Kris' Ramblings

So, I promised to talk about the kitten... Also, I just like talking about the kitten.

Back in September, I found this little mite (pictured here being held by my brother) crying under a car in the parking lot where I work. With the help of a co-worker, I was able to catch her and drop her off at the vet's office nearby for a look-over... and for babysitting services until I finished work. They found that she was able to eat solid food despite her tiny size, so I decided to give raising her a go. (No, I've never had to bottlefeed a kitten. All past kittens arrived in the womb of abandoned pregnant cats I took in, so there was always a mommy cat to handle the tricky stuff.) After some dithering over a name, I settled on Smokey or Smokey Bear for the kitten and regularly address her as "The Bear" and "Bear-Bear".

Although, she also gets called "Squitten" often. Because, when she was small and still not allowed to interact with my older cat, Pai-Pai, without supervision, my brother built her a multi-story playpen out of wire shelving, and she was immediately climbing it like a squirrel. (This photo was taken of the first version of the playpen. The earlier photo is a later version after we modified it to keep her from climbing upside-down on the ceiling and added space for her big girl litterbox plus some bonus upper platforms.)

Since then, it's been quite a ride. She ate well the first nights, then abruptly stopped. I panicked. There were tears and desperate prayers and a lot of flailing around. But, we got through it. I had supportive family and friends and received some great advice from a kitten fosterer I was able to reach by text. (For the record - baby food. Turkey or beef flavor. It tempted her into eating again, and I slowly mixed it with more and more of her kitten food.) Once we got through that, I learned that she has a heart murmur, and that prompted a trip to a veterinary cardiologist. Thankfully, her condition doesn't appear to be severe. At her size, even an ultrasound could only show so much, but, while there's definitely a deformity to her heart, the cardiologist gave her a good prognosis. She'll go back in the spring once she's grown a bit. Otherwise, we've weathered a bout of truly horrific-smelling diarrhea and a bad reaction to her first round of vaccines.

But, Smokey's doing well now. She and Pai-Pai get along great. I mean, they play-fight incessantly, but it's friendly. And, I've caught them snuggled together in one of the window seats.

Before I go, Smokey in her Thanksgiving bandana.

And, fandom_stocking is now over for the year. I didn't get as many gift!fics written as I'd have liked, but I got some amazing things in my stocking. Things like a wonderful post-anime Ao no/Blue Exorcist fanfic from jordannamorgan that touches on all my favorite topics - what happened post-anime, demon!Yukio, brotherly bonding, all the good stuff. Then, there was more Okumura twins bonding from bridgetmkennitt, a cute little Fullmetal Alchemist ficlet from vexed_wench, a sweet Inuyasha ficlet with Sesshoumaru and Rin from kiramaru7, well wishes, lots of gorgeous horse and tortie cat images, and a bonus book recommendation from evil_little_dog.

Oh, and there was some extra holiday fun when my brother brought over a belated Christmas present to share: a selection of Japanese KitKat flavors. The citrus and dark/cocoa ones were my favorites.

So, my brother brought over his new 18 megapixel camera. Obviously, trying to help my cat achieve internet stardom was the most intelligent thing we could find to do with it. So, yes, behold the Mo Boogie.

Late Thanksgiving, but I just wanted to post this. Look what was in our yard Friday! No, this is not a normal occurrence. Personally, I think they were on the run. We saw them again over the weekend and several times this week. Not surprisingly, they were nowhere to be seen today. And, check out the gray blob over on the right. You can see the blob better in this shot. Still on the right. (Sorry for the odd stuff in that one - I took it through a window and got reflections.) Flash thought she was going to catch an early Thanksgiving dinner. Flash is crazy.

Website Updates: And, the SWAT Kats Fan Art Archive is updated! Actually, I first updated it once and then realized the next day that I'd missed a couple submissions that came to my other e-mail address. But, everything's up now.

Personal Chatter: And, in other news, I need to get my kittens spayed and out of the house. They have decided to protest their confinement in the bathroom by taking the wallpaper hostage. Negotiations have broken down to the point that they're sending the hostages out in pieces. I also need to take more pictures of my kittens. Because they're very cute, even when they're maiming things.

The Kitties: Yes, here are some more photos of the kittens.

Future (Feline) Inmates of America - Mo and the gray kitten that we've dubbed Flash together with their siblings whom you can't see in the cat carrier, waiting for me to finish cleaning up their bathroom.

Playful Mo - Mo in full playfighting mode. We have decided it's a good thing she's named Mo. It goes well with "no". As in, "No, Mo." And, "No mo' biting," and, "No mo' clawing".

Zorro - And, here's our baby, Zorro. She's still only half the size of the other kittens, but she doubled her weight over the week we had her on antibiotics. The vet was pleased, and so am I. I think she'll be fine. She's definitely gotten fiesty.

The Muppet - And, finally a good photo of the kittens' mother, the Muppet. Aka "Muppers". Aka "Mup-mup". Aka "Miss Muppet".

And, I don't have a good new photo of our little orange kitten, but we're calling him Tribble now because he makes a sound (scroll down for sounds, listed alphabetically) like a tribble.

The Silly: Well, Sage is always posting silly links. So, here's mine: click for the crab video!

And, yes, next post I'll try and have some regular art/fic content. Once my main computer has its new fan and is up and running again.

A Quick Summation of What I'm Up to:

* I'm an auntie! Well, sort of. Two weeks ago, the stray cat we've been taking care of (tentatively dubbed "the Muppet") had kittens. I just saw them for the first time this week, and they're adorable. Four in all and all different colors. Unfortunately, the littlest has a bad infection, and the vet has warned me that it may not make it. But, we've got the little one on antibiotics, and it's strong enough to protest taking its medicine, so that's a good sign.

* Unfortunately, her over-protective mother instincts led the Muppet to instigate all-out war with my fifteen year old kitty, Jenny. After the fur (very literally) stopped flying, the Muppet and family have ultimately ended up in our unused bathroom (since Seeker's unique take on plumbing rendered the shower controls somewhat unreliable a few years ago). This has its good and bad points, but at least the kitty warfare has ended.

* Yes, CK, I will post pictures of the kittens just as soon as I can get Seek or my aunt to loan me a digital camera... because, you know, I really am obsessed with my cats.

* Ahahahaa! I wore green today, so the Bosslady can't get me!

* I have chapter 6 of my Inuyasha AU, "Miscommunication", thiiiis close to being complete. Though I do need to go back and edit some early portions of it because I utterly forgot that Miroku was supposed to be injured when he was introduced.

* I'm also working on an update for the SWAT Kat Fanfiction Archive.

* LJ let me have more icons, so I have new icons. Behold the niftyness!

* If anyone has any good ideas for SWAT Kat icons that I could use, I'm open to suggestions. Any particular scenes need an icon? Any particular phrases/themes anyone would like?

* Additionally, I've been working on some T-Bone icons that I mean to post to the SK community soonish since Chance/T-Bone is this month's featured character.

* Oh, and seekersks and I are definitely going to Otakon!