Organized Chaos

To say that I didn't manage my goal of a new article by the Friday following the one I said I would miss is an understatement considering I believe I missed three in a row by this point.

Lets just say that life these past couple of weeks have been busy and chaotic for me. From getting all of the paperwork settled with buying our new house, ending up adopting not one but two felines off the streets, having air quality go down dramatically to hazardous because of the wild fires in our area as well as the smoke coming from other states and even canada into our area....and finding out that one of our new felines is pregnant and probably going to give birth the week we finally move into the new home....it's been pretty busy here.

The New House

First, when my hubby came home my primary focus is to spend time with him. Because he is a trucker and on the road weeks at a time our time together is limited and I like to make the most of it. This home time held some more significance then past home times because he was gone for nearly three months, instead of the usual three weeks. Both me and our son had missed him dearly and it was wonderful to have him back home.

While he was home we focused on getting all of the papers finalized on the loan and house we were purchasing. It was built in 1912 and it happened to have the very first garage ever built in our little town that we live in. It's got some history to it, and it needs a lot of TLC as well but I'm in love with our new home despite the work it needs. Our son also loves it which is just icing on the cake. My hubby also likes the house but is more happy that we are happy.

Of course there is work that needs to be done. One thing we learned was that the majority of the outlets were not grounded. Even though they were three pronged, this we felt provided a bit of a hazard, because we currently are not able to rewire the whole house before we need to move in, we opted to update all of the outlets to GCFI outlets so that they will pop their own breaker when reaching a specific voltage before popping the main breaker. This also was for the safety of anyone using the outlets because they will pop before it can become deadly. Least from what I understand. Either way it was something we wanted addressed before moving in and covering wall space with furniture. Just to ensure our four year old son would be safe if he got a wild hair when someone wasn't looking.

Cleaning everything thoroughly is also a slow work in progress. Just about every day I go over there to clean, I have detailed the fridge, the stove, the dishwasher. I've washed walls and trimming on the first floor. I've washed windows that I can get to and window sills. This place has so much dust from lack of detailed care it's been a project and a half just to get rid of all the dirt. My son runs through the house and plays, he's naturally a very pale child because of his Irish heritage from his father. Lets just say each day we come home and it looks like he's been tanning for how much dirt he gets from playing in the house. It's slowly declining each day and I hope eventually he'll stop ending up with a layer of dirt and grim on him.

Another project we need to finish before we move in at the end of this month is getting the new wood stove installed. With that we need to put up a heat shield. Oddly enough the wood stove that is currently in there doesn't have a heat shield. I suppose they just happened to be lucky in the past they didn't happen to burn the place down by letting the walls get to hot. Either way we have the new wood stove at the house now, it just needs to be installed. I still haven't figured out for the life of me what to do with the old one. It's still functional, it just needs the glass on the door replaced and the bricks replaced. We are switching to the other one because it's larger and will have an easier time heating up the house, hopefully save us on how much wood we actually need to burn in the winter.

We also need to replace all of the windows on the second floor, or attic of the house. This has been turned into two room and is actually where our room and our sons room is. The windows themselves are not sealed by this point and the frame work for them seems to also be rotting away and needs redone. This we need to do before moving in simply so we aren't having to fight around furniture to get it done before winter. Four windows total need re-framed and replaced, and we have to get that done by the end of September, lets home that we can manage that.

Now one last thing we need done before we can move in, is a door needs to be installed onto one of the rooms. This room will be our invert room, the temperature will be kept between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. We have to have the door installed before we move in because I have to make sure that not only will access be limited to my son. But also to our two new additions to the family, Tabby and Gingie. They've already tried to cause mischief with our inverts while roaming the office while I'm in here on the computer. Another reason I haven't been to focused on being on the computer as of late, because it means keeping the door in here open.

Another factor that has slowed some of our progress has been the wildfires we have out here. Where we live alone is surrounded by seven fires that are still being battled by firefighters and forest services. While where we are is relatively safe, the main issue has been the air quality and smoke. It's finally lifted a bit and we are able to be outside again, but there was some days it was to hazardous to even go outside, even being inside my son was coughing a lot, and I'm not sure what effects it's had on the cats or the inverts.

