June Cats and Kittens

I really ought to catch up, but it's overwhelming how much there is!  So here are some more overviews.

In June our first foster litter of kittens was ready for adoption.  It didn't take long for someone to show interest in Priscilla.  She was the first kitten we had to give up.  It was a bit heartbreaking, but she seemed to be going to a good home with another kitty friend.

The other kittens finally had a breakthrough with Ginger!  Sierra softened somewhat to the kitties, but Ginger finally started to intentionally be close to them!  

Thomas learned how to climb the curtains just before he and Felicia were adopted together -- by Mom!!!  It's been wonderful to have those two sweet cats nearby where we can visit and play with them.  Felicia still likes to run and hide when things get busy, but Thomas is great with the children who come through and is a fun companion.  We got to kitty-sit them once and it didn't take long for them to fit back in.

  

With the other three all gone we just had to adopt Shuri as our own.  She has always loved to follow Ginger around -- I wonder if it's a black cat thing, since between the litters we've had now the black cats seem to always find each other.  With her litter-mates gone she became very close and cuddly with her humans too.  At first her favorite thing was too cuddle with Daddy's goatee at night, much to our amusement.

After a few weeks we brought in a new litter of four kittens.  All four female, about 10 weeks old, as I recall.  These kittens were already named.  There were two tabbies who looked very similar -- Talley and Paisley, a sleek black girl named Riley, and the tabby with white named Luna (she had a crescent moon shape patch on her face).

May, The Cattery

In May the litter of kittens continued to grow.  The became very curious.  The living room couch used to be in a home with adult cats who had scratched on it some.  It really attracted the kittens.  They managed to pull open a worn end of the couch and started disappearing into the couch for kitty-parties.  When we found a staple gun and closed it back up there were several instances when various of the kittens was playing and went to jump into the couch... forgetting it was closed.  Bonk!  Oops!

Photos to have posted to list the kittens as "available for adoption".  Except the upper left corner picture. That picture of Thomas was just too sweet.  Below Thomas is Shuri, then on the right side, top to bottom are Priscilla, Felicia, and Thomas (again).

Cats love boxes.  That's very true.  But they also love a good basket!  Even if it gets a little crowded at times.

Felicia hiding under the Pack-n-Play, Kate cuddling Priscilla.  Kate with Thomas in her bag., Shuri sitting with a paw on my shoulder to make sure I stayed put.  Shuri's chocolate colored markings in the sunshine.

Before the kittens did much climbing we would take them out and let them play in the Pack-n-Play .  With a blanket in the bottom they would nap, play, and get used to new areas of the house.  As soon as they learned to climb, though, it was a whole different story!  There was no keeping them in one place any more!!

Thomas was the most determined to get along with the adult cats.  He is the first one who got Ginger to break down and start being friendly to the kittens.  Sierra never did get around to anything beyond ignoring this batch of kitties.

Felicia finally grew out of being able to curl up in one of my shoes.

The kittens absolute love each other!  They like a good cuddle with litter-mates.  Especially if sunshine is nearby.

When we went to Family Camp in Cedar City the kittens were kitty-sat by another CAWS foster.  They were very happy to come home to a familiar place after the couple of days visiting.  Unfortunately for them, they went on another trip just a day or two later.  It wasn't overnight, at least.  The "he" and "she's" here all became "they's".  Another round of shots and getting spayed / neutered.  We were told they might take up to a day to eat well, but when we got home they dug right in!  They were still pretty sleepy when we picked them up, so they got some cuddles.  They never seemed to be particularly uncomfortable or scared or worried.  She slept and took it easy a bit more than usual for a few days, then were good to go again!  Time to get them listed for adoption.

Cats and Kittens

Happy 2nd Birthday to Ginger and Sierra!

We got them a new couple of toys.  Unfortunately we discovered, at home, that the mouse toy was possessed.  When it was moved it would make terrible noises and its eyes would flash demonically.  The cats loved it, except when it made noise.  We finally gutted the mouse and all was well.

After a failed attempt at fostering an adult cat around the end of last year, we decided to try again, but with kittens this time.  This litter of four was dumped at a shelter at about 5 weeks old.  They didn't even know how to eat on their own yet.  We got them within 24 hours of the time they were dumped.  Since they were new we got to name them.  We chose their names from the secret identities of cat-themed superheroes.

The all-black kitty was named Shuri (aka Black Panther.  Tabby with white was named Priscilla Rich (aka Cheetah.  Cream with chocolate points was the only male, named Thomas Rich (aka Catman), and cream with dilute tabby points Felicia Hardy (aka Black Cat).

This is trying to teach the kittens how to eat warm, slightly liquid canned food.  It resulted in a number of nips on my fingers, but all but Felicia caught on to it pretty quickly.  We had to get some baby food (smoother texture) to finally get Felicia to catch on.

 Aunt Janice and Aunt Jenny came to visit and cuddle kittens.  

February 2013

 February was a flurry of ice, snow, and pain.  There were a few delightful highlights, though.

