Rolo is 9 months old but still very cute

Rolo with his head on his paws

Here he is, lying down on the stairs with his nose on his paws and his little pink tongue just peeking out a tiny bit!

Rolo enjoys lying on the stairs and can spread himself over most of a complete step.

The other evening, he nearly spread himself over the stairs in an unwanted way though: Stephen and I heard an almighty crash. Stephen rushed out of the 3rd bedroom, where he was using a computer, while I rushed out of the living room. Stephen found a large carton on its side by the bathroom door with its contents strewn about, while I found Rolo clinging to the outside of the balustrades to our galleried landing!

I did try to rescue him, but he wouldn’t let go of his grip on the balustrades and instead he climbed back up. What’s that: 9 months old and already one life gone…?

Upside down Rolo

Rolo in the waste paper box

Rolo spent much of yesterday evening in the waste paper box. It’s one of his favourite places to curl up.

I went to take a peep at him during the evening and found that he had uncurled and was lying on his back with his hind legs in the air and his head curved around the end of the box. He looked totally ecstatic and must have been completely relaxed. As an inside cat, he doesn’t have to worry about predators or other marauders, after all.

I put the super wide angle lens on my camera, got up really close and trusted the image stabilisation function built into the camera to ensure that I got some usable pictures. Rolo did open his eyes during my activities, but I like seeing his eyes open, so I didn’t mind at all. 🙂

He stretched one front paw up in the air, but that picture just showed a blur where his paw was. However, he then rested his paw along the side of the box and that looked pretty good, so I’ve included it below.

Rolo in the waste paper box

Monty on the stairs again

Monty on the stairs

Monty really enjoys sitting on the stairs just ready to pounce on any interesting toys which might happen to be nearby – or even Rolo, if he dares to come near!

Monty is generally the dominant cat: I was watching this evening and Rolo was sitting on a chair which Monty likes to use. Monty went and sat by Rolo and gradually crowded him until Rolo got the message and jumped off.

Sometimes Rolo displaces Monty from a feed bowl, but I think it’s only when Monty has decided that it’s time to walk away anyway. If Monty really wants to eat, he can hold his own; and right from the time when he was quite a small kitten, he could make himself amazingly large at the dry food bowl! How a bowl whose diameter was much the same as Monty’s length could be totally dominated by one little black kitten I do not know, but Monty could manage it!

Staring down the stairs

Rolo looking wild on the stairs

The stairs feature heavily in playtime for Rolo and Monty. They chase up and down them; and they also settle on them ready to spring at each other.

The picture above shows Rolo sitting along a step with his tail hanging down over the riser below. I think he may be contemplating whether to turn into a wild pussycat for a while. The dark blue is a dressing gown belt which the cats have commandeered. They are quite good at moving things around!

Monty with his Monty-look

The first of these two Monty pictures captures Monty’s Monty-ness. He’s had this expression at times ever since he was a little kitten and it gets to you every time.

This was Monty at 2 months of age wearing exactly the same expression!

However, Monty can also wear a very playful expression, as he is doing below. This picture was also taken with Monty perched on a step, and if I were you, I wouldn’t put a hand too close to him while he’s wearing that expression, as he’s probably a very dangerous little pussycat!

Monty on the stairs - and probably not safe to touch

Monty is becoming a long pussycat

Monty against the background of a lilac valance sheet

Here are two pictures of Monty in the bedroom. Monty is usually alert or playful or both at once, and I think the picture above has captured that. The background is a lilac valance sheet.

Below, I’ve included Monty stretched out at the foot of the bed. As you can see, he’s becoming a long pussycat. He still looks smaller than Rolo, although the vet’s scales tend to give the lie to this: his black colour is probably what makes him appear smaller.

Monty is a solid little pussycat with a velvety coat. He doesn’t seem to have an ounce of flab on him anywhere, but is a little muscle machine, unlike his brother Rolo, who is a little softer, although I wouldn’t say he’s flabby.

I had to do some work in PhotoShop on the picture below, as it suffered from “green-eye”. This is the cat equivalent of human “red-eye”, as cats’ eyes reflect a different colour than ours do.

There probably won’t be many more bedroom pictures of the cats, as Rolo has blotted his copybook and is now excluded from the bedroom unless under strict supervision; and you can’t exclude Rolo without also excluding Monty, even though he appears to be trustworthy in there.

Monty on the bedroom floor

Rolo is getting more grown-up every day

Rolo on the back bedroom windowsill

Rolo is becoming a very handsome ginger cat. Here he is, aged nearly 7 months, on the back bedroom windowsill, where he enjoys sitting on a wooden box and looking out at the birds.

I used my new flashgun to take these pictures and it is so powerful that it looks dark beyond the net curtain, but this wasn’t actually the case. I need more practice at using it: it’s got so many options on it that I’m quite confused!

Rolo on the back bedroom windowsill

What a set of teeth Rolo is showing off

Rolo yawning

Last time Rolo yawned when I had the camera handy, I managed to cut off one of his ears (in the picture 🙂 ) when he tipped his head back during the yawning process, but in this picture, I managed to capture the yawn as near to perfectly as I think I will ever manage!

I think this picture is the cat equivalent of the horse laugh pictures you sometimes see! 😆

Rolo and Monty are becoming long pussycats

Rolo and Monty continue to grow. When they stretch out, they are now a considerable length. Rolo tends to be an expansive cat, and can cover a lot of duvet when he puts his mind to it!

Rolo stretched out for a sleep

He did put his head up to take an interest in my photographic activities.

Rolo still stretched out for a sleep but with his head up

Monty also watched sleepily.

Monty stretched out for a sleep

He never seems to occupy quite as much space as Rolo, but he’s happily stretched out here.

What is that white stuff?

Sitting on the windowsill and the sink looking out at the snow

When Rolo and Monty joined our household, I wanted to keep them off the kitchen work surfaces, but I’ve made an exception for the sink, as it gives access to the windowsill, and I feel bad enough about denying them the outdoors (for their own good as we have busy roads nearby) without denying them even the opportunity to look at the outdoors!

I’m afraid that the contents of the sink indicate that the dishwasher should have been run – but we can’t all be perfect housekeepers… 😕

When we had snow in the middle of December, Rolo and Monty definitely wanted to take a look. They’re used to the outside being green, not white!

Playing with the light cord

Both the cats love playing with the bathroom light pull cord. Monty has been able to do it since he was quite small, but it took Rolo a little longer as he didn’t get the idea of hanging on to the tie-back with one front paw and using the other front paw to bat the pull cord around.

However, now he’s bigger and better balanced, he has no trouble with the game, and can be seen here getting ready to launch himself at the dangling pull cord.

Rolo eyeing the pull cord for the bathroom light switch

The next picture shows the game in full swing! 🙂

Rolo playing with the pull cord for the bathroom light switch

Considering how often Monty has played with this pull cord, it’s surprising that I don’t also have pictures of him doing this. I will have to lie in wait for him!