**We made $190 on this year’s pool, which is going to Challenger’s House! Thank you, everyone who played!!!**
Last year when we had a pregnant cat (Maggie), we had a pool. We raised enough money to pay for the spaying, neutering, and id-chipping of Maggie and all her babies. I’d love to do that again this year with Emmy and her babies, so off we go! The money will go to Challenger’s House to offset the cost of spaying, neutering, and ID-chipping Emmy and her babies.
The winner of the pool will get to name ONE of Emmy’s kittens. Caveats: name must be the name of an award (There’s a list at the bottom of the page, but if you can come up with a name that’s not on the list and can make a compelling case that it’s the name of an award, that’s fine by me), and the name can’t be on the list of names that have already been used by the shelter. The winner will get to choose which kitten he or she names.
Here are the rules:
1. One entry costs you $5, two is $10, 3 is $15, and so on. Make sure you include the date/ time/ and number of babies with your entry. The most important part of the guess is the date and time – the number of babies is just a fun tie-breaker in case, for instance, one person guesses 2 pm and one person guesses 4 pm, and she delivers the first one at 3 pm. In such a case, the person who guesses the correct number of babies (or comes closest without going over!) is the winner.
2. If you don’t or can’t send the money via Paypal and you still want to play, then send a check to Challenger’s House (address at the bottom of the page here) and then email me (mizrobyn (at) gmail (dot) com) with your number of guesses, and the date/ time/ # of kittens for each guess. I’ll assume you’re an honest person who wouldn’t liiiiiiiie about mailing a check, because you know and I know that if you were lyyyyyyyyyyyying about such a thing, it would make the wee baby kittens cry. You wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you?
3. You don’t have to guess a number of kittens if you don’t want to. Just keep in mind that if you have the correct date and time and your number of kittens guess is wayyyyy off, you still win.
4. I’ve started a spreadsheet at Google Docs where I’ll list the guesses in order of date, then time. Your name will be next to your guess(es), and I’ll list you by first name and last initial, unless you’d prefer to be listed otherwise. That spreadsheet is here.
5. If we go to bed one night and Emmy hasn’t gone into labor, and then we wake up the next morning to kittens, we’ll make our best guesstimate as to when she delivered the first one. Or, if that’s too hard for us, we’ll go with whoever was closest (without going over!) to the number of kittens.
I truly do not have the slightest clue when she’s gonna blow and because she’s so nervous, I’m trying not to mess with her belly too much. I can tell you that she’s really big, and that she’s eating pretty well. Other than that, your guess is really and truly just as good as mine! She could have them tonight, or she could have them in two weeks. I truly do not know, all I know is that at this very moment she is NOT in labor!
Potential names list:
Aria
Bafta
Billboard
Brit
Bulwer-Lytton
Caldecott
Cesar
Chestertons
Clio
Darwin
Dickens
Dickin
Dundee/ Dundie
Espy
Genie
George Polk
Golden
Grammy
Heisman
Hoku
Hugo
Locus
Logie
MacArthur
Nebula
Newbery
Nobel
Obie
Olivier
Peabody
Phoenix
Pritzker
Prometheus
Pulitzer
Razzie
Reuben
Sama
SeaBea
Tony
Turing
Womex
(THANK YOU for alphabetizing these for me, Doodle Bean!!)
Names NOT available, as they’ve been used in the past for other Challenger’s House cats.
Booker
Emma
Edgar
Felix
Gemini
Juno
Oscar
Spirit
(I suspect there are more that I missed writing down. Feel free to let me know, I’ll add them to the list!)
The Finnish equivalent to Oscar is called Emma, are non-English awards accepted?
Non-English awards are definitely accepted, but Emma’s been used for shelter cats in the past (which is too bad, because I like the name!)
How about Caldecott? And Phoenix?
Added ’em! 🙂
MacArthur? As in the MacArthur Fellowships, aka “Genius Grants”.
Added it! 🙂
Did I miss Grammy somewhere? Or something related to Billboard (BillyBob, Bilby, Bilberd?)…or People’s Choice (maybe Peepc?) OR Premios (Spanish for awards…
I think I missed Grammy when I was typing up the list, I’ll go add it and Billboard in a sec!
do we send you email or fill in the spreadsheet or leave a comment or ? 🙂
I still think you should use Chesterons and SeaBea. 😉
If you’re wanting to enter via Paypal, there’s a space (above the “buy now” button) where you enter your guesses. If you’re planning to send a check, email me – mizrobyn (at) gmail (dot) com and tell me your guesses and I’ll add you. 🙂
And hell, why not? I’ll add Chesterons and SeaBea too. 🙂
Oh duh, paypal! (blush)
Oh, and I typoed, it’s Chestertons. I just love that scene where he explains his wife *AND HIS DOGS* put on this fancy awards show for him. 🙂
Fixed! 🙂 Hey, how come the cats never have an awards show for ME???
They’re obviously spoiled brats!!
Edgar
It’s the Mystery Writers Association award for best mystery writing. http://www.theedgars.com/
Edgar’s been used – by ME, as a matter of fact, Edgar was from my very very very first litter. Oh, I loved him SO MUCH, I wanted so badly to keep him!
This one could be considered pretentious, but the Bulwer-Lytton prize is awarded for the best “opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels”
(Bulwer-Lytton was a Victorian novelist and yes, he’s the one responsible for “It was a dark and stormy night…”! Here’s the whole mess of an opening sentence from 1830:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”)
C’mon, wouldn’t it be a hoot to have a tiny little kitten, perhaps a brown tabby, with the name “Bulwer-Lytton”! Just imagine it with a tiny pipe!!
LOL – I love it!!!
Good! If I’m winning, you know I’m naming one of the boys Bulwer-Lytton!! 🙂
You have missed Logie,
The Logie Awards are the Australian TV awards.
Cheers
No, it’s there. I probably need to alphabetize that list!
How about Nebula? Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award_for_Best_Novel
Added! 🙂
What about Cesar ? It’s the french version of the Oscars 🙂
I’ve added Cesar to the list! 🙂
How could I have forgotten the Turing Prize? Then there is the WOMEX award in Berlin (for world music).
“Turing” and “Womex” would be a good kitten names!
Turing and Womex are now on the list! 🙂
Sorry, but I found two more after I sent the alphabetized list to you: Prometheus and Locus.
Now I’m thinking that if I win, I’ll name one of the boys “Prometheus” (unless it’s taken, of course)!
I’ve added ’em! 🙂
There’s the Man Booker prize for fiction- wouldn’t Booker be a good kitten name?
That IS a good kitten name – but unfortunately it’s apparently been used in the past!
Has “Spirit” been used? For the Independent Spirit Awards. Also, we have the Gemini Awards here for TV!
Spirit and Gemini have both been used – I’m surprised by that, I didn’t expect that Spirit would have been used!
Robyn! It’s not Sunday yet!!
Oops! What, I’m supposed to pay attention to what I’m doing? 🙂 (Fixed it!)
Consistent with my evil plan to be as much of a pain as possible, I’ve learned of another prize. Chinese architect Wang Shu won the Pritzker Architecture Prize just yesterday and some lucky wee kitten might be named “Pritzker”!
Pritzker’s now on the list! 🙂