Way too long between posts!

OK, so I am lazy/forgetful/etc.

Nine months since my last post and I am embarrassed, to say the least. Plenty has happened since the last entry and I just never got around to writing about any of it. Some things will be left out because I have forgotten them, but ... so it goes.



Popular place when Judy is there

First off, when I said "we are definitely NOT keeping
these two" (referring to Ginger and Marcus) I was not
aware of their plans. 

How cute is that?






 Suffice it to say, they did not get adopted and, in fact, were never even offered up.









New Kids in a box

It just never really seemed an option and they have become permanent residents like so many others before them.



Marcus and Ollie



Willow, Ginger and Jasmine

Although Ginger is a sweetie and loves to snuggle, Marcus is an odd one it must be on his terms only.

He has his moments though.









Them staying is not a huge problem, since they are sweet and get along with most of the others nicely.





However, it is now official. I am fairly sure we spend more on cat food than people food!

Classic cool

Casa Del Gatos has gained a couple of new non-feline residents as well. About the time of my last post I started car-shopping as my beloved 10th Anniversary Miata began needing increasingly more costly repairs that I simply couldn't justify with its market value. I really loved this car, but it was about to become a pain.




Not much of a trunk for sure

I looked at only a few specific potential replacements, since I knew I wanted another convertible, but with a bit more power and space than the Miata had.




The short list of replacements included the Saab Aero, Volvo C70,  BMW 3-series, Mercedes SLK and Chrysler Sebring. Saabs became orphans last year with the company closing its doors. The Bimmers just didn't feel right. The Benz was too small and the Sebrings were few and far between with the features I wanted.

Silver GT 'Vert

The Volvo was starting to be my top choice, but as my preferred choices dwindled, I started looking more at American steel and the Mustang jumped to the top of the list. Specifically, the GT Convertible with the 4.6L V-8 in silver or blue.






I drove a similar one at a dealer and immediately fell in love so I began my search in earnest. Craig's List, e-Bay and Cars.com, among many other vehicle search services yielded a few good candidates but nothing that was "just right." One Saturday morning, I found a listing for a beautiful C70 in Silver that was for sale a few miles down the road and something told me I needed to go see that car.

First look at her (Volvo is beyond)

As I pulled into the lot, I saw the Volvo and it looked very nice. However, parked next to it was an (unadvertised) Mustang Convertible, in Vista Blue and my pulse accelerated with excitement. I parked the Miata next to it and got out to check it out. Holy shit! It was not just a GT, it was the California Special and it had a custom two-tone Blue/Black leather interior. Before I had even driven it, I knew I had to have this car.

Home at last!

Long story (somewhat) short, I bought it a week later,
forcing them to take the Miata, and paying considerably
less than they thought they should get for it.









As advertised on CL

  We also got a boat. Not much of a boat really, but good for what we wanted. It is an Ultranautics JetStar - a 12.5-foot jet boat that has room for me, Judy and maybe one more person.

It is easy to tow and gets plenty of comments from people who see it.

As she sits today

I actually found it listed for sale near Columbus, GA and I just happen to have  brother living there so ...

I got Scott to drive out and take a look and then go ahead and buy it for me. Then I drove up a couple of weeks later to pick it up and bring it home.

 
It's not very big (obviously) and leaves little room to do anything but ride in it so I am looking at something slightly larger in the future.


Maybe something kind of like this: 

Apparently, our retirement from fostering was wishful thinking!

Randy's last picture with Bobby

Just a couple of weeks before we had to euthanize Randy, our kitten fostering "business" had to be started up again and the guest room became a nursery once more.





I was off from work for Wednesday, Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
 
On Friday, I was coming home from Dollar General just before dusk. As I neared our driveway I saw something running across the road in front of the mayor's house, I thought it was probably a squirrel. However, as I got closer I saw it was a tiny grey tabby kitten - only 6 weeks old or so!

I pulled over and walked toward the driveway and saw a large box on its side next to his garbage can and the kitten was walking from it towards the front porch. Then I saw the other one, a small calico, crying piteously just outside the mayor's door. I saw that Tim (Silverhill's Mayor) was not home and thought "Jeez these kittens are too young to go outside, they are barely a mouthful for any roving predator!"

I scooped them up and put them back in the box that was so conveniently clean and available and put them in the back of the Kia. I then spent just a couple of minutes looking for any other litter-mates that might be around. Not finding any, I pulled up our driveway across the street and carried them inside, yelling "Judy - I've got kittens!" I gave Judy the Reader's Digest condensed version and went back out to search the vicinity for any other kittens or maybe their mother - as I am now thinking these could have been dumped and not belong to Tim at all.

I drove all around the area in the golf cart, peering under bushes and such and asking the evening walkers in the neighborhood if they had seen or knew anything. I spotted one cat that I thought might be the mother, but she was not in nursing condition and these babies were definitely still on the teat, they were so small. It turns out she is a non-feral stray that is taken care of by various neighbors.

Ginger

Marcus

I regret that I didn't take any pictures of them then, but they were in good condition - clean and well-fed so I suspect that someone was just too stupid, lazy and irresponsible to find homes for them and did the cowardly thing by dumping them.

I also suspect that they somehow heard about the "cat lady" who rescues cats and kittens in our area (Judy of course) and made a half-assed attempt to get them to us.


I shudder to think what would have happened to them if I had not made that trip to the store.

New kits on the block

That night was the coldest night up to that point this season and I think it might have even gotten to freezing.

At any rate, I ran back out to get kitten milk and Judy fixed them up in the guest room and the process began yet again. Marcus and Ginger (Judy's names) are growing fast and developing real personalities and have just had their shots and gotten their little operations to get them ready for Forever Homes.

They use ALL the cat furniture

Although they still sleep in the Kitten Room, they have been unleashed upon the rest of the house and are learning how to get along in a MULTI-cat household.

Fearless as most of them are at that age, they keep the activity level high around the house.

The older, mostly-outside cats are tolerating them more now that they are learning some manners.

Reggie loves having youngsters around

 As seems to be the case in the past, the youngest of our permanent residents pretty much adopt the kittens and play with them almost constantly, much to our delight. However, the job is spread around considerably now, with Cee-Cee being the primary "nanny cat" and Jasmine, Reggie, Willow and even Ollie a bit, pitching in at playtime.





Playtime is, as you can imagine, pretty much anytime and all the time. Interestingly, the youngsters adapted to the cat door that opens to the porch VERY quickly. Believe me, they take advantage of the extra running, climbing, sliding and chasing room available to them.

They are quite a handful and won't slow down much for pictures so I shot some video too.

So now we are back up to 14 in residence. With Randy gone, the permanent number is back down to 12 and I will be posting ads on Craig's List in a few days. We are NOT KEEPING THESE TWO.