It's A Girl!

I finished a baby afghan yesterday and began a new baby project today. I seem to have a baby thing going on right now. Truthfully, it has been going on for a month or so. It is confession time for me.

Weber and I have been expecting since the end of June, but we didn’t want to say or do anything about this until after the wedding and the honeymoon.

It all happened late one Friday evening at the end of June while Offspring No. 2 was house sitting for one of her teachers. House sitting, in this case, required checking on the house, taking in the mail and feeding and medicating seven cats. On this particular night Erin called frustrated because one of the cats who required medicating hates her; he hissed, scratched and bit every time she tried to get hold of him to shove a pill down him. Another of the cats was dying of cancer and was not eating. Simply stated, she needed some help. Erin refers to Weber as “the cat whisperer.” She knew he could get everyone to take their medicine. As we arrived at the house at nearly 11 pm., we were met in the driveway by a beautiful orange and white tabby, a cat that did not belong to the menagerie of cats that were now under our care. This little guy didn’t hiss, bite, or scratch. He just wanted to be held, in my arms, on his back, so that his tummy could be rubbed. He also wanted some food and water. I was happy to accommodate him on all accounts. When all of the inside feline needs had been properly addressed, we left for the evening with the handsome orange and white tabby sitting happily on the front porch.

Said orange and white tabby was still in residence when the family returned home. It didn’t take long for them to call Erin inquiring about the fuzzy addition to their collection of stone yard gnomes. Before I knew what had happened, Weber and I had agreed to become the parents to this little guy. Where is “just say no” when you need it?

Like I said, this all happened a week or so before the wedding. We could not handle anything else in our lives at the point, especially the addition of a new baby. We agreed to officially become parents after we returned from Vermont. For three and a half weeks, this cat lived on the porch – he never left and no one came looking for him. On the Monday after we got home, we went and picked up this little guy and took him to our vet in Dallas.

The firs thing that the vet did was check to see if the cat had a microchip. Sure enough, he did. After several phone calls, his owner was reached. They said that he had been missing for a month. They also assured the vet that they did indeed want him. The cat was originally found about 20 miles from where the owners live – no explanation as to how he may have gotten to Erin’s teacher’s home. Or, why he stayed for nearly a month – outside and free to wander off.

We left the cat at the vet’s office where his rightful owners came and picked him up. They did come get him; we called back the next day to make sure.

Just as we were about to leave the office, one of the vet techs wandered in and said that if we were still in the market for a cat, they had a kitten that needed a home. Being the suckers that we are, we told her to let us see her.

This kitten’s story is that she was spotted by one of the vet techs out in the median of a terribly busy street in Dallas. Both the kitten and the woman who recued her were almost hit by a pickup truck during the rescue mission. At the point she was brought to the clinic, her temperature was 106 degrees and the pads of her feet were burned and raw from walking on the hot city streets. By the time we met her, three days after her rescue, she was a playful little kitten who was pretty sure she could conquer anything.

Weber and I looked at each other for a split second and in unison said, “We’ll take her.” Since she was a stray, the vet was obligated to keep her for ten days and do all in his power to find her home, if she had one.

We picked her up today.

Meet “Frankie".

She was so named by the staff at the animal hospital because she was found on Frankfurt Road. For several reasons, the name works for us so we decided to keep it. She is approximately three months old and weights 3.6 pounds.

We weren’t quite sure how Frankie would be received by her siblings when we got her home – especially Harley. Harley is our canine princess. She likes to be pampered and treated like the world revolves around her, but she also has a hunting streak in her. She has conquered several rabbits in her time. We wanted to make sure that she did not mistake her new baby sister as one of those wild rabbits. We weren’t too concerned about our Lab, Adidas. He is fairly docile and loves everybody.

We gave Harley a private introduction to Frankie. Much to our surprise, she went all maternal. She didn’t try to chase the kitten, or bark at her, or bite at her or anything. She just wanted to nuzzle at her.

Then came Adidas’s first meeting with his feline baby sister. Suffice it to say that he lacks any semblance of nurturing ability. He barked, and wiggled, and tried to chase the kitten. It was a sight very unbecoming. Harley was appalled by her big brother’s behavior. She decided that he could not go near “her” kitten. She has spent the evening keeping Adidas away from Frankie. We have to keep Frankie in a crate away from her feline big brother for three weeks, until she can be tested for feline leukemia and feline AIDS. Harley has spent the evening keeping vigil outside the bathroom door where we are keeping Frankie’s crate. It is precious!

Dad and baby are kind of precious too!

Our ark is now full . . .two cats, two dogs, two kids.