One benefit of lots of cold and snow, is that it makes the perfect opportunity to try out snow sculpturing.  The girls made this snow dog in our yard.

I enjoy working with the 8-12 year old girls from church.  We arranged a Daddy/Daughter Dinner in February.  We served breakfast for dinner and played some fun games.  I was in charge of decorations.  We decorated with blue, white, and silver and snow.  Pompoms strung on invisible thread, silver glitter mixed with epsom salts in vases holding up pipe cleaner stems for tissue paper snowflakes (cut by the girls), snowflake table scatter shapes, etc.  It's wonderful to see the girls with a father, uncle, brother, or friend who they love.

Since Sabrina is our youngest, this is the last year for me to see the 1st graders production of "The Little Engine that Could".  Sabrina was chosen to be a narrator.  It is done entirely in choral readings / recitings.  The narrators do most of the talking, so they got to read it from a folder.  She loved it.  Especially the poster-paints she got to use for the "costume"

Around this time I took over sorting, scanning, and captioning photos from my mom's house.  There are quite a lot, many of which I don't remember having ever seen before!  Ginger was very suspicious of the scanner, though.  She often stayed handy and occasionally growled at the box that seemed to growl back.

January 2013

 Ginger has become quite the fan of air hockey.  She figured out how to pull the puck out of the return slot and played for quite a while with it.

Also, Ginger fits perfectly in a Cuties box.  She prefers it to be in front of the fireplace when it's turned on.

Playing games on Mom and Dad's phones while hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

In January the last book of a series Michael and I have been reading (him for some 20 years, me for only a dozen -- The Wheel of Time series) finally came out.  He let me read it first.  I was rather sick at the time with some ear / sinus infections. One morning while I was sick and reading the book, Sabrina brought me breakfast in bed.  Chocolate cake, grape tomatoes (with individual toothpicks), and a peeled clementine.  Not a standard breakfast, but awfully sweet.  There were so many things I wanted to talk to Michael about as I was reading the book, but since I was reading it first he didn't want any spoilers.  So I used post-it notes and stuck the book full of all my questions and observations.  It made a real mess as Michael was reading the book and pulling the notes out as he went.

A Sunday afternoon game of Phase 10 (woo hoo!!!  3 wilds!).  

A play-doh flag made by Sabrina.

And a "beautiful" funky mole that I had to have removed from my shoulder (end result: nothing evil.  yay!).  Good times, right?

Complicated story made shorter: I got to be a guest lecturer for the Timpanogos Gem & Mineral Society.  I spoke on paleontology and making rock / fossil hobbies a family matter.  There was a beast of a storm that night and I was told the numbers might be small because many are senior citizens and don't get out in the bad weather.  There were still around 80 people there!  It was a lot of work, but ended up being lots of fun.

One last reminiscence:  When I was young there were often two choices with Sunday afternoon popcorn and reading time, or early morning scripture study time: hot chocolate, or postum.  Then several years ago Postum production was stopped!  Apparently now you can find it in a few stores, including our favorite local grocer.  Michael brought this home for me one cold, dark day.

December (part 1)

 Fun new stockings and festive poinsettias:

Picking out a Christmas tree.  Though we ended up with three instead of one.  A tiny one went to work with Michael, the middle sized one lived in the great room on the homework table, and the regular sized one in the family room.  It was a fairly mild evening at the tree lot and smelled wonderful.

Before leaving we did stop momentarily by the fire in a big metal drum to warm our fingers.

Kate, Lizzie, and Sabrina took care of the tree decorating downstairs again this year.  It was cheerful and festive well into February... or March?  (The beginning of the year kinda flew by.)

Alternating sunshine and below zero temperatures led to epic icicles this year across the porch on the west side of the house.  The largest one morphed from stalactite to column!

Shopping at the mall as a family.

The girls were very excited to take part in "Ugly Sweater Day" at school.  I found some base sweaters at the thrift store and picked up some random things at the dollar store.  The girls got to go to town with needle and thread, hot glue guns, etc.  Kate's even had a battery operated line of Christmas lights decorating a tree made of ribbon.  Sabrina loved her sweater (poncho) so much she carefully removed the ornaments afterward so she can wear it again!

We shared a huge Hershey's Kiss.  It was hilarious watching Kate and Lizzie try to get decent sized bites off the thing!  Sabrina was missing both front teeth, so she finally gave up and got hers trimmed off with a paring knife.

Lizzie's 3rd grade Christmas Program!  She even got to play the ukulele for one of the pieces.  Sabrina entertained herself, as the program started to get kinda long, by coloring pictures.  Including the freaky yellow skinned monster!

 Feeling like Christmas at home!

Snow piled up around town all winter, and was reluctant to melt off.  The fellow who does snow sculptures nearby did some great work!  The top right one was specially for the so called "Mayan Apocalypse" on 12/21/12.  If it had actually happened I suppose I wouldn't have to catch up here ;)

 The church (ward) Christmas party included a program my the children.  Lizzie is the shepherd on the right in a blue gown.

by this time the countdown until the holidays was in full force!