Double the Joy

"Hi, mimi? This is Lynn, Blair asked me to call you," the voice on the other end of the phone said. Good thing i answered, though i didn't recognize the number and often let those go.

"Yes, i will," i answered, knowing full well what was coming next. 'Tis the season, after all.

"You will what?" Lynn sounded perplexed.

"Will take the kittens, as long as you guys are going to help get them homes," i answered.

"Oh." She seemed stunned that had already answered her question. "Well, yes, there are kittens, Steph is with them at Animal Control. SBR has agreed to take 4, but that leaves 4 more, if you can't take them, well, you know."

Yes, i know. Animal Control does not bottle feed. They euthanize anything that young, have to. They are required to take any animal in the parish that is dropped off, and are always more than overcrowded. Most animals there don't get much of a chance.

We talked a bit about when i could be home to receive them, and i went about getting dinner done.

Blair actually brought them over later in the evening. She has 22 adult fosters right now and 18 kittens, including 9 she is bottle feeding, as well as a female ready to drop a litter in the next few days. Gluttons for punishment, us animal rescue types.

"There are two calicos from one litter, and two tabbies from another," she said as she came in the house. "And i accidentally spilled formula on them when trying to feed everyone."

The calicos are about the same age as the 3 we already have. The tabbies are maybe 2 days old, umbilical cords still there. We had to bathe and blow dry them because they were sticky little messes. They all ate, though, and that's a good start.

Usually we keep litters separate until we are sure they don't have anything they could pass around. These four were already in the same blanket, so it was too late for that. That's okay, it makes it easier in some ways -- only two separate bottles and nests instead of 3, which starts to get really complicated.

A carrier nest next to the bucket nest that holds Anomaly, Perplexity, and Conundrum, close enough that the heating pad is under both. Everyone clean, 4 by water and blowing dry, 3 by Hazelnut bath -- that dog loves kittens, she is ready to come lick them stem to stern any time, day or night. She acts like they are hers.

One day, more than double the kittens, double the joy.


Today is:

Cesar Chavez Day -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah,& Wyoming, US

Check for Change in Every Coin Return You Pass Day -- because someone has a sense of humor and put it on the internet

Culture Day -- Micronesia

Doctors Day -- US (begun by Eudora Almond in 1933 because she thought her husband, Dr. Charles B. Almond, deserved recognition for his hard work)

Fairies of the First Wand Reunion Dinner -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Janus and Concordia -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Festival of Reality Fabrication -- internet holiday to celebrate your imagination

Festival of Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of health)

Grass Is Always Browner On The Other Side Of The Fence Day -- remember how good you have it; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

I am in Control Day -- remember Alexander Haig's words on this date in 1981? well today, if you find the phones won't stop ringing, the kids got into the glue again, the coffee maker is on the fritz, and somebody dyed the poodle purple, stand up and declare that you are in control!

Land Day commemoration -- Palestinian remembrance

Limited Liability Day -- because no one can be responsible for everything

Navapad Oli -- Jain (through April 6)

Pencil Day -- the pencil with an eraser top was patented this day in 1858 by Hyman Lipman

Runic Half-Month Ewhas (Horse) begins

Semana Santa -- Seville, Spain (Holy Week, with processions and hundreds of penitents in hoods; through April 8)

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

St. Leonard Murialdo's Day (Patron of apprentices)

Take a Walk in the Park Day -- begun by someone who wanted to get out of the office

Turkey Neck Soup Day


Birthdays Today:

Scott Moffatt, 1983
Norah Jones, 1979
Matt Doran, 1976
Mark Consuelos, 1971
Celine Dion, 1968
Ian Ziering, 1964
M.C. Hammer, 1962
Paul Reiser, 1957
Robbie Cotrane, 1950
Eric Clapton, 1945
Astrud Gilberto, 1940
Warren Beatty, 1937
John Astin, 1930
Rolf Harris, 1930
Peter Marshall, 1930
Frankie Laine, 1913
Anna Sewell, 1820
Vincent Van Gogh, 1853


Today in History:

The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple, 1422
Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon, 1533
British and coalition forces march into Paris after the defeat of Napoleon, 1814
Dr. Crawford Long of Georgia, US, performs the first operation with anesthesia (ether), 1842
A pencil with attached eraser is patented by Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia, 1858
Alaska is purchased from Russia by US Secretary of State William Seward, for $7,200,000 (about 2 cents per acre), 1867
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, 1932
Einstein announces his revised unified field theory, 1953
The Yonge Street Line, the first subway in Canada, opens in Toronto, 1954
President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., 1981
The oldest copy of Codex Holmiensis, dating from 1280, is returned to Denmark from Sweden after 300 years, and 45,000 Inca artifacts are returned to Peru's Machu Picchu after spending 100 years at Yale University, 2011