This is Cloudia, our tiny, innocent-looking kitten.
Since her arrival with us, she has been known as "The Useless One," or when I'm feeling charitable, "the purely decorative kitten." Not 10 minutes after he got in the door, her brother was hunting the mice that overran us last fall. She, on the other hand, has been known primarily for scavenging on the counter and making fast escapes from food-related places she knows perfectly well she's not supposed to be in. I have also referred to her as "Esmeralda" or "the Gypsy cat."
If she weren't so feisty and entertaining, not to mention having cool markings, I wouldn't have wanted her. She's not the snuggly one out of the two of them. She has a temper and is a bit of a snot. Her claim to fame was that when Tommy did catch a mouse in my living room, she stole it, gobbled it, and puked it up on the carpet.
That's my useless wonder.
Her other claim to fame was that when Dave (who abhors indoor pets in general and cats in particular) tried to close the kittens up in a basement room for the night - mostly to keep Cloudia off the counter - she kept getting out. After the fourth time we rounded Cloudia up and battened the door again, we had our oldest sit on the basement stairs and quietly watch to figure it out.
He came upstairs chuckling, with a glint of admiration in his eye. "She's getting out through the rafters," he said. "She climbs the wall and comes out between the floor joists." Dave was flabbergasted, and actually admitted defeat at the hands of a cat.
Esmeralda, Esmeralda.
When she decides to go for something, she goes for it in a big way. The day before yesterday, she finally decided to shed her "useless" title and take out a 13-striped ground squirrel that was nearly as big as she is.
This thrilled the kids to no end. They were so impressed with her, they even took pictures. By that time, true to form, she'd already polished off half of it, dragging it around the yard and growling to keep dog and brother-cat away. Of course, that was the amusing part, so the kids helped Tommy "pose" for the camera, just for effect.
Cloudia was not impressed. However, she didn't have much to worry about. Tommy knows exactly who's boss. It's the cat who sleeps on top of the kitten-huddle (and beats him up in spite of being half his size), and that's never been him, since Day One.
Welcome to the Canadian Prairies! Let us teach you how to apologetically get tangled in garden hose, chase cattle across the Canuck outback, homebrew your own biodiesel and raise your own honey. Smarten up, eh?
