Mission Accomplished

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the outpouring of love and support you showed yesterday when the news of our little Chanel broke. I received a phone call from Chanel and Abby's dad yesterday afternoon. After your reading your messages, he is overwhelmed by the affection, generosity, and kindness you expressed for Chanel and their family. He has asked me not only to convey his gratitude to you, but also to let you know how much they adore Abby and that she is doing a marvelous job of taking care of them during this difficult time. 

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OPERATION ZELDA

Last Wednesday, I announced a plan that involved all of you... Operation Zelda. The basic idea was to share our special girl until her forever family came calling.

By Wednesday night, I had received a promising inquiry about our fabulous green-eyed girl. By Saturday morning, Operation Zelda was...

Mission Accomplished.

Zelda found her forever home with a wonderful couple. They have adopted two other special and quirky kitties... one senior who chooses to be alone and one five-year-old in need of companionship while they are at work. After learning that Zelda enjoys the company of other non-aggressive cats, her new parents drove over an hour in a Michigan snowstorm to meet our girl.

I spent Saturday morning preparing her for the meet-and-greet, telling her that new people were a-okay, and that she just needed to trust me (and trust them). I guess I need not have worried quite so much.

Because when the time came to meet her new family, I lifted Zelda into my arms and she took the initiative and left my arms and chose to climb into theirs instead. 

Zelda was calm. Zelda was charming. Zelda was adopted. I imagine that before too very much longer Zelda was...

A very happy kitty with a beautiful pink tongue on display for all to see.

On Saturday evening, I received an update from Zelda's new dad promising photos and mentioning that she "has such a big purr for such a small cat." Just knowing that Zelda felt comfortable enough to purr on her first day in her new home gives me tremendous joy.

Happy life to my darling girl. Operation Zelda... Mission Accomplished... Over and Out.

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Operation Zelda had worked so well that Operation Sadie was already in the planning stages by Sunday morning. Little did we know that Our Lady Sadie had placed herself on an accelerated time table. 

Before I even had time to begin phase one, a text came in from the adoption center announcing that...

Sadie had been adopted by a wonderful family with a mom, a dad, and a young boy who was 7-years-old going on 30. He decided that Sadie was now his lady and off she went to her new home with her mom, her dad, her boy, and a shopping cart overflowing with goodies.

I just hope they know that all of the really comfortable furniture belongs to Sadie... and that there's a soft warm bed with a stuffed animal to snuggle every single day for the rest of forever.

Operation Sadie... Mission Accomplished (before it even began)... WooHooooooooooo!!!!!!

I'll just bet that when Zelda heard the news, she looked something like this...

Don't worry about me wasting tongue shots...

I've got more where these came from ;-)

Super Sunday Surprise Edition

On the night before Chanel went to her forever home, the girls decided to have a slumber party in my bedroom.

My younger daughter Megan was the first one to fall asleep (unusual for her). Please notice Zelda is still in her heater bed. :)

"Hey! It's comfy here! Besides have you noticed that it's JANUARY?"

"And the location next to the stinky feet leaves something to be desired."

"Excuse ME... Isn't this slumber party supposed to be about CHANEL???"

"Okay OKAY, some of this can be about Zelda too..."

"Or perhaps we could talk about Sadie..."

"Or ChaNELLLLLLL!"

"Chanel IS the one getting adopted, you know."

But first...

One last playdate with Ruby

Part two of Chanel's day will be in tomorrow's blog post.

I promise her adoption story is special.

I promise her adoption story is significant.

I promise her adoption story is surprising.

But it's still a secret, so come back tomorrow pretty please.

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OKAY, OKAY... I'LL TELL YOU ONE SECRET

Let's see. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, (skipping ahead to) Quincy-Adams... Can you fill in the next one on the list?

Meet the Madisons....

Better photos to come, I promise. Between the lateness of the hour, the lack of time, and the refusal of both mama and kittens to sit still, I have blurs for you today. But now you have something to look forward to... ;-)

Mama Clarice Madison is a gorgeous silver gray tabby with a fantabulous plume of a tail.

"Can't you see that the Mama is busy?"

Mama Madison moved here from her last foster home along with her four rambunctious babies.

Bear... An outgoing long-haired black boy.

Grizzly... A fantastically funny black tabby boy.

If you don't know why these first two names are spectacularly special to me,

you might want to read this post.

I named Mama when she came into the rescue, 

but another foster mom named the babies.

Well done.

Levi... our quiet short-haired black boy

and last, but certainly not least

Misty... our very shy tabby girl.

The clan moved in on Saturday right after adoption hours. I'm just working on being able to tell the difference between our pumpkins (and get a clear photo of their bouncy little selves).

I plan to bring you many more photos on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday... I have a big secret to spill on Monday.

An Interlude With Norman

"AHEM... It has come to Norman's attention that the short one

you call 'Chanel' is attracting the lion share of attention around here lately."

"You MAY have forgotten...

But NORMAN used to be the star of this blog."

"Just LOOK at Norman's stately presence and 

be in both awe and wonder of his exquisite stature 

and gentlemanly airs."

"Excuse me for a moment..."

(whap whap whap whap whap!)

"SEE? Norman is BEATING away the ladies."

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"Is that true, Mr. Norman?"

"They really like CHANEL best?

Chanel, Chanel, CHANEL!"

"That information is quite disappointing to Ruby."

"After all... RUBY has the fantastical whiskers."

"And have they forgotten about Ruby's distinctive orange splotch?

CHANEL doesn't have an orange splotch."

"My MAMA loves me best...

So do Mr. Norman and Mr. Simba.

