Bad kitty

We have a long history of cats trying to adopt us. Now there is another.

We get terrible cell reception in our house, so Brad went outside to talk and the cat tried to break in.

Also, I put up a bunch of pictures over on Cookie, including pictures of the kids while we were dog sitting.

Bast

Here is a picture of the Egyptian god named Bast.
I wonder if he is trying to tell me something.

The same day as I had my 'close encounters of the wasp kind', this adorable little kitten decided to adopt us. We were in the driveway and he (she??) just walked right up to us and started purring and begging for attention. How could you resist this face??? He has no tag, only a flea collar. It is quite apparent that he had a family at one point because he craves attention, unlike the feral kittens under my porch who just wanted to claw my eyes out. He is the most docile and affectionate cat I have ever seen. He did amazing with Sugar and actually seeks out ways to get more human contact. Poor baby.

We fed him and he scarfed it down quickly. As the night progressed, I noticed he wasn't leaving our yard. One time I went to see if he was still around and as I opened the door, I got dive-bombed by a black blur. I thought for sure it was the wasp. Even though I hadn't seen it for a couple of hours and assumed it perished and died (probably in my shoe) due to the extreme temperatures of our non-air conditioned mud room, I figured the intelligent wasp was just laying in wait for me to open the front door and let him out. But no. This time it was a massive cicada. The kitten went and looked at the cicada, lost interest quickly, and then returned to beg for more human contact.

So, finally, when I was going to bed and he was still sitting on our stairs, I let him sleep in the mud room. I'm such a wimp. I put up an add on Craigslist for him and emailed people here in Philly hoping someone would adopt him. I kept him outside during the day. He just slept in this bucket most of the day (he spent all morning playing with the kids so I don't blame him). Finally, in the late afternoon, it looked like rain so I went to check on him. I couldn't find him immediately and then my neighbors called out and asked if he was my kitten. I explained the situation and they agreed to take him. But the kitty FREAKED OUT when their huge black lab came over. Seriously the most mellow dog ever, but the kitty didn't know that and scratched my hand to shreds as I was holding him. Argh. They decided to try it anyway.

As of now, the kitten and dog are giving each other their space. I'm glad it is working out because it is pouring rain today. I hope they decide to keep him! They said we could have visitation rights. :o)

What is it with cats?

Ya'll know I'm not the biggest cat fan out there. Nothing personal kitties, but my mom is allergic, and we will never own one of you. That doesn't mean that cats don't try to adopt us though!

I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when next thing I know, a cat walks across my living room. Uh.... It's happened before. In Lansing. I'd left the basement door open after running inside to answer the phone and I forgot to shut it. But here in Philly, I was quite sure all the doors were shut (and locked and deadbolted). Okay, I'm not that bad. I leave the front door open during the day since I sit right in front of it. But he came from the other direction, from the kitchen.

So, I put him outside and went to the kitchen. He had ripped open the screen in the kitchen window. Grrr. And he was now banging on the screen door. Man, he really wants in! This wasn't some random stray cat. It was our friend Cricket the Cat who lives a few houses down according to his tags. He is always very nice and friendly to my kids. And this isn't the first time he's tried to break into my house, though I will say it is his most successful try.

Sugar really loves him, so I ended up watching her play outside with him for about 30 minutes before he'd had enough and gave up trying to get back in my kitchen.

On the Cookie blog is video of Sugar with Cricket. And pictures of her sleeping in the saucer yesterday. And pictures of her playing with water (probably her favorite activity ever). Oh, and more of her attempts at taking pictures.

Ah, snap!

This is my last kitty post. It is done. It is over. Phew!

Before I went to the dentist, Piplup was in the trap. I put the ornery thing in the carrier and reset the trap. Trespasser was in the trap but wasn't going in far enough to set it off. He walked back out, and Brave came over. Brave wouldn't put more than one paw inside the trap. Brave is also smart too, apparently. But, when I came back from the dentist Trespasser AND Brave were in there.

Now they are on their way to a lovely barn to eat all the mice they want. We can all stop worrying now. :o)

I'm a winner!

Okay, not really, but my friend Trisha sent me a super funny video that I thought I'd share with you. Now go make one for your mommy. :o)

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=AR7nhyRPHRyhVBOlf3K4qzEwODUzNTMy&referred_by=15484720-NbMm2Hx&p=moveon

And in kitten news, I have relearned that I don't have the stomach for this kind of thing. I was worrying about them all night and probably checked the trap a dozen times or more. Poor little kitties had to sleep all alone. :o( Actually, we did catch one of the kittens, Scaredy, who got to go home and eat and snuggle with a surrogate mommy. I know animals don't form relationships like humans do, but I just can't handle thinking how sad and lonely to other kittens were. And the poor mama.

