OMG She is sooooooo naughty

Cinder is just six months old.  She is by far the naughtiest little cat I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  Nothing but nothing is safe in this house.  I thought Boomer was a naughty boy.  I thought Annie Sparkles was a naughty girl but even combining their naughtiness they are still out naughtied by Cinder!

Even before Cinder arrived, we have had a piece of cardboard behind the fireplace screen to keep all our previous foster kittens out of the fireplace - seems this is just too inviting.  It is sooty and dirty and we have light carpet on the floor so I don't really want sooty paw prints all over it.  Cinder did manage to get into the fireplace during the summer when I thought I was safe to remove the cardboard.  She can push the mesh screen at the bottom and scoot under it. Annie did this too last year when she was a wee girl.

Tonight we decided to have our first fire of the season but I was concerned about Cinder and as it turns out, rightly so.  It wasn't a blazing fire because we have only a few logs left from last year but it was a cozy fire.  I kept an eye on Cinder to see her reaction.  Well, she did try to push the fire screen out of the way so she could get in and if I hadn't been there who knows what would have happened.  I shudder to think.

Normally when we have a fire, we wait until it is dying down before leaving the living room for the evening but I was concerned about doing this with Cinder.  I thought I might have to close her in a bedroom for the night, which I prefer not to do.  What could we put behind the fireplace screen that wouldn't burn but would prevent Cinder from getting in?  Bricks!  We have some loose bricks in the garage.  We started off with two bricks but then I saw Cinder trying to get into the fireplace with the burning embers and added a third brick just behind the screen. 

Earlier in the evening when the fire was really burning Boomer was enjoying the warmth and had no interest or intention of getting any closer.  Wonder if Cinder will ever reach that stage.

Maybe her name has more meaning to it than anyone thought.  When she came to us as a 14 week old foster kitten named Cinder I didn't change it.  Then when we decided to keep her I just couldn't change her name.  Wonder if we should have come up with a different name.