This will be a short post. I’ve put it off for six weeks, because I couldn’t bear to write it. But it’s not getting any easier, so I might as well do it and get it over with. As most of you already know, Mingo’s gone. I let him out into the yard in the...

Yes indeedy, Mingo is now the Great Hunter. Mercifully he is not bringing his prey back to the lair, i.e. my living room or worse, my closet. He passed me on the deck at a fast trot with a tiny foot and a bit of tail hanging from his mouth. It was either a mouse...

Mingo’s 9 months old and he weighs 12 lbs. He’s the same weight as Squeaky, but a completely different silhouette. Squeaky is rounded and, well, cat-shaped. Ming is rectangular, like a furry shoebox. With an 18 inch tail. Since he’s been spending most of his days outside, at his own request, life for me and...

Have I mentioned that I do not do well on sleep deprivation? Well, I’m mentioning it now. Last night was a horrid combo of alternating insomnia and nightmares, punctuated by sporadic bathroom visits to feed the kitten. Apparently my subconscious, that sneaky thing, decided the alarm wasn’t going to go off and so I would...

Okay. Deep breath. Last night I received a series of texts from my yard person, the same yard person who gave me Mingo. I was confused, because she was texting photos of Ming as a kitten. Except of course she wasn’t. She’d found ANOTHER too-young feral kitten by her house. This woman, who reads this...

I haven’t posted much about my two other cats so far. This is The Chronicles of Mingo after all, not the Chronicles of Mary’s Cats. However, as Dumbledore would say, ‘Recent events must be taken into account.’ Ming’s overwhelming thrust to go outside has inspired my sixteen-year-old black cat to do the same. Mingo went...

Mingo’s had an interesting week. One of my neighbors brought over his chihuahua. This dog has been raised with cats, but he only weighs about 6 lbs. and he wasn’t thrilled to meet this huge, furry, aggressive monster. Add to this his heartless, cruel, sadistic** owner dropping his leash and you have the situation below....

I let Mingo go outside from pure self-defense. He’s pushing 12 lbs. in weight, he has an endless supply of energy, curiosity, and limited common sense. He’s like a four-year-old. (This might be a libel on four-year-olds. If so, my apologies.) In the last few days, he’s climbed inside the dishwasher twice, attempted to climb...

When you Google “How much to feed a Maine Coon kitten?” you don’t get answers. What you get is miscellaneous posts of plaintive owners asking the same question. Because the short and accurate answer is “Lots”. Or, as we say in the Coon Verse, a fuck-ton. As of today, Mingo weighs 11.2 lbs. I bought...

Did you know that HDMI stands for Highly Delicious Munchable Interconnect? Well, Ming did. So far, his score is 1 HDMI cable, 2 Apple charging cables, one extension cord, and he’s working on the soon-to-replaced power cord for the kitchen lights. Not mention the random tooth marks on the power cord to Squeaky’s cat bed....

Mingo and I had just had an interesting interaction where I was determined to comb the mats out of his tail and he was equally determined to not let me. I had to scruff him, which he hates, and instead of a nice soothing brush I had to use the grooming comb and work fast...

Obviously I selected a granite countertop color-coordinated with Mingo. Sometimes I want to take my subconscious and give it a good slap.

Probably due to all the construction, the one place Mingo hadn’t climbed onto, jumped up on, or generally messed with has been the kitchen countertop, the bar behind it, and the stove. About two days ago, that changed. No, he hasn’t set himself on fire. It’s still early days yet. I’m making my usual pro-forma...

Despite the Head Cold from Hell, I feed the cats on schedule. (Because if I’m late I’m surrounded by reproachful felines with huge, accusing eyes, that’s why.) So I was crawling out of bed this morning on day 6 of this pestilential cold, and I heard Squeaky yowling on the other side of the bedroom...

Really, it’s like trying to raise Rosemary’s Baby. We’ve been asking ourselves the wrong question. It’s not “How did the itty bitty kitten survive until rescued?” It should be “Why, after he manifested — I hesitate to say ‘born’ — isn’t that corner of Boulder Creek a smoking ruin?” He’s just under six months old...

We have achieved detente! (Please note that the two on the left are fully grown and the one on the right is a five months old “kitten”.) A peaceful half hour where no one is trying to murder anyone else. In other news, Mingo the Evil Kitten ripped down all the plastic sheeting protecting the...

Oh, no. Oh, no. What have I ever done to the Universe to deserve this? Mingo’s vet is convinced he’s a purebred Maine Coon, based on coloring, tufty ears, bone structure, and those feet. He’s barely 5 months old and weighs 7 lbs. According to Google, Purveyor of Bad News, Maine Coons grow between 18-22...

Mingo had an interesting day at the vet yesterday, getting neutered. He’s fine and celebrated his freedom from reproduction by shredding the hanging plastic sheeting between the kitchen construction and the rest of the house. Not that it matters. Dust is everywhere anyway. Despite my reputation as a ball-buster, it’s been decades since I’ve castrated...

My kitchen is under reconstruction: I’m having the old cabinets sanded and re-stained, dust is everywhere, and all the kitchen contents are in the garage. Mingo was spending a suspicious amount of time in the bathroom — and I finally went in to check. Lots of bugs with wings in the tub. When the contractors...

Having cats is fun and heartwarming; they are so precious I say to myself as I clean up yet another pile of cat barf. Also,  Kitten + ping pong ball + tile floors = I’m living inside a maraca.