A New Addition

Spring fever has hit me, and so I decided today that we needed a new addition to our family. I looked in the paper, and sure enough, there was what I was looking for....an ad that read, "Free Kittens!" As some of you may have heard, we haven't had so much luck in the kitten department, but, there are safety in numbers, so we decided for 2 boy kittens. I called first thing this morning, and the lady was at work, so she asked me to call back in the evening, and we could surely come and pick up a couple of kitties. So, I called back tonight after dinner, and asked if there were 2 boys. Her response was, "Honey, we've got 10 kittens here, so come on over..."

We piled into the van, and headed out about 10 minutes, until we found The Place. The Girls were excited, I was kinda excited.... We get out of the van and are greeted by a very nice lady with about 4 kittens in her arms. We oohed and aahhed over the kittens, and she says, "These ones are too young, but come on in..."

We walk up to the front door, and there are cats EVERYWHERE. A couple of The Girls start to get a little freaked out, because they've never seen SO MANY cats in one place. I promise you, there were at least 12 cats in front, and probably 8 kittens running around. She asks us to watch our step - she doesn't want us to step on the cats. I remark, "Wow! This is a lot of cats!", and she says, "Oh, these are just wild ones.... come on in...."

In the front door we step. Immediately, I am greeted by the wonderful, umm, smell.... of cats. Everywhere. You know that ammonia like smell of cat pee? My eyes start to water, and I start breathing through my nose... The kind cat lady says to The Girls, "Come on in and sit on the floor... take a look at the kittens and see which one you like."

I hear Art quietly say, "Girls, do not take off your shoes." But they do - after all, we are Canadians, who are, above all else, polite. So they all take off their shoes and pile onto the floor....the old carpet, cat pee everywhere carpet, and start playing with the kittens. She keeps bringing kitten after kitten to the girls, encouraging them to see which ones they like....ones that are gentle, yet a little frisky, and frankly, being fantastic. As I survey the house from the doorway (no, I DID NOT take me shoes off), I can count probably 25+ cats....everywhere. In the kitchen, on a scratching post, on the couch, the mud room....everywhere. The kind cat lady tells us about the 13+ kittens that they have, and how all their cats climb into bed with them.... (really?! I can see one, maybe....but 30?!) One of the girls comments on the one that she likes, and the kind cat lady says, "Oh no, honey. That kitten is mine." Which is fine, but inside, I am thinking, "Really?! You need ANOTHER cat?!"

The girls finally decide on 2 boy cats, and we get very clear instructions on how to carry the cats outside, and to take really, really good care of them, and we are on our way. We walk outside, where again, I am astounded by the amount of felines there are, and the kind cat lady says, "Be careful where you walk!! You don't want to step on any kitties!"

We carefully make our way through the throng of cats, to the van, where I can finally start breathing through my nose again, when I realize that the only thing I can smell is the pleasant aroma of cat pee. So, I take of my hoodie, open the sunroof, and tell Art, "Hurry home....I stink!!"

We get home, introduce the kittens to Moses (the dog), and Aaron (the last remaining cat we have), then I strictly instruct the girls to get into the house, take all their clothes off in the laundry room, and hop into the shower (which I myself do as well). Now, the girls are all clean and tucked in, we've talked about the generosity of the kind cat lady, who gave us 2 kittens FOR FREE, and how if they EVER have that many cats when they are adults, I will NEVER come and visit them... (Hannah said that she would maybe have that many cats, but they would all live outside, and she would build each and every one of them a cat house...) Bedtimes prayers have been said, asking that God would help the kitties not to be scared, and that they would live for a long time (I think these are kittens #9 & 10), and not be coyote food.... I still can't get the smell out of my head, so I will go and light a strong candle and hope that will take away the smell.

So there you have it....our new additions. Oh - I almost forgot, the kind cat lady had named all of the kittens, so we ended up getting one with the name Spot (because that's what Molly wanted to name her cat, and it had that name), and Yang, the twin (I do think they wanted us to keep that name as well, but alas, it is now called Snowball).