LostWoods Blog

Before I came downstairs this morning I was watching the kittens. (It’s a wonder I ever make it downstairs in the morning!) For awhile Zak, Belgarath, and Lelldorin were in the blue fuzzy bed together. Belgarath was wrestling with Zak who was trying to sleep. Finally Belgarath and Lelldorin decided it would be more fun to race around the room with the other BBs, so they crawled out of the bed and left Zak alone. Zak was lying there with his tummy showing and I couldn’t help but give it a little rub. Well! That was quite enough, thank you! Obviously the boy wasn’t going to get a nap so he left the bed in favor of getting a snack.

A couple minutes later Cyra climbed onto the fuzzy bed. She rolled this way and that. She snuggled into a ball. She rolled back over on her back and waved all four paws in the air. All in all, she was just a little furry ball of wiggles. And she looked so delighted with the whole idea of being right smack in the middle of the big fuzzy bed — all by herself. I had to give her tummy a little rub, too. She just purred and continued wiggling. I left and came downstairs.

I wonder if she’s still up there in the middle of the bed? I don’t dare go up — I’d get sucked into watching crazy cat hour and cuddling kittens and I’d never make it to work on time…

 I’d forgotten to post a couple things this past week. Big congratulations to Fiala and Red Dane at Wegiekatt on the arrival of their three baby girls. More congratulations to Bozi and Tyre at SassasfraKat on the arrival of their four babies. (Fiala and Bozi are LostWoods kids all grown up now.) And yet more congratulations to Mietta and Tristan at Chinua on the birth of their baby girl, Angelica. And of course, the congratulations extend to the human moms and dads: Patti, Deb, Jerry, Ann, and Richard.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!  

Zak and Cyra’s four week pictures are up on the website. Cyra was hard to photograph this week. She was much more interested in exploring than posing. I woke Zak up from his nap for photos, so he was more compliant — or is that dazed? “What? Why is that light flashing in my eyes? Where am I?” Next week they should be more interested in toys and thus more interested in posing. Both are eating solid food well now. I’m telling ya — they want to be just like their older roommates.

Speaking of the BBs… they are all climbing on and off the bed with ease now. They like to go on the bed and play, but haven’t decided yet that it’s fun to sleep there. Taiba does come up and snuggle up to Ken for brief moments of time while she purrs like crazy. It seems that in every litter some little girl cat has chosen Ken for special attention. I tease him and say she’s his favorite, which he always denies. But deep down I think he kinda likes those cuddly little girl kittens. Taiba can also get over the baby gate and the other kittens are now watching when she does it. So soon it will be of no use.

I spent most of the weekend catching up on chores. Having been gone part of the past two weekends and the entire week in between, there were a lot of things that needed some attention. But you can once again see the tops of the counter and the dining room table. They always seem to be the collect all spots (hot spots, if you’re into the Fly Lady) where stuff piles up. It drives me crazy, but I’m as guilty as the boys in putting stuff there.

I’ll close with Zak’s and Cyra’s four week weights:

Zakath - 16.8 oz

Cyradis - 17.8 oz

In all the excitement yesterday I completely forgot about posting something here. Sorry!

We got up yesterday morning to discover we had no water. Great way to start the day. Right. Turns out the pump for our well had died so we had to replace it. I went to work for the morning while Ken stayed at home to wait for the pump service folks. About 5 p.m. we finally had running water again. Painfully expensive, but what can you do? It’s not like you can decide to put off replacing the pump for a few weeks. Running water is pretty much one of those daily necessities. Ken pointed out to me that even with this big expense, we’ll pay for the pump in less than a year based on what our city water rates would be if we were inside the city limits. I still didn’t enjoy writing that big check.

At noon I went to the airport to pick up a beautiful young silver tabby girl to be Peanut’s girlfriend for awhile. She’s a sweet girl with lovely big ears. She likes me. Peanut not so much. She has decided one of the closet shelves (one side of the litter closet has shelves from floor to ceiling) is a fine place to sit to keep an eye on him. He was VERY interested in her for the first couple hours, following her around and talking to her. But he got bored with her hissing and I later saw him hanging out of the window perch — his usual spot. I figure in a day or so they’ll be friends and by the time she goes into heat, she’ll be so used to him that she’ll be more than happy to let him breed her. (note here… this isn’t how I’d try to integrate a new kitten into a home with other cats. I’m still planning to write about that this weekend. I knew how Peanut would react to a new adult girl. The girl’s owner had filled me in on her girl’s personality, so I could make a guess  about how she’d behave. And I took the afternoon off so I could be there to check on them often and intervene if my guess about their behavior was wrong. I did have another plan if things weren’t going well.)