In all though I'm hoping we can make our deadline for the end of this month and get moved in. Once we are settled in I will be able to regain my focus on the articles I want to write and update more regularly. I will probably start by showcasing the four new tarantulas that we got a couple of weeks ago. I need to take some good pictures of them and add them to the site. That probably will not happen until after we move.

New to the Family

So I mentioned prior that we ended up with two new additions to our family. There is a bit of a story to be had with these two, so I suppose I will start from the beginning. First, several months back, we had to give up our dog Dante because he bit our son. He found a new home rather quickly. It was hard to see him go because we had him for three years since he was 8 weeks old. But it was for the best for him, and for our son in the long term. That's another story, the reason it's relevant here is that while I was still in mourning over losing Dante I noticed two stray cats that were living in our area.

I had seen them a couple of times, one was an orange tabby and the other a grey tabby. They were small, looking like they couldn't be even a year old yet and pretty thin. I have a deep love for cats, and I will say I feel I am more a cat person then a dog person though I do love both. But I also happen to be allergic to cats, which was one of several reasons we went with a dog from the start. So while I saw these two cats and wanted to take them in, I felt it wouldn't be a good idea. We were also starting to look at buying a house, it didn't seem like a good time to be adding in unfamiliar animals to the mix.

However that didn't stop me from trying to say hello and offer them food and water. While I wasn't up for taking them in, I did still want to make sure they could get food and water, I really couldn't help myself I felt bad enough for not being able to give them a home.

When I first was able to interact with them it was the orange tabby that came to me first. Skittish and unsure but desperately wanting love and attention. The grey tabby was even more skittish and untrusting, but seemed unwilling to leave her friend who was also curious about everything involving me and our home. So our first meeting involved me giving them some water and some milk before they decided to be on their way again, from that point I got a small bag of cat food and started to leave a bowl of food out during the day for them as well as a bowl of water. I always brought the food in at night to avoid attracting skunks and other wildlife.

So days went by and the first house we were thinking of getting fell through (Which was a blessing really) and we started to look into the house we just bought. While that was going on I continued to see the two from time to time, always together. My son interacted with them and for how skittish they were I was really surprised that they didn't immediately run for the hills at how excited and bouncy my son got over getting to 'pet the kitties'. They still lingered and they had patience with his energetic and loud noises.

Now something to note here, my son is a very energetic and hyper active child who isn't always paying attention to his surroundings. He's always running around and yelling or talking loudly, laughing and getting overly excited. However he isn't grabby with animals, he will try and pet if encouraged to do so. But he tends to give them their space for the most part, the most he does is get up in their face or run after them, but doesn't actually try and touch them. Regardless though, loud and noisy, bouncy and energetic doesn't usually work with skittish kitties, so I was surprised and intrigued. I also noticed I wasn't having the usual allergic reaction I tend to have with cats at this point too.

Well several days go by, in fact I feel a few weeks went by from when my son interacted with them that one night. I hadn't seen them for a few days and then I come home from dropping off my son at daycare to see just the orange tabby sitting on our front porch. The grey tabby was no where to be found and I couldn't help but feel my heart sink a bit at just why she wasn't there with her friend.

Living out here where we do, there are a number of things that could kill a cat, especially an abandoned one which I was starting to think they were by this point because they were so sweet and nice, they wanted human attention but seemed scared that they would be smacked instead of petted. They screamed abandoned and abused to me by this point. Both were short haired, I realized that they wouldn't survive a winter out here to begin with, the trains that go by here are a danger, and that's not even touching on any of the wildlife out here that would jump at the opportunity of making them a meal. Needless to say when I saw just the orange tabby sitting there, I thought that the other had died.

When I met the two of them I had noticed the bond between them, and part of me felt that at least if they had each other they had a better chance out on their own, and I was of course putting food and water out as well. But when I saw just the one there, the thought that she had lost her friend and was now all alone was a bit much for me. I knew she wouldn't survive the winter, it was either take her in or take her to the shelter if I wanted to make sure she survived. Well I opted to take her in. Damion was in love with them from that one meeting, I loved them as well, and I still wasn't having any reaction.

