Moving!

I'm headed to katboniface.equinehistory.org!

   Follow for more horses, horse history, and occasional cats.

5000

   I noticed (a day and a half ago) that this blog was vast approaching 5k views, and have been wracking by brain to come up with an "exciting" post to celebrate. Well, the mark has been hit, and I don't have a fresh new idea to share.

   I do, however, have some exciting news. I received word that I was selected for the John H. Daniels Fellowship at the National Sporting Library & Museum. I will be spending two delightful weeks next summer delving into their massive and varied collection in Middleburg, VA. I will primarily be laying the foundation for my dissertation on Hanoverian horses (the historical, not the modern), but I hope to have time to glance at a few other topics of interest. Like horsebread. Or early Thoroughbreds or Morgans. And I am sure I will accidentally discover many more fascinating things along the way.

Check them out. Seriously.

   I'll work on those new post ideas (and clearing the backlog), but meanwhile I'll leave you with this news and the obligatory cat pic:

Former foster loves his new home

More Kittens

Week Ten is upon us, which means never ending writing. Just not this kind.

A couple nights ago, we had a very surprising knock on the door while I was laboriously correcting footnotes. A friend/classmate/neighbor had found two very pathetic looking kittens in a broken down car on the street, and not knowing what to do with them brought them to us. Also, hey, kittens. What better study break?

I really should have taken a real "before" picture, but here they are after their first bath:

When we first saw them, the boy's (the more-orange one) eyes were swollen completely shut. We weren't sure he was going to make it. And they were (are!) so tiny. The girl ate some wet kibble right away (voraciously and angrily), which made us all very happy, but the boy wouldn't eat and even after a warm towel could only open one eye. Our friends who found them called animal control, but animal control decided it wasn't an emergency, so we kept them for the night. After a bath and several more cleanings with a warm towel, we got the boy's eyes open. And both were eating and making attempts at using the litterbox. They often missed (cats are great about not really needing to be trained, but still, they're wee tiny), but all systems were working. Celebration. They're maybe four weeks old, assuming they're stunted. The boy's ears were still slightly folded. They weighed three pounds between the two of them with bulgingly full bellies. We were planning on taking them to the shelter in the morning, both because we thought the little boy might need more than the antibiotic eye cream we had, and because we didn't want to expose our two cats.

Well, that was the plan. Unfortunately, Abdiel flipped out and when we wouldn't let him in to see them, he dug the towels out from under the door so he could peer in. So, they introduced themselves and we gave in.

Octavian is much more dubious. And by that I mean he ran away hissing and hid under the bed. He's starting to adjust.

They are doing so very much better now. Once they made it safely through the night, and since they aren't bottle babies that I really don't have time for, we decided to foster them until they're adoptable (re: vaccinatable & spay/nueterable) age. Their rescuers are already sorely tempted and will probably take the girl. Anyone want a sweet snuggly orange boy kitten?

Whoa!

3000 views came and went and I didn't even notice.

Kitten Nom Nom

Kitten Discovers Cat-tree

   Ok, so once again it isn't horses or history, or even remotely educational. But, lets be real- kitten videos are more entertaining. Parker has finally realized that the cat-tree can be climbed. And has TOYS!

Abdiel is not sure how he feels about this development. He likes playing cat-tree paw slap, but he's used to being the higher kitty. At least he's no longer running from the kitten.

Ab says that's better.

Foster Kitten

    Meet "Parker." 

aka Peter Parker aka Spidey
He leaps, flings, and climbs. A lot.


Parker, meet mirror.

I didn't grab the phone fast enough to catch him full on attacking the mirror. 

I was to busy watching and trying not to laugh.

Kitty!

In lieu of a real post this week, please accept this video of Abdiel.