Thursday, May 15, 2008

Would You Like an After-Dinner Kitty?

Meet our kitties, Frasier and Niles. They're Burmese cats, and all the fun things we had heard about this breed's personality are true.

They're relatively small cats. According to the Cat Fanciers' Association, "Burmese carry surprising weight for their size and have often been described as 'bricks wrapped in silk.'" We fell in love with them at once, and they enhance the household with their affectionate cuddling and their exuberant playfulness. They have powerful hind legs, and their jumping and racing abilities are legend in these parts.

We adopted them six years ago. On the way home (a 3-hour drive) from the breeder, with our serene little kittens napping in the back seat, we discussed what to name them.

Due to the breeders' fascination with the islands, our cats' parents had Hawaiian names--Chin Hills Molokai and Chin Hills Ala Moana. Since I was born in Honolulu, I thought it would be fun to give them similar names, but DH would have none of that. "They'll be called Butch and Rex before we call them King Kamehameha!" he spouted. "No!" I replied. "They're much too sophisticated for that!" "Well then," DH suggested, "Why not just call them Frasier and Niles?"

Why not? They were brothers, they were rather elegant and a little haughty, and one kitty was bigger than the other. Whether they had good writers I cannot say. DH and I ceased arguing about names at that point.

(And a couple years later I had them registered as Chin Hills Nani and Chin Hills Pukini, anyway.)

Frasier's pretty laid back; he's DH's Computer Room Companion. Niles is our After-Dinner Kitty and is in charge of meals. That is, he is the Official Reminder. Twice a day he pesters me, if need be, until I feed him and his brother. In six years, he's only missed work once, on which occasion Frasier finally came to me at 8:30 PM to ask about dinner. He looked a little bewildered by having to sub for Niles, and I couldn't believe that Niles was off duty—I was afraid he had called in sick.

Turns out that he was asleep.

5 comments:

Lady R (Di) said...

It's kind of funny how our feline friends have a talent of bossing us around. I guess we need reminding of our place in the pecking order.

Lady R (Di) said...

P. S. I like the new look! Cool!

TS said...

Thanks! My place in the pecking order is Servant to Frasier and Niles.

Anonymous said...

The lady who lives on a farm has nothing on you! I love the new format and especially the video clips. It's nice to meet the kitties. Like Niles, our Sheltie has an internal alarm clock set to meal time. Her "reminders" for dinner begin at 5 p.m.--give or take ten minutes--and grow increasingly insistent until dinner is served.

TS said...

Well, thanks! Your referral to her blog inspired me.