9-19-13

Posted on by Robyn

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Okay, to answer some of the questions you guys asked yesterday – our new Mom cat was one of many cats who were being fed by an elderly woman. Her neighbor was helping to have the cats spayed and neutered, and before our Mom could be spayed, she gave birth (those are some very lucky kittens!) She’s estimated to be between two and three years old, and yes – she reminds me of Khaleesi, too! I need to get a side by side comparison of the two. I think there’s a general resemblance, color-wise, but our new Mom has a more triangular face.

Also, Mom is doing a great job of keeping the babies fed, but I’m keeping a close eye on their weight and if need be, I’ll step in to help supplement the feeding. So far, they don’t seem to need it.

I think I said I was going to wait ’til after the weekend to name them, but who am I kidding? We have a theme, we have the names, and now they’ve been assigned! Let’s see if you can guess the naming theme (which Fred suggested).


Livia.


Adriana.


Carmela.


Dr. Melfi. (Who is a girl, by the way, and YES. I did just name a kitten “Dr. Melfi.” Just don’t ask to see her medical license.)


Meadow.


Tony.


Silvio.


Paulie Walnuts.

Collectively, they’ll be known as The Sopranos.

If there’d been more boys, we absolutely were going to go with the Breaking Bad naming theme. I suggested (and Fred shot down) naming them after varieties of apples. He suggested (and I shot down) naming them after characters from Boardwalk Empire. Y’all had a lot of good name ideas, but I have to tell you that I am NOT naming kittens after The Seven Dwarves, because as any foster mom would tell you, naming a kitten Sneezy is just asking for trouble!

I have saved many of your suggestions to my “Potential Kitten Names” list, so you very well may see them in the future. Thanks for the great suggestions!

Hey, check out the top of Adriana’s head.

Sometimes it looks like a heart, and sometimes it just looks like a splotch. It depends on whether Livia’s been licking her on top of the head or not.


Check out the spotted belly on Carmela!


Time to eat!


“What doon, lady?”

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Norbie certainly does like those reusable grocery bags! (Pay no attention to all that dust in the air.)


Silly boy.


Crazy eyes!


Norbie toes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Stefan, hanging out on the front porch.

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Previously
2012: Rough life, Pickle Joe.
2011: She’s no shy, retiring violet when it comes to kicking her brother’s butt!
2010: No entry.
2009: Beulah update!
2008: No entry.
2007: The best picture ever taken on the face of this planet.
2006: Maddy Milk face.
2005: I have a feeling that bleach is going to be my best friend for the foreseeable future.

Comments

57 thoughts on “9-19-13”

  1. The Sopranos! Perfect. 🙂 I have to say, seeing a little wee kitten named Paulie Walnuts is hilarious!

    Welcome little family!

  4. I thought you couldn’t reuse kitten names? You already had a Tony…

    So, is the mom letting you handle the kittens without stressing?

    1. No, we had a Tony (Rocky Horror)Pickle. There have (surprising to me, actually) not been any just Tonys used by the shelter.

      Mom is totally letting us handle those kittens without stressing. As long as they don’t do their panicked scream, she’s happy to rest on the other side of the room and snooze while we mess with her kittens. (And even when they do the panicked scream, she just comes over and licks them on the head.) She is such a good girl!

      1. He was actually named that whole thing? I thought the Rocky Horror part was a nickname you gave him, like Magoo.

        This makes me think tou could have a litter named after awards? Or did you do that already? Oh wait, you did. The Noms.

        1. I wasn’t intending it to be his official name (I might have secretly told the shelter manager that he could just be “Tony Pickle” officially without telling Fred), but that’s how he’s listed in the names list, so I didn’t ask any questions. 🙂 It probably did just say “Tony Pickle” on his adoption paperwork, though.

  5. Judging by Carmela’s adorable round belly, they really are well fed.

    I lost track (partly because I haven’t watched the series): how many boys and girls? And how do you tell the tabbies apart?

