Claire - I was so happy to get this news that you've decided to give these wonderful bundles of joy a home! Well at least it sounds that way. Thank you for this wonderful post and the visuals - so adorable - I am going to share this with cat-loving friends who were so moved by your last one - I think they even subscribed! Hopefully see you tomorrow at class schedule permitting and you can give us an update on how they are doing.
Yes, we can. But Laurence is sad that I want to keep them, because she needs foster families very badly. She asked if I'd consider only keeping two, so that I can foster other kittens. Then she said the magic words: "It would save more lives if you kept fostering."
So I feel like mother who's been asked to choose between her children. I think I'm going to tell her that I'm keeping these goobers--*and* that I'll still foster other cats and kittens, so long as they're vaccinated and get along with other cats. I don't mind if this place is a zoo. I just can't bear the thought of separating this little family and saying goodbye forever to two of them. I mean, which ones would I give up? Goober? *No way.* Huck? Nuh-unh. Linus? Impossible. He needs me. Gremlin? Not in a million years.
I wouldn't worry about cats getting along with one another. We tend to think of them as solitary creatures, but they are hardly. I helped with a dairy operation and they had 100 cats on hand. No problems. Spats, pecking order, etc, but those disagreements were short lived. And I've been watching shorts on YT of a cat with a Go Pro. He makes his rounds to about 20 cat friends.
I had seven at once, so I fully agree with you. But the issue is solved: I'm keeping them. I'm hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with them and if anyone tried to separate me from them I'd die of grief. I can foster more, too, so long as they're vaccinated and reasonably comfortable with other cats. My apartment is built for cats: My attic is considered by French law to be "uninhabitable," because you can't stand up straight in it, but if you're six inches tall it's an absolute wonderland.
You’re needed back on the front line Claire—I can hardly be expected to shoulder the full load of trenchant commentary that the world so urgently needs. But take all the time you need. Cats, I don’t know, that’s not my thing, but I do get the concept of the breather. Recently I went back and revisited some of my favorite science fiction stories of the Golden and Silver ages of the genre, and it was such a relief from the tyranny of current events. It even yielded an article for Substack that had nothing to do with the mad carnival of current events. I don’t know if you have a taste for SF, but these tales I can recommend.
It was a fun list to compile, Claire. When John and the gang planted the idea in my mind, I made out a list of some twenty-five stories. Culling that list down to ten involved some ruthless triage. Arthur C. Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" was a finalist, but after much backing-and-forthing I cut it out of a desire to showcase some less famous but equally meritorious titles.
I spent a couple of nostalgic afternoons reading the stories on my original list, which transported me back in time. Many of those stories I first read as a teenager, by virtue of the fact that my father was a great reader with a particular taste for SF. His library of paperback originals—Ace Doubles and the like—were in a curious way the patent of my intellectual independence. They didn't make me smarter, or more curious, or more skeptical. No, they just made me sure that all relativism is bunk.
I hate you. I've been daydreaming about getting kittens for a year now. Despite having two huge, almost 30 lbs, gorgeous Maine Coon cats, which are the best cast I've ever owned. Now, I'm even more determined to foster and undoubtedly fail to foster kittens.
Bravo, Claire for taking in a kitty litter (doesn't sound quite right). I am sure they will flourish in your care; YOU have quite obviously been energized by them, which is good to hear.
It’s a better rebound than some parole-violating boyfriend, I suppose
Claire - I was so happy to get this news that you've decided to give these wonderful bundles of joy a home! Well at least it sounds that way. Thank you for this wonderful post and the visuals - so adorable - I am going to share this with cat-loving friends who were so moved by your last one - I think they even subscribed! Hopefully see you tomorrow at class schedule permitting and you can give us an update on how they are doing.
CAN’T WE KEEP THEM??? I’d love for there to be kittens next time I visit!!
