The rest of July 1999

** Aslan's disclaimer ** for some reason, this post and the next few do not show correctly

and there is an issue with the "word wrap" hence some words are split between lines.

I have tried what I can to amend this, please bear with me, normal service is resumed after

the next few blog entries xx





During the night, I investigate the garage, it's only for one car, but sometimes no car is in here,    there is a cabinet and a freezer at the end where there is an internal door to the house is, some boxes and a shelving unit down one side  and a raised area where my bed is located.  There is also a window and Mum has put a carpet tile on the windowsill so it's more comfy when I am    watching the world.  The first full day I was at my new home, I was allowed all over the house      and the garden – the dog was not there, he was at Dad's parents as Dad was working there for some of the day.  It turns out that there are two farms, one where I now live which is smaller, andone about 14 miles away   where Dad's parents live, so sometimes they are working here, but more oftenthey are working at the other farm, and the dog divides his time between  them with  no problem – that is because dogs are not as intelligent, and indiscriminately bestow their fuss and affection on anyone (well, that's what I think anyway)  





The next day, Mum had to go back to work, she works in a bank but between 3 local branches, covering as and when needed - so I was on my own, and the door was shut so I was only in the garage – it was quite boring, and I was     anxious to be out and about exploring.  If only I could explain to Mum that I   won't run off (if she proves herself to be a suitable cat parent, and treats me   right, that is), and I am quite good at navigating – but she says that I have to stay in for a bit to “acclimatise” myself – I don't get this, it has nothing to do with climate and weather.  When  Mum comes back, I make her feel bad by hiding behind the freezer where is is warm – althoughobviously she and my   new home have not passed my thorough examination yet, so I need to   be sure about her -  I hide out there even though it is not cold in the garage and there is a sun-  patch on the windowsill to catch some rays...and after all, my multiple duvet bed is in there....    My cunning plan works, because she immediately takes me into the house, gives me different   foods to what I had for breakfast, and what was left for me during the day. We go into the loungeand then have some cuddle time and I stretch out in the sun.  This room faces a different way,   so I like to check out the views (more open space & farms)  from the window so I can get my     bearings, and more importantly, work out the optimum times and places for sun worshipping.  





The next day, exactly as per my cunning plan (or should that be “as purr”??!)   I was left with the door open into the porch and kitchen so I had more to explore.  I can't get into the main house   yet when they are not there, but this is not a bad step up for one day “If you are unhappy with      your surroundings, then do what you can to improve them”  I also meet “the dog”, he is a Jack   Russell and called “Will”, he is about 5 years old,  white with mostly tan markings.    Will is used to cats and doesn't chase or make a big deal, in fact he initially mistakes me for the ginger cat who lives at the other farm (he is clearly not very bright,   you'd think he would be able to tell the difference)  I push my paw into his face just to establish who is boss, we exchange a few words, and come  to a satisfactory arrangement about the hierarchy here... I am sure we will get along just fine nowhe is aware of that. Will has his own chair in the kitchen, I might (no, I will definitely) use/borrow  it from time to time..... I have to stay in for 2 weeks (two whole weeks!) and it is so, so boring,   but each day I am left with access to more rooms, I have a selection of food and water on offer all the time.  I use the time wisely by having a good old nose around and inspecting  everything,  in between the all-important rest times.“It is very important to ensure you get enough rest” after all.

William (Will) the dog, and me, mid-investigation, in the kitchen.........

New Name......New Home ......New Beginnings

As explained, after a while I get back in the cat carrier and travel 3.5 miles to my new residence.  Mum explains all about it on the journey: my new home is a farm, but I am not to be an outdoor farm cat who does not come in (good job too, I have had enough of being a fully outdoors cat) rather, I will be a cat who happens to live on a farm but can come in and out when he wants (this sounds much more to my liking!)  There is also a dog who lives here, and for the first few weeks I will have to stay inside to get accustomed to my new house.  Am really not sure about this, I am not stupid I can find my way back, and I need the outdoors ....but it's only for a short while and I will see what I can do to shorten this.  I am taken in the back door and into a large L shaped kitchen and have a further "snackette". 