So THERE, Chanel!"

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And Speaking of Chanel...

Just LOOK at how teeny she is!!!!

Small = Chanel

Medium = Ruby

Large = Abby

(and Abby looks quite small in comparison to Norman, Sadie, or Simba)

I see Chanel has been working her charms... again.

Sadie has come completely into her own here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town. She is such a good girl (but we already knew that). What I didn't know is how active and playful she can be... girlfriend's girth is clearly from a sedentary four months at the shelter and not due to her nature. It's actually quite amusing to watch her run and play. She has the run of the house during the day now and gets along with everyone but Simba (who isn't going to welcome anyone). She has a wonderful personality and needs a home of her very own... like yesterday!

Zelda continues to improve. I've given her the run of the house too, but she chooses not to take advantage. She spent most of yesterday either on top of or under my bed. When I left the house for 30 minutes to pick up a kid from school, I returned to no Zelda. Not only had she left the bed, but she left the bedroom... and the first floor to boot. She's getting there, but we're going to be at this for a while.

Abby has a follow up at the vet this morning for her surgically repaired eye. I'll update when we return.

And then I'll take lots and lots of pictures of Chanel for you. We've only got a couple more days with her.

Cold Fingers, Cold Noses, Cold Whiskers Too

Somebody turned off the heat in Michigan yesterday. Our day began at zero degrees, which felt like 19 below. It was actually warmer by bedtime... a whole seven degrees warmer. The kitties of Teeny Tiny Tabby Town spent the day dozing in sun spots just trying to keep warm.

Ruby and Abby stuck together for warmth.

Well, until they didn't.

"Chanel's not touching Ruby!"

"Chanel really WANTS to touch Ruby,

but Ruby said she'd break Chanel's whiskers if she did."

So Ruby dozed alone.

And looked gorgeous doing so.

We exercised a bit of creativity in keeping all of our guests warm during this cold, cold, cold day. Our foster room has a wall of windows, which gives the kitties a fantastic view and lots of entertainment on a normal day. But on a day like today, their room did not retain the heat very well. By the end of the day, we relocated them to another room inside the house... the master suite as a matter of fact. (Let's just say that this is one of those weeks where it works for the better that my husband works out of state.) I relocated myself to the living room for the night.

My daughters and I spent some time (entire minutes actually) creating self-heating cat beds for the clan. We bought solar shades that are made for the front windshields of automobiles and cut them down to size to slip into flannel pillowcases. As the shades are made to reflect sunlight out of cars, they can be used to reflect the cat's body heat back at them when they lay on top of it. The girl kitties bravely tested them out. By the time I went to bed last night, they were all using them as nap mats... except for Zelda (you know that girl was on the electric heating bed, she has dibs).

Abby says, "Hmm... my buns are getting toasty.

It's an odd feeling, but I think I like it."

Chanel dozed off almost immediately.

Our older foster girls are settling in. I opened up the foster room in the afternoon to let some warmer air inside and, to my surprise, they both came wandering out. To be more accurate, Sadie came waddling out.

"Watch yourself, Lady.

Sadie knows where you sleep now."

Actually, it did not surprise me that Sadie quickly took to her surroundings. She wandered every part of the house and even snuck into the attached garage when an unsuspecting person went out there.

Zelda left the foster room but was not quite as adventuresome as Sadie. She found a spot under a bed and stayed there, reluctant to come out again. Our sweet scared girl is ducking away from my hand when I try to pet her. But I've discovered that if I sit down, she will come sit in my lap and purr. She just doesn't want me to make any moves towards her head. I can respect that and will work on it another day.

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Don't worry... I didn't forget that I promised you a Chanel adoption story. On Saturday, we promised Chanel's adoring public that we would accept applications for her during adoption hours from noon to 3. At 12:05, her forever family arrived.

Chanel's new dad is a single dad with two teenage daughters who live with him on the weekends. His kitty died recently and he has been lonely without its companionship. He came looking for a kitten who likes to snuggle... and boy oh boy, did he ever find a kitten who likes to snuggle.

When he took Chanel into his arms, she snuggled up and purred delightedly. She allowed herself to be passed from dad to daughter to daughter and back to dad, snuggling and napping at each stop. She played with hair, allowed herself to be put on her back for belly rubs, and remained completely relaxed... which can be a hard thing to accomplish during adoption hours where the store is full of barking dogs, opening automatic doors, and dozens of people coming and going. Not only were they sold on Chanel, but she was apparently quite sold on them as well.

They held her and visited with her for about an hour, joking that they were going outside to tell everyone else that there were no more kittens available today. They asked fabulous questions and demonstrated immense compassion and a great knowledge of animals. They would be perfect adopters for any cat we had, but for Chanel especially....

Her new dad wanted a snuggler. Our bottle baby prefers the company of people and would prefer to be with her person 24/7. When we mentioned that we had moved her to a foster home with other cats to socialize Chanel into being more "cat-like" and less like a baby, her dad laughed and said he was thrilled to have her just the way she is. He said that he even comes home every day for lunch, so she'll never be alone more than a few hours at a time. I couldn't have picked a better place for her.

Chanel has an vet appointment on Friday morning to receive her second set of vaccinations. After a 24-waiting period (just to make sure she doesn't have a reaction), she will be going home with her new family on Saturday. I don't think we've had a kitten make quite the impact that our little diva Chanel has in such a short period of time. We've got another few days to enjoy her and I'll make sure to take many, many photos before she goes.

In the meantime, enjoy a Chanel photo... Really, she insists.

"You will look at the baby and like it! Remember?"