LostWoods Blog

Once again I’ve been slacking off on my posts. Sunday I didn’t get kitten pictures taken, nor did I get a chance on Monday. Tuesday I really wanted to but then I went to the eye doctor and he dilated my eyes. Tuesday night was a blur… literally! Tonight I was frantically getting ready to leave tomorrow — packing my stuff, packing the cats’ stuff, taking care of paperwork, loading the car, etc. So no pictures tonight either. I have to try to get at least Zak, Lelldorin, and Catriona tomorrow evening after I arrive at Sondra’s house. And if I’m doing them, I’ll also try for pictures of Ce’Nedra and Cyra.

Zak and Cati are catching an airplane to go to Canada tomorrow evening. They are going to be living together in Ontario. Lelldorin is going to his new family in Castle Rock — I’ll call Laura as soon as I arrive so she can come pick her boy up. Fin, Ce’Nedra, and Cyra are going to Albuquerque with me. Fin will be shown, while Ce’Nedra and Cyra are going to hang out and be little princesses. I think one of them will be going home with her new family at the end of the show. I just don’t know which yet. (Although, I’m betting on Ce’Nedra.) Brenda is going with me and we’re going to show C Mac, also.

It’s going to seem like an empty house when I get home — although I’ll still have Taiba and whichever girl comes home with me. They are still in need of forever homes, but once I know who is available I’ll answer a few more inquiries. I’m sure they won’t be poor little homeless waifs for long.   Oh, and Polgara is still hanging out here. I want to be sure she’s 100% healthy before she goes to her new mom. That shouldn’t be long, but I’d rather wait that take a chance on the stress of the trip making her sick again. She’s a lover girl, so it’s no sacrifice having her around a little longer.

I’m so looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting other friends in person (finally!) and getting to know some new friends this weekend. I have no hopes for great results at the show. There are 133 kittens entered! Mac has lots of competition. Fin is still naked and he will be eight months and one day old — competing against all the big cats in Championship. So I’m going with the attitude that the people are what I’m there for, not a bunch of ribbons.

I’m hoping to leave by six tomorrow morning, so it’s off to bed for me. I’ll try to post something Friday night (late) or Saturday morning.

I didn’t think I’d have much to say today, but Cyra provided me with a short story about silly kittens so I’ll share that before I get back work.

Most mornings I take a bath instead of a shower, so I start the water running in the tub and brush my teeth while it fills. The cats will jump up on the side of the tub to watch it — and sometimes jump down into the tub to get a drink of water fresh from the faucet. But once the water starts getting their feet wet, they are outta there! Almost every kitten we’ve had at LostWoods has fallen in the tub at some point — swimming lessons, I call it.

This morning started like every other day. A variety of cats and kittens milling around my feet in the bathroom. I turned on the water in the tub and Cyra jumped in to get a drink. I expected her to jump back out in just a minute — water had already covered the bottom of the tub.

But no, I watched as she took a drink, then walked into the deeper end of the tub (it slopes just a little, like most bath tubs.) She took another drink, shook a front paw, and walked back to the shallower part of the tub. She stood there looking at the water, got another drink, and decided to walk around a bit. This whole time the water is pouring out of the faucet and getting steadily deeper. Now I’m waiting for her to realize that her tummy is getting wet and panic. Nope, she would occasionally shake a paw, but she just stayed there in the tub, walking around, drinking now and then, watching the water come out of the faucet.

I finally evicted her so I could take my bath when the water came about half way up her body. At no time was she distressed. And after I put her out of the tub, she stood on her back paws and looked back over the side, as if debating the merits of getting back in with me. Finally she gave a final shake or two of her paws and strolled off. When I went downstairs later I found her sitting on the couch giving herself a bath in preparation for her morning nap. I reached down to pet her and she purred and purred. “Swimming is fun, lisa-mom! Can I do it again?”

I have posted new pictures of Zak and Cyra to their litter page. I’ve also posted pictures of Lelldorin, Ce’Nedra, Taiba, and Polgara to their individual pages. And a new picture of Fin is on the Cats page. I’ll post a silly picture here of Shira and Zak. Shira has decided she likes kittens and is playing mom to everyone. The kittens really like this as their own mothers are having nothing to do with them now.

The last couple days have been cool and windy. Fall is in the air here in Helena, MT. For the first time in weeks, the sky was not filled with smoke today. We can still smell it, but it’s no longer like we’re sitting around a campfire. We had a little rain last night. Maybe someday our fires will be out.

When I was talking about cat trees the other day, I forgot to mention some fun cat furniture that I’ve seen at Target. It’s not big like cat trees — it’s made from PVC pipe and fabric, but it has perches and tunnels for the cats. I put a donut bed on the top of the one I have and my big cats like sleeping on it. The little cats love climbing and playing all over it. There are several different items — and I suspect with a little creativity you could join them together into a fun cat playground. I may just have to buy a couple more and try it.

So I’ve been goofing off and not posting here. I’m sorry. I’ll try to get back in my routine of posting each day — or at least most days.