No-one else is home, and Mum takes me on a tour. Weirdly, there are no stairs, so all the rooms are on one level, I assess the bedrooms (look good for me!) bathroom, study,  kitchen and then on to the lounge (small, but brilliantly placed for evening sunbathing!)  There is a garage accessed from the back porch and there are some cat beds in there.  Mum explains that my cat-flap will be fitted to the garage door, and we go into the lounge to sunbathe and have a “chutch” (I am unfamiliar with this word, but as it is important to “learn something new every day” I find out it is apparently a Lincolnshire word for "fussing up and stroking your cat".)  I deign to purr because I feel that I could be happy here - I will have to make them make some adjustments but not bad at all as a starting point.  I then meet Dad (Andy)  he is clearly less of a cat person than Mum but still okay, I shall have to get him trained accordingly.

Mum has called me my “new name” many times and I have been trying it out.....apparently it is spelt A-S-L-A-N and pronounced Azz-lann not Azz-larn. I quite like it, but it sounds a bit made up to me (though better than my original name which I will not divulge)  Mum says there is a famous series of books called “The Chronicles of Narnia” of which the most well known is, “The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe”.  In it, there is a land called Narnia where a lion called Aslan is Lord of all...  I think this name will suit me just fine, it is suitably unusual and more importantly, regal.  And so, on this day full of adventures, I go to bed.  I am sleeping in the garage in a plastic cat bed with several cat duvets, and food and drink available.  I feel quite safe, comfortable and protected here, so after a perfunctory nose round, I fall fast asleep....after all as the famous movie line has it, “Tomorrow is another day”

These are Aslan lions - my namesakes!

July 1999

I've been living as a stray for a few months now, and although I have established my territory and do a daily tour, I long for a proper, forever home again and a loving human.  At my favourite house, several streets away, they always leave food out for me, and I let them stroke me when I am in their garden, but they say sorrowfully that I can't go and live there because their cat and dog would not like it.  They tell me they are looking for a home for me, and if they can't find one then they will approach a local cat shelter.  I like them because they always check on me, they're clearly animal lovers and they leave me food and shelter, "random acts of kindness can make a big difference".  So in many ways, I have the best of both worlds, which is nice while it is Summer, not sure if I fancy this when it turns cold and frosty.  They sometimes have the childrens' Grandma visit and she is clearly a cat lover, she always makes a big fuss of me, and says she wishes she could take me home herself.  This lady, Ruth, has a dog called Peter who comes over with her sometimes, he says to me, "Don't worry, we're on the case about finding you a forever family".  It turns out that Ruth lives in a village in Lincolnshire about 40 miles away, and a conversation has been taking place, which I am completely unaware of.  Ruth works with a couple whose daughter has just got married.  The daughter is used to having cats and wants one to share her new home, so she has made some enquiries and they would love to have me 

July 17th - seemed like just another day, but was totally life changing for me - "You never know what a day might bring, so look forward with hope"   I was enticed into the garden, had a nice afternoon feeling part of the family, and then before I quite knew what was happening, I was in a cat carrier in the back of Ruth's car.  Part of me was annoyed at having been taken in and falling into a trap, but I felt confident that Ruth and her family were animal lovers so I decided to sit back and enjoy the road-trip.  I watched the scenery for a while then fell in and out of sleep.  I did, of course, assert my presence with well timed "Wowls" every so often, and Ruth talked to me about where we were going and my new home anyway.  I thought to myself that if it didn't work out and I didn't like where I was going then I could always escape and look for a forever home.  After all, I had been doing that in Northampton, and could find a new patch at our destination quite easily I thought.

Eventually we arrived at a house and I was carried in reverentially in my cat carrier.  Ruth explained that she lives on this road, but this house is where my new Mum (Rebecca)'s Mum lives.   In the kitchen I get out the cat carrier and assess my surroundings.  Okay, nice house, cat food and water on offer, loving people about who treat me with total respect (as is my due, I am after all, a cat!)  Ruth leaves, and Rebecca and her Mum make a fuss of me.  I discern that two cats live here permanently, Kitfer and Murphy, but they are outside so I take advantage of this to help myself to some food, sit on Kitfer's cushion and have a wash, then wander over to my new Mum.  She is sitting on the floor and seems experienced around cats, so I bestow on her the great honour of falling asleep on her knee.  Mum's Mum (Grandma in this story) is amazed at how calm I seem to be.  "Take everything in your stride" is one of my mottoes.

Continued some more.......just background though!

So back to my story -  I will gloss over the first year because, it was a long time ago and I was very young so I can't recall all of it - and some I have tried to forget.  I was born in 1998 in Northampton.  Mummy said that my furry Daddy was "a posh cat from a big house" and looking it up on the internet and tv much later, I wonder if he could have been from Althorp House?  Perhaps this is why Mum always made a point about "self improvement and bettering oneself".  When I was old enough to leave my furry Mummy and brother and sisters, I went to live with a family in a house on a nice road, but I wasn't there for many months when they moved away and left me behind all alone.

