Early Morning Visitors

Certain observations have has led us to believe that Pudge had two litters of kittens this spring and summer. But we never actually saw evidence.

Then one morning last week, Tony was looking out the back door and low and behold, this is what he saw.

They were accompanied by Pudge, thus leading us to believe they are hers. There was an adorable fluffy orange one too but it was more skittish and wouldn't stay put long enough for me to get a picture - even with my 12x zoom :) Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing positive proof of our suspicions.

This cracked me up...face off between David and Goliath (loosely translated, this kitten and our HUGE Benson. Notice the kitty's ears and stance (this is the first kitten pictured above) :)

Look What the Cat Drug In!

Pudge finally decided it was time to bring her babies home. She'd had them at a barn in the grainery across the road. One by one over the course of the evening we have been introduced to four of them. I am pretty sure there is at least one more but time will tell. They have individual personalities just like each child. It was delightful to watch them discover a whole new world less than a block from where they were born.

Squiggles
(because it kept "squiggling" away when Kerrigan tried to pet it!)

Midnight

Clementine (and Mama Pudge)

and last but definitely NOT least, the most adventurous one of all,
Sniffles
(because she had to check out every one's shoes and toes!)

Random Thoughts from Today

Going on the email I have received often in the last few months about not buying toothpaste made in other countries from the dollar store because they don’t have the same Food and Drug regulations as we do in the U.S. And then seeing that my tube of Colgate was made in Canada…

… “They don’t use anything from a raccoon for toothpaste do they?”

After explaining to a Kindergarten student who’s been complaining of a recurring ear ache that the Children’s Chewable Tylenol was all gone because she’d had the last ones yesterday and upon hearing her tell her Mommy on the phone, “I ate all the Tylenol in the office and I still don’t feel good!”…

…“Her mother is going to think we’ve overdosed her for sure!”

While unloading my salad shooter from the dishwasher…

… “Wow, I love not having to scrub this by hand anymore!”

And then unloading the silverware…

… “I could do this better myself.”

And then taking out a very cheap, slightly warped plastic bowl …

… “Hmmm…there is a reason it says ‘top rack dishwasher safe.’”

And last but not least, while watching our new mommy cat (who still seems like a kitten herself) care for her little ones…

… “How ANYONE can believe that we had a big bang or evolved from something else and can still acquire that nurturing instinct is beyond me?!”

Babies, Babies and More Babies

Our cat, Pudge, was very large with kittens before we left for Michigan a few weeks ago. We returned for about 24 or 30 hours during Mom's illness then turned around and headed back up. During those few hours we were home, we noticed that Pudge looked quite a bit skinnier. So either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday that week she had her babies but we've yet to find them.

Today, we arrived home from school and Britnee went out back to see Pudge and Twiz (now a year old cat from Pudge's first litter). Suddenly, we hear yelling in the house, "I found them! I found them!" We all grabbed our jackets (and I grabbed the camera of course :) and headed outside. We could hear incessant meowing but it took awhile to finally figure out they were under the tarp which was covering the mower. When Tony pulled it back, four kittens were revealed. We oohed and aahed. Tony expressed his disapproval that some of them were white and looked like mice. I took another peek and said, "Uh, one problem...those are NOT four week old kittens!" It suddenly dawned on us that while we were trying to find them, Twiz-not Pudge-had come down off the deck and climbed under the mower. That's what sort of clued us in on where they were. Then we noticed that Twiz's fur definitely showed signs of what I interpreted to be a pretty hard labor.

She sure doesn't seem old enough to be a mama. But Pudge was the same age when she had Twiz. And life goes on...

There are two white, one gray and one calico with an orange blaze on her forehead exactly like Grandma Pudge (whose kittens we still haven't met).

Guess that makes me a great-grandmother! Hmmm...