In kitten news… Yesterday morning Lelldorin discovered he could climb up on the pillow leaning against the nightstand (decorative pillow, thrown on the floor at bedtime). From there he could get to the nightstand and from there to the bed. Whee! New territory to explore! Then Taiba became the first one to join us in bed at about 3 this morning. She climbed up the blanket hanging off the side and came over between us. She repeated the feat about about 6, right before we got up. She is such a happy little girl! She purrs and purrs. She’s got the “flop and purr” gene. :-) If you start petting her — and she’s not too busy for loves — she flops over on her side and starts purring. “More! More! Pet me more!”

It won’t be long before all nine babies will be up on the bed with us at night. I saw Cyra trying to figure out how Taiba did it. Again, little Cyra and Zak — especially Cyra — just don’t get that they are younger than the other kittens. If the big kids can do it, so can they. Cyra’s also been investigating the food the kittens eat. She’s not eating much, but she has sampled it. Zak just wants his mom.   

Off to another busy day at work. Have a good day!

Even though I just took pictures of the Leprechauns on Monday, I’ve still updated their page with 13 week photos. What can I say, I’m a glutton for punishment!

That leads to a question about how I get my beasties to pose so well. I don’t. Not really. I just have a pretty good digital camera and I take a lot of photos. Most weeks I take about 15-25 pictures of each kitten just to get one or two I’m happy with. Some weeks I’m lucky and I have a bunch I like, but that’s rare. All I can say is thank goodness for the wonders of digital cameras because I’d be in the poor house trying to do this on film. The other answer I have for how to take pictures is to put the kittens on something that is about eye height and use a teaser and/or funny noises to get their attention. From six to ten weeks that works fairly well. With NFCs once they get to be over 10 weeks you never know when they might decide to jump from the height, though. I’ve had little monster kittens leap from the cat tree onto my head in an effort to get the teaser when I’m trying to take pictures! For the group shots, I like to wait until they’ve just fallen asleep or I know they are getting sleepy, then line them up and hope for the best. It works now and then.

Another question was how come I only have litter shots on the gallery pages up to the WOT Rulers. Well, it’s because I’ve been very lazy and not put my fun shots on the gallery pages at all in the past couple years. Shame on me! I do plan to do some work on that part of the site this fall. (I’d say “soon” but I know I won’t be doing it with kittens in the house — too many other things to do.) My hosting provider has free gallery software to organize photos, so I think I’ll convert my current gallery over to that and then add a bunch of photos from the past two years. I do have litter shots of all the litters that will be posted there eventually.

As for intergrating a new kitten into your home… I’m not going to have time to write about that tonight — I need to get to bed! But I will try to write some on this subject later this week. By the way, congratulations of the new baby fur ball!

Leprechaun 13 week weights:

Catriona - 43.5 oz

Keegan - 42.4 oz

Keiran - 52.8 oz

I placed a kitten a couple years ago in Texas. The family has been having some problems with her co-existing with one of their other cats and have decided — after many months of trying to work things out — that they have to give her up. If you or anyone you know is looking for a slightly older (she’s almost three) NFC, please let me know asap. She shouldn’t be in a home with other cats or dogs, and would probably do best in a home without small children. Other details available on request. We are willing to ship her, so don’t let the idea that she’s in Texas deter you if you’re interested.

First of all, sorry for slacking off with the blog the past two days. Sunday was spent catching up around the house and yard, while yesterday was a work day (of course!) and then I spent the evening taking a couple hundred cat photos. No, I’m not kidding! Thank goodness for digital cameras when you have uncooperative kittens.

Next is a thank you to the people who send me email or comments on the blog. I might have said it before, but your feedback helps me to not feel like I’m talking to myself when I write here. I love hearing from people who visit my site just to read stories (and now the blog) and see pictures of the cats and kittens. I love sharing my little world of wegies with you all. So keep the comments coming!

I have updated the site with pictures of the Leprechauns (even though I’ll do it again tomorrow for them), the BBs and the MBs. I also have a new picture of Lira Bug, but I haven’t put it on the site yet. Tonight perhaps.

The MBs three week weights:

Zakath - 13.6 oz

Cyradis - 14.0 oz

The BBs five week weights:

Taiba - 15.4 oz

Lelldorin - 17.0 oz

Belgarath - 18.2 oz

Garion - 19.0 oz

Kheldar - 17.4 oz

Ce’Nedra - 16.2 oz

Polgara - 16.2 oz (last weeks weight reported here was wrong. She was only 14.6, not 16.6.)

