Tentative peace: Caturday with the Notorious BKL and Friends

Welcome back to Caturday with the Notorious BKL and Friends, tentative peace edition! They’ve reached SOMEthing of a detente over here… And, did I mention the fire?

Welcome back to Caturday with the Notorious BKL and Friends, tentative peace edition. It’s been a minute since we’ve done a new Caturday post, but what a crazy summer over here. As my Dad used to say whenever he got frustrated about the never-ending maintenance that homeownership entails: “A house is just a wooden box that sits in the sun and rots.”

He’s not wrong! Ours appears to have reached that point where everything everywhere needs replacing all at once, and, oh… did I mention the fire? More on that at the end.

Tentative Caturday peace

But first: What could possibly bring these two sworn enemies together? Oh, just a little backyard bird action in the tree. If ever they decide to combine their forces, they’ll become truly unstoppable… Anyway, these, our two alpha cats, have reached something of a tentative peace and now can often be found sleeping on the same bed or looking out the same window… if not quite perched next to each other. (If only this detente could extend to the others!)

Let’s be honest, though — they don’t get along ALL of the time. Sometimes there needs to be a little posturing on both sides, but they now tend to limit these standoffs to brief spats, rather than drawn out bloody wars.

Caturday conquering

These two baddest of the bad kitties will also take a little break from their war on the outdoor critters to try and conquer all of the people of their household. Just imagine if they worked together here as well.

What else? Well, The Notorious Bad Kitty Lucy will vanquish just about anyone’s birthday presents, if given a chance. (For being so particular about some things, cats are not really particular about others.)

Gnocchi, on the other hand, has apparently set her sights upon conquering the entire universe.

How’s your own Caturday?

How’s your own Caturday (or cat-free week, or summer) been progressing? Over here, our summer started off with a literal bang when the attic fan at our neighbors’ house sparked a fire in early June. Luckily they were home at the time, called 911 immediately, and got themselves and their cats out — And, despite how horrible it looks, no one was injured! The fire department did an amazing job, but their whole top floor went up terribly quickly.

While the fire fighters tried to keep the flames from spreading, we were evacuated for a bit as well — although our bad kitties ran away and hid from all of the commotion. We are very lucky that our house didn’t catch, but the heat from the fire next door was so intense that it warped and melted the vinyl siding right off of the side. So, it’s been a summer of dealing with insurance companies and repairs on that front — and, our neighbors’ house sustained such extensive damage that they still aren’t able to live in their own home.

That’s how it started, and here’s how it’s going. Beyond the siding, our entire summer seems to have consisted of a never-ending cascade of contractors and repair people. We’ve had plumbing problems, a driveway replacement, water issues, fence issues, closet shelves and bars pulling right out of the wall with a tremendous crash in the middle of the night, and more. Here’s hoping for a somewhat calmer fall.

I do hope that your summer has been less filled with repair people and contractors than ours has been — although, clearly the chaos hasn’t affected our feline friends all that much. Be sure to tune in next time for the latest in our ongoing Caturday adventures with the Notorious BKL and Friends, and do let me know how your own adventures progress.