About this time last year, we had a litter of bottle babies known as the Squash Bugs. One of them was Calabash, who looked like this:
And this:
When she was skeptical, she looked like this:
You might remember that she had an upside-down heart on her little bitty kitten butt.
When I was on vacation (and yes, I’ve been back almost two weeks now, and I am STILL scattered and disorganized!), I got an email from Cierra, who said:
Long time since I’ve emailed you. But I thought I’d give you an update on one of your squash babies! Calliope (as u know her Calabash) and I have had some adventures. Yesterday was her birthday and we cooked a little bit of salmon and gave it to her. She’s such a demanding diva.
She still has her green teddy, and she viciously attacks the dogs if one of them tries to play with it.
She has an obsession with the outdoors…we have to move her out of the way whenever one of the dogs go out. Because she thinks she should go out with them.
One night when my nephew stayed over he didn’t realize she goes out behind the dogs. So that night we looked all over the house for her and couldn’t find her. We made jokes about her being outside,but everyone agreed she’s probably hiding like she does often. So I went to sleep but ended up having a bad dream about something happening to her. I opened the back door and she was there on the porch stretching and super dirty. I didn’t let my nephew open the back door any more lol.
She hates to see me read so she jumps in my lap only then, and loves to sleep at the end of the bed. And is addicted to cat nip to a dangerous degree…she needs an intervention.
But she really is a lovable kitty for the most part, and I love her rambunctious spirit. I’ve attached some photos so you can see how big she’s gotten!
Thank you so much for the update and pictures, Cierra! You know we love seeing that sweet girl!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teresa took this great picture a couple of weeks ago, and I got permission to share it. That’s Winnie – who I have mentioned many, many times – holding Willow, mother to Spruce, Juniper and Cypress. It’s nice to put a face to the name, isn’t it?
Willow, by the way, is still at Petsmart, available for adoption. By all reports, she’s a goofy, kittenish girl, and she’s currently having a great time playing with Glenn and Daniel, two little brown tabby kittens who have been there for almost a week.
Adoptions are super slow right now, I hope they start picking up!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the next couple of weeks, RileysStar Jewelry is giving Challenger’s House 20% of their sales – go check out their shop (they’ve got some really cute stuff!) and when you place an order, be sure to note “Challenger’s House” in the “note to seller” section. Go check it out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spruce has his eye on the feather teaser – and Cypress has his eye on the person running the feather teaser!
Hemlock went over to rub up against Privet, who had eyes only for the feather teaser.
Those little faces just kill me dead. DEAD, I SAY.
Juniper sniffing Hemlock’s ear while keeping her eye on the feather teaser cracks me up.
“Watchin’ you, lady.” (Juniper)
From this angle, Spruce’s white locket looks nothing like a heart.
Oh, that innocent little face with the wide eyes. “Who, me? Nothin’. Why you ask, lady?”
“I sees you, lady,” says Cypress while Juniper watches him from the little cat tree.
Over the weekend, I opened the closet door to see if the kittens would spend all their time hiding in there. They didn’t, and in fact they thought that having that extra space was AWESOME, and they spent all day and night racing-racing-racing in and out of the closet, running through the litter boxes and scattering litter everywhere. Yesterday morning, Fred and I put them all in the bathroom and I scrubbed the room and moved the litter boxes into the closet.
Sometimes I swear it sounds like there’s a herd of elephants up there. It’s amazing how loud they can be when they get going!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alice Mo, the calico
Says “you don’t need those stinkin’ kittens, yo.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2015: No entry.
2014: All these boys have such pretty eyes.
2013: “I love the smell of sisal in the morning.”
2012: He wants to be HELD, he wants to be PETTED, he wants to make biscuits in the AIR, and he wants it NOW.
2011: She’s a lovah, not a biter.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: I love this goofy little cat.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Luckily his Zapping Collar o’ Doom is water resistant.