If you haven’t already noticed, I posted new pictures of Zakath, Cyradis, and Polgara on Thursday. I didn’t take individual pictures yesterday of Zak and Cyra, so I’ll be doing that tonight. I also updated the litters page to mark the babies who have gone to new homes as sold.

I convinced Scott to cover my oncall Labor Day weekend, so I’m going to Albuquerque! My entry is in, my hotel reservation is made, and I can’t wait! I’ll be showing Fin and Mac, but also taking Cyra and Ce’Nedra along. At least in TICA they won’t be illegal as both will be over 3 months — the age they are allowed to be in the show hall. In CFA they have to be four months. (Yeah, Belgarath and Garion were illegal kittens in Portland.)

Sally had a question about cat trees… the cat tree you see in my recent photos is off EBay. I’ve had it for a couple years and it’s starting to show some wear. It’s been a good tree and the cats love it, but I would’ve liked the perches to be a little bigger for my adults. Not that they seem to mind… I saw Kefira up there nursing the Leprechauns several times. Some of the best cats tree around can be found at cat shows. Not every cat show will have a vendor with trees, but a lot of them do. So if you live close enough to attend a show, check them out. I also saw a nice tree at Costco awhile back. It wasn’t huge, but it was well made and the price was right for a five foot tree. You can also find cat trees at PetsMart and Petco, but I think they are overpriced for what you get. If you happen to find them on sale, they might be worth the money, though, because they aren’t bad trees. You can also find cat trees from a number of places online, from affordable to very expensive. I think some of the coolest cat trees around are those that are made from real trees and still have bark on the posts. However, those fit in the very expensive category.  

We arrived home about 9 last night. I was especially glad to be out of the car. Seems like I spent way too much time in the car the past six days.

The kittens all grew while we were gone. Funny how that happens! They are all looking much more grown up — even Zak and Cyra. I’ll take pictures of the MBs tonight for the website. I’ll also probably take some of the remaining BBs if I have time. Lots to do tonight — even though we were gone, the cats weren’t so there’s plenty of cleaning to do. Nobie hacked up a hairball on the guest room bed, so I’ll have those bed linens to wash. And then there’s my out of control email. I have so many emails to answer!

Polgara is doing much better. The first couple days at Heather’s she was a little bit quiet, but she’s running, jumping, and playing like herself now. She also gained 6.1 oz in the time we were gone. She wasn’t eating her dry food — I think because she was congested and it wasn’t very appealing (not a lot of odor) — so I was giving her lots of wet food. Now she’s gobbling the dry, too. Next week when I take Zak and Cyra in for their second shots, I’ll take her, too.

I received a note from Belgarath and Garion’s new mom yesterday. The boys are settling in well with their new family. I’m always happy to hear that — and get any new stories or news about my babies.

We spent the day playing tourist along the Oregon coast. I could almost imagine myself living here. Almost. Ken reminded me that I like sunshine a lot, so I’d probably go bonkers my first winter here. And he’s right. I don’t mind cold, but I do mind clouds.

So… an embarrassing, sad story… For the first time in six years of showing cats, I missed a final. On Saturday the kittens were judged in Ring 2 first thing in the morning. Now, I’ve said I wasn’t expecting any finals for them, so I completely missed the fact that the judge put off her final until the end of the day. I just assumed that she’d done it immediately after judging the kittens — as usual — and Fin had not made it. I heard from several people on Sunday morning that they’d called him for the final in ring 2 later in the afternoon after we left and even came looking for us. Sigh… It would have been an All Breed final, too! The kittens did not get any finals on Sunday, although Keegan was once again mentioned as an honorable mention in a ring. She beat Fin for Best of Breed in two of the eight rings at the show.

I now have four less kittens. As I said before, Kheldar — now known as magic — went with his Connie-mom on Friday evening. She called today to thank me again and tell me what a wonderful, friendly, confident kitten he is. He settled right in with her other cats and was even playing with them already. I love hearing that and look forward to updates and pictures as he grows. And I hope I’ll hear some good show reports, as well.

On Sunday, Garion and Belgarath went to the show with us and hung out waiting for their Pat-mom and Jesse-dad to arrive from California. The stole the hearts of a number of people around us and many visitors to the show. Then Pat and Jesse arrived to take them home. It’s so nice to get to meet the kittens’ new moms and dads in person and see how happy they are to have their new babies. I’m sure the boys have a great home with them.

Then after the show, I had the saddest of moment of the weekend — I had to say goodbye to my beautiful, lover girl Keegan. Yes, even though Deb is a wonderful person and will provide a fantastic home for my baby, I still almost cried. I knew it was going to be hard to give her up — Keegan is very special. But somehow I managed to give her one last kiss and put her in the carrier for Deb. I hope I’ll be seeing her again before too long. Deb is going to show and probably breed Keegan (with my help) and has said to let her know any time I’m coming to the Portland area for a show. She has family in the area, so it’s a great place for her to come to show, as well. Then we can meet up and spend the weekend showing together — and I can love on Keegan some more.

That’s about it for now. Heather, Patrick and Braysen are home from the store, so I think I’ll go love on my grandson.

