Back in September, we adopted Elvis. I find it strange that I haven’t talked about him here yet, but two months of my life kind of flew by while we enjoyed our new kitten.

It all started when Stacey and Dan got a puppy. Mini was the tiniest Chihuahua puppy you’ve ever seen and she fit in Mike’s hand. Seeing her made me want a kitten. It had been almost a year since Linda had died. Maggie was lonely and clung to me like a needy baby and I thought having a kitten would be nice for her AND us.

I talked to Mike about looking at kittens, but Mike said, “Cats tend to show up in our lives. Let’s not look for a kitten. Let’s just wait for the next one to show up.”

Within two weeks, I got a phone call from my mom. “There is a 70 year old lady in Reed’s apartment building that is going to abandon a kitten outside. Do you want to adopt him?” Apparently the woman had adopted the kitten, given him ONE day to get used to her current cat and couldn’t stand the fighting anymore. She was just going to let him free outside, near a BUSY road.

Within the hour, we had the kitten at our vets office. He was free of parasites and nasty diseases, so we took him home.

It took Maggie two days to stop hiding under the bed.

It took us two weeks to name him. Mike just gave up and let me name him Elvis. The “official” story is that he’s named after Elvis Costello, but really, I named him after Elvis in Animal Crossing. Everybody just thinks we named him after Elvis Presley.

After two months, he and Maggie play and fight and I’ve even caught her cleaning his ears like she used to do with Linda before she died.

Here’s a video of them playing with their new cat toy. Mike had sprinkled some catnip on it. They both wanted it, but Maggie unilaterally informs Elvis that he needs to wait his turn.

Adding Elvis to our household has been a joy. I’m so glad he showed up in our lives.

Before Elvis came to our house, Maggie used to like to sleep under my afghan. She doesn’t do it anymore and this is why:

If you listen closely, you can hear Maggie growling from underneath the blanket. She wasn’t very amused by this game.

I don’t know why Mike spends money on kitten toys. Elvis just loses them under the couch and he’s perfectly happy playing with a box.

I swear, that kitten needs to go to boxhab.

Here are a couple of quick videos of Elvis playing with his tail.

It’s funny how quickly kittens grow up. Elvis hardly ever plays with his tail anymore. I’m glad I got this video when I did.

I’m kind of embarrassed by this video because the Halloween boxes are stacked in our living room for the whole world to see, but it made me laugh so much that I couldn’t help posting it.

I love how at the end, Maggie tries to help him get the toy by jumping up on the boxes. It’s almost like she’s saying, “Umm, it’s stuck right here, dumbo.”

This video is proof positive that Sid is a saint. If you notice, Maggie is watching, far from the fray. Even Mike won’t let Elvis chew on his feet. Only Sid is calm enough to handle this kitten. Twice during the filming Sid looks at us (first to Mike and then to me) as if to say, “Can you do something about him?”

I love how at the end when Sid barks, everyone scatters, even him. Maggie runs from her observation point, Sid stands up to get away from the sharp kitten teeth and Elvis flees from his bark.

Maggie is very shy about cleaning other cats. I only got video of her cleaning Linda once. I’ve caught her cleaning Elvis about three times, but this is the only one I was able to get on film. I had to turn on the lights and grab the camera to capture this and by then she was almost finished.

It’s so comforting to know that Maggie has someone to play with that will keep her company when we’re not in the house. When Linda died, she was so lonely that she was with me constantly. I needed her comfort during that time as well, so it worked out for both of us. I’m just glad that she has Elvis to keep her happy as well.

I had kicked Maggie off my comfy chair in the bedroom and plopped her onto the bed. When I looked up, she was cleaning Elvis’ ears. She does this several times a week, but usually I can’t get to my camera in time to catch them on film.

This time, they were both so mellow that I got FIVE minutes of video. Here are the cutest 70 seconds:

When Linda died, I thought I would never see anything this cute again, so seeing Elvis and Maggie together like this makes me happier than I can say.

Elvis, our new cat, has decided that he likes sleeping in the dog’s bed. Poor Sid lets him just take over.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw them both in the bed. It was adorable.

