Little Explorers

The first full day in the new house started off very similarly to the night before:  kitties under covers, kitties hiding behind things, one or two kitties looking out their very first full-length window.  

My parents, sister and nephew came over to visit, and walked around the house, asking where the buddies were.  Max went around the house and up to the deck and had a little conversation with Wanda through the door.  Finally, we all went traipsing upstairs to where the cats were all holed up in our room.  My sister, who has traditionally been wary of cats, was delighted that several of them were very accommodating lumps which could be petted with little more reaction than a plaintive murmur.  (Mister, in particular, got petted through the comforter, which was a first for my sister, and frankly, most other people.  Mister usually doesn't go under the covers, but desperate times demand desperate measures, after all.)

This is is our first real two-story house.  Technically it's a three-story house, but the finished room in the basement recently had the flooring removed, making it inhospitable for little cat paws, so as far as the cats know, there are just two stories.  (Well, as far as three of them know, but that's another story--pun intended--too.)  We were making half-hearted bets about who would be the most adventuresome of the group.  My bet was on Wanda, but it turns out I was very, very wrong.  Not only was Wanda not the first one down the stairs, but I actually had to help her down the stairs because it seemed Wanda had developed a little touch of vertigo.  Reggie turned out to be the boldest one--and he had spent the past 24-hours practically living under the covers.  The others all gamely loped downstairs, tentatively checking out each new nook and cranny.  Downstairs, they encountered another full-length window, this one with a screen so they could smell what was outside and feel the considerable breeze.  Heaven!  

And then, after a few minutes, they all had to go check that they could still make it back upstairs to get back to the safety room--"home base," if you will.  They came back down again quickly though, much more confidently than the first time.  They stick pretty close to us while we're home, and spend a lot of time napping in our bedroom when we're not, but I think they're going to like it here.