Nance, who turns 53 today! Doesn’t look a day over 48, does she?
(I KID. She’s actually turning THE BIG 4-0.)
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This morning after I was showered and dressed, I headed down the stairs. I could hear blinds clattering in either the dining room or living room. Mister Boogers smacks at the blinds when he is displeased about any random thing.
“Mister BOOGERS!” I yelled, as I stepped into the foyer. “Cut it OUT!” My eye was caught by something nasty-looking on the wall by the front door. At first I thought it was a dead bug that someone had killed and left there, but then I took a closer look and decided it must be from a cat barfing up some grass he or she had eaten outside. Our cats adore taking turns going outside, eating a ton of grass, and then coming inside to barf it up in a nasty rug-staining puddle.
“How the fuck did it get so high?” I wondered. Because this little bit of black-green nastiness was at eye level. I theorized that at the end of his or her barf cycle, the cat had shaken his head and sent the grass-barf flying. I began looking on the floor for the rest of the barf pile.
Mister Boogers rattled the blinds some more.
“Mister BOOGERS!” I bellowed. “STOP! IT! NOW!”
More blind-rattling. And then I heard a fluttering noise. And then I understood. I walked into the dining room to see Mister Boogers, crouched on the floor, his eyes wide and dark. On the other side of the room, Spot was doing the same.
Against the window fluttered a HUGE grackle. He could see the outdoors, he could SMELL the outdoors – he just couldn’t GET to the outdoors, and it was driving him nuts.
“SPUD!” I yelled up the stairs. “Bring down your hamper!”
Did I mention that this was a huge fucking grackle? Grackles are kind of evil-looking and have great big beaks and I’m sure their bite is far, far worse than their bark.
The spud brought down her hamper, and I yanked the cord so that the blinds were out of the way. The grackle flew into the window and fluttered his wings. I held the hamper up so that the open end was around the grackle, and the grackle fluttered some more.
I had no idea what to do.
“I need… something,” I said, with the half-formed idea that I’d put a magazine over the top of the hamper and carry it to the back door, two rooms away.
“Why don’t you just open the window and push the screen out?” the spud suggested.
Since it was an excellent idea – go, spud! – I did just that. When Mister Boogers saw me open the window, he knew what was going to happen next, and he ran out the cat door to sniff at the bird through the screen. I pushed a corner of the screen out, and the bird flew into the screen and grabbed on for dear life.
“No, dumbass. Go. Go out THERE, buddy!” I said. I pushed at him a little bit, and he caught sight of freedom, and flew off.
Mister Boogers ran after him, but wasn’t even close to catching him.
The interesting question is how the grackle got into the house. Did a cat catch him and bring him in, or did he come through the cat door on his own? I almost believe it’s the latter, because he was a big fucking bird and Mister Boogers didn’t seem too inclined to grab at him when he was fluttering against the window.
The funny thing is that just last night Fred’s mother and stepfather came over to check out the kittens (and bring us a loaf of sourdough bread, aka MANNA FROM HEAVEN), and his stepfather asked if we’d had any possums in the house this spring, and Fred indicated that we had not, and I said “We haven’t had any birds in the house, either!”
Famous last words.
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This is the section about the kittens.
Thanks, y’all, for your advice about the kittens. I got some advice from the lady who runs the shelter, too, and basically all I did was put out more litter boxes – in the corners where a few of them peed – and covered the spot behind the door (where a litter box won’t fit) with a towel so that if they pee, at least it won’t go on the rug.
We have officially named all the kittens. Meet:
Edgar.
Flossie.
Oy.
Peanut.
Snoopy.
Mia.
Yes, that would be two names – Oy and Mia – from the Dark Tower books. Just be glad we didn’t name one of them Roland of Gilead.
I finally figured out how to tell Edgar and Oy – the black and white kittens – apart.
Edgar.
Oy.
Edgar’s white stripe, in the middle of his face, is narrower than the white stripe Oy has. Also, the black comes down farther on the right side of Edgar’s face than it does on Oy’s. Also, Edgar has a little freckle under his chin, but that doesn’t usually show in the pictures I take.
We weighed and dewormed the kittens last night. Snoopy is the heaviest, at 1 pound, 1 ounce – which is appropo, since we named him after Tubby (“Snoopy” being Tubby’s “real” name). The smallest cat is Oy, at 12 1/2 ounces. I almost wish we’d weighed them when we first got them so I could have some idea of how much they’ve grown in the last week, but it never occurred to me. They’re definitely bigger, though – they’re growing so fast you can practically see it.
Peanut has learned, in the last day, to jump. He jumps! from one spot to another. He jumps! over my ankle. He jumps! onto his brother. Jump!Jump! Jump! I need to remember to take the camcorder upstairs with me one of these days.
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“Those stupid kittens can have their stupid room. I have MY DADDY.”]]>
Dear God, woman, axe me before you post a picture of me in that shirt.
Hey! Don’t diss the 53! 😉
I don’t get it. What’s wrong with Fred’s shirt?
I’m lovin’ the kitten pics so much (although Mister Boogers upside down is great, too).
Yeah, Fred: what’s up with the shirt??
Robyn, instead of birds getting in the house, over here it’s BATS.
