You say good-bye, and I say hello

I haven't done a cat update in a while, and LOTS of people ask about it. We had some changes at our house this week. Last week, Simba and Mufasa had their surgery, and I feel like it was a gender reassignment surgery, because when I picked them up, the doctor said: "Oh, by the way, they're girls." WHAT?!?! I never checked! The shelter told me boys. Gave them boy names, and I said, "OK."

Of course, surgery meant that they wouldn't be with us much longer. And yesterday, I took them to PetSmart, set up their cage with food, water, and a bed, then clutched each one of them and cried like an idiot there in the back room. I am praying they go to very good, loving homes.

Before I left, I snapped a few last shots. Here is Moofie sitting by the window. She is a really sweet cat, loves to sit on laps, purrs while she's sleeping, and has a lot of patience.

And here is Simba taking one last little cat nap in our Ikea Poang chair. Who says redheads don't look great in red? She is confident, loves popcorn and wrestling, and is so, so happy. It was strange not to wake up to them this morning. I'll let y'all know when they've been adopted.

Dottie thought as long as I was snapping pictures, she'd pose for me. She's doing great, although she's trying to get used to two new (temporary) brothers...

Say hello to Skipper. When I took Moofie and Simba to get their final check-up on Friday at the shelter, I was asked if I could take home two nameless black cats. Nameless is never a good thing at the shelter; it usually means that unless something quickly changes, that animal will be on the next list for euthanasia. I said: of course! And I was able to name these two sweet little boys (I'm pretty sure they're boys this time.)

You'll notice Skipper has white and black hair ... a very unusual coat. It's called a "fever coat" and is the result of being ill when he was even smaller (he's about a pound and a half now.) He probably had a fever, and so for a short time, his hair came in white. This will eventually grow out, but for the time being, he's interesting-looking (and easier to tell apart from his brother.) He was timid at first, but when I showed him the amazing-ness of wet cat food, he came out of his shell.

This is Skipper's brother, Gilligan. (We call them Skip and Gill.) Gilligan is an awesome cat -- very brave, confident, comfortable in his own fur. He rubs on ankles. He asks nicely to be picked up. He has been over just about every square inch of our house already. And both boys are eating nicely, using the litter box every time, and even tucking themselves into their cat bed at night. We'll have them for around five weeks or so -- it will depend on how quickly they grow.

Here's a face from the past you may not recognize. This is little Elvis! My friend Jennifer and her family adopted Elvis and love him to pieces. He is getting big, and is such a nice boy. He is getting over his habit of tearing open the bread and eating the crust off. Jennifer even caught him putting away a skein of Sampler Threads that had fallen out of a basket (you can see that basket behind him.) I told her that he was raised well.

And here is Chi. Chi's new name is Stella, and her new owner contacted me via Facebook and shares pictures now and then. Stella and her owner like to watch English romance movies together, and that cat is getting supremely spoiled. Isn't she a beauty?

Zero is doing great -- no new pictures of him today, sorry. He's getting big and fluffy (I called him a "walking carpet" this week.) And by coincidence, Jennifer met Soba's new mother at Wal-Mart about a month or so ago (she works there in the check-out.) Soba has retained his name, and his mom says he has his own special blanket that he likes to nibble on, that he climbs into bed with her every night, and that he, too, is getting spoiled and is very loved.

Hope y'all are having a great week. Happy stitching, and to those of you who have pets...give 'em all a scratch behind the ears for me!