Kitties from the Blog (starring Evie)

By Angela Verdenius

From the Cats, Books & Life blog of author Angela Verdenius, comes the tales of her kitties. The naughtiest of the lot is Evie aka Eve of Destruction aka Evil Evie, a small torti & white cat who causes chaos in the once-quiet lives of the Verdenius household. She turned up as a wee kitty and life was never the same...

So, for those who already know of Evie and the antics of the furries, here it all is for your enjoyment! For those who have yet to discover this furry mob, well...good luck....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angela Verdenius
• Release date: Nov 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311678300

Angela Verdenius

Angela lives in Australia, where she is happily ruled by her cats. When not reading, at work as a nurse, or watching horror movies, she can usually be found at her trusty computer...procrastinating by cruising the internet looking for funny cat clips and upcoming spooky movies.Angela has written sci-fi romances, BBW contemporary romances, 2 novellas, and several short stories, one of which is a zombie story she had great fun writing (because zombies rule and are the coolest of the monsters).

Book preview

Foreword

I know - really, stories from my - Cats, Books & Life blog? But let me assure you, there is a reason!

Evie (aka Eve of Destruction) came into my mother’s and my life as a cute, big-eyed baby torti & white kitten of around five weeks old, sitting in the hand of a little boy. He told us that he found her under a shed on the other side of town but due to circumstances, he wasn’t allowed to keep her. So we took her to find her a good home. We quickly came to several conclusions:

1. I’m pretty positive the little boy came to us as his first stop, as we are kind of known for taking in kitties.

2. I’m pretty sure he knew we’d be a sucker for her.

3. Evie never left us and has stayed, creating havoc in the household ever since.

4. Evie thinks she’s Boss Cocky.

5. God knew He was on to a good thing with us - we were the only dummies dumb enough to let her stay and love her to pieces, regardless of the havoc she creates.

We were doomed from the start. But who could blame us? Get a look at this sweetie! Please note the crazy eyes. Notice them? Yep, we were doomed from the start…

So there’s Evie.

Now, she’s not the only fur-baby in our house. There are other cats that caught our hearts and came to live with us forever. There’s even a dog (poor bugger). Since I started the blog about 4 years ago, some of our old furries have gone to the Rainbow Bridge and are waiting for us there. We’ve had a lot of rescue kittens and a couple of rescue cats pass through on their way to new homes.

When I started a blog I wanted it to be a fun blog, one where I didn’t talk about my books all the time. Instead, I wanted to share in the fun of our furries, and rant about a few things. I found kindred spirits out there, people who loved reading about my cats as much as I liked writing about them, people who had their own fur babies both cats and dogs. Many of them enjoyed reading about the antics the cats get up to (namely Evie), but most of all, Evie has sprung up as a favourite. Yes, this extremely naughty, opinionated, big-eyed furry has featured in most of my blogs, mainly because she’s usually at the centre of the problems.

I was at a book signing in Fremantle, sitting there trying not to look as self-conscious as I felt, when this lady walked past, took a second look at my name placard, pointed and called out Evie! Yep, she’s famous!

So I thought I’d compile the entries featuring the cats in a book, so anyone who wants a first dose of them can read it page by page, and those game enough to have a second go at reading the furries’ antics can, well, have another go.

Enjoy!

Cheers

Ang

Evie Strikes Again

Evie...aka Eve of Destruction... has discovered that if she gets onto the back of a wooden chair, there's SOMETHING on the other side! Her mission, while on the chair, is to get that SOMETHING. How the heck she manages to stay on the back of the wooden chair is a mystery. She wobbles, slips and slides, and generally lives very dangerously. It's also very dangerous for anyone unlucky enough to be sitting in the chair when Evie is after SOMETHING, because to prevent herself from slipping, she'll grab onto the poor sod sitting there. My, that's always fun. Nothing like a little screaming to liven the place up a bit.

So here's Evie, getting that SOMETHING on the other side of the chair. Look closely, I'm sure you'll figure out what the SOMETHING is... her tail

Her next thing is helping with the shopping. As we all know, cats LOVE to help with the shopping. She's in and out of the bags like nobodies business (which brings me to the little fact that she doesn't know how to mind her own), and we usually end up picking things up off the floor. Helpful little thing, isn't she?

And oh my gosh...the fight to get the Diet Coke cans out of the box into the 'fridge. Yes, Evie must help with that as well. I'm trying to get my hand into the little opening of the box, and she's trying to get her furry body into it at the same time. As soon as she manages to squeeze inside the box, it's a 'snatch and grab' effort on my part to get my hand in, retrieve a can of Diet Coke,and withdraw with my hand intact and a can in it. It's rather like sticking my hand into a pond full of piranha fish. I certainly get enough bites and scratches!!! Oh yes, we do like the Diet Coke time, it's done with glee on her part, and lots of yelling and swearing on mine (and laughing, okay, I'll admit the laughing).

But the day isn't finished yet. Evie also likes to swarm up on top of things, such as the door, where she balances on the top of it (yes, the narrow bit) and screams for help. This now involves getting a chair, lugging it through the house to wherever she's now stuck, and getting up to rescue her. She watches eagerly, reaches out for us, we lift her down - and do we get a snuggle for our help? NO! No, Evie is too busy racing off to cause mayhem elsewhere! Another favourite place to get stuck is on top of the cat carry cages at the VERY TOP of the cupboard. Yes, she has to swarm up the fly wire door to do it, but do it she will...and get stuck. And scream. And we go lugging the chair through the house AGAIN to rescue her AGAIN. There is a chair permanently in the back room now, just for rescuing Evie.

You'd think she'd be done by now, but no. She has added a few little things to really brighten our days a little more. She has discovered the toothbrush. Does she play with it? Only when you're trying to brush your teeth with it. It's really disconcerting to be brushing away at your teeth, and then have this kitten loom up beside you, eyes fixed on the toothbrush. It's even more disconcerting when she decides to get the brush by putting her paw in your mouth. Yes, YOUR MOUTH. HER PAW. IN YOUR MOUTH! Need I say more?

Let's add a touch more here, so you know what happens in bed. Evie loves my Mum. Mum is her Granny, and she loves - adores - her Granny. She sleeps with her, looks lovingly at her in bed, pushes her cute little head in Granny's face so Granny can kiss her goodnight and good morning. She also puts her paw in Granny's mouth when Granny yawns, in case Granny forgets to put her hand over her mouth. Granny never forgets now. Funny how a furry paw in your mouth when you're yawning sort of makes you remember to cover your mouth. I always thought it was to good manners, and to keep flies out. Turns out it's good manners and to keep Evie's paw out. Always learning something...