    1. There are three boys (Tony, Silvio & Paulie Walnuts), and four girls (Carmela, Dr. Melfi, Adriana, and Meadow). Telling the brown tabbies apart is hard – I’m not sure I could do it without my cheat sheet, but there are differences, I just have to look closely for them. Carmela has no white fur, Tony has a half-pink, half-black nose. Silvio has a lot of white around his chest, and in fact the white goes around his neck in a “ring.” And Dr. Melfi is the other one! 🙂

  6. You are determined to make me watch more* television, aren’t you? First, Game of Thrones and now, The Sopranos. I have only a small idea of who these people are, but the names are adorable. I have a feeling Paulie Walnuts is going to be my favorite… a kitten with the name Paulie Walnuts is bound to be a character.

    One of my favorite fosters ever could very well have been named Sneezy. Abby left snot trails around my house for months and she was the best kitten ever. But yeah, I could see where naming a foster Sneezy is just asking for trouble. That Dr. Melfi looks like she’s got Grumpy down pat, though 😉

    *Not to imply that I’m one of those anti-television watching people. Believe me, I watch my share. But I am tight with a buck and do not pay for premium cable… which is apparently keeping me from television programs of actual quality.

    1. There are so many good shows out there, it’s hard to keep up! I haven’t watched Downton Abbey yet, but it’s my goal to watch them all before the new season starts. So I expect there will be Downton Abbey names in the future. 🙂

  10. The Sopranos – perfect. I LOVED James Gandolfini and the show so much! YAY! The kittens and momma are soooo pretty! Ooooh and Norbie has black toe beans! I love that you ‘featured’ Stefan! All is good!!!!!

  11. When saw Mum was called Livia, I thought you were using I Claudius! (I never watched the Sopranos)but I watched I Claudius in the 1970s and of course Livia is Augustas Ceasers wife

    1. I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who thought “I, Claudius” at first! (Which a Roman themed litter would be pretty cool!) But as soon as I saw Adriana, fuh giddabout it, I knew we had a Sopranos litter! 😉

      I hope Livia is a MUCH better mother than her namesake was, and I hope the kittens keep the profanity to a minimum!! 🙂

      1. Me too, that is NOT a name what I think of when I think maternal love. I understand that they used that name in Sopranos because they wanted to evoke the OTHER Livia.

        Fig anyone?

        1. On the other hand, if she was like Livia Augusta one of the boy kittens would end up Emperor of the Cats….

      3. I second your hope for Livia, but I think profane kittens would be freaking hilarious. They could be unedited on DCEP and use minced oaths over here.

          1. ‘I Claudius’ was an amazing production,lots of truly wonderful actors and Sian Phillips made a great Livia Drusilla.
            A Roman litter would be cool, Tiberius, Nero or Caligula would suit cats, especially if the Caligula had white boots or mittens,and especially if they are hunters.

  12. Oh Norbie! You, with the 2-toned toes and the crazy eyes and the bag-playing. You SLAY me with all the cuteness!

  13. Is Popeye in Athens Alabama or Athens Georgia? Is there an Athens Alabama? He’s just gorgeous. I’d be on my way to get him right this very second if it wasn’t for my two scaredy cats who would probably never ever come out again. Lordy – he’s just beautiful.

    Da baybees!!!! Oh oh oh. somewhat speechless today at this whole post but filled with the need to comment anyway. 🙂

    1. It’s in Alabama (I edited the post to add that, just in case others have that question!). Doesn’t he look like a sweetheart?

  14. Well, I’m sure you will pardon me Robyn if I have never watched Sopranos-don’t know who these characters are, and call them all (silently in my head) by the cute Autumn names I wrote down yesterday.

    1. Of course! 🙂 I think we all know they’re going to end up with nicknames that are NOTHING like their original name before too long, anyway.

      1. I have never watched Sopranos either, & probably never will (TJ’s been bone nearly a year and a half, and the only time I’ve even turned the TV on was when he’s come home to visit!), but I’ll still call them by their given names. Hey, I walk around in a palpable miasma of confusion all the time already – I don’t need to make it any worse than it already is!

        LOL can you imagine if we did that to people?! First day of school: “All right class, settle down, it’s time to call attendance. Please stand up when I call your name. Amanda? Hello, dear, nice to meet you. You know, I’ve always liked ‘Butterfly’ for a girl’s name; I’ll be calling you Butterfly in my classroom. All right, next, Jason? Tuck your shirt in, dear – and I think… hmm, yes, I think you’re more a ‘Hercules’ type. All right, be seated, Hercules.” LOL What a mess it’d be!

