There's Always One

In any litter of kittens, even if the "litter" is made up of kittens that came from different mamas that I have together from convenience, there is always one that wanders.

It's the one that finds a way under the computer table, no matter how I try to block it.

It's the one that figures out how to get behind the refrigerator.

It's the one that, when all the others are sleeping together in a pile, is off by itself, snoozing away.

It's the one we are always having to search for when we do a kitten count. We tend to find that one in the pantry, trying to claw its way into a bag of potatoes or something.

In this litter, it is Bud.

Right now Kiseki is in her box, under a warming lamp, and I'm giving her IV fluids 3 times a day to try to keep her alive long enough to get over her stuffy nose. Yes, a stuffy nose can kill a kitten -- when they can't smell, they won't eat, and they dehydrate in the blink of an eye.

Forrest is such a big girl, in her own mind at least, that she won't stay in the box. She rolls the warming bottle up against the side of the box for a boost, jumps to get her claws onto the top edge, then claws her way up and over. She is at the kitten waddle stage so her backside sways side to side as she tries to get her bearings.

Nefertiri, Johnny Depp, and Bud have met Forrest and, though they are a good week or more smaller than she, they are enjoying each others company. We are now back to doing the kitten shuffle.

And Bud is the one. He crawls away to sleep alone when the other 3 collapse in a pile, and though he can barely focus, he wants to see everything. His little back legs slide out from under him as he tries to get to wherever it is he thinks he is going.

Forrest may be older and, for now, bigger, but Bud is going to be the one we have to look out for.


Today is:

Constitution Day, Poland

Independence Day, Philippines

Kick Butts Day

National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day

Ramanavami -- Hindu

St. Gabriel the Archangel's day (patron of childbirth, diplomats, messengers, postal workers, stamp collectors, telephone workers)

World Tuberculosis Day


Birthdays Today:

Peyton Manning, 1976
Alyson Hannigan, 1974
Sharon Corr, 1970
Mase, 1970
Annabella Sciorra, 1964
Mark "The Undertaker" Callaway, 1962
Louie Anderson, 1953
Alan Sugar, 1947
Steve McQueen, 1930
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1919
Joseph Barbera, 1911
Clyde Barrow, 1909
Ub Iwerks, 1901
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, 1887
Harry Houdini, 1874
Fanny Crosby, 1820


Today in History:

Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus, 1401
The first game law passed in American colonies, by Virginia, 1629
Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island, 1664
Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers, 1765
Benjamin West of the US becomes president of Royal Academy of London, 1792
In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr., 1832
Canada gives blacks the right to vote, 1837
Robert Koch of Germany announces the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis), 1882
Oscar Straus is appointed the first Jewish ambassador from US (to Turkey), 1887
"Census of the British Empire" shows England rules 1/5 of the world, 1906
Greece becomes a republic, 1923
U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth, 1934
The longest game in NHL history is played between Detroit and Montreal; Detroit scored at 16:30 of the sixth overtime and won the game 1-0, 1936
In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III, 1944
Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761), 1958