The Potters really made me laugh last night when they were out in the cat run. It had been a really tough day yesterday and by the time 9pm came I put the last load of washing in and I had really had enough. I came back into the house to shut the Potters in for the night only to find them outside in the cat run playing games and they were so entertaining that I had to sit there for a while and watch them. Madam Hooch has her stalking skills perfected now and spent a good 10 minutes absolutely terrorising her sisters and brothers. She gets down really low and moves incredibly slowly and doesn't take her eyes off her "prey" the whole time. When she gets right up close to them, she springs up in the air (she's the most agile of all the babies) and lands on top of her victim. Hermione and Ron on the other hand really need help when it comes to their hunting skills. They had me in fits of laughter though. Both of them would start at opposite ends of the cat run, and stalk each other. The problem is that they don't get down low, they don't go slow enough and they quite literally run head first into each other, jump up in the air in fright, come down and run in opposite directions. It was so very funny and I think they could take a few lessons of Hooch. Harry and McGonagall were much better than Hermione and Ron, however they still could do with a lot more practice. Cacao was getting a bit cranky with them as she was sitting outside peacefully in the cat run when McGonagall came tearing up to her, sprang right onto Cacao's back and then sprang off the other side. Of course, Hermione thought that looked like fun but as she isn't as skilled as the Torties in jumping, or moving quickly, before she had managed to get up into the air, Cacao smacked her one because she knew what Hermione was about to do. This morning, the kitten room looked like a disaster area again. The babies had obviously been on my poor old chair (which I must get rid of one of these days) and had been pulling the bits of foam out of it and there was yellow foam all over the floor from one end to the other. The curtains also have to be put up off the floor now as both Torties insist on climbing the curtains right to the top and then just hanging about.

I actually had some success with wet/moist food this morning, only with Harry though, who surprised me by eating some Denes cat food. I have tried these babies on almost every single brand of cat food available and there is just no interest at all. They are however, eating me at of house and home where dry kitten biscuits (James Wellbeloved) are concerned. I really struggled today to get any decent photos at all and the ones below are absolutely dreadful. All of the Potters have been in very "chewy" moods today. In other words, they have spent the whole day chewing/biting their mother, each other, and my legs! Ron was keeping himself amused earlier by rolling around in the wastepaper bin which is something he really seems to enjoy. Madam Hooch climbed to the top of the curtain and sat there swinging back and forth by her front legs until I rescued her. The babies are still (fortunately) spending a lot of time out in the cat run and are really enjoying it out there. I think it's much better for them as well to get the fresh air and the sunshine.

I'm pleased to say that our Potters have now realised the fun in being outside in the cat run which is just as well because I reckon that just one more day spent in the back room here with them and I've have moved out!!!! They have turned the back room into a war zone and within 5 minutes of me picking up their mess, they have made yet another. So I'm blaming the Potters for the lack of photos today as I've not had any time to take any due to spending my spare time cleaning up after them! The only part of their room that they keep immaculate is their litter tray for which I'm very grateful. They scatter very little litter and even keep the inside of the hooded tray remarkably clean. The more I look at Harry, Hermione and Ron, the more convinced I am that they are in fact Seal Points and not Blue Points which is no surprise really.

Well having the Potters downstairs seems to be working at taking my mind off the R's as the Potters are absolutely insane!!!!! Hermione has spent the morning off and on, sitting on my shoulder with her nose in my ear, Harry has been rolling around inside the wastepaper bin amusing himself for quite some time and as for Madam Hooch! Every single time I open the kitchen door, she appears out of nowhere and zooms straight over to the door to try and get in. Doesn't matter how quietly I try and sneak to the door, she is over like a shot and I have to be so careful that I don't accidentally close the door on her. McGonagall has been exploring the CD rack, to the point where I couldn't find her. The CD rack is Black and she actually gets inside and sits on the CD's or tries to climb them all and you can't actually see her in there unless you know that's where she is. Ron has been sitting in front of the litter tray, waiting for someone to go in there and as soon as they do, he sits up on his back legs, and uses both front paws to swipe at the unsuspecting person in the litter tray constantly. So anyone wishing to go to the toilet has to get right to the back of it to avoid his punches. They have been tearing around like lunatics in here all day, jumping on and off the chairs, the scratch post, the work top. So far, McGonagall and Hermione have both fallen off the work top into the cat bed! McGonagall has decided that if I'm on my chair, she has to be there too. It wouldn't be so bad except she climbs in my lap, has a few cuddles and then starts biting my leg! She is obviously just playing (in her mind) but it really does hurt and she has no comprehension of the word no at all. Typical Tortie! Hermione decided that if it was good enough for McGonagall to be there, then it was good enough for her. The only problem was that as McGonagall decided to settle down on me to sleep, Hermione decided it was time to wake her up by sitting on her head! Poor McGonagall had her head trapped under Hermione's body which isn't nice I'm sure as Hermione is a bit of a porker. I ended up having to lift up Hermione and put her back in the cat bed.

