To Answer a Couple of Questions

 Good questions have been asked, and deserve good answers.

How many cats do we have?

Sweetie has 4 cats:  Kida the Mosquito, the asthmatic Siamese who is always buzzing around, Badlands' Blackie, the bully/coward recently diagnosed with diabetes. Horizon, the world's biggest scardey-cat, and Hope, the mentally challenged one that won't leave our bedroom for any reason.

Bigger Girl has one:  Little Girlie, with the Grand Victorian Lady manners and the heart of a communist.

#2 Son has one:  Dansig, the ginger tom (altered, yes) that loves to be outdoors under supervision so he can roll in stinky messes.

Little Girl has one:  Link, the gray and white kitten that plays with everything and has a wonderful personality.

How many foster cats do we have?

Right now, we have Penguin and Curlicue Q. Crooktail, both of whom are waiting placement with the shelter, the 4 kittens that came from Acme Company that are just weaned a couple of weeks ago and will be put up for adoption at the shelter in December, the two that were thrown in the garbage that are just weaned this week, and will go to the shelter later in December, and the single baby that a teen girl came to the shelter with that is only about 3 weeks old.  That makes 9 fosters total.

How many can we keep?

Now that the rescue groups understand that i will not take in kittens that don't have placement once they are weaned and altered, that's not an issue any more.  We used to say no more than a dozen fosters, and if they wanted us to take more, they had to move the older ones out.  Now they understand the kittens must go once they weight 2 pounds and can have surgery.  Otherwise, i can't keep my sanity.

What's the most we've had?

We once had 26 fosters from 9 litters.  They ranged from newborn to just weaned, and the bigger ones got moved out quickly.  There's no way i could last long with that big of a crowd.

Do i ever take in puppies?

While i've never fostered puppies, i know the formula exists and i'm not against doing it.  It would have to be with a rescue group, and they would have to guarantee placement in a shelter or another foster home after weaning/surgery as the cat rescue groups do.

Why do i have no cats?

Because i help take care of everyone else's, that's why.  After all, that's what the mom does.


Today is:

^*Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh

#Buss und Bettag -- German speaking Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestants (Day of Repentance and Prayer, a legal public holiday in most German states)

^*False Confessions Day -- internet generated, and not for the faint of heart

^*Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Eastern and Roman Catholic Christian (those following the Gregorian Calendar)

^*Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy

^*Furniture Memory Day -- an internet generated test of your memory; see if you remember where you got each piece of furniture you own, how much it cost, and how its most precious scratch came to be; you are also encouraged to dust if you want to

^*Gerard d'Aboville Day -- marking the day, in 1991, he arrived in Ilwaco, WA, US, after departing Japan 4 months earlier in a rowboat!

^*Gingerbread Day

^*National Stuffing Day -- various dates given on many sites, so if you enjoy stuffing, celebrate them all

^*No Music Day -- www.nomusicday.com for the explanation

#Scottish International Badminton Championship -- Glasgow, Scotland (through Sunday)

^*St. Gelasius' Day

#Tie One On Day -- an apron!  on US Thanksgiving eve, write a note of encouragement or prayer, tuck it in the pocket of an apron, and wrap the apron around a good home or bakery made loaf of bread, then deliver it to someone who needs a kind gesture

^*Ugly Day -- Fairy Calendar

&#Wonderland of Lights -- Marshall, TX, US (through Dec. 31, includes parades, candlelight home tours, and more)

^*World Hello Day -- www.worldhelloday.org

^*World Television Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789


Birthdays Today:

Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Cherry Jones, 1956
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Tweety Bird, 1942
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Voltaire, 1694


Today in History:

Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164
The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935
The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*
The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953
The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969
The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002


*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year