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As you may or may not know, Fred (whose voice – and coughing, and nose-blowing – you sometimes hear in videos) writes books. His latest, Adrenaline Rush, is now available on paperback at Amazon – the Kindle version will be available on January 12th, but you can pre-order it now.
It’s a thriller (there’s no horror in this book), and while obviously you should take what I say with a huge grain of salt (I’m his wife; what else am I going to say?), I think it’s really, really good. I ended up staying up until 2 am to finish it, I could NOT put it down. If fast-moving thrillers are your thing, give it a try! Paperback version here, Kindle version here.
And if you’re interested in seeing his other work, check out his author web site here.
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That toasty bed, would it be large enough for A small mature cat? She might weigh 8 lbs.
I believe so! I think a full-sized (not small) cat would probably fit in it. This version of the Toastycat bed has a little more give to it, so I don’t think it would be a tight squeeze even for a bigger cat. (Though that said, I don’t think that Charlie – who weighs nearly 20 pounds – would fit in it!)
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I didn’t realize the crate was still open for business. Do they still go in?
They do still go into the crate, especially on cold nights (there’s a heated bed in the crate.) I have cameras in the foster room, and most nights if I peek in via the camera, I can see at least Shelby, but more often all three of the girls curled up in there, each in a different corner. Drum doesn’t seem as interested.
Usually by the time kittens are this old, I’ve put the crate away – but every time I think “Oh, I don’t think they’re using it anymore…” they start using it again!
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Drum atop the scratcher.
Clairee atop the other scratcher, tellin’ Ouiser how it is. “NO, there’s not enough room up here for us both! Wait a minute, I’m going to jump to the bed, then you can come up.”
“THAT bed? Yeah, you’re never gonna make it.”
“WATCH me!” (She made it with room to spare.)
Ouiser and Clairee, just chillin’.
Ouiser always looks so amused.
Clairee and Shelby are having a meeting to which I APPARENTLY was not invited.
Drum’s playing with that mouse; Shelby’s waiting her turn.
The kittens had visitors yesterday – a lovely family that included kids in the form of an 8 year old girl and a 4 year old girl. Not a single one of the kittens acted how I expected them to, because kittens LOVE to remind me that I don’t know anything. Here’s how they were:
Drum: I expected him to be nervous for a few minutes, but then revert to his Mister Chill nature and play and snuggle. He was THE BIGGEST CHICKEN. He hid, he hissed, he wouldn’t even be lured out with Churu. By the end of the visit, we’d gotten him out from hiding a few times, and by the end he let himself be held for a decent amount of time, but he never purred or relaxed.
Shelby: I expected her to hide, never to be seen again. She was nervous for about 5 minutes but I lured her out with Churu, and then she stayed out. She played, she jumped up after the feather teaser, she purred, and she was super interested in the kids.
Clairee: I predicted she’d be nervous for a bit, but then total lapkitten. NOPE. She hid for a while, then we pulled her out and she sat on a lap for a BRIEF moment in time, then she was outta there and hid under the little brass bed. I did pull her back out toward the end of their visit and held her myself, and finally got her to purr a bit.
Ouiser: I predicted she’d be hiding the entire time. Fred calls her “the scaredycat” because she tends to run away if you bend over to pick her up. She sat in the top of the cat tree and watched at first, then we got her out and she not ONLY sat in a couple of laps, but she started purring. She’d get down and retreat briefly if she needed a break, but the 4 year old was picking her up and carrying her around, and she was SO interested in what was going on, she was perfectly fine being held, she purred and purred. NOT what I expected at all!
I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that fosters only see the two of us, so tend to be skittish of strangers, at least at first. They’re fine once they get to their forever homes (in recent memory, Cinnaspin and Linzer, Rufous and Wren, and Mike-now-Milo were nervous and had to be fought into their carriers to go home, but were fine once they got home and had some time to decompress). With EVERY litter I tell Fred I’m going to start expanding their boundaries early – put them in a carrier, take them on a short drive, maybe visit a local pet store – and then time just gets away from me.
