green

We last left our heroes entertaining an out-of-town visitor. On her last day, we took a trip to the Lange Foundation, a shelter devoted to rescuing companion animals from euthanization at our county’s already over-crowded animal control facilities. We spent some time getting acquainted with the kitties warded there, and became quite attached to a pair of spirited kittens. We adopted the two, and this past month has been a period of adjustment for us all.

It was clear from day one that the cats would rule the roost. After a day of exploring and nosing around, they got settled into their routine of tearing around the house and playing with one another. Insatiably curious, every thing is a toy, every person a potential wrestling partner.

The little girl is BEM–a sci-fi fandom acronym for Bug-Eyed Monster–and the name truly suits this kitty. She has the most angelic face, round, with big yellow-green eyes. She has kind of a salt-and-pepper speckled coat that resembles tweed, decorated with stripes and spots. She came to us 13 weeks old, so she’s now just over four months old. She is still a kitten, however, and therefore must have a paw in any and all activities.

The boy, Jackson, is part ragdoll siamese–he has the seal-point ears and tail–a pale beige coat with brown stripes and spots, and white chest, underbelly and spats on all four paws. His fur is incredibly silky, with green eyes in a permanently perplexed expression. Being a ragdoll, he is a liquid kitty who assumes the shape of his container. He is a bit akward – perhaps because he has recently gone through a growth spurt and is not accustomed to his body? In any case, he’s one of the clumsier kitties I’ve encountered. He came to us about 5 months old, so he’s ~6 months old now.

Being the big cat of the house, he is the one who instigates most of the fights with BEM. I will note, however, that *both* boys of the house now have BEM-inflicted scratches on their noses…

Jackson came home with the sniffles (which seem to have recurred lately), and Bem picked up some intestinal parasites, but we’ve completed their treatments and they’re doing fine now – despite Jackson’s ongoing sniffles. We’ll need to get another check-up soon to make sure Bem’s ok and figure out what’s going on with Jackson’s runny nose.

Other than the adoption, little has been going on at the house. Highlights include:

• Removed the heavy draperies in our bedroom and made a roman shade for the side window. It’s a little … uneven – I apparently can’t sew straight lines very well – but it does the job for now. I’ll revisit the shade later when we re-decorate the room in earnest.
• Ordered our new dining room table! We originally planned to purchase a table from the Pottery Barn (didn’t hurt that we had accumulated several gift certificates to same), but after a month of phone calls and waiting, we were informed that the distributor had the table on back order and would not receive any until mid-December. Tack on at least 10 working days after that, and we’re looking at sometime January 2000. Not happy about waiting that long, we went to Mark Friedman Furniture (on 4th between Santa Monica Blvd. and Broadway in Santa Monica), and they can get us the same table, in 4 weeks, for $200 less. Now to find chairs…
• Drafted plans for modifications to the laundry room: adding a folding table, pantry shelves, etc.
• Replaced the hallway light fixture with one which has adjustable lights to focus on hallway pictures
• Purchased Home Depot’s “Kitchens and Baths” – a DIY tome of everything you need to know. Hoping to redo the kitchen next year, an ordeal which is certain to test the strength of our relationship. Figuring some studying up would be prudent.