        1. The Romans did that all the time, because everyone had the same names. All girls from the Julii family would be named “Julia” – meaning a Julian Girl. If you had more than one, they would be numbered Julia One, Julia Two… or be Julia and little Julia.

          Men were almost as bad, as a branch of the family only had three or so male names that they reused for everyone every generation. To tell the family branches, the founder got a nickname. The Julii Caesares branch came from an ancestor with fine hair – Caesar means essentially “Hairy”. The famous Julius Caesar was always sort of embarrassed that he was balding.

          Many of these nicknames are rude and insulting, but used all the same.

          1. Ah, a fellow Romanophile! I just rearranged my bookshelves last night and realized it’s been a while since I’ve dipped into any of my Roman Empire-based reads; I’m bored with everything else so I’ll probably renew my acquaintance with the Empire. Any recommendations, author-wise? (I also need to finish with The Inheritance of Rome – I left it in the car some months ago and it got buried under various odds and ends so I forgot about it, but I dug it out this week. Fascinating stuff.)

            1. Colleen McCulloch’s books starting from “First Man in Rome” are great – good history and good fiction too.

              Stephen Saylor has a line of Mysteries starting with Roman Blood that are good for the first half dozen books or so.

              I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves are good.

              if you want Non-Fiction, there are the classics like Lives of the 12 Caesars, or Tacitus, Plutarch, Livy. Peter Heather has a book I liked on the Fall of Rome. Pen and Sword books has a whole mess of new, readable histories in the Era that are mostly good stuff.

              1. I’ve been trying to get through “First Man in Rome” for the better part of five years – I can see and admire CM’s literary skill, I just can’t appreciate it firsthand too well.

                Saylor’s Roma (which goes back some ways pre-Romulus and Remus to speculate on what might have drawn the first humans to the proto-Rome area) is one of my favorites, but I haven’t delved into his mysteries. I’ve usually found what I think you’re hinting at – series, especially mystery series, tend to degenerate after the first handful. There are only so many plot devices that can be used before they border on the absurd – although given the relative unfamiliarity of the settings, a skilled author can keep the audience hooked simply on the novelty of it.

                Claudius the God has been on my wishlist for a while – just need to remember it when I’m in an ordering mood!

                Some of my favorites are those who blend the British and Celtic myths and histories with those of the Roman – Ruth Downie has a really great series out about Ruso, a Roman physician who’s been assigned to Alexandria (where he saved the life of Emperor Trajan during an earthquake), then to Brittania. By blending the two unfamiliar (to most modern readers) settings, plus all the variants possible with the wide-ranging differences between two British tribes separated by a mere day’s walk, she’s got a lot of material to draw from, and throwing the medical compendium in on TOP of all that – well. They’re written more for a female audience, but not specifically so. (Too many of the interesting-at-first-pass books I find are, sadly, just Harlequin romances dressed up in vaguely period-appropriate costuming and scenery; they all end up with the same heaving bosoms and stormy weeping and nothing of any real interest or consequence except, occasionally, some good sex scenes. I want to get a feel for the people behind the dates and facts, yes, but I don’t want to just be feeling those people UP!)

                Have you read, or heard anything pro or con about, Gene Wolfe’s Latro trilogy? (In no particular order: Soldier in the Mist, Latro in the Mist, and something else I can never remember.) The only one of Gene Wolfe’s books I’ve ever purchased put me off of him so much I’m reluctant to try anything else, no matter how glowing the reviews, but I keep being drawn to these three, in part because of the theme. Latro is, of course, Greek, but I’ve found that typically people with an interest in Roman history tend to have some overlap interest in Greek, and vice versa, though sometimes that overlap “interest” runs to “virulent hatred.”

                And now I’ll stop using Robyn’s kitten website to natter on about books and Romans and Greeks, oh my. (sorry, thanks, i’ll try to lay off the bigdrugs before posting again)

  15. YEAH!!! what a bunch of cuties….. (btw – when mom volunteered at the humane society they did an entire day of apples – thank heaven for google – it was pretty funny…they also did fish day and taco day – mom loves her a good theme).