I blame the complete lack of fear of water and the audacity to consider the entire home his own for these photos.

You can see all the pictures of Elvis in the sink here:

• Elvis in the Sink – a set on Flickr

Sometimes the camera just can’t capture my most joyful moments. The other day, Maggie was playing with Elvis’ toy mouse. The sunlight was streaming in the faux stained glass window in our living room and bouncing off the carpeted stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Maggie jumped and rolled and tossed the mouse with glee that is rare considering her shy personality.

When I noticed her playing, I pressed pause on the TiVo, which disrupted her play. Just knowing that I was watching her play was enough to stop the festivities. It was as if she was some sort of sub-atomic particle refusing to both play and be observed at the same time. There was no way I would be able to film her. She wouldn’t even let me watch her.

Elvis peeked around the furniture trying to catch a glimpse of her playing with his discarded toy, but she noticed him. Sid pretended not to watch her play by lying his head down on the carpet, but kept an uneasy eye on her the entire time. With an audience of three, it was too much for her bashful nature and she abandoned the mouse on the third stair next to the scratching post.

The total time she played with the mouse was maybe twenty seconds before the three of us stopped our respective activities and watched her in amazement. Twenty seconds of pure and unadulterated joy washed over us and we drank it in as much as we were allowed. No time for cameras. Not even enough time for Elvis to retaliate. Just a beautiful outburst of bouncingly playful happiness that was impossible to capture on film. I thought to myself, “I’ll just have to remember this.”

It happened just a few minutes ago. I heard the sound of a bag rustling upstairs. I had just spent the last half hour chasing Elvis away from every form of plastic in the house, going so far as to actually CLEAN up and remove any bits of plastic bag, plastic bubble wrap or plastic wrapping that was lying around because my stupid cat had decided that it was the day to eat plastic.

I rolled my eyes and considered leaving my reading and comfy couch to further stop this obsession. I listened carefully and determined that it didn’t sound like the furtive, chomp, chomp, chomp of Elvis’ plastic eating. It sounded like he was just playing with a plastic bag instead. Laziness overtook me and I went back to my reading, but the noise continued.

Then the noise moved. The sound of a plastic bag moved from a distant irritation to an approaching ruckus. I could hear it advancing from the bedroom to the staircase at an increasing speed. I put down my reading and got off the couch to investigate, but before I could get up even one stair, the crinkling was halfway down the stairs.

In a streak of white and gray fur, Elvis ran past me toward the kitchen, but the fluffy sound of the plastic bag was still coming at me from the staircase. In a panic, Maggie and the plastic bag rushed past me, following Elvis. She wasn’t chasing him, so much as she was chased by the bag wrapped around her neck. Rather than follow Elvis into the kitchen, she ran like a cheetah away from the noisy monster attached to her body. I laughed at her skittish attempt to escape the crinkle monster that she had unwittingly climbed through.

She rushed up the stairs, plastic bag in tow as I tried to grab her. I laughed again and followed to the bedroom level. Mike called from the top of the stairs, “I’m sure that was hilarious, but it just woke me up…” His groggy voice told me that he wasn’t fully awake. “You tied a bag to the cat?!” I finished climbing and rushed to defend myself, “I didn’t do it.” I was still laughing, trying to find where Maggie had hidden.

I followed Mike’s dazed gaze to my comfy chair in my office. I looked under the chair and there was a shell-shocked Maggie with the bag still around her neck. Her excited run had torn it to shreds, but it still hung strong around her neck. She cowered away from me as I reached under the chair. I grabbed the handle of the bag and removed it from her neck, trying my best to control my laughter.

It was the plastic bag that had brought home my boots from the store. I had removed the boots, wore them, deemed them completely unusable for winter snow and abandoned them, all without ever throwing away the bag on my bedroom floor. Maggie must have crawled in it, had a bout of play with Elvis and tried to escape through the handle instead of the proper opening. I could envision the entire event and I laughed.

I put my sleep-deprived husband back to bed and sat down at the computer keyboard. “I’ll just have to remember this,” I told myself.

