They're here!

Well, we've had our first 24 hours and things are going well.

the mouse toy is their first welcome home gift
 from Uncle Eric and Auntie Colleen

To our utter amazement and surprise we were met at the Shelter by Eric and Colleen with kitty gifts for our new family. 

This act of kindness just blew us away.  I was already emotional and it was all I could do not to burst out in tears of happiness. 

What a great start into our new adventure as we start Year Two of our RV life.

We knew Gracie was ready to go as she kept jumping into the car carrier and looking at us as if to say "Okay...let's go!"  George took a little more convincing to get into the carrier. 

He's 10 pounds of pure love
 

Since we only had one carrier we took George out first and I sat in the back seat with him while Left Brain went back in for round two.  Poor Gracie must have thought we were only taking George for a minute.

Gracie is our light weight at 5 pounds.  I've never had a cat this tiny.
But pound for pound she has more personality than any other!

We were braced for howling and crying all the way home as it's at least a half an hour trip, but Left Brain controlled himself nicely.

Gracie sat on my lap and squirmed around a bit but managed the journey well.  George was fine inside the carrier as long as my hand kept contact with the back of his neck and head. 

Nothing like doing a little Reiki energy on two excited cats.

this view shows how pretty his coat is

When we got home we put them both into the one carrier for the short walk to the RV.  Upon opening the carrier they lept out and ran for the bedroom and hid between the bed and the wall.  Hmmm.  I lured them out to show them the lovely "cave" I had created for them, to which they immediately turned and sped down the hall for the bedroom.

this shows off her beautiful tortie markings

Unfortunately we had a lunch date with a friend of ours at 11:30, so we had to leave them to deal with adjusting on their own, which may have been for the best....but it felt like the longest lunch I'd ever been to.

When we got back we worked again on getting them to check out the rest of the RV.  Gracie would come and go often, but George had to be encouraged to venture out once more.  Gradually they became more and more bold.

the back of the couch with the large windows seems to be a favorite place for both of them

They both love watching the birds in the window.  It didn't take long for the birds to figure out they were in no danger.  We decided if it made them too crazy we'd take them down, but by this morning it's obvious that it's a source of entertainment for them and they ignore them when they are busy grooming or playing.

She's ready to kill the bird, but he seems to have some kind of magic force field around him!

When the night came they discovered the dashboard with the large windshield to check for creatures in the moonlight.

It sure feels safer knowing we have night patrol now.

What's with this sign?  Now that's just plain insulting!

In the morning I reached down and felt for George and sure enough, there he was in his "safe spot".  After scratching his ears for a while I patted the top of the bed and invited him up, which he did.   The three of us had a wonderful snugglefest before he decided to head off again.

There is a sure way to bring both of them running at the same time with rapt attention.  Pop open a can of cat food.  They do love their moist cat food!  I do love their kitty kisses but not as much with cat food breath.

George checking out the birds in the window

I'd forgotten how much cat litter flies around the house and they certainly ran and hid while the evil vacuum cleaner roared it's way down the carpet.  But they forgave me quickly.

So, we're building a routine now.  Food - snuggle - play - grooming and then what we call the "big kitty nap" where they go hide and zonk out soundly.  It's a good life and not that different from ours.

Long Live the Queen of Cats