October 19, 2008

Moving on

My house is currently a kitten free zone. Little Coal was adopted yesterday by a wonderful family. I sent him on with his favorite stuffed mouse toy. So 8 foster kittens since May and all 8 in new homes hopefully living happily after.
But it's a little sad to be able to sit and work on my scarf without kitten help. Not that biting the yarn and laying on the scarf was all that much help but he was only doing the best he could without thumbs.
My own 3 cats are indoor/outdoor cats. I live on 1 acre which backs to many acres of woods, fields, and a pond so the cats have lots of room to wander. And wander they do. My deck is filled on a daily basis with dead field mice, squirrels, chipmunks, and birds. It's a wonderful life for them.

This is Charlie. Charlie came to me 4 yrs ago after being rescued by my oldest daughter from a dumpster in her apartment complex. He was a friendly feral who loved my oldest grandson and would follow him everywhere. His ear was damaged by ear mites so he only really had one ear. We got him checked out by the vet, neutered, and he came to live as a country cat. He was about 5 lbs when we got him and plumped out to 16 lbs with regular feedings. Not a fat cat, just a big guy with broad shoulders and a swagger that showed he was happy.

Unfortunately being a feral Charlie didn't take to the litter box at all so he peed and pooped everywhere. Thankfully we've got hard wood floors or tile everywhere. After a couple months we had to admit that he couldn't be retrained to be inside all the time so his time in the house was only a couple hours followed by a couple hours outside. In the winter on really cold nights we kept him in a large dog crate with food, water, and a litter box placed right by the furnace. Snugly warm. On other nights when it wasn't so cold he'd be sleeping on one of the chairs on the front porch snuggled in a nest of wool blankets.
Charlie was devoted to my husband ... his person .... and would follow him around the house and yard like a dog. He was kind to everyone and since he was mostly white he was particularly drawn to anyone wearing dark pants.

Being a combination cat does carry risk factors and early this morning between 4 am and 6 am one of those risk factors came true for Charlie as he was hit by a car and killed. He had 4 wonderful years living the country life that replaced an awful existence of being a dumpster cat. And he has humans how will miss him very much. Thanks you, Charlie, for being a part of our family for the past 4 yrs.

October 16, 2008

This and that

Foster kitten Coal is having a grand time now that he's the only kitten around. His favorite thing to do every evening is to watch the fire in the fireplace. He's so cute.
I'm involved in a ravelry group traveling scarf thing and this is my part for my scarf. I kind of remember buying the yarn but don't remember what I was going to use it for. How did I decide on knitpick eggplant? I reached into a box of yarn and pulled it out without looking.
Coal says: Your cell phone? I thought it was my cell phone. Don't you know that everything in the house is mine? When you're a kitten everything is a kitten toy.
And while I know I should probably be actually finishing some of the projects I've got going on I find myself starting other stuff anyways. Like this feather and fan scarf I started on Sunday using Ray's wonderful lace yarn. The colorways is graffiti which I thought might be a little busy for feather and fan but as Rachel Zoe would say, It's bananas.
I've got at least 5 hrs on this 5 hr baby sweater and as you can see all I'm missing is sleeves. What a wild color. Not traditional baby stuff but I love how babies look in vivid colors.
Gotta go see what Coal is knocking over now.

October 07, 2008

Thanks

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you've all sent my way. I've been grieving for my father as he slipped from the man I knew into God's hands for a while so his death was a relief. He is no longer in terrible pain and doesn't have to think about everything he use to do but couldn't any longer. My grandchildren attending the service which I'm sure made my Dad smile. He was so family oriented that he would have been upset if they hadn't attended. One of my Mom's friends thought they were a little distracting but we all loved having them with us.
Anyways, life has a way of moving forward even when you don't want it to happen so Monday I received this package. UPS express box. Must be important stuff. Dusty and Ashley were all excited.
Dusty says: I don't see any kitten toys anywhere.
Now mind you that I work on a computer and never write down a single thing due to patient privacy so I have no need to paper, pencils, markers, files, note cards, etc. The only thing I'll be using out of this entire package is that 2009 calendar.

I have a coworkers who has been under treatment for breast cancer. She's been having a difficult time due to infections. I decided to knit her a shawl and was just hiding the last ends when my father passed away. It gave me a lot of comfort knitting this and I hope it gives Pat a lot of comfort using it.
I should be working on this stuff ............
but instead I casted on a 5 hr baby sweater for another coworker out of this red heart yarn. The colorways is lipstick and it's really pretty. Rose is going to be a grandmother for the first time so I thought hey you can't go wrong with a 5 hr baby sweater .... not that I can actually do one in 5 hrs but that's another story for another posting.
Yesterday afternoon a woman and her 3 sons came over to look at my foster kittens and ended up adopting Dusty and Ashley (my package assistants). The only one left right now is Coal and he's a little lonely. He'll have a new family soon enough.

Hope everyone has a good week. Fall is in the air in New England and it's my favorite time of year.