I’m sitting in my blue comfy chair. I have Elvis on the left arm, looking out the window, following every movement of birds and debris. I have Maggie to my right, sitting on the footstool and Sid on the floor.

I always imagine an alien group observing us. They can tell where all the life forms are in the house and notice that we all congregate in one room, no matter the size of the house. In fact, we are all congregated in one corner of that one room.

I imagine that they would find this behavior strange. Why would they all hover in one tiny corner of that large dwelling? Are they scared? They aren’t close enough to be getting any warmth from each other. They each seem to be moving of their own free will. Why do they congregate when they could spread out? They must get some benefit from the close proximity, despite their differences in genetic make up. What is it?

I love these quiet moments with Elvis. He will sit by the window for hours watching the birds as long as I open the blinds for him.

We have been leaving the Bevmo Bag out on the floor lately just because it has become Elvis’ latest nemesis. He simply can’t understand why he can’t get inside of the thing. Since it is a bag meant to transport glass bottles, it has dividers in it that are just large enough for Elvis’ head only.

That doesn’t stop him from trying to put his whole body into it several times a week.

Our new dog, Nina, is scared and jealous of Elvis, our cat. Elvis just wants to play, but Nina’s having none of it!

I’ve never seen a dog so unwilling to play in my life. She doesn’t like toys and just ignores them. She doesn’t want to play fetch, tug-o-war, or even chew the toys. Elvis has tried in vain to get her to play with him, but she just avoids him or retreats to her bed. Mike and I got her to play with some bubbles a couple of nights ago, but she refused to even look at them last night.

The only thing that makes her smile is a walk. She loves to run in the park and is always surprised when the leash runs out of slack and she’s pulled back. She loves to smell every plant and post along the way.

How can it be that the only play she is interested in is a walk? Is this common?

Why is the funnest thing I can do with my Xbox is tease my cat with it?

He is fascinated with the DVD tray that opens and closes. It has gotten so bad that he comes running whenever he hears me turn on the console. This is the cat that I thought was deaf because he wouldn’t even acknowledge my screeching at him to get off the counter. He’s definitely NOT deaf. That big boy can hear the sound of the Xbox powering up no matter where he is in the house.

Every day, I happen upon a scene like this, but by the time I get my camera, they’ve stopped. Or sometimes, I can get my camera, but they suddenly become shy. Today, however, they just kept on cuddling for THREE whole minutes. I trimmed the cutest bits to show you.

Lucy is the cuddliest cat I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. She would cuddle with me all day long if I let her. She snuggles with Elvis and even Nina, the dog. Caitlin, our baby sitter, caught them in the act the other day.

Nina doesn’t appear to like the snuggle nearly as much as Elvis does.

I’m so glad we have animals who not only get along, but actually LOVE each other. It brings me joy every single day.

Update 8:51 pm

I can’t believe I got two videos in one day. I have been trying to film these guys for MONTHS!

Nina’s doggie bed was a shredded and fraying mess. The grocery store had dog beds on sale for ten bucks, so we bought her one and she LOVES it.

Unfortunately, Elvis loves the bed as well. After days of Nina just letting him sleep in her bed, she finally just gave up and joined him in it.

Elvis has been snuggling up to dogs his whole life. Here is a very similar picture of Elvis and Sid.

The patience of a dog is unparalleled. The next time I am irritated by something, I’m going to remember Nina and Sid, patiently and kindly sharing their beds with Elvis.

Last week, we had Allie visit for a day or so and I caught her and Elvis playing. I thought the Internet might enjoy it as well.

I love to have Allie visit because it teaches our animals to get along with other animals. Or in Elvis’ case, it teaches him to just walk away…

This LITERALLY happens every day in my house. I usually can’t get to my phone quickly enough to capture it, but today, I was lucky. Nina had approached Lucy to get a cleaning while Elvis calmly watched.

This cuteness happens so often in my house that I’ve become blind to it. Then I will have people over to visit and they will see it and just ooh and ahh over how adorable our pets are together. I guess I’m just lucky!