Pirata is settling in well. He is very confident and doesn’t get fazed by much. Ian wonders if Pirata can determine light and shade. Certainly he does sometimes seem to ‘look’ at things. I’m not really sure of how things work, but I think because he wasn’t born with eyes doesn’t necessarily mean that his retina and other optical doodahs weren’t formed.
It is fascinating watching how he finds his way around. He now has the run of the house, but we shut him in my workshop at night. He loves exploring and climbing. He sometimes is a little nervous about jumping down from things, however when he’s done it a couple of times he’s fine. We try not to help him down from things as this doesn’t allow him to learn. I’m not too worried that he’s wary about jumping down, better that than his having a disregard for heights. Of course, he broke his leg when he fell out of a window, so I think that may have made him wary – although perhaps not as much as it should have done!
When he’s not exploring he’s quite likely to be found on Ian’s lap or snuggled down by me in my workshop. He’s quite a cuddly little cat and enjoys a good purr!
All the others – dogs and cats – seem to take him in their stride. I think they must think he is a little odd as he doesn’t react in a predictable way – for instance if he turns and walks into a wall. Because he doesn’t have eyes he doesn’t give the impression of staring and I also think that this is helping the other not to be afraid of him or react negatively. I have read that animals use staring as part of their way of establishing a pecking order so they would regard a blind animal’s staring as being aggressive.
The weather has been glorious for the last month or so, although we did have a big storm last weekend. It’s still hot in the afternoon, but cooler in the morning. Since the clocks have changed we’ve been making the most of the lighter mornings and either going for a cycle ride or walk. The sun rises now at 7.45 (I know because we watched it rise yesterday when we were cycling) and drops again at 6.15 (I know because we watched it set from our sun terrace yesterday).
The banister for the sun terrace was fitted last week and it’s really finished it off nicely. It also means that going up and down the stairs feels a lot safer – it feels surprisingly high from the top step!
We’ve started work on a new website. This is purely commercial and we hope to generate revenue from advertising. It’s a little different from our other sites and hopefully we’ll have it launched later this month. We’re dedicating a week to it later this month which should get it to the launch stage.
Manuel is going to be starting on the kitchen next week. We’re already planning what our first meals will be cooked in a proper oven with temperature controls that give us something inbetween complete incineration and slightly warm. Not having to go outside for water is going to be a big step forward too!