I have no idea what I did yesterday but when I went to do today's entry I noticed that I had an extra day in there! Truly I do not know what happened so I've ended up combining that extra day with yesterday's entry as it appeared I was a day ahead of myself. Obviously the stress of all the babies is getting to me and I'm starting to lose the plot! :) Well it's been another sad day as Daisy from the R's left me today as did my 2 beautiful boarders, Kyla and Boleyn. Kyla and Bo have been with me for over a fortnight now and it's been wonderful having them here as they are such great cats. Kyla is actually Cacao's daughter from her first litter and Bo is Tia Maria's daughter from her first litter. Once my babies left me today the hard work started.......moving the babies around. The Potters are now downstairs here with me in the back room and they are very funny. They are actually more timid than I like to see but I'm hoping that a few days down here will soon sort that out. I am convinced that this is because they spent so long upstairs due to the fact that the R's were still downstairs and I had nowhere to put the Potters so at the moment, they aren't as used to household activity as I would have liked. Anyway, they've had a great time exploring their new home. Hermione went to the entrance of the cat run and I thought she would have been the first to venture out but it wasn't the case. None of the babies were really sure about the "fresh air in the cat run" scenario. Harry surprised me by being the first to go out there but I think that's only because his mother was there. The others all came over then and peered out the door so in the end I gave up and picked them up and plonked them all out there. Unfortunately that was when Cacao decided to come back in so apart from Harry, none of the Potters made it off the first step!!! Still, I'm sure it won't take them long before they are all used to their new home. Even now, the babies are all finding their own separate places to sleep down here. There's no photos unfortunately because I am really feeling shattered and haven't had the time. Moving of all the babies and other cats means that every single food/water bowl, litter tray, toy etc. all has to be thoroughly washed, as does every single room that the Potters and R's and boarders have been in.

I made the mistake today of giving the Potters one of their meals in the hallway as opposed to the kitten room. Within 2 minutes both McGonagall and Madam Hooch had started chasing each other up the hallway, ran straight through the saucer and upended the food everywhere. Ron, Harry and Hermione were covered in mixture as was the floor! 2 of my R's left me and it's very sad and part of the day has been spent in tears. I did have some lovely cuddles from my Potters though who must have know how I was feeling which was really great. The kitten room was an absolute disaster this morning but I'm blaming Cacao for this one. When I went in there first thing, I was dismayed to see that the large tub of kitten food had been knocked off the top of the cupboard and there was dry biscuits from one end of the room to the other. It was an absolute nightmare and I am sure that the Potters wouldn't have been able to reach to knock it over and as it's very large, I don't think they would have had the strength either so it must have been their mother. I actually think the Potters will be very pleased when the R's leave because it means they will get so much more of my attention because as most of you know, this weekend is manic as the R's are venturing forth into the big wide world one by one. The Potters' sleeping place has changed again because now that their door is open all day long, they go to the same corner of the hallway that every one baby has gone to prior to now. It's a little corner where the hot pipes must run underneath which is why the babies must love it so much. Ron, Harry and Hermione are particularly funny because they all fight with each other to see just who can squeeze directly into the corner and as they all want to but can't all fit, they start sitting on top of each other to push each other out of the way. Madam Hooch and McGonagall generally wait until the Siamese have sorted themselves out and then they just go and plonk themselves on top on the others. Obviously the Orientals are much smarter than the Siamese! Cacao is still in full call and screaming her head off. Thank goodness she will be downstairs next week with her babies and I won't hear her of an evening!

My Potters are 7 weeks old today and it really did sneak up on me yet again. All our little ones were wormed again today which did not make them very happy little bunnies. McGonagall and Harry objected most vehemently to being wormed and I ended up with the mixture going all over me, the floor, and the ottoman. Ron and Hermione were both good about the worming. Madam Hooch, I had very stupidly saved until last, and once she saw what was being done, ran under the sofa bed and wouldn't come out. This meant me having to lie on the floor and try to reach to the back of the sofa bed to retrieve her. After 5 minutes, I finally got hold of her and she was wormed as well. Their room was opened up again today so a lot of the time, all I could hear was running about and thumps. They do sound like race horses once they start playing about. All 5 Potters have been up and down the stairs today which has been good. They are getting quite a lot of exercise and I've decided that Monday will be the day they are brought downstairs permanently. I imagine it will be quite a shock to their system and am very interested to see how they will cope with it. It's been a very busy day today as Rosie, one of the R's, is leaving me to move in with her new owners which means having to get quite a few things done hence the extremely short diary entry. In one way, I will be glad once Monday arrives and I can start getting back to normal, at least I hope so anyway. There's no photos of the Potters today because when I took pics of the R's and of the Gumnuts, the camera batteries died and had to be re-charged which takes a rather long time.