An organized person, knowing that Andouille (now Andre) and Beignet (now Bella) would be going home yesterday, would have said to herself “Oh, they’re going home soon, it’s time to start trying to get a few family portrait pictures!” In the Organized Universe, Organized Robyn took those pictures a week ago or POSSIBLY as late as over the weekend, and Organized Robyn posted those pictures in her organized Love & Hisses post, and everyone oohed and ahhhed.
(Organized Robyn can organize a schedule for kissing my butt.)
Here in this scattered universe, I reminded myself EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of last week that I needed family portraits. This-Universe Robyn often seems to think that THINKING of doing something is the same as actually doing it. So I woke up yesterday morning around 7:00 in a panic that NO FAMILY PORTRAITS HAD BEEN TAKEN.
And that, my friends, is why the family portraits in today’s post are not what they should have been.
But I know you’ll forgive me, because you are far too kind. I would promise to be better about it in the future, but all of us in ALL the universes know better than that.
Because I could not convince Nola to get up on the bed with her kittens, the part of Nola in most of these pictures will be played by Dewey. Dewey is not floofy nor is he a mother nor is he even female, but the female cats in this house are of the “NOPE” variety when it comes to kittens, so. You play the cards you’re dealt, am I right?
The problem with wildly waving a feather teaser over my head to get a bunch of kittens to look my way is that some smartypants always figures out that if they go over on the recliner in the corner, they’ve got a better chance of getting the teaser, and they go wandering out of the picture.
Well, that came out pretty good! Left to right: Dewey, Roux, Praline, Beignet and Andouille.
Pretty much the same picture, this time without the flash.
Eventually, to get Nola in the picture with her kittens, I had to lure them in where she was. Listen, it’s not perfect, but it works. Mama’s present, all kittens are there, we’re going to call it done.
One last complaint from Andouille to Nola, who was deeply concerned as she gazed across the room at the food bowl.
Praline gets a smooch from Andouille.
The Floofy Ones, hanging out and waiting to go home.
Beignet and Praline, hanging out.
A last portrait of The Ornj One.
A last portrait of The Spotted One.
A last shot of the two of them together. It would have been nice if they’d looked my way to make it perfect, but why would they suddenly start cooperating with me?
While I was welcome to accompany Michelle and Brittany as they delivered Andre/Andouille and Beignet/Bella to their new home, I preferred to hand the kittens off and let them handle the delivery. Something about that little bit of distance makes it easier for me to say goodbye. I will say that those kittens handled themselves really well – I mean, consider that they had literally never been in a car until yesterday. They handled the ride just fine, only offering up a few confused meows. And at Michelle’s, they were set free to explore and say hi to the other cats who were there. Andre/Andouille explored more than his sister, but even she checked things out. I’m sure by the time they got to their new home, their little minds were blown, but by all accounts it sounds like things went pretty well.
Nola, Praline and Roux don’t appear to have noticed anything different at all. It always blows me away when kittens are like “Yes, my brother and sister appear to have vanished. Is that a jar of cat treats in your hand, and what’s taking you so long to hand them out?”
I should have mentioned this in yesterday’s post – none of the kittens have been fixed yet. Andre/Andouille and Bella/Beignet are actually foster-to-adopt, and will be spayed and neutered at a later date. Roux and Praline are going to be spayed next Tuesday, and then will come back here to recover. Nola’s already been spayed.
Which is to say – want a couple of adorable tabby girls who have sproingy legs and/or a floofy beauty with the world’s most fabulous tail? Drop an email to info (at) ffhsv.org or contact them on Facebook.
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Joe Bob gives Fred the Eyes of Lurve.
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Previously
2016: “HI, Unca Stefan! Hi!”
2015: #Skelton has a skeptical. “I does not NEED to be tutored, lady, I am already super smart!”
2014: I love the whiskers in the sun, and also love Dennis’s face, all “WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOING ON?!”
2013: “He’s sucking the life out of me, lady.”
2012: “That little stomping brat always steals all the attention and I DON’T LIKE IT!”
2011: “OH MY STARS! Doesn’t ANYONE ever vacuum this room? Look at this mess!”
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Warning: May cause cavities due to the sheer utter adorable cuteness.
2007: One of these things is not like the others,.
2006: No entry.
2005: Edgar would just like to sleep, please.
