Rebekah’s Studio

Alice Brown and Pua

Pua is at the studio. I call her guest dog, but she’s really Alice Brown’s cousin and part of our extended family. On most days DH stops by her house to take both of them and Miss Marvelous for a walk down the beach. Yes, we’re dog sitting.

The one most inconvenienced is Ula the cat. She hates it. When Pua arrived, the cat made a mad dash to under-the-bed in the guest room. You might wonder, if Pua is the guest, then why doesn’t she get the guest room? Well, she doesn’t fit under the bed. Ah, now you understand why Ula hates it. And besides, Pua comes with her own bed. And food.

Pua chasing her mom chasing Miss Marvelous

She’s a good guest, and we make her welcome, though. As soon as she arrives, she immediately gobbles whatever is in Alice Brown’s dish and slurps up the cat’s food on her way out to the dog run to relieve herself. This, while the cat makes her escape.

Ula under my easel

How did we do it the last time? asks DH. Pua stayed over on the Fourth of July. It was some combination of a child gate and, hmm, what did we do?

We started with the gate to cordon off the second floor. Then we moved Ula’s food and water station to the guest room. Now, picture the cat having the use of the whole upper level and the rest of us on the main level.

When it was time to turn in for the night, I looked all over for Ula, as she was not under the bed anymore, and I finally found her under my desk behind a curtain. She’d been right there by me most of the evening.

Not a peep did she make. Ordinarily she is very talkative. A big brown bossy New York cat who meows loudly and frequently. Let me in. Meow. Let me out. Meow. Feed me. Meow. Now! She’s old now, still healthy as far as we and the vet can tell. But she’s also aloof. She won’t let anyone touch or pet her much. Please don’t try it; you might get shredded.

I reminded DH who was watching TV downstairs with the dogs to make sure he separated the animals when he came to bed. I fell fast asleep. At 4 a.m. loud barking and scurrying and hissing! Pua had found Ula and had cornered her! My guess is that Ula had come out of her hiding place and was hoping to make her way to the litter box.

Okay, so now we separate the animals. DH takes the dogs out to the dog run, and the coast is clear for Ula. My last act of service before starting this blog post was to move the litter box to the guest room, coax the cat back into the temporary quarters, turn the lights down low and close the door.

You see, at the studio Alice Brown is the Princess (see the masthead), but Ula’s the Queen.

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke