Kittens from Freya!
Well, DH and I decided to celebrate 15 years of marriage by getting a barn kitten or two. We talked it over and decided we would rather have some new barn kitties than a nice dinner out. Cost would probably be about the same (for the starters and such) and we might have the cats at our 30th anniversary, where as we could eat a nice meal at home (Wolf cooked a lovely lamb) for much less money and have the kitties.
Anyway, so we called the "Rescue Ladies" and as always in the Summer they had some kittens. Thankfully not as many as a few years ago, they've manage to spay and neuter over 3,000 cats in the area over the last eight years or so and its really making a difference. They've raised money to help cover the costs for folks who can't afford it and the local vets have volunteered their time as well. But, in high Summer you always get a few, so we went to look for them.
Now, in the morning I said special prayers to Freya and Bast for just the right kittens. As soon as we walked into the "kitten house" a little black minature Siggy bounced up and jumped on us. Then leaped out of Wolf's arms to attack a toy and hunt it. Ok, that's kitten number one now what about kitten number two. There were some lovely gray and white patches cats who seemed sweet, but there was a very tiny version of the Iggy trying to keep up and play with the others, "he's only been here since yesterday, but he's trying to join in already." We watched them for awhile and one of the big cats came in and the little Iggy clone leap up and growled to make it go away and defended itself. Then, we noticed it seemed to realize it was smaller than the others, so it thought about it before pouncing and hunting them. So, there we were, Kitten number two.
On the way home we dubbed them Kobolt and Tomtin. Our little black buy make look like the greatly missed Siggy and he does love to be picked up and petted but he is a handful. He leaps, pounces, bites and goes after anything that moved. I called him a little Imp but that didn't seem the right name, but Kobolt (a mine spirit of mischief) is perfect for a coal black cat with attitude. Tomtin is much gentler and was already snuggling up and hiding under Kobolt, though both were purring by the end of the ride.
Then, we got to the road way in front of our house, the place where the SCA sign goes up for events. We saw an elderly couple who were parked next to the drive and the women was bending in the bushes where the sign goes. We stopped to ask if they were all right and the women said, "there's a wee kitty in the bushes." I was left in the car an moments later a very tiny calico fluff ball was dropped into my lap and started to purr.
"Here, have a cat," said Wolf, realizing this kitten looked very much like Princess, my little Calico cat that had started life born in the village garage and died far too young from kidney failure a couple of years later.
It seems he had asked the elderly couple if they were going to take the kitten, offered to help etc, but they were just trying to rescue the baby. They would probably have taken her to the same shelter we were just at.
So, enter Princess Disa, Disa being an Norse ansestral female Spirit. A Tomtin is a Norse house spirit that keeps your home safe but hides things if he doesn't get the food he likes. Now Disa already has made her mark, first by taking over the food bowl for nearly an hour and growling at her new siblings and the big kitties to keep away. Then, she purred very loudly and enterained everyone by chasing her tail. We do wonder if she was dumped, rather than lost, though she knows what a pan is and loves people. So, she may have jumped out of a car on her own, though I think that unlikely given where she was found by the road side. She's tiny enough that a crow could have eaten her if she hadn't been run over. She seems in perfect health other than a slight limp where she may have sprained something when she landed. In any case, nothing like this has happened since we moved here 13 years ago, and to have it happen when we were on the way back from the Rescue Center was just too spooky.
Also, if we had found her just coming back from shopping and didn't have the boys yet, we probably would not have gone to get them. We only need so many cats (though most of our current barn cats are middle aged or elderly, since we lost 2/3 of the last trio we took in several years ago)and we really had only planned for two. In fact I promised the Lizard that we would only get tow, I just hadn't counted on the Gifting from Freya of the third one. We did not choose her, she choose us!
