My segregated cats, and one who wants to live on my head

I think I mentioned in a post last month that a stray kitten that adopted us around the end of June, Frisco, tested positive for feline leukemia. The vet says that sometimes kittens test positive for awhile as a result of having a mother who was positive (they still have some antibodies due to passive natural immunity, I guess) so he has to be retested in a few days (a month from the original test.)

Anyway, on July 6th, Mom and I went to the animal shelter (saddest place EVER, by the way) and adopted Sophie and Oliver - we asked our vet if we could bring them in that day for their FeLV immunization, and figured that they could cohabitate with Frisco.

Not so!

They go back in the first few days of August for a booster, and a couple of weeks after that (I think) they can be together. Well, this presents a problem. Frisco had the run of the house for a couple of weeks before Sophie and Oliver arrived, so we couldn't very well banish him to the laundry room. So that's where we put Sophie and Ollie, with a baby gate between the laundry room and the kitchen. The baby gate was supposed to (hang on, this is hilarious) KEEP THE CATS IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM. Haaaaaaaaa! We're so silly.

They quickly figured out that with a run-and-go, they could sail over the gate, and I came to investigate a noise one afternoon to find Sophie in the toaster. Well, I prefer my cats untoasted. So we put a big piece of cardboard on top of the gate, and we could still climb over the gate if we removed the cardboard first.

Well, this deterred Almost-Toasted Sophie, but Frisco scaled the wall after a few days of trying, no problem. So we put up an old screen door, in addition to the gate and the cardboard. Now, to do laundry, we have to go out the front door, all the way around to the back door, and get into the laundry room that way. It's pretty funny, actually. But finally, they can't get over the barricade. Mwahahahahaha! We, three humans, have prevailed over three kittens!

Of course, I have to bring Sophie and Oliver (and a litterbox) into my bedroom at night, because it's nice to have something furry and purring to wake you up. :-)

And here's the thing about Oliver - he likes to climb. First onto my shoulder like some sort of bizarro cat/parrot hybrid:

and then right onto my head.

To his defense, I do have a freakishly huge head. So he probably thinks it's the hood of a car - or an ottoman, perhaps. Who knows. Also, I have no idea what those weird splotchy things on my face are. They don't actually exist - maybe a little gnome lives in my Photoshop program, and his sole purpose in life is to blotch up my face.

So when I start including gnomes in everyday conversation, it's time to go to bed. Those little kitties are such cuties, though. I love them already. And I hope Frisco's 2nd feline leukemia test comes back negative. Bless his little heart!