Meow!

Nobody guessed right on the poll. The first one to be caught was indeed Smarty Pants, the mama. She is freaking out in the animal-friendly trap as I type. Poor mama.

And in case you guys are wondering why I love my 3 sump pumps (2 in the basement and 1 in the yard), here is your answer:

http://www.wilx.com/weather/headlines/44122807.html

I am SOOOO glad Brad came home and fixed it. We are supposed to get storms the next few days. I won't complain. Our new grass seeds could use it!

Bloom where you are planted

You are all so wonderful. Thank you for being so supportive! As excited as I am to go, I'm already crying about leaving. This is such a wonderful town and I've loved it here. Because this is a college town, a lot of my friends will have moved by the time we could come back. :o( The new people will probably be wonderful too. I'm just very thankful for blogs and Facebook. It makes keep in touch so much easier!! I'm also hoping Sarah will take pictures of my plants. I'm not going to get to see all my flowers and plants bloom or see all the grass come in before we leave. I am a bit surprised to see them all coming back through the dirt and wood chips. I didn't kill them all! The clematis are getting huge, the hostas are coming out, and I'm seeing signs that the butterfly bush is starting to get leaves. Ooooo, and the flower crab has big beautiful bright pink buds that are just starting to bloom. I love my house.

And for those of you who voted on the kitty poll, last night's attempt was a major failure. We couldn't even get them to come out from under the porch, let alone catch one. Professionals may need to be called...

Sheep, kitties, and pumps, oh my!

Baaaa. I'm feeling sheepish. :o)

So, Brad came home for his birthday. We are soooo glad to see him again. We feel almost spoiled seeing him again when he was just here for Easter. We love having him home! First thing Saturday morning we went to check out the sump pump for the backyard. After much digging and wire testing, it was discovered that, drum roll please, the wire had come unplugged underground. Baaaaa. Granted, it is the most basic and easy thing to say, "Are you sure it is plugged in?" But in my defense, it was a buried wire. So, yeah. Plugged it in and that puppy started pumping water like no one's business. Speaking of puppies....

Or kitties actually. I listed them on Craigslist tonight and I already have them spoken for. Did you know that PETA includes a message on CL about listing animals as 'free to a good home'? Apparently people look for ads that say 'free to a good home' to find animals to maim. Sick, huh. But you can't list animals as 'for sale' on CL either. You can ask for a nominal "relocation fee" though. Crazy world we are living in people. Now we just have to figure out how to catch the kitties. And perhaps call the Humane Society to come and get the mama. Oh, and Brad took the honor of naming the black one. He named it Trespasser. Can you tell he is a cat lover? You're right. He isn't.

Brad cut the boys' hair and even gave SugarPea a trim. Pictures will be coming. Eventually. :o)

Here kitty kitty!

I'm more of a dog person really. Don't hate me for it, I just wasn't around cats much growing up. In fact, Brad and I have talked about it, and while we are super excited to get a dog someday (think 4 years or more...) we will not be getting a cat. Ever. I have nothing against cats, but my mom is allergic. And I want my mom to ALWAYS feel welcome in our home, so we won't be owning a cat. But that doesn't mean that I can't think that kittens are absolutely adorable!!

Today I grabbed some hot dogs out of our trash (don't judge me) and took the kids (Roo and Sugar - Jamo was at school) out to feed the kittens. It was hard getting them to come out from under the shed. I'm sure you all know that 2 yr olds don't know the meaning of "quiet" and "still" especially when baby animals are involved. And it turns out I was wrong. There are 4 kittens. The one that comes out the most and the furthest is gray. The black one and the gray on top, white on bottom one will follow the gray one, but stay a little behind. But there is also a brown top, white bottom one that rarely comes out and doesn't go far. We named a most of them today.

Jamo named the gray and white one Piplup. (Pokemon. He's a little obsessed.)
Roo named the gray one Brave. (Roo loved to see how far out this one would come.)
Sugar named (via me) the gray and brown one Scaredy. (Because he's a scaredy cat of course.)
I named the mom Smarty Pants. (When I was out there on Saturday night, I had no clue that she had kittens. She hung out in the woods and while I was out there, went under the wheelbarrow, but never made a move under the shed while I was watching her. Smart girl.)

I'm open to suggestions for the black one. Anyone? Along those lines, does anyone here want some super duper cute kittens?

Brad is coming home for his birthday tomorrow. YEAH! We are incredibly excited and can't wait to see him!

And, for the record, you should be grateful that our camera is awful because I took 6 or 7 videos and even more pictures that look too bad (blurry, washed out, grainy, etc) to put up here.