The Burmese are finally introduced

I have an interesting approach to filing, there is no logical dependable system. Oh at the time it seems rational enough, I'll file my cellphone account under Telephones for example. Yesterday I received a text message from my cellphone service provider saying they had duplicated charges during November and December. I remember thinking that it seemed high at the time and assumed it was the new applications I'd installed to download email and do a few other online things. I immediately uninstalled the applications and filed a mental note to trawl the technology sites to see if they had uncovered some devious new billing systems. The text message urges subscribers to audit their accounts to establish if they have been overcharged. I dutifully started the search for the account. No, not under T for Telephone, C for Cellphone, M for Mobile or T for Tax. It shall have to wait until the rationale of the filing moment returns. What I did find, however, was the file with the cat pictures - which reminded me that the Burmese had not yet been introduced. That, plus a midnight message from the border collie explaining why the video upload function was not working on the blog posts.

Burmese cats are perfect for people who aren't essentially cat people. They are generally warm and affectionate without the neediness of dogs. These two follow us around the garden and "call" us when they can't find us. If we are upstairs and they wake up from a nap they will come and find us, their voices becoming more strident as they move through the house. They sorted out our rat problem in a couple of days, even getting the wily old rat who regularly sacrificed young rats to the rat trap (I tell you what, you get that piece of food off that thing for grandpa and I'll share it with you, there's a good boy)

So meet the other kitties, the sisters Storm and Milkshake

This is when they first came to live with us, 8 years ago. It was quite a procedure to get them - involving personal interviews and a lot of money. We only wanted one, but when I caught Storm lapping up the introductory glass of wine I had to have her too.
Their papers show them to be of the highest pedigree, Milkshake (at the back) is a Chocolate Tortie-point Burmese and Storm is a Blue Tortie-Point Burmese. They come from a long, distinguished line of Best of Breed winners, a fact that doesn't impress Ming-Li in the least.
They are sisters (no, I don't know how that's possible - I shall check with the Scientist, perhaps it like eye colour?) and almost always cuddle like this. Useless fact of the day? All Tortoiseshell cats are females. Like common sense it is a gene exclusive to females.
We were only allowed to take them home when they reached six months, the breeder believed they needed some basic maturity before they left her safe environment. At the time I remember thinking that hospitals should consider this for human babies too.
Milkshake is never really called by that name unless she's in trouble - much like using all the given names of a child who hasn't picked up their clothes. We prefer Mongoose, Goose, Mongs or Meeslet. Given that she's a cat she is quite comfortable with this - not something you could do with a dog, obviously.

When we don't want her to know that we are talking about her we refer to her as the Ethiopian Hunting Cat. She is also an undercover cat. By that I mean that she sleeps under the duvet, tucked in next to me with her little chin on my arm. If I move she simply unsheathes a claw or two into the soft flesh there - works like a charm for her.

Storm, on the other hand, is not an undercover cat, scrabbling frantically to get out if we try and put her under the duvet. For the first couple of months when she came to live with us she slept on a pillow between us but now she and Ming-Li have an agreement about the real estate at the foot of the bed.

Storm is not this svelte anymore, her strategy is world-domination which requires her to eat all the food in the house in an attempt to get the other cats to leave.

Here she is with Ming-Li in her best position...totally relaxed

Upstairs
Storm is adventurous, she once disappeared for 10 days - causing us huge distress and returning in the middle of the night much slimmer than she was when she left. She may have been at a spa to lose weight, but we were all immensely grateful that she came back. Personally, I blame the dogs, they have issues with Storm. She has been known to bat them with a paw if they venture inside, and she loves to sit on the windowsill swearing at them, all cats believe dogs are beneath them.
The Burmese don't do tricks, there will be no videos of them rolling over, unfortunately. Storm does, however, have an invisible friend who she sometimes breakdances with. She also lurks in doorways so that she can leap out at Ming-Li and chase her down the passage. The Burmese are not elegant either, and if they try and walk across the dressing table in the dark I know it's them because they knock everything off.
We love them all, each with their own individual personality. Ming-Li, Storm and Milkshake have also taught Walter and I how to sleep in the "pretzel" position so that they can stretch out comfortably on the bed at night.