Once our visitors were gone, the kittens sniffed every single space they had touched, then sacked out for a long afternoon nap. Afterward, Drum came up to me and said “Hey, where’d those other people go? They seemed cool.”
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This picture of Khal was very nearly this year’s holiday card picture, but I just couldn’t get it to look like I wanted! (He’s still magnificent, though.)
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Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr) yesterday.
Happy Thlurrrpsday, from Ouiser. 😛
(Former foster, 2022) Mimosa says “geez lady, is Christmas over yet? I’m tired of all these presents and people. Bah humbug.”
(Thanks, Amy!)
YouTube link
The kittens share one (1) Churu every evening on the desk which is located in the walk-in closet where the litter boxes are. They have come to believe – no matter what time of day, no matter how hungry (or not) they are – that every single time I step foot into the closet, they should be getting Churu in their faces. I go into that closet a LOT, because I scoop a LOT. So they spend a LOT of time telling me that it’s Churu time!
November 5th (left) and December 27th: same kitten (Shelby), same chair.
Regarding Shelby: she turned 12 weeks old yesterday. Your average 12 week old kitten should weigh about 3 pounds (1360 g.) Shelby weighs 2 pounds, 14 ounces (1306 g). In other words, Shelby is now a normal weight! 🎉
She does look tiny next to the other kittens, but they all outweigh her by about a pound, so that’s to be expected. (They are 2 weeks older, and on the heavier side of normal. I think I’ve mentioned that underweight kittens are not to be tolerated here on the Love & Hisses campus. I won’t have it, you hear me?)
All the kittens are scheduled for their spays/neuter on January 24th. I’ll start “advertising” them as available (their profiles will go up on Petfinder and Facebook) next week once the holiday is over and we’re back to life as normal, but if you’ve got your eye on one, two, three, or all four of these guys (a girl can dream), feel free to drop an email to Forgotten Felines of Huntsville at info (at) ffhsv.org to get the ball rolling.
YouTube link
Shelby has a purr – it’s a quiet one, but it’s there!
Line ’em up! From left: Shelby, Drum, Clairee & Ouiser. Only Clairee was kind enough to give me a thlurrrp to round out #Thlurrrpsday, but at least someone was willing!
Good night innernets. (Clairee & Ouiser)
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Previously
2022: Linny in a box.
2021: So basically the night went fine, and Ivy has access to the whole house 24/7 now.
2020: Say hello to Moira Rose.
2019: Boxing Day: not just for the kitties.
2018: No entry.
2017: No entry.
2016: “Three tracks, you say?!”
2015: She takes her snoopervisory role very seriously.
2014: Going Home.
2013: No entry.
2012: No entry.
2011: Charlie Peppers finds himself in a pickle.
2010: No entry.
2009: He’s the happiest boycat on earth.
2008: No entry.
2007: I AM McStupid.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
What program are you using for your new watermark. Love the effect and placement on the photos!
For the social media pictures, I use Picmonkey. I use it for a lot of pictures that need text added (like the sidebar pics) and I find it simple to use. For the regular blog post pictures I use uMark6 (though I may go to Picmonkey for all of them – I bought uMark several years ago and find it easy to use when I need to watermark a bunch of pictures at once.)
Hapy New Year !! I look forward to your posts everyday! Thank you for being here !
“Usually by the time kittens are this old, I’ve put the crate away – but every time I think “Oh, I don’t think they’re using it anymore…” they start using it again!”
Winter explains it, with the heated bed.
Khal is indeed magnificent.
Drum seems to live up to his name: he’s got his own drum and he marches to it. Alone. 🙂
Were the visitors potential adopters?
Yep! They put in an application for Ouiser this morning. They have a 1 1/2 year old cat who needs a friend, and I think she’ll be perfect.
Hmm, just occurred to me. I’m not in a position to adopt a couple of kittens right now but if I were — their names are spot on. My mother and her sister, both gone now, were very close. Mom’s name was Louise, and my aunt was Claire. Oooooooooh.
Wishing you and Mr. Robyn and all the permanent furry Robyns a very good year to come. Happy 2024!