Wordplay on Wednesday

First the news for which you have been anxiously awaiting: We have babies! Kind of. Rather, what I should say is that our next foster kittens have entered the world. They have been born, but are not yet here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town. I should explain...

A very good friend of mine cares for a feral colony of kitties. Within this colony is a drop-dead gorgeous female cat. Twice a year for the past few years, this cat brings a litter of babies to my friend's backyard and leaves the kittens behind once they are old enough to be weaned. My friend has always fostered the babies, socializing and caring for them until they can go up for adoption. A very pregnant Mama disappeared from the feeding area for a day recently. She returned much smaller and incredibly hungry. It's clear that our babies have arrived.

This year, however, my friend is extra busy with work and the incredibly large number of fosters that she already has. This is where we come in. Mama will raise her babies in a terrific insulated shelter for the next 4 weeks (give or take) as she normally does. When she brings the kittens to the backyard, we get to bring them home and play with them here for a couple of months. Until then, we live in the knowledge that our babies are out there. We just don't know how many there are, what they look like, how many boys or girls there are. See? It's a big guessing game until now.

We DO know one very important thing, though. They will be phenomenally, astronomically, amazingly beautiful. For example....

This was Mama's last litter when they were adopted shortly before Christmas.

She always produces puff balls. I think that's one thing we can count on.

Can you stand it?

The plan, as it has been for each and every litter so far, is to trap Mama so she can be spayed. She has proven amazingly adept so far at avoiding the trap. We're hoping that this time around will be a bit more successful.

So we will have about a month before we hear the pitter patter of baby kitten feet again here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town. The timing isn't ideal for you, but it is perfect for me. Spring soccer season began this week. Between two soccer players and the insane camping schedule that the scouts break out in April, I am on a dead run for the next 6 weeks. Besides, I still have someone that needs a home.

Another fluffy Mama deserves my attention first.

And...

I've been keeping this a little bit hushed while I figure out the dynamics. Truth is that I don't have them 100% figured out yet still. But... I'm going back to work. More than that, I'm starting my own business. I'm listening to that little voice inside my head and following my heart and taking a great big leap.

Step one is that I'm starting my own pet services business... pet sitting, dog walking, transportation to the vet and the groomer. You name it, I'll probably include it. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be starting the legal process... the name, the insurance, the bonding, the website, the advertising. My goal is to be up and running by summer (and by the time the babies move in here). 

It's perfect for me. I get to set my own schedule to be here for the kids. I get to hang out with animals all day. I get to keep fostering. I get to (hopefully) find a way to finance step two.

Step two is that I'm taking photography classes in the hope that within a year, I will be adding animal photography to the business. And if that works out, photography of people in the year after that.

And now for the time when I need your help... I always thought I would name my business after the blog. "Whiskers in the Window" works perfectly for the blog and a pet business. BUT, there is already a "Whiskers in the Window" pet sitting service in the county next door to mine. I realize that legally I could still use it. But I'm not really interested in getting into the confusion and potential wrangling it might create. So I'm looking for something else, and I'm stuck.

I thought about keeping "Whiskers in the Window" as the legal name of the umbrella company (See? I'm already planning to be a great success!) and using the word "Whiskers" as part of the pet service name. I considered "The Whisker Watch" or "Whiskers While You Work" (both, according to the Googler, being used elsewhere in the country but not close enough to matter). I thought about various combinations of "Whiskers" and "Wags", but after weeks of wondering my brain refuses to play nice and come up with a name. HALP!

If  you think of a truly fabulous name (and again, I would prefer something with the word "Whiskers" in it but it's not mandatory), let me know either here in the comments or through an e-mail to teenytinytabbies AT gmail DOT com. If we choose your name, then you get to choose our names... kitten names. A whole family full of foster kitten names. You'll get naming rights to the Monroes when they arrive. There's just one restriction. You can't use a family name. My maiden name is Monroe and I will absolutely positively not name a kitten after a family member. Their heads are big enough as it is. 

But we can discuss that later. For today... let's wiggle those whiskers and put our thinking caps on. I truly would appreciate any help that you wonderfully creative people can give me.

And in the meantime... while we're waiting for babies... we still have Ruby for lots of fun and pictures.