Pumpkin Latte up for Adoption

Pumpkin Latte is now officially up for adoption with TARA (The Animal Rescue Alliance).  He is so incredibly sweet and adorable.  My niece, J, is particularly enamored of him.  “He’s so soft,” she crooned.  “I want to hold him forever!”

He purred and purred and purred for us.  I want him, just like I want Moon and Midnight.  I consider them to be my babies, and it kills me that they haven’t been adopted yet. They are absolutely gorgeous and yet…. nothing so far.

I know the perfect families are out there for each of them.  We just have to wait until they find us.

Curious George

As part of the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction program, I have to take three Readings in Genre courses.  I am currently taking the course that focuses on picture books and early chapter books.  I am required to keep a book journal and thought I would do so on-line.  Many of the books we are required to review are older books, classics and such, so these won’t necessarily be reviews of current works.  Still, I think this could be fun.  My first assignment of the semester was to choose a Curious George book.

I own the entire set of Curious George books, which made it difficult to choose just one book to discuss.  I hadn’t read them in a while, so I re-read…. well… all of them.  I thought only to re-read one, but once I started, I had to keep going.  I think what I love about Curious George is George himself.  The pictures of George are so cute that I can almost forgive the series for its origins – the Man in the Yellow Hat’s initial action of stealing a monkey from his native environment with the intention of locking him up in a zoo (sigh.)  I find it interesting that these books continue to be so popular when I don’t believe they would find a publisher in today’s world – too politically incorrect, I think.

Of all the books, the one I always think of first is Curious George Rides a Bike.  I think, for me, it’s the page where he’s making boats out of newspapers that makes it so memorable.  I love the illustrations – the how to of boat-making – the individual illustrations describing each step along the way were fascinating to me.  And, of course, as a child, I had to see if it really worked (it did!)  H.A. used a similar sequence of pictures in Curious George Takes a Job, to show the effects of the bottle of ether that George opens.  The pictures are shown in six panels that resemble a comic strip.

Ultimately, I think that what makes Curious George such a memorable character is the innocent mischief he is constantly up to.  None of his actions are malicious.  He makes mistakes and everyone forgives him.  Everyone always loves George at the end of the books, regardless of how much mischief or damage he has caused.  The books deliver over and over again the message that it is okay to make mistakes and that children will still be loved in spite of any mistakes they might make.  The simplicity and beauty of that message transcends time and may account for Curious George’s continued popularity, despite his tragic (and politically incorrect) beginnings.

Residency #1

Just returned from my first writers’ residency at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA.  It was a fabulous trip.  It’s my first residency as part of the Writing Popular Fiction program.  The hope is that this program will force me to finally finish the YA fantasy series I’ve been writing for entirely too long.

For each residency, we are required to read a novel that represents a specific genre.  Apparently the genre for this residency was romance.  For unknown reasons, however,  the novel chosen was the YA book Fated by Alyson Noel. I won’t get into the many varied opinions of Fated, mostly because they were all negative.  Instead, I will simply say that Fated was at a disadvantage because it was being judged as a romance novel, which is completely ridiculous.  It was unfair to the novel and extremely unfortunate to the entire romance genre.  Most of the people reading this novel had never read a romance novel before and probably never will again and this was their one opportunity to experience quality romance and unfortunately, Seton Hill failed to provide that experience.  To the extent that I would say those who had never read a romance novel before still haven’t because Fated does not qualify under any circumstances as a romance.

Ultimately, despite this rocky beginning, the week was exceptional.  Fabulous modules focused on writing, lots of inspiration and we had the opportunity to hear Kevin Hearne speak about The Iron Druid Chronicles series (that I have not yet read, but have added to my list of novels to read soon).  I found Hearne to be delightfully humorous and down-to-earth.  I look forward to reading the first book in his series, Hounded.

Socializing Skittles

Merry Christmas to the Cat Crew!

Skittles has made me very happy over the past month.  She continues to occasionally sleep with me and even allows me to pet her sometimes when I wake up.  I have to remain very still and slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y roll over, then carefully inch out my hand to gently pet her. She is always at the foot of the bed, which involves very slow contortions on my part to be able to reach her. If I sit up or lift my head up off the bed too far, it’s all over and she bolts.