Gotta run. I have another topic for today, but I’m going to do it separately so it doesn’t get lost in the kitten updates.

I happily arrived home to my husband and my cats late this afternoon. It was great to see them all — cats and husband all. Jeremy left today to spend 6 weeks with his mom. We met in the Salt Lake City airport where we both had layovers and talked for about 15 minutes. The he went to get a sandwich while he waited for his flight and I boarded mine to Helena.

A minor rant, then on to cat news… The flight to Helena is serviced by a “regional jet” — a smaller plane with two seats on each side of the aisle. The overhead bins are small, so my carry on doesn’t fit up there. I have to put it under the seat in front of me. The flight was NOT full. There were four sets of two seats that were empty in front of me. So this woman gets on — one of the last passengers to board — and sits down beside me. I pointed out to her that since the flight wasn’t full, she could move to the row right in front of us and have more room. (and I’d have more room — room to move my carry on out from under my feet.) She said people might still be boarding. One person gets on and sits in front of us. Still three pairs of empty seats. The ramp is pushed away from the plane and I politely remark that I don’t think anyone will be boarding as the ramp is now moved back. She just looks at me like I’m growing horns or something. And there she sat. The entire flight. I’d have moved myself, but I was next to the window and wouldn’t have been able to get my carryon out without a major effort — and possibly bodily injury to my seatmate who apparently had no intention of moving from her seat. By the time I got to Helena I was rather grumpy. Now why would someone insist on sitting in a more cramped space on a flight next to a complete stranger. It’s not like she was looking for someone to talk to or anything. Other than our brief exchange at the beginning of the trip, we didn’t say a single word to one another. I just don’t get it.

Okay, so rant over.

The BBs especially had changed so much this week. Zak and Cyra (the MBs) have grown but they are still babies, more interested in nursing than playing. Cyra apparently remembered me, though, as she climbed on my lap briefly before going to visit her Talia-mom for a snack. But the BBs were all over me. Kheldar kept climbing on me — even when I wasn’t sitting. He’d try to climb up my legs. Lelldorin was trying to climb the baby gate to get out of the bathroom to see me as soon as he heard my voice. Taiba did climb the gate. She’s a little live wire. She races around purring for no reason other than she’s just so happy! Ce’Nedra attacked my feet then raced off to attack one of the toys. Garion climbed on my lap and purred at me. Polgara visited my lap briefly, then ran off to play, too. Belgarath also made a visit to my lap, but then decided maybe he’d have a visit with Grandma-Talia, too.

Right now it’s crazy cat hour in the bathroom. The babies are really getting good at running from place to place. They notice their little balls and fuzzy toys and pounce on them. They are using the litterbox and eating solid food, as well as drinking water. Kali was trying to convince them to stop playing long enough for supper, but they were much to busy for that. Ce’Nedra even jumped on her mama’s head as she ran across the room in pursuit of who knows what.

I love this age! From 5-8 weeks is such fun to watch. It is like being around toddlers. They can be a lot of extra work as they learn to potty where they are supposed to. They dump food and water on the floor as they wade into their bowls to eat and drink. But they are so cute it’s impossible to be mad at them. And watching them discover the world is a delight.

Dilan and Shira seemed especially glad to see me, too. Shira even came and sat on my lap for awhile, purring. The Queen of Everything is NOT a lap cat, so I love it when she honors me with a visit to my lap. The Leprechauns were friendly, but they are still in the “too busy for people” stage, so they didn’t act like they missed me much. Kefira is in heat again, so it’s a boy she wants, not me. And Fin, well, Fin loves being with everyone,  so I’d imagine he pestered Ken and Jeremy for his needed loves while I was gone.

And so I’m off to finish unpacking and spend some more time with my kittens.

Well, I missed my update yesterday. I was busy with some more work on the SassafrasKat site and also following up on kitten inquiries. Still have more to do with both, though.

I haven’t seen the gray shorthair kitty that I saw the first night and the next morning since then, so I’m in big need of a cat fix. I get daily reports from home on how the babies are doing, but it’s not the same as being there and seeing/touching/playing with them myself. I’m sure the BBs and MBs have changed a lot in the six days I’ve been gone — at their age, they change practically overnight.

Class gets out today about 11:30, despite all the course materials saying 5:00. This is the second time this has happened to me at an IBM class. While it’s nice to be FREE! I am not flying home until morning. In some places this would be great — like when I went to class in Colorado where my social calendar is fuller than full. But out here I’d just as soon known I’d be out early and I’d have flown home this afternoon. Next time I’ll make my reservation to go home in the afternoon/evening whether the course description says we won’t be out until 5 or not.

