We have kitties! My spring and summer has been taken up with caring for and adjusting to my new pets. They are now 13 weeks old, saw the vet for the first time yesterday. I guess they weren't 4 weeks old (like we thought) when DS and I rescued them from our nasty garage/shed--they were apparently 7 weeks old at that time. No wonder they were so stinking hungry when we got them, they'd been still surviving only on mom's milk, and possibly anything she might have hunted for them. Given that the only way out of the garage was through a broken window pane, I don't think they had been out yet.
Monkey is a super intense ninja-kitty, and does everything at 150% energy level.
He is larger than his brother and immediately developed the hang of shouldering Gibbs out of the food bowl when eating, and ate so fast he ballooned up his belly within a couple of days of rescue. He is slowly becoming okay with being petted, but only when he decides it is time (like when he is sleeping)! He is gray and short-haired and woolly, with a sloping nose profile.
Gibbs is sleek and black with longer hair and no undercoat, and an upturned tip of the nose. He has the biggest eyes I've ever seen in a cat. He is very sociable and lovable, the first to welcome being touched and petted. He is nowhere near as rowdy as his brother, and likes to lay stretched out in silly poses at rest. He loves the yarn in the bowl, kneads it and purrs. In contrast, his wild brother loves to take a ball of yarn in his mouth and run into the bathroom with it, making mama retrieve her yarn from behind the stool again and again. Monkey is a naughty kitty :)
God sent me these gifts to help me deal with an extremely difficult time in my life. I can honestly say I have not laughed so much in the past 3 years as I have in the past 5 weeks! 
Healing comes through unexpected pathways. I have not had a cat for 30 years. What a lovely blessing!No knitting or crocheting going on these days. I am too busy keeping the house running. I did try my hand at soapmaking, and it was successful and quite fun! I should do some yarning today...but there are tomatoes to tie up, weeding to do, and laundry. Hmmmmmm.
Garden update: I never did plant my huge garden. It is enough this year to get the tomatoes in only 2 weeks ago! It is hard to plan big gardening jobs and carry them out when you are not sure if you will continue to live here. And we had the weirdest abnormal weather this spring that I never could get outside to plant.
I am snowballing my debt. So glad to be paying off lots of bills. Things will be getting very tight within the next 6 months, so I am really trying to get it off my plate by then. Wish me luck! Step one was to sell off the Mini Cooper--let me just say one thing:
NEVER BUY A MINI COOPER.
Don't even be tempted. They are the worst car on the planet. Rated 7 out of the 10 most unreliable used cars ever, by Consumer Reports. Mine was only 3 years old, and in the shop 6 times in the 9 months I owned it (luckily still on manufacturer's warranty so all repairs were covered). I sold it 3 months before the warranty was due to expire: no way I would continue paying top $$ for a luxury car that requires premium gas only, gets awful gas mileage (?20 mpg), and breaks down constantly! Instead, I now own a 7 year old Toyota, I put 2000 miles on it within the first 2 weeks and it has not been in the shop once! Gotta love a Toyota. I love that it is pared down, no bells and whistles, gets great gas mileage and I can use the cheapest gas out there. Can you say, R-E-L-I-A-B-L-E? It may be lacking in style, but what good is a cute car that doesn't go?!
I hope to get back to blogging and surfing blogs soon, but re-arranging my life has taken precedence. Thanks to all my supporters and readers for being so responsive when I WAS posting. I have great memories of that and hope to get back on the bandwagon soon :)
