Catching Up

Well, we finally got back and I didn’t kill anyone. Though, I have to say that at 10 pm on Sunday night it was pretty close.

We left Missouri Sunday morning around 11 am and finally stopped in Columbus OH around 11 hours later. For the most part, I really enjoy road trips. Michael insists on driving the whole way, and I am not going to complain. We get books on cassette and I just listen to the books and knit to my little heart’s content. I get so much knitting done on a road trip. I can get 2 pieces of my quilt finished in an hour and knock out a good book at the same time. This time we listened to a couple of Terry Pratchett books. The man is a friggin genius. He is hysterically funny as well as very insightful. Anyway, we stopped in Columbus at the usual hotel chain and I couldn’t have been happier when we got in the room. I swear, we have been travelling so much lately that the hotel suites feel more like home than our house does! Even with all the travelling and the fact that we lived in a hotel for almost 2 weeks, I still love hotel rooms.

We left the next morning around 11 and got back home around 5. I was happy to be home with my kitties. They all came out to greet us and Autumn Savannah’s feet didn’t touch the ground the whole time I was home. She was either sitting on my shoulder or I was carrying her around. We went to supper with some friends and then came right home. After that I figured the kitties needed some Human Time so I just changed into Jammies and sat on the couch and tried to read. No such luck. Autumn Savannah decided that she had to sit on my lap no matter what and heaven help the poor kitty who got close! I love that cat but she is a bully at times. I finally gave up and just read in bed for a while…at least that way all 4 kitties could spend time with me. Michael was in the basement watching Sports Center and walking on the treadmill. The man is so damn healthy that it is disgusting.

On a brighter note, we are waiting for kittens. We have 2 strays in the cul de sac who are pregnant. During the warm spell they went into heat and I have calculated their due dates from March 31st to April 3rd. the normal gestation period for a cat is 62-63 days so we are getting close. We are trying not to bother the kitties because we don’t want them to move the kittens to a place where we can’t find them. As soon as the kittens are born we usually go on a kitten hunt and then bottle raise them and find good homes for them. It is heartbreaking to take the kittens, but only about 40% of the kittens in our cul de sac make it to adults – they either succumb to the cold, are killed by predators, or get sick and die. I just keep telling myself that it is much better for them this way.

We have tried trapping the 2 females, but they have an abundant supply of food between the neighbors and the woods so they never get curious about the food in the traps. My vet has agreed to do the spay for a minimal charge so all we have to do is trap them. I just hope they reach Kitty Menopause soon, I cant foster every year. In fact, last year I could only foster 2 kittens and we ended up losing 3 of the ones I couldn’t take in time…one was killed by a predator and eaten under my car. With this cold weather hanging on, I just hope the mommy kitties hold out as long as possible…it is too cold for kittens right now.

Anyway, I have to make a storage run…I will write about that whole thing later…