Kittens spent much of this evening meeting Uncle Piggy and Uncle Eric. In a reversal of what I expected, Piggy after a couple of hours of growling like an old man suddenly became Ok with them as long as they didn't bug him. He was rolling over in the happy paws in the air, seemingly figuring out that kittens ment more petting and more food, not less. But then, Eric suddenly remember that in addition to being a giant kitten; he was also part Main Coon and Main Coons hate all other cats. This really surprised me because he's been OK with Svarty, Siggy and Maudie coming in, he runs from Thor but with good reasons. And he had just growled at the kitten earlier. But late tonight, thankfully while Wolf was with me in the bedroom, he started freaking out the way Freya, my Office Main Coon does sometimes. He started to leap at Kobolt and Wolf caught him. I pinned him down while Wolf got a cat carrier. We nixed the idea of kittens in the cat carrier for the night because it was too small and they were just crying too much. So, Wolf took them downstairs and placed them for the night in the spare bedroom next to his office. They can't just stay there because of the event coming up, but that buys us enough breathing room for Wolf to clear out the old rabbit cage and see if it will do for a kennel cage. If not, he can get a kennel cage tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'm stuck upstairs because I seem to have strained a muscle in my leg in the garden and almost could not climb the stairs after dinner. Wolf looked at it and thinks I should stay upstairs (or at least avoid the kitchen stairs) for 24 to 48 hours, which means he not only has to deal with kitten cages but bring me up food and such. Although, unlike when I broke my toe, I can get down the stairs to front door as they are less steap than the downstairs one and then walk around the house if I really need to get into the kitchen. That's exactly what I'll do if there are still problems by Friday. I'm supposed to make some stuff for lunch for the event, so I'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will all be fine by then, if now I'll just go down and come back up slowly...
Hopefully tomorrow Eric will be less stressed by kittens mostly in a cage and only out for a few hours under supervision. I'm hoping that after a few days of smelling and see them he'll accept them. If not, well they are destined to move outside anyway, but they'll have to be in the cage over the weekend since they are way too small to go out now. Kobalt is older, I say about 12 weeks, but the others are tiny, more like six or seven weeks. Too little to give away except for orphans (which these are), way too little to be outside without a Mommy cat (even then it would be dangerous) so we will see how it goes.
Wolf told me that Disa took all of five minutes to climb onto the downstairs bed at the fluffiest part and declare it "her" pillow. I think she is wasting no time telling her new brothers who the boss really is!
Pictures soon, in a day or two.
Anyway, so we called the "Rescue Ladies" and as always in the Summer they had some kittens. Thankfully not as many as a few years ago, they've manage to spay and neuter over 3,000 cats in the area over the last eight years or so and its really making a difference. They've raised money to help cover the costs for folks who can't afford it and the local vets have volunteered their time as well. But, in high Summer you always get a few, so we went to look for them.
Now, in the morning I said special prayers to Freya and Bast for just the right kittens. As soon as we walked into the "kitten house" a little black minature Siggy bounced up and jumped on us. Then leaped out of Wolf's arms to attack a toy and hunt it. Ok, that's kitten number one now what about kitten number two. There were some lovely gray and white patches cats who seemed sweet, but there was a very tiny version of the Iggy trying to keep up and play with the others, "he's only been here since yesterday, but he's trying to join in already." We watched them for awhile and one of the big cats came in and the little Iggy clone leap up and growled to make it go away and defended itself. Then, we noticed it seemed to realize it was smaller than the others, so it thought about it before pouncing and hunting them. So, there we were, Kitten number two.
On the way home we dubbed them Kobolt and Tomtin. Our little black buy make look like the greatly missed Siggy and he does love to be picked up and petted but he is a handful. He leaps, pounces, bites and goes after anything that moved. I called him a little Imp but that didn't seem the right name, but Kobolt (a mine spirit of mischief) is perfect for a coal black cat with attitude. Tomtin is much gentler and was already snuggling up and hiding under Kobolt, though both were purring by the end of the ride.
Then, we got to the road way in front of our house, the place where the SCA sign goes up for events. We saw an elderly couple who were parked next to the drive and the women was bending in the bushes where the sign goes. We stopped to ask if they were all right and the women said, "there's a wee kitty in the bushes." I was left in the car an moments later a very tiny calico fluff ball was dropped into my lap and started to purr.