I don’t relish the idea of either of them flying around, dropping lice and fleas. EWWWWWW>
I hope because I typed it and didn’t say it aloud…I didn’t jinx myself
The Kittens continue to be so freakin’ adorable! How can you stand the cuteness of it all?
i love the kittens so much! the jumping! is so adorable. my heart is just going to burst for all the fluffy cuteness.
I think that Mr. Boog needs a count down calendar until the day the stupid kittens go away! Ha Ha! Too bad he doesn’t realize they are temporary and he’s still da baby – maybe!
“Mamma mia, now I really know
My my, I could never let you go”
http://www.lyricsdomain.com/1/abba/mama_mia.html
Am I the only one singing Abba? 🙂
The names are great!
Mr. Boogs looks like he is really giving someone the “evil eye.” It’s hard to tell what Fred has on his shirt. Mr. Boogs is doing a good job of covering it up for Fred.
You MUST stop showing those dang kitten photos! It makes me want to go to my local shelter and adopt a kitty and my husband would have my hide for that!
All the new kitty names fit well….ah, but the Peanut – that one is perfect for him. Too cute.
The kitten names are perfect! So cute. I like Oy the best. Or Peanut. Or…
I think I see flowers on Fred’s shirt. Maybe it’s a girly man shirt.
Am I the only one that had no idea wtf a grackle was until more than halfway through the story? Heh!
I am in love with the kitten named Oy. Please rename Edgar to be “Vey.” It would make me so happy.
Love the kitten pictures. You do such a great job capturing the cutest pictures of them. My favorite is peanut, I could see myself getting attached to peanute. But Flossie cracks me up. She has a mustache. You may need to give her an Italian name. She kind of looks like the mustache my MIL sports on occasion. Flossie reminds me of someone, but I can’t put my finger on it.
I had a bird caught between the blinds and the windows last summer it woke me up. We have a lot of noisy birds in our neighborhood (actually yesterday morning, Jamie said I was hollering half asleep “Fucking birds!!! And me without my shotgun!!!” which considering we live right in the city, between a church and seniors’ apartments, would not be a great solution, but I was threatening to shoot the bloody things anyway).
We have floor to ceiling windows in the corner of the apartment. One faces west and does not open and the other faces north and does open. The bird was caught against the non-opening west window, could see grass and was violently thrashing between the blinds and the window. I freaked, called Jamie at the office and basically sounded so completely out of my mind he was about to call an ambulance to take me out of the place. He suggested getting Bunny, the assistant super to help me.
Eventually, once I got a little calmed down from the panic attack, I opened both sets of blinds, grabbed the bird in a dish towel and held him out the window and he flew away, just fine.
But now I hatey hate hate the birds.
Robyn, I could use some help. My grandparents are taking me on a cruise to Alaska next month, and I’ve exhausted my list of things to read, so I have nothing to bring on the trip. I read a lot of science fiction, but don’t feel like bringing that – I feel more like bringing something more cheerful and entertaining, like some of the books you sometimes recommend. Do you (or your other readers) have any particularly chewy favorites to pass along? Thanks!
Great names for the kittys Robyn. Last September when my mother got a kitten she did the same thing. Rollie, after Roland from the Dark Tower.
Julie I didn’t know what a grackle was either so I googled it once I read the first sentence, heh! But then I knew what the bird was once I saw it, just didn’t know the name. (note to self: remember to send Robyn a picture of my cat as a kitten) I love their lil bellies!! so cute!!
Robyn, your kitten pictures are just too adorable! I hope the shelter your fostering for uses some of them to help get the wee kitties adopted, ’cause your pics are waaaay better than the ones our local shelter uses on their website.
I never get enough of the kitty pics..keep ’em comin’!!!!!!!!
I think I would rather have birds than snakes. I’ve already had two in the garage this year. We figure when the lawn service puts weed killer the snakes head for the house. Not fun since I almost have a snake phobia.
BTW I love Edgar’s markings & Flossie will probably turn out to be a character. Loving all the kitten photos!!
I love Flossie’s little Salvadore Dali moustache markings. All your kittens look great… My girls, who were orphans I gave to my mom-cat to raise are good sized kittens, but the 2 boys are still peanuts. I have to take them to the shelter tomorrow to weigh them. I can now hear them running around upstairs so they maybe small, they’re still plenty active. My mom-cat spends a lot of her time on higher ground because her tail is irresistable to the babies. So much cuteness I can’t stand it.
What a bunch of cuties! I think you are really going to have your hands full in abt a week or two. Was just wondering what is the matter with some of their eyes? Is it a camera thing?
hee! Edgar is wall-eyed! I love him!
I posted in flickr before I read here. 😀
Awesome caption for that Fred pic. 😉
Robyn; in the through the cat door with the assistance of a cat would be my guess. That’s how all my bird visitors (too many to count, but most recently a grackle and a blue jay) arrive. In the mouth of a cat, who then lets them go and watches me chase them. fuckers!
Sigh, I passed by this post when reading your new one.. the whole “flashback posts” thingy you have and I miss Snoopy!!!! I used to pine over his little Kitty pics and show them to Bill and beg him to let me fly Snoopy to live with us. Sigh.. you need new kitty fosters so I can live vicariously again!! Wahhh