Anyway, enough whining… After class I’m off to sightsee or shop or a little of both. I haven’t done much of either this week and this is a beautiful area. I’ve been wanting to come out and spend time on the Olympic penisula, but that won’t happen this trip. Ken and I have been talking about coming out in August to see Heather, Patrick, and Brasen and sightsee then. Don’t know if we’ll get up to Washington or if we’ll confine our adventures to Oregon on that trip. One thing that is nice about Montana, though, is that we’re close enough to drive out for a long weekend if we want. So one of these days I’ll get my wish to explore the penisula more.

Little bit of cat cotent… Peanut’s girlfriend from back east is coming next week — probably Wednesday — to stay for awhile. She’s a darling little girl — at least in looks — and I’m looking forward to meeting her in person. Her owner says she’s a sweetie personality-wise, too. I’ll try to get some pictures of the furry lovers once they are used to each other. Comet goes home next weekend, unless Brenda and my plans change. I’ll miss the lover boy, but it will good for him to be back with his Brenda-mom. He’s not used to having to spend his time in one room and not getting to cuddle with his people whenever he wants. I feel bad for him when he’s here because although I give him loves, it’s not nearly as much attention as he gets at home. I know he’s lonely for his other family.

I am making progress with my website work. Stop by Sassafraskat (link on the right) to see my grandkittens - The Irish Cupboard Kids — and their parents, while you’re at it. Deb has been working on the site, too, so maybe between the two of us, we’ll finally get it finished.

The Leprechauns are 12 weeks old today. Sorry, no new pictures, but I’ll take some on Saturday when I get home. In the meantime here are their 12 week weights:

Catriona - 40.0 oz

Keiran - 46.6 oz

Keegan - 38.9 oz

My Seattle update for the day… I went shopping at Bellevue Square on my lunch break — getting a mall fix. We do have a mall in Helena, but it’s one of the more pathetic malls I’ve ever visited. I think even the one in Glenwood Springs (flashback to my Aspen days) was better. Maybe. So I have really been looking forward to going to a real mall. I didn’t buy much — a couple of Christmas gifts. But it was nice to just wander through interesting shops for a change. This evening I got some dinner and came back to my room to work on web stuff. Boring, I know. We are supposed to get out early on Friday, so I think I’ll do some sightseeing that afternoon.

I mentioned when I started this that I’d get into the topics of animal rights/animal welfare. I haven’t had a lot of time to work on a coherent introduction but I haven’t forgotten about that promise. This is just a start on that subject, prompted by a good news article I read about pending legislation in California (AB 1634).

First, and most important of all, is to remember that “animal rights” is not the same as “animal welfare”. I think this is the biggest misconception out there, causing bills like the California Healthy Pets Act to be proposed and supported by well meaning people and groups. If you’re reading this blog I’m almost 100% certain that you care about animals. You’d like to see fewer animals in shelters and more loved and cared for by families. You’d never knowingly hurt an animal in your care and you probably think there should be a special place in hell for those who abuse animals. You aren’t going to be on the evening news because your home was raided and the authorities found a great horde of cats and/or dogs that are living in filthy conditions and are malnourished. At the same time, you think you and your vet should be making the decisions about what is best for your pets. You want to be able to buy a pedigreed animal from a hobby breeder. And if you’re not interested in getting a pedigree animal, you’ll adopt from a shelter.

There are a number of organizations out there (PETA and HSUS for starters) that don’t want you to be able to make your own decisions about your pets — they don’t even want you owning pets. And they are working throughout the country to push through legislation that ultimately has the goal of outlawing breeders completely. Yes, these bills generally have some clauses that on the surface will allow “good” breeders to continue, but a closer examination will reveal that the conditions and costs will almost always result in hobby breeders being unable to afford or comply with the regulations.

CA AB 1634 is one of those bills. I encourage you to go to the link and read this article:

http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/usnw/20070605/pl_usnw/_california_healthy_pets_act

__assures_unintended_consequences__elimination_of_california_s_healthy_pets;_ylt

=AsqTBIDlDTrpWeW7V4qpm9myFz4D

Then if you live in California, get involved in the fight against the bill. Write your senator and representative with your opposition. If you have friends or family in California, have them write. Yes, today it’s just California, but we have to fight legislation like this constantly no matter where it is.

I’ve added a link to National Animal Interest Alliance to the Resources section. If you have some time, visit their site. It’s a great site, full of information.

More to come on this in the future…