Thursday, November 09, 2006, 20:14
Baby Names
And the kitten's name is. . .
(Drum roll, please.)
Snowflake!
Snowflake?
For a black cat?
This morning when I was feeding the baby, once again I asked, "what is your name little girl?"
Randy, who goes to work later on Tuesdays and Thursdays, was crouched next to me, looking at the kitten as she slurped down some more formula.
"Snowflake," he said.
"For a black cat?" I said.
"Well, yes," he said. "That's pretty funny, actually -- a black cat named Snowflake."
The more I thought about, the more perfect Snowflake became.
You see, the kitten came to us one year to the day after our beloved Nightshade died.
Well, actually, Nightshade died on Oct. 28 and the kitten came to us on Oct. 27, but it was Friday morning when Nightshade died, the last Friday in October, and I brought the kitten in the house on Friday morning -- the last Friday in October.
The last Friday in October 2005 was a horrible day -- a terrible day -- a day filled with grief and sorrow and disbelief.
The last Friday in October 2006 wasn't much better. It was so touch and go for the kitten. And of course, the other black kitten was too far gone when I found it to pull through.
Anyway, whenever I used to tell someone about our cat Nightshade, people would respond, "With a name like Nightshade, I suppose she's black."
"Well, yes, she is," I would reply.
I am anticipating that if I say something about our cat Snowflake, people will say, "I suppose she's white."
To which I will replay. "Gotcha! She's black!"
And people will be surprised that she is black.
This is entirely appropriate.
Because --
1. I was surprised that Little Sister had kittens on Oct. 24. In this neck of the woods, that's awfully late in the year for kittens. Too cold.
2. Considering what bad shape the kitten was in when I found her, I was surprised she survived.
Also, the kitten has a white "snowflake" on her chest.
And although it was not snowing on the day she was born, it *had* snowed a number of times before that.
And last but not least, my dear friend Hannah Paulson, who was our elderly neighbor when I was growing up on our farm and who also loved cats and who appears in my books, had a white cat named Snowflake.
Hannah's Snowflake was born to a stray white cat who came to our farm two years in a row to have her kittens. We never knew where she came from. The mother cat had two white kittens the second time around (along with a black and a tabby). I loved those white kittens. I was so proud of them that I took them to Hannah to show the kittens to her.
Hannah cried when she saw the kittens because they reminded her of her white cat, Snowflake, that she'd had when she was a little girl. Snowflake was her constant companion. And then one day, Snowflake died.
The long and short of it is -- I gave the white kittens to Hannah, and then when I got home, I cried my eyes out because I had given away my kittens. My mother had explained that "it is better to give than to receive." I didn't know what she meant -- until I found out Hannah had named the kittens Snowflake and Snowball. Those two kittens brought so much joy into my neighbor's life. She had severe arthritis in her knees, and at that time, there wasn't much that could be done for her. But the kittens helped her to focus on something else besides her pain.
So, there you have it.
Snowflake.
Of course, Randy also suggested "Touch-down" this morning. That's because on the first few ccs of formula, the kitten stretches her front legs up and out (you know, like a football referee). When she was very tiny (and she's still not very big!) her feet didn't come anywhere close to my hand.
She's big enough now that when she does that, her feet touch my hand.
If the kitten was a boy, Touch-down would be perfect.
But the black kitten is a girl -- with a little white snowflake on her chest.
She's a black kitten with a white snowflake on her chest who also has a big appetite!
LeAnn R. Ralph
Wednesday, November 08, 2006, 19:04
Indian Summer (Again)
Indian Summer is back today. The temperature was 45 degrees first thing this morning, and the forecast says the high will be close to 70 degrees this afternoon.
The sun is warm, that's for sure. After a couple of cloudy, misty, dreary days, I'm glad to see the sun. I wore a sweatshirt outside to feed the horses this morning, and the sweatshirt was kind of 'too much.' Right now I'm sitting here in a sleeveless shirt, and I feel quite comfortable.
Unfortunately, the forecast says that the warm temperatures will not last. By Friday it is supposed to be snowing. Ah, well. It *is* November, after all. And if the weather pattern continues the way it has been, it will be cold and snowy and winter-like for a few days, and then it will warm up again for a few days.
I'm glad that election day is over. I received six phone calls yesterday about getting out to vote. Four of them were from real people. I felt like telling them, "I heard you the first time," but I did not. They were just doing their job and urging people to exercise their right to vote. Actually, the only reason I was kind of grumpy about the phone was because of the kitten. She lived through it, and it didn't seem to bother her much at all. Two of the phone calls came through while I was feeding her in the afternoon.
Randy and I are still working on a selecting a name for the little one. Nothing we've come up with so seems 'quite right' if you know what I mean. I keep asking her what her name is, but so far, she hasn't told me.
Kitty-Bit crossed another milestone this morning. Her eyes are wide open now, and for breakfast, she ate 19 cc of formula! 19! Quite a lot more than the 7 or 8 cc of formula she was taking only a week ago on Monday. She's starting to play some, too. She was batting at my finger this morning and then trying to bite it. That's in between taking more swallows of formula. She eats a little bit and crawls around and meows and purrs, eats a little more, crawls around and meows and purrs, eats a little more. . .
One really funny thing is that our little gray kitty cat, Sophie, who doesn't like anybody (except for her kitty friend, Duke), has taken it upon herself to watch the kitten's box. If the baby is awake in there (I can't see in the box because I keep a blanket over it), Sophie watches the box with a single-minded intensity. When I see Sophie watching the box like that, I know the baby is awake. Often Sophie will sleep on the rocking chair next to the box, too.
Sophie probably sees some of herself in the kitten's situation. Sophie also was close to dying when she came here.
Yesterday I put the kitten on the living room floor and let her toddle around for a few minutes. Sophie rolled over on her back, acting very coy and sweet and saying "chirp-meow" and "chirp-meow." I think she was reacting to the kitten, a definite reaction meaning she might like to be friends at some point in the far distant future. I picked up the baby and held her toward Sophie. In an instant, Sophie was on the defensive, claws out.
"Oh, no. You don't," I said. "You be nice. She's just a baby."
Still, Sophie has come a long way. At first she was terribly afraid of the kitten. Didn't want a thing to do with her and looked frightened if I held the kitten toward her.
So much for Sophie's gruff, tough, mean exterior. If she's terrorizing one of the older kitties, life is fine. But let someone hold a kitten out toward her, and she's a scaredy cat.
Just wait, Sophie. They say what goes around comes around, and someday soon, the kitten might be terrorizing you! [I can hardly wait. I will have to take pictures. . .]
Update -- Okay. I'm back. I was just about to post my blog when I heard Kitty-Bit crying. Sometimes the kitten will meow for 30 seconds and will go back to sleep until it's time for her 3 or 4 p.m. feeding (depends on when she wakes up and when I've got time). Not today.
Only a few hours after she ate 19 cc for breakfast (her personal best before that was 13 cc) she was hungry again and would not settle down. So I fed her. It was still 3 hours until her next feeding, but I know if she gets too hungry, she's too frantic, and it's hard to feed her and hard to get her to settle down.
Kitty-Bit ate another 15 cc for her "in between meals snack." Jeepers. Has she got a hollow leg or something?
Actually, I'm thinking she might be more active today as a reaction to the impending weather change. Cats are very sensitive to weather changes. Or it might be that she's going through a growth spurt. Or both. So, we shall see if she sleeps for the rest of the afternoon. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph