Crosspost Craziness

In case you missed it, our very own Mama Clarice was featured on Love & Hisses, The Cat Blogosphere, and got a shout out on The House of Bears Facebook feed... with more to come. Over the weekend I entered her in the Modern Cat photo contest. This is a photo of the week contest that starts on Mondays, so she didn't have a prayer of winning this week but she shall be there again and again and again. I'll put the new entry up later today, complete with a link to her profile here. She may never win, but that's not the point. Exposure, that is the point.

I received a fabulous e-mail from Sonia chock full of great ideas for showcasing our Mama and getting her exposed to a wider audience. One of the ideas is to get her exposed through all of the cat friendly groups on Facebook and across the internet.

"The internet likes cats, you say? Who knew?"

Our goal is simple: Get her photo, short story, and link out there to as many people as we can. Here's where I admit something weird for a blogger who blogs about cats... I don't regularly read too many other blogs or websites about cats. I read what I have time for while my kids are getting ready in the morning and then the whirlwind of my day begins. So I don't really know where to put her or who would be receptive to such a thing. I could use your help here. Use the comments or my e-mail (teenytinytabbies AT gmail DOT com) to send them on over. OR... you could help a girl out by doing it yourself (Gee, I don't ask too much... Do I?)

You are welcome anytime and at any place to use my photos of Clarice. Right click and save her. Unless she shows up in advertising or some off the wall place, I really won't care. My vanity in receiving photo credit comes in WAY behind my need to see her find a home. Link her photo back here or even here if you want to include pictures of her babies. My gratitude for your suggestions and other sorts of help is immense. Thank you.

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Some of you have sensed that I'm getting a bit more worried about finding Mama's home (I am). The reason is three-fold:

1. She's been here too long (almost five months now) and she deserves more of an effort to get her to her very own home. I'd worry about any kitten who hung around this long, and did when it was Stinkin' Lincoln Quincy Adams. I don't want this to come to a point where it is traumatic for either her or my kids to send her away. And no... we're not keeping here. Where do you think this is? Crooked Acres ;)

2. The cat dynamics are just not working to keep her here much longer. It's either her or Simba (and since he's been here for 10 years, he's the one that gets to stay). Don't get me wrong. It's not bedlam and complete nastiness. But she reacts to him and his presence in a way that invites conflict. She's been victimized by him in the past, so she plays victim and gets him riled up again. Could we work through it? Probably. In the meantime, though, she deserves better than being "Upstairs Mama" and a ghost in this house.

3. It's been quiet here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town for a reason. I've kept this quiet and deflected with a million other perfectly valid reasons, but the truth is that I am leaving the rescue though whom I fostered Clarice and moving on. Details as to why are completely unnecessary. But Clarice isn't mine and there will come a time where she either has to find her forever home or be returned to the rescue. I don't know about you, but I would like to know what happens to her in the forever after. I need to see her through to the end, wherever that might be.  

For anyone who has considered adopting Clarice, but has stopped because of logistics: Transport is available. I will get her to wherever she needs to go (and Jeanne at Random Felines has offered to help as well). Also? There are a few lovely people who have offered to help pay the adoption fee if it moves Clarice on her way. No pressure. Just an offer of assistance if it helps find her home.

And Connie says it's Adopt-a-Cat Month! So come on, Clarice... get adopted already!

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The Munchkin Report

Michigan (and much of the rest of the midwest) has been plagued by pretty severe thunderstorms for the past week. Our trapping plans have been turned around and upside down while Marmie and her babies hide out and ride out the storm. All three babies have been sighted during the nastiness, so they are all well. But part of the sighting leads me to believe that this little family definitely needs a circus name:

On Thursday, in some of the craziest thundering and lightning that I've seen in a while, Marmie lost track of her babies. They hadn't been separated by the storm. The babies had wandered out to play and fallen asleep in the bushes where she couldn't see them. Once the storm began, they stayed put. Smart kittens.

She howled and howled for them as the storm intensified, watching from atop a chain link fence to get a better vantage point of her surroundings. One-by-one, the kittens appeared... climbed the chain link fence... and haltingly walked the "tightrope" of the top rail in order to reach their mama. All they needed were parasols and sequins.

Wallenda? Or Mayweather, as Lisa suggested for this strange weather pattern that keeps our kittens from us? Or a completely different circus name? Let me have it in the comments.

Trapping is underway and, if they haven't already been caught by the time this posts, it's just a matter of a day or so. They're coming! They're coming!

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I intended for a Norman update and a copy of the weight-gain recipe to accompany this post, but as it is already long and late the information will get added to Ruby Tuesday. She's a bit cranky about sharing the spotlight, but she will have to deal with it.