"Here, have a cat," said Wolf, realizing this kitten looked very much like Princess, my little Calico cat that had started life born in the village garage and died far too young from kidney failure a couple of years later.
It seems he had asked the elderly couple if they were going to take the kitten, offered to help etc, but they were just trying to rescue the baby. They would probably have taken her to the same shelter we were just at.
So, enter Princess Disa, Disa being an Norse ansestral female Spirit. A Tomtin is a Norse house spirit that keeps your home safe but hides things if he doesn't get the food he likes. Now Disa already has made her mark, first by taking over the food bowl for nearly an hour and growling at her new siblings and the big kitties to keep away. Then, she purred very loudly and enterained everyone by chasing her tail. We do wonder if she was dumped, rather than lost, though she knows what a pan is and loves people. So, she may have jumped out of a car on her own, though I think that unlikely given where she was found by the road side. She's tiny enough that a crow could have eaten her if she hadn't been run over. She seems in perfect health other than a slight limp where she may have sprained something when she landed. In any case, nothing like this has happened since we moved here 13 years ago, and to have it happen when we were on the way back from the Rescue Center was just too spooky.
Also, if we had found her just coming back from shopping and didn't have the boys yet, we probably would not have gone to get them. We only need so many cats (though most of our current barn cats are middle aged or elderly, since we lost 2/3 of the last trio we took in several years ago)and we really had only planned for two. In fact I promised the Lizard that we would only get tow, I just hadn't counted on the Gifting from Freya of the third one. We did not choose her, she choose us!
Kittens spent much of this evening meeting Uncle Piggy and Uncle Eric. In a reversal of what I expected, Piggy after a couple of hours of growling like an old man suddenly became Ok with them as long as they didn't bug him. He was rolling over in the happy paws in the air, seemingly figuring out that kittens ment more petting and more food, not less. But then, Eric suddenly remember that in addition to being a giant kitten; he was also part Main Coon and Main Coons hate all other cats. This really surprised me because he's been OK with Svarty, Siggy and Maudie coming in, he runs from Thor but with good reasons. And he had just growled at the kitten earlier. But late tonight, thankfully while Wolf was with me in the bedroom, he started freaking out the way Freya, my Office Main Coon does sometimes. He started to leap at Kobolt and Wolf caught him. I pinned him down while Wolf got a cat carrier. We nixed the idea of kittens in the cat carrier for the night because it was too small and they were just crying too much. So, Wolf took them downstairs and placed them for the night in the spare bedroom next to his office. They can't just stay there because of the event coming up, but that buys us enough breathing room for Wolf to clear out the old rabbit cage and see if it will do for a kennel cage. If not, he can get a kennel cage tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'm stuck upstairs because I seem to have strained a muscle in my leg in the garden and almost could not climb the stairs after dinner. Wolf looked at it and thinks I should stay upstairs (or at least avoid the kitchen stairs) for 24 to 48 hours, which means he not only has to deal with kitten cages but bring me up food and such. Although, unlike when I broke my toe, I can get down the stairs to front door as they are less steap than the downstairs one and then walk around the house if I really need to get into the kitchen. That's exactly what I'll do if there are still problems by Friday. I'm supposed to make some stuff for lunch for the event, so I'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will all be fine by then, if now I'll just go down and come back up slowly...
Hopefully tomorrow Eric will be less stressed by kittens mostly in a cage and only out for a few hours under supervision. I'm hoping that after a few days of smelling and see them he'll accept them. If not, well they are destined to move outside anyway, but they'll have to be in the cage over the weekend since they are way too small to go out now. Kobalt is older, I say about 12 weeks, but the others are tiny, more like six or seven weeks. Too little to give away except for orphans (which these are), way too little to be outside without a Mommy cat (even then it would be dangerous) so we will see how it goes.
Wolf told me that Disa took all of five minutes to climb onto the downstairs bed at the fluffiest part and declare it "her" pillow. I think she is wasting no time telling her new brothers who the boss really is!
Pictures soon, in a day or two.