Spring time just calls for a thorough cleaning. The sun comes out of hiding, you see the paw and nose prints on the window pane and realize it's time to get some housework done. This year, with our new kitten, I must refer to the spring cleaning as my very personal excavation project.
Kittens have this tendency to drag things around, preferably things that Mummy doesn't want them to drag around, and as they know they'll be in trouble if Mummy ever finds out, they hide and store their favourite toys in carefully chosen places that Mummy finds difficult to access.
From earlier excavations, I knew that the most likely place for revolutionary discoveries is the space under the bed, hereafter referred to as Site A. This year's findings included:
- a sheet of paper which, when carefully restored, proved to be the missing page from a mystery novel
- a blue soc with white inscription (transcription reads j-e-a-n-s)
- a blue soc with white and red inscription (transcription reads u-s-a-t-e-a-m)
- a golden garment, most likely the remains of a hairpin
- a small pearl which must have belonged to an earring
The last artifact on the list, as well as the two non-matching socs, led to the conclusion that further excavation would be necessary. After a discussion with my Assistant Director Steve, I decided to concentrate on a different location, the space under the sofa, hereafter referred to as Site B. Unfortunately, Site B soon turned out to have been left of the kitten crusader quite some time ago, and practically no artifacts remained (except for one lonely cigarette lighter).
On April 1st, we started working in the bathroom corner behind the washing machine, hereafter referred to as Site C. The narrowness of the place made it impossible to work as a team, so we split up - I led the excavation, and Assistant Director Steve updated our list of findings as well as the site map.
Site C gave us an insight on the war path our kitten crusader followed. We not only found a second pearl, of exactly the same color and design as the one found at Site A, but also another blue soc with white inscription (transcription reads j-e-a-n-s). The obvious conclusion is that after leaving Site A (the space under the bed), the kitten crusader moved on to Site B (the space under the sofa) but found it unsuitable for his mission, probably because this place was frequented not only by fellow feline crusaders but also by the human enemy, and thus moved on to Site C (the corner behind the washing machine), taking all his belongings with him. 
As we were still hoping to find a soc matching the one found at Site A, as well as the earring the pearls used to belong to, we decided to start working at Site D, that is behind the fridge. Much to our surprise, this small site held the most astonishing artifacts! Not only did we finally find the matching soc (blue with white and red inscription, transcription reads u-s-a-t-e-a-m) and the earring (which was identified as one of a pair the kitten crusader stole from my mother), Site D also gave us an insight on the nutrition habits of feline crusaders in general. Carefully stored under the fridge were six pieces of dry food, one piece of chocolate, several chips and two vitamin tabs. Quite obviously, feline crusaders, no matter if on the war path or not, store a survival pack in suitable places, and their diet seems to contain not only meat, but also a variety of treats to build up fresh energy in the most pleasant way.
This year's excavation can definitely be called a big success. Our list of findings as well as the conclusions drawn from their actual location has widened our knowledge about feline crusaders and their mission. Now all I have to do is figure out how I can explain to my mum that she can't get her earring back because a, artifacts must be stored in museums, and b, I don't know how to fix it anyway.