Some days she bolts before I can make contact. Some days, I’m able to make contact and to pet her maybe two or three times… and then she bolts. And some days, I’m able to really spend time petting her.  Until she bolts of course. Always, always, invariably, I do something that causes her to flee. It’s just a question of how long I can hold out before my innate human nature gets the best of me.

Next week, I’ll be getting ready to go out of town for a week. I worry that my lack of presence here will set Skittles’ back in terms of her socialization. I hope not, but it’s hard to predict how animals will react. I can only hope that she will be so happy to see me return, she will actually become a lap kitty out of sheer joy.  It could happen.

Integrating Skittles

Skittles has been with us four months now.  I’m attempting to integrate the entire household, which means that Skittles, Pebbles, Mama Dru, Jake and Boo are all being put to the test. Can they possibly get along with each other?

Skittles is absolutely the most easygoing of them all when it comes to getting along with other cats.  She will play with Boo, play by herself, curl up with Mama or Pebbles and generally get along with any of them.  Mama is the exact opposite and as a result, often has to be locked up in the back bedroom because of aggressive behavior toward Boo or Jake.

Skittles still does not trust me and hisses when I move too fast or get too close or startle her. However, we have made some definite progress. Every once in a while, I’ll wake up in the morning and realize that Mama Dru, Pebbles and Skittles are all on the bed with me. Skittles will usually be at the foot of the bed and not touching me at all, but she’s in close proximity and it’s a huge step forward.  Of course, she immediately jumps down the second she realizes that I’ve awakened.

I still have not had the opportunity to pet her.  I miss it and often wish that I had kept her locked up for longer.  It’s hard to know the best choice in these situations. Would she have been better off if I’d followed the recommendation and simply left her released after trapping and spaying her?  I absolutely don’t think so, but some people might consider that I’ve been cruel to keep her inside when she spent her entire first year living outside and most of that year, on her own. Would we be further along if I’d kept her locked up in the back bedroom all of this time?  Forcing her to interact with me twice a day until all those breakthroughs I’m still waiting for happened?  Maybe. But she was alone most of the day and in a small bedroom besides. It seemed endlessly cruel.

I cannot help but second guess all of my decisions because that’s the kind of person I am. In the end, I console myself with the knowledge that, right or wrong, Skittles’ life has definitely been changed for the better - she’s safer at the very least - due in part to the choices that I have made.

Casa de Cats

So apparently my house is breeding ground zero for KCK because once again, I have found myself trying to trap the most adorable little kitten EVER.  I realize I say that about every kitten I’ve rescued so far, but truly, they’re all just so CUTE!

This kitten is tiny, with no evidence of any mommy or siblings around. I’m amazed he’s survived. He’s been hanging out under my porch and the porch next door and last night, he was actually hanging out at the top of my stairs, meowing at my kitties on the porch.  It was sooo cute.  He was begging to be let in.  So… I camped out in front of the door with some food. Cracked the door a bit and waited for him to come in. As soon as he was inside, I closed the door, and …

Exploding Terrified Kitten.

Of course, I expected this and therefore had my hoodie ready and waiting. I gently covered him up and scooped him into my arms, petting, petting, petting and Terrified Kitten became Adorable Purring Machine.  SO. DARN. CUTE.

Now I just have to somehow convince T.A.R.A. that one more kitten is not too many.  Because really, in my household of five cats and one rabbit, one more kitten is DEFINITELY too many. But he’s so darn cute.  I wanna keep him, and who can blame me? Check out his utter cuteness:

[photo]

Mama Dru, let me in!


[photo]

Am I cute or what??

Updated 10/18/12: This cute boy is officially named Pumpkin Latte and T.A.R.A. has agreed to find him a forever home.

A Cat Rescue Story

My students have been asking me for several weeks to tell them the entire story, from start to finish, of the cats I’ve rescued over the past year.  I keep putting them off, mostly because … who has the time with all the standards to meet?

As my days in the classroom are coming to a close though (I've accepted a teacher leadership position at my district's central office), I decided to go ahead and create the story they’ve been asking for.

This video was created for my fabulous students using iMovie.  The collages were created using the app PicCollage.

And so… without further ado…

A Cat Rescue Story

If the video doesn't work here, click the link to watch it on YouTube:  A Cat Rescue Story.  Enjoy!