I was so upset and lonely, but I knew I only had me to rely on so I had to get out there and fend for myself.  It was better that it was Spring and early Summer, it wasn't so cold and I could find quite a few places in the undergrowth, trees to hide and sometimes sleep in.  There were plenty of birds and rodents to catch (I know, I know, some of you might find this distasteful but it is a cat's nature and I would have starved if I had not eaten them).  My old house had new residents who did not want me around, but their garden backed on to some more gardens in another road, and then there were further avenues after that, so I had quite a big stamping ground.  Some of the residents got to know me and left me food out which was much appreciated, "Never underestimate the kindness of strangers".  and one or two left their shed or porch doors open so I could shelter if it was raining.  Although I was wary of people after being abandonned, I was honing my ability to judge humans and categorize them into lists such as, "I would like to live with them" and "Don't go within 500 metres of them" and all points in-between.  One of my favourite houses to visit had two adult humans, two small children, a dog and a cat............and it is here that my story really and truly begins

continued!..............

I have a pale ginger tummy, and darker stripes on the rest of my body, including a dark ginger stripe like a necklace and a very stripy tail.  I live on a farm with two humans, who will be known as Mum and Dad in this story, another cat Riley (much more of her later), and various people coming in and out.  Obviously, this is technically "my house" because, after all, I am the senior cat so I own everything, but I let them think otherwise.  I eat little and often, and vary my current favourites to keep my humans on their toes.   I love my family and enjoy having a "love up or a cuddle" with them, and my hobbies include sleeping, finding different places to practice sleeping, checking my territory at least once a day, supervising Riley and anyone / anything on the farm, and polishing up my stalking and catching techniques.  I might not have an actual pedigree or a certificate, but I am certainly no "common or garden chav-moggy".  I am quite "posh" and I like to live accordingly.  My real furry Mummy told all her kittens, "Self improvement is the key and can unlock many doors"  She didn't just mean actual doors either, I have learnt.

 I used to live in Northampton, but was discarded and abandonned, then I came to live in Lincolnshire in 1999 becoming adopted and loved.  Along the way I have "trained" humans, sometimes this has taken a lot longer than I would have liked,  studied their behaviour, learned a craft (farming and supervising), and enjoyed being an adventurer and intrepid explorer.  I like to keep fit and healthy, and I am gorgeous - Mum tells me this every day - and while I know this for myself, indeed you might even know it about yourself - it is best not to make too big a deal out of it, after all, "Vanity and self obession can appear conceited and off-putting to other people"   So, don't go on about it to others as it could make them feel bad about themselves, and come to dislike you.  Just know it for yourself - I do, I know I am perfect but I don't make a point of mentioning it, or looking in mirrors all the time........to think I used to find mirrors scary and disconcerting when I was a little kitten!

Obviously as this is a blog web-page it shows up as the date it has been uploaded, but since my story starts waaaay back in 1999, I am going to date the posts as I put them on......

Also, I want to share some "life lessons" I have discovered along the way, not in a preaching kind of way, but more as a "good stuff I know and want to share" kind of way.....after all this is my blog (or my Mum's) so I can feature what I want!!



Firstly, a bit about me, I am a male ginger cat and 15 human years old.  Obviously, that makes me a lot older in cat years but (and here's my first life lesson)  "You're as old as you feel, and you should not always act your age"   I have, after all, observed a lot of humans and I notice that sometimes people who are younger than my Mum behave as if they were older, and some who are a lot older seem quite a lot younger in comparison.  Age is after all, just a number or a label, and all animals  would all do well to remember that.  I am a ginger tabby, so the pale bits of my fur are more sand coloured than marmalade.  I have a white chin and green eyes flecked with brown.  I also have some unusual small brown pigment spots around my eye sockets, the pink bits on my nose and mouth and on the pink pads of my paws.  Some cats have this, and some don't, like moles and birthmarks in humans I guess, but I love mine and I believe that they make me more distinguished looking "Celebrate your differences, and the diversity we show"  After all, we're not all the same, so why should we try and comform to a generic type?

All About Me......

 Aslan's Story - "Little Cat Diaries"

So, I might be a cat, but I am a very intelligent one, and I have learned a lot from close observation of my own humans, other people and animals, the weather, the countryside and my surroundings..... I have decided to share what I have learned and how these life lessons came to be included in my life story.  There's a lot of "scene setting and background" but it is then a season by season look at each year and what I know: