Winter in Orlando has been unusually cool so far, except for the past few days. The temperatures are more in line with what you’d expect for central Florida in February, with lows in the upper 40s at night and highs in the low 70s during the day. And when it gets that comfortable the clowder likes come out to rest all over the furniture on the lanai. Today turned out to be almost a perfect day for exploring the coming of the new year.

Once again I’ve turned to the Olympus OM1.2 and the M.Zuiko 12-40mm/2.8 PRO. It’s a powerful, quick photographic combination.

Cats

I can’t believe the first six months of 2023 have already gone by. Here we are the first day of July. The cats, of course, pay no mind to the passage of time. Everything and every day is always new to them.

In the summer they like to congregate around one corner of the lanai to look at … something. Whatever it is, it has their complete attention. I was able to walk up with a camera and take this photo of four of the six. They are, from left to right, Danï, Zoë, Joan, and Beau (who appears to be their leader). Joan is hidden by Beau, lying next to her kitten Zoë. It’s always fun to see how the cats congregate, with the two dilute Torties hanging together and the four Gingers in a group by themselves. They when it’s time to be fed, they break up three and three, with the three “kittens” eating together and the three “adults” eating together in a different area. Or else Danï and Zoë will sleep together, Joan and Beau sleep together, while Nicholas and Luke are off independent. And when they decide to play, they’re all mixed in and playing hard.

Camera

Panasonic Lumix GH4 with M.Zuiko 12-100mm/4 PRO zoom.

We adopted two more kittens today, Daisy the Ginger and Misty the dilute Tortie. They are from the same litter. They are also both polydactyls, as is their mom and their siblings.

We named Daisy after Daisy Duke, the cousin of Bo and Luke Duke of Hazzard County. Our two older males were named after Bo and Luke Duke, so this makes it easy to give Daisy her name. It also means she’s now a member of the Gingersnaps.

Misty was named after Misty Copeland, the American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theater.

They’ve had all their shots and they’ve been spayed. Thus, not new cats beyond this. This fits in with how the boys were neutered when they were very young.

So far they’ve eaten, had plenty to drink, and they know the litter box. We’re keeping them isolated the first week from the rest of the household pets, after which we’ll begin controlled introductions until everything is totally calm. That’s that same script we ran with the boys when they first arrived. That was four years ago, when the cat mix was much different than it is now. In a way, Daisy and Misty are replacements for Lulu and Ellipses, who passed on in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Even in retirement we can handle four cats if we do the right things from the get-go.

I’ll have more to write about tomorrow, including how we came by the two little girls.