Our growing household

We have a new kitten! Bob and I have been talking about getting a second cat for some time, but only got around to it this weekend. Bob was initially stuck on the idea of a tuxedo cat - Neko having been his favourite from the last collection - and I was thinking about a marmalade, since we've never had one, but as it turned out, the one the girls fell in love with at the Humane Society was a silver-brown tabby. He's four months old, and a fair size already. Our previous grey was named Mercutio - John, an English minor at the time, named him - and the M seemed appropriate due to the legend of Mohammed and the cat, so we stayed with that, although I'm sure I'll call him Merc more than once in his life. Meet Merlin.

He seems both chunkier physically and of calmer demeanour than Merc, who was a skinny little scrap determined to get himself into trouble. He has notable ears although probably not useful for flight, and a many-horsepower purr motor. Brandy, as expected, doesn't like him one bit. So far we've kept Merlin in the kitchen with the glass-paneled door closed, and Brandy kept watch outside of it, tail lashing, for most of the evening. Once or twice she got in and gave him what-for, but he seems both able to defend himself and not particularly scared of her, although he did quickly figure out that the bottom shelf of the newly cleared-out pantry was his spot (also out of sight of the door!). Brandy curled up on the bed with us last night, and doesn't seem to harbour any resentment towards us, which is a relief. She'll just have to get used to the idea, and hopefully they'll keep each other (safely) occupied. Brace yourselves for an onslaught of kitty photos.