Kitten Update

May have a home for one or more of the kittens. (Keep fingers crossed.) For now, they are still running all over my front porch, raising a heck of a racket. Today, I gave them a treat...a bit of sardines. Boy did they like that.

My usual readers know I have a small house outside for the cats. (a couple actually) The kittens recently discovered the foam one that Muffin usually sleeps in. I'm betting the little microwaveable "heater" I put in there has something to do with their discovery. What's odd is what they're doing with this "new" item they have taken over. Instead of sleeping inside it, they seem to like the idea of sleeping on top of it, collapsing the thing around them.

That's Jeeves and Yahoo in the picture. When I went out there early yesterday morning, Jeeves and Google were laying there like that. They came running to me, and then I was surprised to see Yahoo come crawling out of the house. They were laying on top of him. Maybe it was his idea, a way to keep warm.

I still get a kick out of Google's eyes. He is always wide-eyed and ready to go.

And Yahoo is such a beautiful boy. Sometimes he just sits beside me and watches the others play.

Jeeves is a hoot. Still more standoffish than the others, but does come running to be petted. He's a doll.

They're growing like weeds. I see a difference every day. Such beautiful little guys. Even Muffin is learning to accept them being around.

Sort of.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite times of the year has arrived. The weather is turning cooler, the leaves are changing and the catalogs have begun to arrive. And I don't mean the usual clothing, toy or electronic catalogs. I mean the cheese, sausage and chocolate catalogs.

Every year I pull these colorful marketing tools out of my mailbox and drool over the items they contain. I have long dreamed of one day getting a huge box of assorted meats and oh-so-wonderful cheeses from the likes of Hickory Farms, petits fours from Figi's or even a Forest Friends log from Swiss Colony.

I've even told my husband he is welcome to get me something from those purveyors of pure pleasure for Christmas or my birthday, but he thinks that wouldn't be a good present for a husband to give his wife. One year, my mom did send me something from one of them, and I eagerly ripped open the box to find...a small soup pot and bag of 21-bean soup. No chocolate. No cake. No cheese.  *sigh*

I may have to break down and purchase something for myself one of these days, but for now, I will enjoy my trips to the mailbox. I will revel in the visually aromatic photos of cheese spreads, chocolate-covered cakes and various fudges from various parts of the world. For now, I will simply continue to indulge in one of my favorite fall/winter traditions. Maybe I should purchase that sterling silver drool cup I saw online.

Life Goes On

I still start to cry when I look at pictures of my Little Buddy, or read about him in my journal, but there are three other kittens, not to mention all the adult cats, who need my attention.




This is Google (on left) and Yahoo (on the right). Google was the first named because he had such googlie eyes. His eyes are always wide open like that. We decided to go on with the search engine theme and called the other one Yahoo...because it's another search engine and he follows along behind Google, who seems to be constantly searching for something. It all works.



In thinking about other search engine type names, we decided to call this little guy Jeeves (along the lines of Ask Jeeves). We don't know for sure yet if he's a boy, but it works anyway. He's the most skittish of them, but he always has been. We're working on it though.


Here's Yahoo letting me pet him. It helps if I try while he's eating. He's getting to where he really wants to be petted, though. I even managed to pick him up for about a second or two this morning before he yelled at me.

Not everyone around our house is happy about the kittens being here. Muffin gave them a good talking-to this morning. But, with all her hissing and such, the other night I went outside to find her actually running around playing with them. When she saw me watching, the play stopped of course. You know how cats are.

I'm Sad Today

I lost one of the kittens last night. Second from the left, looking up at the camera, is the one of the bunch who let me hold him. He had gotten to where he would come up to me and rub on my legs and we'd play a bit when I went out to feed them. He was a sweetie and I was really hoping to find him an indoor home. But, it wasn't to be. I found him lying in the grass this morning. There was a small wound on the back of his neck, and we figure a dog probably got hold of him. (You know how they shake things like that.) I have seen a coyote not far from my house, but if that had been what got him, it probably would have taken him off.

The other kittens are a bit more skittish now, which is understandable. After my pet sitting appointment this morning, I came home and buried the little guy in my front yard. As I was digging, the others came out from under my porch. They sat near and watched me until I was done. Almost like they were saying goodbye themselves. I think they will probably move over here now as they can go up under my porch where there is a small opening that leads into my basement. Much safer area.

I wish I could handle things like this better. A part of me wishes I didn't get so attached so easily. I'm second guessing myself when it comes to how I've been dealing with these guys now, and I'm really tired of crying over animals like this. (If more people would take care of their own pets, this type of thing wouldn't happen so often.)

At least I know the little guy was pretty happy. He and his siblings were over here on our porch late last night and I held and played with him. He had the loudest purr I've ever heard on a kitten. I'll never forget that, or him.