Pet Fostering Updates

Alba went to a new foster home a few weeks ago. We decided that since Alba is pretty shy & timid, and Alice can be hyper (and she was frankly dominating Alba), they would do better separately. Well, Alba is doing fabulously at her new foster home! She seems to be happy and perky, and she can run around and have a wonderful time with the horses at her new place. Alice is also doing really well; she's calmed down a lot and is being better behaved :)

My other big news on the foster front is that I now have two foster kittens! A couple weeks ago, Kara got an email from a coworker (from another teacher in a different school) about these two kittens who needed a good home. I jumped at the chance, and Rachel agreed that we could take them in. I went to pick them up on Friday, August 14 after work. When I met them, I was instantly charmed. I also learned some more about their background, and it's a bit heartbreaking. Their mother was a pet in a neighbor's house (this is in a townhouse neighborhood), and when she got pregnant, the humans put her out in the shed. The apparently stopped bothering to feed her, and when the kittens came, they didn't feed them either. Eventually, the humans moved, leaving the cat and her kittens behind. When Sara (the wonderful person who sent the original email about the kitties) realized this--and further realized that the mother cat was scavenging in garbage cans to feed her kittens--she started putting out cat food for them. They gradually warmed up to Sara, and she sent out the email to find them a good home.

They came home with me Friday evening, and were pretty scared of being in a new place. Because of their penchant for hiding under furniture (couches, bookshelves, tables, you name it), I named them Hide and Seek. Hide is still a bit on the shy side, but is getting bolder by the day. Seek is bold and adventurous--but still shy when he meets new people. They both come out when I'm home. They like to hang out with me :) Seek loves to be petted and has a wonderful purr, and he even lets me pick him up sometimes. Hide has let me pet her a few times and pick her up once. Her purr is softer, but still quite lovely. They have mock fights and kitty wrestling matches several times a day, and it's hilarious to watch them! As I type this, they're curled up on the couch with me. Seek likes to walk across my laptop keyboard--I've had to redo several portions of this blog post because of his "help"!


Hide and Seek are sweet and playful, and I'm glad they came to stay with me!

From the Weird Dreams File...

Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I started thinking about some of the odd dreams I’ve had over the years. Several stand out as being so bizarre that I thought I’d entertain you all with them.

Weird Dream File Number 1

I recently dreamed that all of the printers at my office staged a mutiny. Their gaping paper-drawer mouths would fall open then slam shut, trapping strings of papery drool. They advanced quickly, madly waving their stubby arms, tightening their circle of doom until, finally, they swallowed me up. It was pretty horrifying. (It won’t surprise you to find out that I’m in charge of the computers, server, and printers at work.)

Weird Dream File Number 2

I must have been upset at something when I had this dream. I’m pretty sure it was a dream. I think I’d remember if it had actually happened, right? All I remember is that I was really unhappy and I slammed a door (I don’t know where I was or what room the door was in, which I’m taking as another sign that this was, in fact, a dream) and screaming. However, the door didn’t slam loudly enough, so I had to keep opening and re-slamming it to get any satisfaction out of my tantrum.

Weird Dream File Number 3

This was a year or more ago now. I opened my bedroom door, only to be caught in an avalanche of laundry. I don’t know whether it was clean or dirty laundry, but I sure hope it was clean. I mean, how awful would it be to be stuck in a deluge of dirty laundry? At any rate, I went down screaming and struggling against the monster that was my clothes. In case you hadn’t guessed, laundry is one of my least favorite chores. I guess that I had put off dealing with it for just a bit too long when I had this dream!

Weird Dream File Number 4

This is a pretty old one, but still worth sharing. Basically, in this one my older sister is stabbed to death. With a carrot.

Weird Dream File Number 5

I had this dream repeatedly as a child. Remember the fairytale “The Twelve Princesses”? Well, my dream was a spoof on this fairytale. Kara, Jane, and I would take a boat across a lake to a castle where we would dance with handsome princes. Once we were there, however, the plot changed a bit from the original story. After dancing and having a wonderful time, somehow we would be trapped in the castle and running from something awful. What was this hideous monster? No idea. A dragon? A lion? Our cousin Paul?

I’d love to hear about some other people’s weird dreams. If nothing else, it might help me feel less crazy ;)