Our internet and phone went down a few times yesterday, so I guess things are still a bit iffy. I finally had to go over to the gas station down the road to call the shelter manager and talk to her about Dorothy and how things are doing at the shelter. They still don’t have power out there, and I guess it could be as late as Friday before they do. There are FoCH (Friends of Challenger’s House, of course) where they can go for meals and to take showers, so they’re okay. They did get dangerously low on litter (which is something you don’t want to do in a shelter of 60+ cats!), but managed to get through Sunday, when they were able to get to Walmart and get their regular order of 800 pounds of litter. They didn’t lose any trees, and the shelter is high enough so that they weren’t affected by flooding, so if they could just get their power back, they’d be doing well.
The schools aren’t back in until at least tomorrow, I believe, and Fred finally went back to work this morning. We’re ready for life to go back to something approximating normal, but I keep thinking of those poor people who lost their homes and loved ones, and how life won’t go back to normal for them for a long, long time.
The radio stations did a fantastic job of keeping us informed and keeping information circulating, WDRM and WZYP in particular. They aired the press conferences and just generally kept repeating where those who needed help could find it, and it was really just pretty comforting to sit and listen to the calls.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to slap up some cute kitten pics and then head off to Tennessee. Miss Dorothy has a date with the vet for testing and possibly for spaying (she’s a bit over 2 pounds on my scale), so off we go!
“Dude, your brakes are shot. And you need an oil change. Also, your tires are bald. This is gonna cost you a pretty penny.”
“An’ then she dumped us all in a CRATE, an’ then she ran downstairs with us and put us in the CLOSET!”
“It was skeery.”
Macushla tries to decide whether he’s up for a cuddle, or if he’ll just sink his claws into my leg.
They love to climb into my lap and fight with each other. It’s pretty painful on the rare occasion that I forget to change into jeans before I enter the room.
Pouty princess is pouty.
Silly Fergus Simon. Note that his eyes are thinking about starting to change color. Wahhh!
“I bite you butt.”
“They’re going to stick what in my where? No thanks, I’ll just stay right here!”
Alice and Rufus enjoy their daily egg yolk.
“What storms? What water? What internet outage?”
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Previously
2010: “What? I’m just rolling around, here. I’m not gonna steal your box!”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: My feng is not shui’d, and it’s annoying me.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Thanks for my Rufus fix. So do all the grown-ups get daily egg yolks? Good luck, Dorothy! Love the last photo — and caption.
Egg yolk? Do they have to worry about samonella (sp?) or such? Honest question. Sorry!
Love the pic and comment-ary! Made me smile. They are all just so lovely!
IIRC Salmonella is a result of overcrowded factory farms where chickens are crammed into tiny cages and are susceptible to infections (which they pass on to their eggs). In those places, the chickens are not only standing in their own excrement, but are pooping all over themselves and the other chickens. Add to that relaxed FDA inspections and you get a widespread Salmonella problem.
My guess is that eggs from well-cared-for, free range chickens such as George and Gracie’s are not likely to have that problem since the hens are not likely to be infected nor are they forced to be in infectious environments.
Thank you Doodle Bean. I suspected that but just wasn’t sure. Safety first! 🙂
Seems everyone’s interested in the egg yolk. And to think you slipped it in as if nothing was unusual. Tomorrow are you going to have a picture of the kittens putting little kitten underpants on their heads and going out to ride the dogs like they do every Tuesday?
F&T,
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! You’re giving it all away! Next thing you know, everyone will be finding out about the polo matches and cigar smoking!!!!!!!
No cigars….hookah!
Y’all are ALL ruining the surprise! 😛
now THAT I want see!
From the first photo, one of the McMaos looks a lot bigger than the others – is that true? How much do they differ in size from each other? And their bellies are looking so nice and round!
The kittens are actually all within about 2 ounces, weight-wise, of each other. I think it was just the different positions they were in that made them look so different, size-wise.
I can’t tell just from the photos, but kittens can vary a great deal in size within the same litter. With a former feral (or wild mating) it can be even greater because each kitten can have a different father; most litters probably have at least two if the female is anywhere near a group of intact males.
Oh, I love the kittens’ striped pyjamas!
Oh, I’m so glad everyone and everything is OK. The storms would have been bad enough; storms with freaked.out.cats would have been something out of a Stephen King novel.
Kittens. They look so much bigger! Waaaahhh is right! And who is this lovely Miss Dorothy? Did she come in with the storm?
Brigitte, check yesterday’s entry for the details, but in short, yes. Miss Dorothy was blown in by the tornado (although honestly, I have no idea if that’s true, that’s just what we’re assuming!)
Glad things are getting back to normal. I still laugh when I picture you trying to “herd” all the cats into the closet!!!
We are so glad you are all ok and that Challengers House is ok too. It is good you have cute kittens to calm your nerves too!
And boy, I can’t tell you how fun it is to read the kittens “talking” and hear them in my head. It cracks me up so much!
I didn’t realize you did your vetting in another state – that is kind of funny! We are sending lots of good luck and be healthy purrs and wishes to Dorothy! We hope the tests are all good and that she is spayable (she is just so gorgeous – not that you have ever had kitties that were anything other than gorgeous of course!)
We’re so close to the Tennessee border that I often drive out of Alabama and to Tennessee to drop the kittens off at the shelter, then continue down the same road back to Alabama to get to the shelter, then loop back home down a different road. From here to the vet is about a 25 minute drive, so it’s not too bad. I like the vet so much that I take some of our cats there, too. Especially Miz Poo, with all her issues and problems. 🙂
Wait — Miz Poo has issues beyond the most obvious one, her name? Sorry to hear that.
Those kittens seem enormous after not seeing them for a few days (caught up with yesterday’s post just now; how was I too busy for my kitten-fix?). They look like “proper” kittens now; all ready to have pink or blue bows put on and posed for chocolate box pictures.
Oh thank goodness the shelter is ok and they now have litter! Oh dear!! Yay for them!
Now will you look at these gorgeous kitties!! Kitties kitties everywhere!! BEAUTIFUL!! Awwwwww!!!
Good luck with Dorothy!! She’s a stunner!!!
Thanks for these gorgeous pics and the updates!! Oh I give up! Who is that blissfully unaware and ever so gorgeous kitty at the end? Sugarbutt?!?! Sorry if I got the name wrong!! Off I go! take care
x
I’m so glad that all y’all are okay, and that Dorothy managed to find you. How amazing is it that the tornado managed to set her down on your street???? 😉
Aaww, how cute is everybody?! Cutest babies in the land! Hey, Princess pouty – pucker up, sweetheart! the boys and their baby teeths, soo cute! Ahh, Dorothy, you won’t remember a thing…and Rufus and Alice, mmm, chicken!
Take care everybody!
PS: thought I’d come back here and see which of your resident cats was the oldest as I am having to face the reality that my Niles is leaving really soon, and as Ii went to leave i thought ‘eh, I’ll hit LIKE IT’ on the stumble upon toolbar and whaddya know – nobody had reviewed L&H up till now! I gave you a thumbs up and a good review but I would have expected you to have a had a thumbs up well beofre now…ah, did any of that make sense??