new blog meet new kitty
I feel that I have been remiss in writing, neglecting my blog as it just sits here all shiny and new. It is unfortunate that when things are going on, you feel you don't have time to write. When you have time to write, there is nothing going on.
We have a new kitten, the first baby kitty we have kept for our own since November 1986! We have found a couple of kittens since then but always found homes for them since we already had a house full of adult cats that all lived to a ripe old age. After our first two cats (a free-to-good newspaper kitten and a stray), our next three house cats and one barn cat were all young adults when we found them.
This kitten was discovered by our neighbor at the next farm down the road in the shrubs next to her house. He was discovered on Tuesday, July 24th but was too afraid to be caught. Then he disappeared for about a day, though she continued to put food out. Finally after several unsuccessful attempts to win his trust, she put a small live-trap down and caught him on the second attempt, the night of Saturday, July 28th.
This photo was take July 31st when he is approximately 6 weeks old.
The neighbor has a very territorial barn cat who wanted to "beat the snot out of" the kitten. The local shelter is "full up" with cats and kittens and are not accepting any more, just euthanizing. We already have our cat Seamus (also a rescue) in the house.
After having 4 house cats for many years, I have been happy with just one cat. He gets along great with our dogs and we have complete peace. We have no litterbox issues or scuffles over kitty territory. So when my neighbor called me and told me about this abandoned kitten living in their shrubs, I agreed to take on the kitten as a barn cat. At least then he could have a chance at having a kitty life and not be immediately put down.
Of course that was before I saw how young and tiny he was and that he had an eye infection that needed to be treated. So I decided he needed to start out in the house alway from flies and bugs where I could treat him and tame him. He seems to be a very nice kitten and is working on our emotions, so now we may give him a chance to be a house cat and see if he gets along with Seamus and the dogs. Worst case, he will move out to the barn. He is very sweet and has very nice coloring. He is cream "seal point" (brown ears and tail) but has a white blaze and a little tabby mask.
We have had the kitten for a week now and he has grown from 1.6 pounds to 2.1 pounds! He is starting to enter that state when kitties start to grown longer rather than bigger. (We would identify him as "pre-weasel stage".) So far he is still in the guest room for another week until he gets his feline leukemia test at 8 weeks of age and can be exposed to Seamus (the big kitty) in a controlled manner to see how it goes.
On the knitting front, I am starting sock #2 of the pair of socks that I started on my trip to Ohio (for the Ohio Sheep Day and Finnsheep Breeders' Association Annual meeting) back in July. It is my favorite sock pattern that I can almost knit in my sleep. Other than being a nice easy pattern, conducive to meditative knitting, or at least airport knitting, they are ribbed all the way up the ankle. This is great for a skinny ankle which causes all socks to fall down, giving one that attractive Snuffleupagus-leg look.
http://www.blackberry-ridge.com/basbegin.htm
I have knit a few other types of socks but these are the ones I come back to again and again. Probably because they fit me. They are a standard top-down sock, which causes nearly everyone who passes by to stop and ask you, "Is that a mitten?" (If I had a dollar for every time....) I don't understand America's fascination with mittens but we seem to have one. Wearing an MP3 player with headphones helps, both to drown out airport noise and mitten inquiries. In fact, knitting and an MP3 player makes waiting around in a crowded airport almost bearable.
We have a new kitten, the first baby kitty we have kept for our own since November 1986! We have found a couple of kittens since then but always found homes for them since we already had a house full of adult cats that all lived to a ripe old age. After our first two cats (a free-to-good newspaper kitten and a stray), our next three house cats and one barn cat were all young adults when we found them.
This kitten was discovered by our neighbor at the next farm down the road in the shrubs next to her house. He was discovered on Tuesday, July 24th but was too afraid to be caught. Then he disappeared for about a day, though she continued to put food out. Finally after several unsuccessful attempts to win his trust, she put a small live-trap down and caught him on the second attempt, the night of Saturday, July 28th.
This photo was take July 31st when he is approximately 6 weeks old.
The neighbor has a very territorial barn cat who wanted to "beat the snot out of" the kitten. The local shelter is "full up" with cats and kittens and are not accepting any more, just euthanizing. We already have our cat Seamus (also a rescue) in the house.
After having 4 house cats for many years, I have been happy with just one cat. He gets along great with our dogs and we have complete peace. We have no litterbox issues or scuffles over kitty territory. So when my neighbor called me and told me about this abandoned kitten living in their shrubs, I agreed to take on the kitten as a barn cat. At least then he could have a chance at having a kitty life and not be immediately put down.
Of course that was before I saw how young and tiny he was and that he had an eye infection that needed to be treated. So I decided he needed to start out in the house alway from flies and bugs where I could treat him and tame him. He seems to be a very nice kitten and is working on our emotions, so now we may give him a chance to be a house cat and see if he gets along with Seamus and the dogs. Worst case, he will move out to the barn. He is very sweet and has very nice coloring. He is cream "seal point" (brown ears and tail) but has a white blaze and a little tabby mask.
We have had the kitten for a week now and he has grown from 1.6 pounds to 2.1 pounds! He is starting to enter that state when kitties start to grown longer rather than bigger. (We would identify him as "pre-weasel stage".) So far he is still in the guest room for another week until he gets his feline leukemia test at 8 weeks of age and can be exposed to Seamus (the big kitty) in a controlled manner to see how it goes.
On the knitting front, I am starting sock #2 of the pair of socks that I started on my trip to Ohio (for the Ohio Sheep Day and Finnsheep Breeders' Association Annual meeting) back in July. It is my favorite sock pattern that I can almost knit in my sleep. Other than being a nice easy pattern, conducive to meditative knitting, or at least airport knitting, they are ribbed all the way up the ankle. This is great for a skinny ankle which causes all socks to fall down, giving one that attractive Snuffleupagus-leg look.
http://www.blackberry-ridge.com/basbegin.htm
I have knit a few other types of socks but these are the ones I come back to again and again. Probably because they fit me. They are a standard top-down sock, which causes nearly everyone who passes by to stop and ask you, "Is that a mitten?" (If I had a dollar for every time....) I don't understand America's fascination with mittens but we seem to have one. Wearing an MP3 player with headphones helps, both to drown out airport noise and mitten inquiries. In fact, knitting and an MP3 player makes waiting around in a crowded airport almost bearable.
Here is sock number 2 so far...
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