december first

cinnamon toast breakfast . . 

finn was a little alarmed at the amount of laundry i spilled out onto the bed . . and then he watched wide-eyed while i ironed some of it.

 

we've decided to adopt him. i made the final arrangements today by signing an online document and paying a nominal fee to best friends via paypal. he gets along well with pluto, and though it did take a few cranky days for pluto to adjust, he seems happy with his new friend. he seeks him out to play and just to watch, as finn's antics with the cat toys are quite funny.

dinner time this evening . . 

pluto asks, "why isn't there food in my bowl yet?"

atlas goes to his new home

 

 morning time with atlas . . trying to make the bed . . (this is after i've let him out of the second bedroom where he would sleep every night).

 

a favorite part of the day for him . .

 

last playtime sessions . . i tried again to get pluto loping down the hall, chasing atlas, but again failed! i always think of it after he's sprinted away.

after the playtime, comes the grooming . .

 

relaxing in his carrier that will take him to his new place.

 

all packed with extra kitty litter, canned food and treats, and his last dose of medicine that he gets next week.

 

with his new family . . we wish them many fun, peaceful and loving times together.

and now i should go out to get the groceries i need while the weather is still nice.

cats, snow, advent and more letters

we finally integrated the foster kitten with pluto yesterday. it was a gradual transition, with them eating on opposite sides of the bedroom door, and a site swap (pluto investigated the room atlas has been living in, and atlas visited chanda's room). i still have atlas sleeping separately, though that will be probably change as the days go by. he's been enjoying settling into our daily life and finding new places to explore and lounge in. 

pluto may look a little dubious here, but he's been enjoying having a playmate. the bathroom has been off limits to them as we're having trouble with the tub drain and it's quite a mess (it's always something), but i found them both in there earlier today, bouncing around and looking guilty when i yelled at them in surprise. atlas ran out lickety split, while pluto hunkered down on the bath rug and tried to look nonchalant. 

above is my lunch . . chanda brought home tomato soup for me from the cafe. i had it with a delicious chunk of kerrygold cheddar cheese (the one that is specially aged!), but when i went into the kitchen to get my drink of kombucha, someone stole it off the table! can you guess who? pluto is unable to jump onto the table (he used to drag everything down to his level on the floor by pulling the tablecloths off - hence the table is now always without a pretty coth), so it must have been . . yes, atlas. and he managed to do a real number on it . . it was much too slimey and mauled when i finally rescued it, for me to eat anymore. i settled for a few pepper jack slices, which were not of the same quality, sadly.

i spent all day straightening up the apartment to make room for christmas decorations and eventually the christmas tree. there were also many items laying about that needed to be put away: books, yarn, papers, magazines, letters, junk mail, masks, scarves . . winter accessories needed to come out of bins, and summer cotton sweaters needed to be put away. (as you can see in the pic above, atlas is doing very well making himself at home!)

greg looked out the window at one point and commented that it had started to snow . . just very  lightly . . 

just enough for it to feel like wintertime and for me to feel happy that i didn't have to run errands today, and that i could stay warm inside.

we celebrated the second day of advent this evening, as we were finally all together for dinner.

afterwards, i worked on addressing the letters to georgia during a sierra club letter writing meeting, and also wrote out three letters from us to the bureau of land management, alaska office, stating that we don't think they should allow drilling in the wildlife refuge. comments need to be submitted via snail mail.

i'm off to bed now . . tomorrow morning is an aurélien babysitting morning.

visiting the vet

 

atlas had an appointment with the veterinarian at the best friends animal center today. in the photo above, the woman is ringing the buzzer for the workers in the building. the center has been closed throughout covid, and all volunteers pick up and drop off their foster animals outside. i handed atlas to the technician and then had an espresso at the coffee shop next door. i then waited out in front for fifteen minutes. atlas was due for a vaccination and they took a fecal sample to check for roundworms.

 

it was a pretty day, a little chilly, but comfortable with a light down coat and hat. atlas wasn't very happy with the trip over. i think there were too many loud trucks and sirens.

 

 

 it was nice to return home and rest on the floor for awhile together (i was actually listening to an online yoga/meditation class here).

foster kitten

meet atlas, our new little foster kitten. actually, he's not so new anymore, as he's been with us since november 5th. how fast these november days have gone! he's kept me very busy, and not so very busy, as i'm completely unable to knit when he's around (he attacks needles, yarn and basket - he even attacks my phone and will even try to chew the laptop). i haven't been able to integrate him with pluto as he has a slight case of conjunctivitis, and he's still on de-wormer medication. this means he's confined to the second bedroom, which makes things difficult as he's not able to participate in the normal, everyday routine (which would be much more interesting to him than roaming around alone in one room).

he'll be listed soon on the "trello" website as available for adoption.

the cats and an amelie update

getting to know one another yesterday . .

i call our foster kitten little tiger or little rascal (he gets into everything and jumps so high when i try to put food down for him that he almost knocks the dish from my hands) but the animal shelter calls him raven. we will have him until about the 17th of this month.

 he moves so quickly that it's not easy getting a picture . .

 

 finally!

 

 they both enjoy keeping tabs on what the other is doing . .

 

 taking a rest . .

 roughhousing . . 

and both begging for food while i cook dinner . . (pluto always has that refrigerator staked out . . )

due to the weather on wednesday, amelie's plane was delayed taking off so she missed her connecting flight in los angeles and had to stay the night. she arrived home around 5 pm yesterday evening and i think she must have been very happy to finally be back in beautiful hawaii. her mom sent me this pic today.

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(today was my dad's birthday . . he would have been 93 years old . . )

foster kitten

 i went out in a rainstorm at 5:15 pm to pick up our foster kitten in soho. chanda was already there and when i arrived i was drenched. my feet squished in my sneakers and i left wet prints wherever i walked in the center. after a half hour wait, we were ready to go home with our little kitten . .

 he almost jumped out of the carrier when i tried to snap his picture.

it was still raining as we walked home at 6:30.