Attack
The title pretty much says it all. A little background before the photo though, the temperature over here is now steadily rising. Today it was around 32 or 33 degrees (centigrade 😉 ) outside, and tomorrow’s forecast is for 38.
As we still do not have an air conditioning system here, the only option really is to have the windows and balcony doors open in the evening and over-night, when it is cooler, and then keep them shut in the daytime, to try and preserve the cooler air in the flat.
The main problem with this is our kittens. I can not help but imagine them trying to chase a fly right out the window, and as we live on the 4th floor (3rd to UK readers), that would not be at all healthy for the cats.
We can open the doors on the alternate hinges, so they open at the top, rather than the side, but this does not allow as much air in. So, we have recently had ‘supervised’ sessions with the kittens, where we sit on the balcony and try to ensure the cats do not do anything silly. Irina seems a lot more comfortable with this than me, I keep getting so nervous that my palms sweat. Ira does raise a good point though, if we do not have a stool near the window, the cats are liable to try and jump up on the narrow internal window ledge, which would not be good.
Anyway, enough of the talking, here is a photo from this evening, with Karra watching the traffic go by…
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Jun 12 2007
Karra & Muska Go Exploring
Having already ripped the ears of the toy cat in the spare room, smashed the beautiful picture frame from Alex, and torn down a lot of wall paper that was aggravating them, Muska and Karra decided to get to the top of the world, from their perspective at least…
On top of the cupboard, masters of all they survey….
This is the room Alex will be staying in soon, and where the kittens complain if they are not allowed access into.
Jun 01 2007
Avoiding Bad Puns
Wednesday night, Ira and I met up with a journalist (socially) who is based in London. She found this blog from the posts on our kittens and the fact it mentions Kazakhstan, and as she was over here again for a story (I’ll post more when I know she has had it published) decided to meet up.
We went to the Chelsea pub (yep, that bastion of traditional Kazak cuisine, lmao), and had a nice evening eating, drinking and talking a fair amount. The temptation of seeing Karra and Muska proved irresistible, so we all came back to the flat afterwards. It was really interesting to meet her, and I hope should she come out here again, we’ll meet once more. Oh, and her husband is cordially invited too, so lets just hope she succeeds in her mission to persuade him to visit Kazakhstan.
Oh and the post title? Her name is Elizabeth Mistry, so I had to fight the urge to create a corny title…
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May 14 2007
Adieu To Ira
Irina is off to Moscow again for work. She will be gone from Monday night until Sunday morning. Which probably means there will be a mountain of washing up and general clutter until last thing Saturday, at which point I will be running around like a headless chicken, trying to make our flat a little more presentable.
Whilst I’m glad that her bosses think she is capable of helping out in their negotiations, I’ll be missing her like crazy, as will Karra and Muska.
In case she happens to read this before she goes, and I forget to say it in ‘real life’, have a safe journey, and I’ll give the kittens a hug from you before going to sleep 🙂
May 08 2007
Karra The Screen Blocker
If you check the older pictures of Karra & Muska, there was a time when Karra could monitor my work on the PC, without blocking the screen…
Not anymore, unless she has some room made for her, and is encouraged to lie down, my work suddenly comes to a halt 🙂
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