The Monday Morning Epistle

We have kitties! Saturday morning we invited ‘Miss Margie’ for breakfast, and she arrived a little before ten o'clock with a kitty carrier and a stack of medical records. Cowering in the bottom of the kitty carrier were ‘Heather’ and ‘Zoë’, who had to be physically extricated and placed on a blanket on the floor of our coat closet. We sealed off the main floor bathroom and coat closet with a baby gate—not to keep the kittens in, but to keep the dog and the four year old out—and the two sisters initially huddled together in their kitty bed for mutual protection. But after a couple of hours of coaxing and several new cat toys, the kittens started to take small excursions into the hallway and under the Gleeful Threeful's lockers. Zoë is definitely the more adventurous of the pair, and whenever she roamed too far out of sight, Heather would mewl pitifully until Zoë returned. By Sunday night, however, both kittens were leaving their sanctuary on a regular basis, and even Heather could be spied timidly creeping under the dining room table in search of more dust bunnies to eat. When I came down for breakfast this morning, the ‘Kitty Krazies’ were in full swing, as both sisters battled for supremacy on top of their new kitty condo less than six feet from the dog.

As for Liesl, she showed an initial low-key interest in the furry interlopers that lasted all of ten minutes. After that, she decided that the small, fast-moving, creatures weren't worth worrying about, and went back to bed. The kittens responded to the dog's utter indifference with equal disdain, without even a decent hiss or puffed tail in greeting. I did notice, however, Heather watching Liesl's wagging tail with rapt fascination, and I'm guessing that the first time a kitten pounces on that tail, all parties involved will get a surprise!

KidBit: Alex was all set to spend the last Friday of his Christmas holidays watching crap on TV and eating junk food, but more snow gave Mary & I yet another unexpected day off. When I called him to tell him we were on the way home, he grumbled “This is my winter break, and I have to spend it with my parents!”

PotW: Alex and Garion play in the front yard; this particular snow pile has been there since well before Christmas. At first, I would carefully shovel the snow into a neat pile to keep the rest of the yard pristine and flawless. After the fourth or fifth snowstorm, though, I now just get the white stuff out of the driveway any way (and anywhere) I can…

Until next week…Tschüß!

,,,^..^,,,

2007.01.29-11:19