I’ve been following your adventures with these kittens from the beginning and I want to thank you for letting them become a part of my day – it might seem silly but they brought light to my days in so many ways, even if only through a screen..this is because I miss my own cats so much.. I have two cats, but they are staying at my mom’s since I work in a big city and have no room for them, and I miss them every day. When my third one left us unexpectedly due to a serious and quick disease, I was really in shock to notice that the other two barely noticed his absence. But a couple of days later we spotted Mocha and Pedro sniffing around where their lil brother used to sleep, and cuddling there for a bit. Cats are incredible and sensitive creatures, they’re just better than us humans in hiding their emotions 🙂 Anyway, I also wanted to congratulate for all you manage to do with these beauties, you really are a good person! Ciao from Italy!
Ciao, Giulia! 🙂 I bet you miss your babies so much, I’m glad that reading Love & Hisses helps a bit. I think you’re right – I’m certain that in their own way Roux and Praline miss their brother and sister, and I’ll see more signs as time goes on.
Well, let me tell you that in my Alternate Universe 19-year old cats don’t fart at 2am while laying on your hair/pillow while his brother has decided your foot must.die (cue George Costanza mumbling “serenity now…” loudly), so yeah. Alternate Universe Robyn needs to be taken down a peg or two, lol. Real Universe Robyn’s family portraits look perfect, complete with the handsome Lola stand-in.
Haha – good luck finding THAT universe! 😉
I’m not sure I’d be friends with Alt-Robyn
In the first…um… portrait, they look a little dazed as to how they all got there – especially Andouille. LOL
Dewela makes a mighty fine lady. ( nr nr…nr nr… dude looks like a lady…nr nr…nr nr…
Bwahahaha! Dude looks like a lady. Classic!
I am sending MUCH, MUCH, MUCH love to Robyn for the great job she did in raising Andre and Bella to be such loving, playful kittens. Yes, they were a bit overwhelmed when they first arrived, but quickly decided that “this place is OK too!” Bella is still a bit shy, but Andre marches around like he owns the place (which he does). They slept on our bed last night and we only had a couple of hissing episodes. The good thing is that while Jessie hisses at them, she shows no aggression. Andre has found the tall climbing poles and is having a blast. They are both hanging out with me right now which is wonderful. I will get pictures published today on their Facebook page.
Woohoo! So glad to hear there wasn’t any drama. That’s great that they already decided it was ok to sleep with you. When we got Pippin and Merry it took about a week or two before they realized they could sleep on the bed with the big scary grownup cats and dog. After that they had no hesitation to go anywhere.
You realize that you’ve signed up for a world of mischief and chaos with Andre, right?
All I ask is that you get pictures of some of it and post them!
I am SO glad the first night went well. I bet it only gets better! 🙂
Whenever I have kittens leaving Casa de Gato I always tell them that they will get to sleep in a bed with a person.. it is like the goal. 🙂
Organized Robyn sounds a lot like Organized Holly. Sometimes she shows up and stuff gets done quite nicely, other days she convinces Reg Holly to just THINK about things and that will be fine. She is quite exasperating! The pics are fine though. I was thinking don’t you have Momma/baby pics of all of them somewhere. You could collage them and make THAT the family portrait. Dewey did a fine stand in job though.
This is a miscellaneous question but I noticed high up on the wall in your bedroom a big switch plate and raised disc.
It’s been painted over but I’m curious as to what that was, a vent or something similar?
I think it was some sort of vent – that’s about where the old chimney comes up (it’s about directly over the kitchen where they used to have a wood stove), and I think it’s got something to do with heating the upstairs. I’ll have to ask Fred, and I’ll answer this for sure in Friday’s post. 🙂
I have a round cover like that in one of my chimneys downstairs, and our houses are close in age (mine was built around 1910). I’m thinking a wood or coal burning stove was vented into it originally, since it’s next to where the kitchen is now.
I am going to really miss that Ornj feller. Please tell me and my two cats (Ezekiel and Ms. Mabel) you still have a few (several) video’s you haven’t uploaded to youtube yet. Ezekiel and Ms. Mabel come running and are always front and center when they hear the sounds of skittering, boing-boing-boing, butt waggle and hoppity-hop.
Also, I stumbled upon this on Reddit several months ago, thought you might enjoy it and keep forgetting to share it with you — Not because of the sadness, but because of the joy this other Dewbster brought to his human.
https://i.redd.it/zixqy3m4meky.jpg
Also, more vids of the Ornj feller please.
Well, in MY organized universe, I would have actually made my blog entry the night before instead of 10 AM this morning.
Farewell Andre and Bella, and may forever homes for Nola, Praline, and Roux be just around the corner!
Also, as long as we’re dreaming, in my Organized Universe, I would actually be able to GET a family portrait that’s as good as Robyn’s!