Nittens are in the House
Chapter 3
Who are these Nittens, Anyway?
As the nittens adapted to their new surroundings, we began supervised interaction with the dogs. Both Jingle Dog and Grumpy Dog tried to get used to the quick, unpredictable motions of the nittens. Jingle Dog had a hard time learning to not chase the nittens. He’s a border collie; he can’t help it. He wanted to herd them, of course! Grumpy Dog tried occasionally to chase the nittens, but was much too slow. The nittens perched in high places where the dogs couldn’t reach them and started to see that the dogs are friendly...more or less. Maybe “benign” is a better description for Grumpy Dog.
Jingle Dog enjoyed playing with these adorable babies. He was so sweet and gentle with them that they began to be unafraid of him. They were spotted snuggling with him, or booping him. They declared they want to be just like him when they grow up!
The nittens also realized how easily Grumpy Dog is evaded and began to cautiously approach him, mostly when he was sleepy. They made up a competition to decide who was bravest, based on hanging out with Grumpy Dog. He grumped at them a bunch at first, but started to accept that there was very little he could do to discourage them. Life began to settle down and we had a cessation of hostilities, if not actual peace. The sweet personality of each nitten began to emerge.
Violet demanded to be treated as a Princess very early. She is prissy. She is slightly pigeon toed on her back feet (she maintains this is NOT a genetic fault, but instead proof of her royal lineage!) and she swishes when she walks. She has magnificent fluff from tail tip, right down to her heels, from which descend her elegantly sleek back feet. She looks like she is wearing pantaloons! She flirts with her fluffy tail like it is her Royal Scepter. Princess Violet frequently wants a Princess Chariot ride to her dining room table, but when she doesn’t, she really doesn’t. I’ve had the...emphatic... scratches to prove it. She doesn’t much like jumping, so she, instead, waits for the Princess Lift. She totally pulls out all the stops when flirting with Papa. She jumps in front of him as he’s walking down the hall and shows him the way to the treat-bin, waving her magic Royal Scepter at him the whole way. He will tell her that he wasn’t really headed in that direction. She says, “I don’t make the rules, I just follow them, and the rules say that Princess Violet gets treats now.” (Papa is a total sucker for the Princess Flirt!)
Violet talks to the appliances. Her favorite is the air intake vent in the ceiling of the hallway out to the garage. She sits on top of the bookcase and warbles at it. She does this before the HVAC system comes on. It must be the sound the filter makes in its casing that draws her attention. She also talks to the refrigerator. She sits on the kitchen island and scolds the frig when it dumps the ice in the ice-maker’s bin, and then softly “rrrrowls”, at the frig as the icemaker refills. She used to talk to the old dishwasher, but doesn’t talk to the new one. It might be too quiet to be interesting to her.
There is a specific spot on the bathroom mirror (which I can’t see, but it’s always in the same place) that she swats at and calls ugly names.
She sits at the back door, which is mostly glass, and jumps at the glass about 4 feet in the air. I don’t know what that’s about, but it certainly is distracting to see in my peripheral vision while trying to work!
Griffin is....adventurous. He has declared the kitchen island to be the dog-free nitten highway. For some unknown reason he accepts that the counters are off limits, but the island, and all upon it, is HIS, to sniff, eat, ignore or push onto the floor, as only determined by him! The mail always ends up on the floor.
He is interested in batting at the chandelier above the dining room table. Yes, he can reach it. I hear it creaking, and when I look up, it’s swinging. Griffin is directly under it, watching it swing. I have nightmare images of it crashing down on him; it’s very heavy! (It’s visible in the top of the above pic.). My nightmare images are shockingly vivid and detailed. Yet, he delights in its gentle swing and creaking.
He has walked the 3 inch wide mantle, knocking everything off of it. He wants to see the tops of the 7 foot bookshelves. The ceiling fans are interesting. That boy spends a lot of time looking up!
He loves to chase no-see-ems around the bathtub while I brush my teeth. Violet and I marvel at his antics. By the way, laughing while brushing one’s teeth can be dangerous!
Griffin knows how to operate the doorknobs. There are mornings he wakes me up complaining, “I know what it is. I know where it is. I even know how to operate it. I just can’t reach it!” as he stands at the top of his reach and is frustratingly only a inch away from being able to let himself out.
Griffin and Violet began to spend much of the day with me, while I was working from home. My work area is sunny in the morning and has space for them and my computer equipment. I found 2 nitten-sized boxes that they like very much, so they hang out with me and entertain me.
This week’s episode is a little short, but I have a great excuse. I retired last week and this is my first full week of retirement! I’ve been reveling in doing very little and recovering from a lifetime of working for a living!
This is Part 5 of a multi-part series named Nittens are in the House. Links to previous episodes are below. Please join me here on Thursday mornings and allow me to share my wonderful fur family with you.