Boolie

The Last Temptation of Templeton

I have a Virginia Tech hoodie that I bought as a freshman and had for all the years Templeton was with us. Templeton loved that sweatshirt — specifically he loved chewing on the drawstring that tightens the hood. Every single time I wore the sweatshirt and picked him up, he’d start lunging for the string. A few years ago after a washing, the string fell out and was lost. Even so, every single time I picked up Templeton wearing that sweatshirt he’d start lunging after the string that wasn’t there.

My wife recently found the beloved maroon string, and since it was Sam’s first day out in the house, I wanted to see if he’d enjoy playing with it. It was an immediate favorite of both Sam and Emma, and somewhere up in heaven, I’m sure Templeton is looking down and smiling, and lunging for that string.

Never Play Hide-and-Seek With Bighorn Sheep

They’re terrible at hiding. Just terrible.

The Last Time I Saw This Face I Was Watching The Movie Gremlins

I know I said this blog wasn’t going all cats all the time, but …

I’ve Got My Eye on You, Little Mouse

My right eye specifically.

Happy New Year 2008

The cats and I hope that things are looking up for you as the new year dawns and wish you a Happy New Year. I first started this blog two years ago on January 1, 2006. The big news then was Templeton recovering from emergency surgery to remove a sewing needle from his stomach. Two years later, we said goodbye to Templeton a few weeks ago but are fortunate enough to be able to welcome two new cats into our home.

Today is the last day of my planned vacation, although I can take more time if I want it. The weather hasn’t been too nice here in the Northwest during my week and a half off but I haven’t minded being at home with the new cats around.

Helter Skelter

A picture of Sam playing yesterday. At first I was annoyed with myself for not doing a better job and getting everything in frame, but after a while the picture grew on me and I like the way the composition highlights the helter skelter style of his play.

Controlled Mayhem

A couple of action shots of Emma playing with her furry mice, in better focus than yesterday’s picture. She’s definitely feeling at home with us now, her first few days she didn’t play much and then pretty gently, but it’s controlled mayhem now. I’d describe Sam’s play as controlled mayhem but that would imply there was control involved. Some of my best shots of him today accidentally have him running out of the frame.

They are both playing quite a bit now and are very active, which I think is a combination of them feeling better as well as getting more comfortable with us and each other. They are also eating a lot, which may not be an issue given how much exercise they are getting, but it also means they are using the litter box a lot. Being in a closed room with them somehow becomes a little less appealing (what exactly do they put in that kitten food anyway?) — for the first few days it was raining so much I couldn’t open a window for relief, but the past couple of days I’ve been able to air out the room from time to time.

Do or Do Not, There Is No Try

After giving praise to the Oregon Humane Society and our vets at Laurelhurst, I have a major bone to pick with both of them. The Humane Society told us that Sam might have an upper respiratory infection, had diarrhea, and had been treated for fleas and ear mites. All good, we wanted to know as much of the little guy’s medical history as possible. Sam got an exam at Laurelhurst as soon as possible and it was discovered that the mites were probably gone but he had a yeast infection in his ears, so we’ve been treating that.

But how is it that both of these fine organizations neglected to tell us that little Sam has Jedi powers? I was watching Sam and Emma play with their furry mice when suddenly Sam began to levitate the albino mouse. Fortunately I had my camera in hand to document the event, as people tend to not believe me about things like this.

Maybe we should have named him Yoda?

Good Homes

Thanks to the good work of the folks at the Oregon Humane Society, such as Scott who helped us, Sam and Emma weren’t the only pets to find good homes over the Christmas holidays.

The night before we went to the Humane Society, I browsed the online list of available cats and wrote out a list of the many names, crossing out the ones that weren’t recommended for a multiple cat household. I highlighted in yellow those I thought sounded interesting, one of which was Sam (then named Candy Cane) and one of which was Emma (then named Purrana).

I’ve been browsing the recently adopted pet list at the Humane Society’s web site to see what other animals got adopted, after watching them all it was hard not to want to back up the ark to the front door and bring them all home. I’ve been happy to see so many of the cats find homes, particularly those we came close to bringing home ourselves.

There was the little black kitten, Mad Max, a playful little thing who we requested first and actually got his paperwork before we changed our mind and requested Sam, and Sam was so adorable we didn’t look for any other kittens so young. I was happy to see that Mad Max got adopted later, as did his cage mate Will Smith. So did Snowflake, a lovely creature who was next on our list if we didn’t go with Emma.

Isis also found a home, an energetic black kitten who we feared might be a little too aggressive. Jack Frost, a very timid all white cat that lived in the same room, also got adopted. So did Lily, another all white cat who seemed very sweet but was not recommended for multi-cat homes.

Thankfully nine year old Sidney also found a home, she didn’t care for shelter life and was ill while we were there. Also adopted were Pudge and Truman Capote, who looked too much like Templeton for us to really consider.

To my great surprise, Crumpet also got adopted, an occasionally irritable black cat who had been there half a year. If we didn’t already have Scout, I would have wanted to adopt Crumpet, after Templeton I have a real soft spot for cats who seem irritable in such public situations but who might be a real lovable lap cat at home. But I didn’t want to risk it with Scout, getting used to new cats in the house is going to be hard enough for her, and we think Sam and Emma will be good companions for her for years to come.

So my thanks to all those who helped these animals find homes, and my best wishes that the remaining pets will soon find homes of their own.

Sam’s tags have water on them in this picture, he sometimes accidentally dunks them as he goes to get a drink.

The Gold Medal For Cutest Kitten of 2007 Goes To … Samwise!

Sam was posing on top of the scratching post, just staring at the wall, and his tags and pose reminded me of an athlete accepting a gold medal at the Olympics.

Note: In the interest of family fairness, I should point out that, at over a year old, Emma would have been in the running for cutest kitten of 2006, thus I’m not showing any bias for Sam. I’m not slighting her because she chewed on my laptop’s power cord, just so you know.