Popping back in

Hi there. Got my laptop working, sort of at least.

Updates: no one has fallen into the sea since I last posted. The
swallows have left their nest under the dock, so it's unlikely that
Caliban will take a dive this summer. But I do have a short clip of him
on the dock with the swallows diving at him. I'll upload it to Youtube
when I get back to town (and broadband).

Caliban and Emil are slowly making friends. Yesterday, when they met on
the cliffs, Cal ran happily towards Emil and they sniffed noses and
butts. A while later, Emil was lying on the cliff, and Caliban came at
him, tried to bite his neck, and they wrestled for two seconds. Then
they lay beside each other for a moment before getting up and walking
off in different directions. There's something so lame about the two of
them. Just when you think they'll start playing with each other, they
just walk off and ignore each other. Today, when Caliban saw Emil in the
morning, he ran up to him and mrrped, they sniffed noses and butts, then
walked off again.

Miranda's appetite is much better out here on the island, which figures
since it's harder than usual to keep her in fresh meat every day here.
Luckily I have the desiccated meat for her, and she continues to like
that, so I can eke out her food with that.

We've had a bit of a palaver with a neighbour's doxie. She's a very
happy little d*g who comes a-visiting every now and then, but the cats
are soo not happy with her. I think Caliban spent over an hour up a tree
yesterday after Nala had been here, snuffling around all over our lot.
He was very upset, and didn't even come home until well over an hour
after his dinner time, which is quite unheard of. Our neighbours seem to
think the leash laws do not apply to them (the father is one of the
richest people in Finland).

We're having a hot, dry spell and are seeing a lot of Flat Cat Syndrome.
The cats love rolling around on the smooth warm cliffs. I think my niece
has numerous pictures of them doing this. She said she's taken over
1,000 photos here, so it will be some time before she has them organized
and uploaded to flickr. But it will be worth the wait, I promise.

Purrs to all, and my deepest condolences to Susan and your family.
Haven't had time to read much else yet (1297 unread messages).

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.