Outside Counsel

I can't really say that it seemed like a good idea at the time, because who am I kidding, but we have acquired two kittens, Jinx and 13. They are hilarious. I've never had two kittens at once- it really is double the fun, because they do all of the things that kittens do, and they do it with each other. I'd pestered A. about a new cat for a while: the demise of Lancaster really left a void. In the run-up to Christmas CLA and I found ourselves in the mall, and when in the mall with CLA a visit to the SPCA is compulsory. The two black kittens were the best cats there, but they weren't declawed, and they were male, as well as being two kittens. A subsequent outing brought us to the main shelter of the SCPA, where we visited with the goats, and the Big Pig, and the sad dogs. There were kittens there, too, but none of them spoke to us. The two black kittens had been charismatic. Meanwhile, CLA kept working on A, who, in a surprise move, acquiesced. The agency had an interview requirement which was agony-- it is easier to get a handgun than a kitten. What religion are we? What religion will we raise the kittens in? Do we bathe? Beatles or Stones? It was an ordeal, but in the end we were able to go back to the SCPA with a pillow case and tell them, "Fill'er up." (Actually, just as hospitals will not let you take your baby home without a car seat, the pound requires a plastic carrier. A cardboard box, like Henry Huggins used for Ribsy, will not cut it.) We'd thought that the Orange Cat would take to the kittens pretty readily, but that has not proven to be the case. Ordinarily the mildest of beasts, walking from room to room purring, she has decided to sulk, except when the kittens are let out from the temporally re-purposed dining room. When that happens she makes a terrifying growling noise, and chases them. Although they seem to want to be a part of the Orange Cat posse the kittens are not about to mix it up with her when she is in that frame of mind, so we have a way to go there. And now it's on record: I have lost my mind and turned this into a blog about my cats. Heaven help me.