Yes, we can. But Laurence is sad that I want to keep them, because she needs foster families very badly. She asked if I'd consider only keeping two, so that I can foster other kittens. Then she said the magic words: "It would save more lives if you kept fostering."
So I feel like mother who's been asked to choose between her children. I think I'm going to tell her that I'm keeping these goobers--*and* that I'll still foster other cats and kittens, so long as they're vaccinated and get along with other cats. I don't mind if this place is a zoo. I just can't bear the thought of separating this little family and saying goodbye forever to two of them. I mean, which ones would I give up? Goober? *No way.* Huck? Nuh-unh. Linus? Impossible. He needs me. Gremlin? Not in a million years.
I wouldn't worry about cats getting along with one another. We tend to think of them as solitary creatures, but they are hardly. I helped with a dairy operation and they had 100 cats on hand. No problems. Spats, pecking order, etc, but those disagreements were short lived. And I've been watching shorts on YT of a cat with a Go Pro. He makes his rounds to about 20 cat friends.
I had seven at once, so I fully agree with you. But the issue is solved: I'm keeping them. I'm hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with them and if anyone tried to separate me from them I'd die of grief. I can foster more, too, so long as they're vaccinated and reasonably comfortable with other cats. My apartment is built for cats: My attic is considered by French law to be "uninhabitable," because you can't stand up straight in it, but if you're six inches tall it's an absolute wonderland.
Another 'be careful what you wish for' come true.
Cats can be addictive.
Good luck Claire, we'll be here when you can get back to something like your previous one-at-a-time routine.
You’re needed back on the front line Claire—I can hardly be expected to shoulder the full load of trenchant commentary that the world so urgently needs. But take all the time you need. Cats, I don’t know, that’s not my thing, but I do get the concept of the breather. Recently I went back and revisited some of my favorite science fiction stories of the Golden and Silver ages of the genre, and it was such a relief from the tyranny of current events. It even yielded an article for Substack that had nothing to do with the mad carnival of current events. I don’t know if you have a taste for SF, but these tales I can recommend.
https://unwokeindianaag.substack.com/p/the-classic-science-fiction-short
That's a terrific list.
It was a fun list to compile, Claire. When John and the gang planted the idea in my mind, I made out a list of some twenty-five stories. Culling that list down to ten involved some ruthless triage. Arthur C. Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" was a finalist, but after much backing-and-forthing I cut it out of a desire to showcase some less famous but equally meritorious titles.
I spent a couple of nostalgic afternoons reading the stories on my original list, which transported me back in time. Many of those stories I first read as a teenager, by virtue of the fact that my father was a great reader with a particular taste for SF. His library of paperback originals—Ace Doubles and the like—were in a curious way the patent of my intellectual independence. They didn't make me smarter, or more curious, or more skeptical. No, they just made me sure that all relativism is bunk.
They are gorgeous!!
I hate you. I've been daydreaming about getting kittens for a year now. Despite having two huge, almost 30 lbs, gorgeous Maine Coon cats, which are the best cast I've ever owned. Now, I'm even more determined to foster and undoubtedly fail to foster kittens.
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.
—Unknown
I did not want to include this in a thankful post about your kitties.
I hope that "Kamala Harris’s deep thoughts about foreign policy" was sarcasm, but I suspect not.
It was.
Sarcasm doesn't come through well in text.
I am so happy for you. It was clear that there was a hole in your life/heart after your last kitties were gone.
And we know the essays are going to be good. How could it be otherwise?
Yeah Claire!
I'm so happy for you. The little bundles of joy and light will give you moments of much needed perspective in this dark world.
God knows, we all need them.
Cool video. Love the kittens! And glad you’re feeling better.
The writer found her muse(s).
As the Bard of Anaheim had it, “Everybody wants to be a cat / Because a cat’s the only cat / Who knows where it’s at / . . . Oh, yeah!”
Bravo, Claire for taking in a kitty litter (doesn't sound quite right). I am sure they will flourish in your care; YOU have quite obviously been energized by them, which is good to hear.