    As for 7 dwarves – you also have to wonder what the name “dopey” would do to a kittens self esteem. 🙂

    1. What kind of names did they get for taco day? I’m really interested in that one!

      (As to Dopey, I think it would depend on if he was using or dealing… a positive cash flow can offset a lot of labeling-inflicted negativity! lol)

  16. I live about half an hour from Beacon and learned about this fire when I was in town on Sunday and heard people talking about it on the street. It’s heartbreaking and people are really upset about it. Beacon is a small river town (it’s right on the Hudson) and is fighting its way back from the decline that a lot of these river towns have suffered through in the last few decades. It’s got a great community spirit. Even their local state assemblyman is helping with collecting donations of supplies to the sanctuary. I don’t have much money to donate so I’ll lend my time if they need volunteers.

    Thank you for letting people know about the cat sanctuary and their need for help.

  17. Oh, those little faces! You just want to pick them all up and give them a big, ol’ smooch. 😀 I love the picture “What doon, lady?”

  19. I was going to suggest apples but I thought you did them already. Was it potatoes? Tomatoes?

    Did you ever do a macaroni theme? Rigatoni, penne, ziti, tortellini, etc.

    1. We did potatoes AND tomatoes (the Taters and the Maters – Stompers was a Tater, but I cannot for the life of me remember his real name. Cicero, I think). Also, just ’cause Fred didn’t like the apples theme doesn’t mean I’m not going to use it in the future. He isn’t the boss of me ALL the time. 🙂

      I haven’t done a pasta theme, but I think another foster mom did, I’ll have to check.

  20. They are lovely little kittens and I’m glad Livia is such a good mama. It was also nice to know that the apple names were proposed. (I would boo Fred for rejecting them, but as Alice approves of him, I’ll abide by her judgment.)

    This is probably an odd request, but everyone here is certainly likely to be a cat lover and I do believe that good thoughts can make a difference (and at least certainly won’t hurt.)

    I’ve been fighting fleas in the house and have had to do without much chemical treatment due to multiple sensitivities in my cats. I’ve found that fleas here in Pennsylvania (where I am a new resident) are far worse than I ever encountered in Florida, and carry all sort of extra nasties. Already suffering from a little anemia, one of my girls got hit with a parasitical infection that greatly (and quickly) worsened it. She’s at the vet clinic now, in kitty ICU, and will be receiving a blood transfusion this afternoon. Her name is Chloe and she’s a lovely black/white mask and mantle cat.

    I’m sort of in shock at this point, and while I hope y’all won’t think it too weird of me to ask, anything that I can do to help her, I will. So if any good thoughts could be spared for her, they would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    2. Fleas are no fun – I feel like I am constantly battling them here in SC and I remember how they tormented my sweet Boo in her elderly years. 🙁

      Get well soon Chloe – hugs!!

      1. SC Amy,

        Please see my comment below to Delany about a new flea product that would really help your situation. E-mail me at charlenelinfu (a) gmail.com so I can tell you about it.

    3. Delany,

      I have something that will help you keep the fleas away once you’ve managed to clear them out of your house and your cats. It is totally non-toxic, chemical-free, 100% safe and will keep away all external parasites, including fleas & ticks — plus it is about 1/20th the price of the monthly topical flea meds like Frontline, Advantage & etc. I’ve mentioned it in the L&H Comment section a couple of times before. But I don’t want to appear to be using Robyn’s blog as advertising space, so please contact me directly: charlenelinfu (a) gmail.com

  21. ***swoon*** I knew you were going to bring in another foster family !!! YOu sneaky lady !!!

    I have to say I am LOVING how many calico/torties there have been lately !!

    We need a squirming mass video. Is Mama talkative ? She is BEAUTIFUL !!!! So looking forward to watching them grow every day !!

    Norbie jelly bean toes !! nuff said about that.

  24. I love the Apple naming theme idea! There are so many cool apple names. I’m giggling over the thought of a wee kitten named Granny Smith.

    What adorably squirmy fluffballs!

    Norbie’s toes are the best.

    I would like to inform you that it is entirely your fault that I say things to my cat like “What doon, kitty?”

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