Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Amphibian encounter in the night, and a new kitten

As I drove up the driveway last night, Joe was out front waiting and he came up running to meet me. "Mommy! We found a cute little kitten! Come and see it!" Uh-oh. We have an abundance of cats in and around the house, we don't particularly need another, no matter how cute it is.

That is, unless it has some Siamese features. I'm a softie for Siamese cats, ever since I got my first cat, Mittens, at age 4. Then there was Lilith, and Lucy. I know there are some Siamese type genes flowing around in the way-too-active feline gene pool here; there is one outdoor cat named Snowy who has blue eyes, grayish points, and white fur. She is even a bit cross eyed. Well, the Siamese genes have struck again, and here's Mom gushing the loudest about how cute the little fluffball is. It has long cream colored silky fur, with darker gray ears, nose, paws, and tail, and paws and tail are tipped with white. Blue eyes, of course.

The poor little thing was hungry. It ate constantly for about a half hour after we brought it inside. I don't have a good track record thus far of sexing young kittens, hence Alexandria became Alexander (alias Whiter Biter) but I think this one's a male. Which is good, since it costs about half as much to neuter a male as it does to spay a female, and this kitty's going to be my new house kitty.

There was so much excitement over the kitten that the kids "forgot" to tell me about any other critters they had found during the day, or what became of them. I had to get up to pee at about 1 am, and as I put my hand on the railing at the foot of the bed I felt something small, cool, and moist. My startled recoil prevented me from squishing it. "What the hell!?"
"What is it, honey?"
"I don't know...there's something here...Agggh! I think it's a frog!" I felt something hit my arm as it leaped. "Turn on the light!" I don't like sharing my sleeping space with leaping, crawling, or flying critters.
"Where is it?"
"Over here...I felt it...awww, you probably think I'm going crazy."
"No, I forgot to tell you, Vincent had a tree frog in here today. It's name is Froggy. It got loose."

We found Froggy and set him free outside. As I settled back into bed, Joe mumbled, half asleep:
"Where's Froggy?"
"I took him outside."
"We have to find Froggy. I miss him."

2 comments:

Madcap said...

Sounds like you've got quite a menagerie. I admire your midnight self-control - I would have screamed! I love the pictures of your gardens. Something about raised beds satisfies my soul. I hope we have twice as many next year - and you too, if you want them! I'll wish whatever you like.

Deb said...

whollyman-the snake is still unaccounted for!
monday nature stuff