(Lafayette is a suburb of Portland)

Today is one of those happy/sad days I wrote about. Kheldar left Friday evening with his Connie-mom. She was enchanted by him and he’ll have a wonderful home with her. On the way here he was Mr. Loving, rubbing against my face, sitting on my lap purring, giving me head butts… saying goodbye in fine style. Why do cats do that? It makes it even harder for me to say goodbye!

Today Garion, Belgarath, and my sweet little Keegan will be leaving. Garion and Belgarath’s owner will be flying into Portland to pick them up from me. The boys have been so adorable the last few days. Okay, more adorable than usual! My grandson Braysen loves Garion and has been picking him up and carrying him all over. For the most part Garion has let him, although when he gets tired of it, he just runs and hides behind the couch. Considering that Braysen is just short of 17 months old, I think Garion’s doing very well putting up with any of the grabbing — especially since he’s never been around toddlers. Both Garion and Belgarath insisted on cuddling with me the past two nights, and boy can they purr!

Keegan’s new mom and I have been emailing back and forth for a while and she flew up to Portland yesterday to spend the weekend at the show with us. I don’t think it took more than holding Keegan once to convince her that Keegan should go home to be her NFC Maggie’s new little sister. And a true little sister she is, as Maggie’s dad is Comet, too. Maggie is the Rockatts kitten formerly known as Coke, from Sondra’s C Litter.

The show has been fun, especially since it resulted in a surprise final for Fin as 8th best LH kitten in one ring. That particular judge spent a long time judging the three wegie kittens and admitted he couldn’t decide between Cati and Keegan as to who was the better of the two. He “arbitrarily” (his word) hung the best of color ribbon on Cati, then gave Fin best of breed. He commented that it’s rare to see an NFC out here and even then they usually only see one. He thought all three kittens were excellent.

Keegan beat her Uncle Fin in one ring for breed, and was mentioned in the final as one of the kittens the judge had on her list for the final, but had to cut because she had too many kittens listed. Not bad for a naked four month old girl. I’ll take even an honorable mention! Deb will be showing Keegan, so I’m also glad that my judgement that she’s a good kitten is being confirmed by the judges.

Okay, need to load up the babies and head off to the show hall. Later!

Here I am again – writing long after I should be in bed. Lots to do to get ready for the trip, the least of which is packing. Fin, Cati, and Keegan all needed baths for the show. Fin and Cati acted awful (blood was shed), but Keegan — although not pleased — was pretty good. The funny thing was after I finished drying Fin, he sat on my lap and licked my hands and purred. Maybe he was telling me he forgave me?

No chance to try to litter shots tonight and the odds are definitely against an attempt in the morning. Sorry! Maybe I’ll share one of the pathetic attempts I made last night. But not now.

Polgara continues to improve. Most of the time her third eye lids are down and she’s been much more active and alert. When I put her in the bathroom for her steam session, she plays with some toys I’ve put in the there for her — a decided improvement over two days ago when she’d just sit on the rug and look miserable. She’s not 100% yet, but I’m not nearly as worried about her as I was. Still she’s going with us so I can watch her carefully.

It’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to three of the boys this weekend. All three of them have gotten very cuddly lately, purring and following me around. Garion just climbed up on my lap as I wrote that and is now sitting here watching me type. He is such a fluff ball! Actually all the boys except Lelldorin have their Peanut-dad’s fluffy coat. Lelldorin has a nice coat, but the shorter, slower developing one like Kali’s and Grandpa Comet’s. They are all above average in size and I expect them to all be big cats when they mature.

Speaking of the Peanut boy… It appears that he did his job and his visiting girlfriend is expecting. She’s been acting pregnant and now her tummy feels firmer and she’s pinked up. When I get back from Portland I’ll take her in for an exam and then we’ll work on sending her home to her Patti-mom.

Okay, I really do need to get to bed so I can get up bright and early and finish packing. The cats’ stuff is packed — mostly. I have a list of snacks and stuff to grab in the morning. The only thing left is to pick up some carriers for the kitties and pack my own suitcase. I’m taking my laptop, so I might post here while I’m gone. Or not. Depends on how busy, tired, distracted I am. Not only do I have the cat show, but I have a grandson to spend time with. So if I post, it will be a bonus.

I need to get to bed, so this will be very quick. I’ve posted the 13 week photos of the BBs to the website. I did post a picture of Polgara, although it’s not very flattering. Most of today her third eyelids were down, but of course when I wanted to take photos, they are up. Sigh… She is doing better today. She wanted to run and play this morning and is eating very well. She doesn’t sound as snotty, so the congestion is clearing up. All good news.

I did take some group shots — and the kittens were NOT cooperative, so they aren’t very good. I may give it one more try tomorrow evening if I have time. I need to give Cati, Keegan, and Fin baths, plus pack for myself and the cats. Leaving Friday morning for Portland. If any of you are in the Portland area, come by the show at the Expo Center and meet us on Saturday or Sunday.

Like I said, a short post here. I’m beat — stayed up late last night, then got called at 12:48 for a problem at work. Spent an hour working on it, then couldn’t get back to sleep for awhile. Hate those short nights! Love the overtime, though. So off to bed with hopes of a better night tonight.