Wild Hope Homestead

With all the talk of feather children and human children I don’t think I ever gave our dear fur child a proper introduction on my blog, so here we go.

Nala joined our household on a wintery Twiglet birthday 8 years ago. The Husband acquired her at a pet shop, presented her to a sick Twiglet lying on the couch and she sprang into our lives like a little firecracker. Our lives have not been the same since.

From Day 1 it was clear that Nala was nuts. Her favourite kittenhood activities included tearing around the house, using the couches and clothes racks as jungle gyms and forts, chasing anything that moved, especially if it was on the scratching post that The Husband made for her, hunting flies, talking to anyone who would listen (including the flies) and charging at me before running away. She brought a new meaning to the term ‘crazy eyes’. But she was also very cute and endearing, snuggling up with us for a nap and occasionally reaching up to smooch our faces. And who could deny that darling ginger face? She had just the right mix of characteristics to make her queen of the household.

As she got older, Nala developed a fetish for hair ties, twisty ties and any other small pieces of elastic or plastic. These she would toss in the air with spectacular leaps, which caused much amusement. I had to learn to keep my hair ties in a drawer. Plastic bags and paper on the floor also became an ongoing fascination. Nala developed a friendship with Ginge, a neighbouring tom cat. She liked to explore the properties of running water in the bath tub and got stuck in the neighbour’s garage on more than one occasion.

When Nala was 5 months old we brought chaos into her life in the form of a tiny black kitten called Ninja. At first he freaked her out, but after a while she realised she could play with him and lorde it over him. He took on the annoying little brother role for the rest of his life. Sadly, Ninja is no longer with us. This means Nala has full reign of the house but demands more attention from us in the evenings. I think she might not mind having another cat for some amusement, as long as it was on her terms and wasn’t too annoying…

Nala has been through five house moves with us, including back and forth between Hamilton and Christchurch. She has coped with these very well, even being surprisingly respectful and placid towards The Parents’ cat when we stayed with them for three months. She is relishing the latest move to the countryside. She has a large patch of land to explore and lots of privacy and tranquility. She likes tranquility. The vacuum cleaner is her worst enemy, closely followed by loud rain. She’s more scared of loud noises after all the shaking and uncertainty of the Christchurch earthquakes. Although she has so much space out here, Nala is a homebody, and is often inside, on her piece of carpet on the deck, or a short run away from the door. Her favourite outdoor activities include sitting on the fence peering at critters in the compost, catching small birds (unfortunately) and leaving them on the back door mat and random bursts of energy racing across the lawn or up trees.

Although Nala often drives us nuts by loudly demanding dinner and doing naughty things to get our attention, she always makes up for it with her general cuteness and lovely nature. Little does she know her life is about to get rudely interrupted by a human child…