So I brought in the orange tabby and after putting her in another room so she wouldn't try and run out when I came back, I went to the store to get kitty supplies. Of course I also had to call our landlord and see if they would be ok with it even though we would be moving out soon, and of course see that my hubby would be ok with it. Per the usual my hubby wasn't against taking in any animals, he loves them as much as I do. Our land lord didn't mind at all either, in fact, they knew the real story behind these two. Which I will get to in a moment, there's a little more to add here obviously.

Well I make it back from the store with kitty supplies in tow and this time as I pull up, I see the grey tabby sitting on our front porch. As I came to the door she meowed at me, she was normally quiet while the orange one was relatively vocal. I knew she was looking for her friend and when I opened the door and let her sniff around she wandered in. Closing the door behind her she immediately started meowing and yowling at the door in protest to not being able to go outside.

I had already committed to one cat, and I knew I couldn't just turn my back on the other one. Not to mention the clear upset reaction she was having at the prospect of not being able to go outside and search for her friend when I shut the door. Rather quickly I went to open the door to the other room with the orange tabby and she came trotting on out. The very moment that the grey tabby saw the orange one she stopped crying out. She stopped freaking out about needing to be outside, calmed down, and then went back to sniffing around and exploring curiously. There was no way I could even consider separating these two.

And of course the same situation stood, just because the grey tabby happened to be alive it didn't change the fact that neither of them would survive the winter. So we ended up taking in two instead of one which I'm perfectly fine with. They are both very well behaved cats inside. They don't jump on the counters, they are not all up in your face for attention though Gingie, the orange tabby will voice her desire for attention and demand it. They were already litter trained and despite being very thin, seemed over all healthy. No fleas, not excessive dirt, no matting in the hair that would need taken care of.

In fact later on that first day they both gravitated to my sons room, and they both slept soundly on his bed through the day. Picking up my son from daycare to tell him we had new feline members of the family was fun, he was thrilled to death. In fact it's become clear he is a cat person as well. He wants to help feed them (Something I couldn't get him to do with Dante, now he volunteers for the cats), he wants to play with them (Again, never held much interest in Dante, they both just ignored each other for the most part). That first night, both cats actually slept in his room with him. It was just to perfect to be quite honest.

Now for their back story. So our landlord owns several properties and these two cats actually belonged to one of their other tenets. They had been indoor house cats, and they were not even a year old yet but both had already had a litter of kittens. The tenet they had said he found homes for the kittens, but then kicked both of the mothers out of the house. He said he was searching for homes for them, but that they were now outdoor cats. From the looks of how thin they were he wasn't leaving food out for them at all. As well as he didn't bother to get either of them fixed. It seemed to be more of 'they don't live in the house now, so it's not my problem any more'. Or in a more direct way of putting it, they were abandoned.

When I told the landlords that I wanted to take them in they were actually thrilled, they were not to happy with the situation and the treatment that the tenet gave the two or rather the lack there of. But now they are in a loving home and we plan to make sure they are not only taken care of properly but spoiled rotten.

Now of course though we are having to pay to make sure they have all their shots, are dewormed, and spayed. It's going to cost us about 360 for both of them which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. When I did call the Vet to try and set up a visit that's when I learned something rather interesting about cats and those allergic to them. Most people are actually allergic to the saliva of cats, not the dander due to an enzyme found genetically in some cats. Some cats carry the gene that causes their saliva to produce this enzyme, while other cats don't. If a cat doesn't carry this gene, then those allergic to the saliva aren't allergic to them. Which is why I have no allergy issues with these two cats, because they don't carry the gene. It also suggested that they were litter mates as well because the probability of finding two cats with the same gene in a rescue situation was rather low. Knowing they came from the same house and they seemed about the same age, and with that factor and their bond I'm fairly certain they are sisters.

Now, when I took them in, it was the 12th of August. My husband came home on the 28th and we had the week he was home. He got to meet both of the cats which we named the grey tabby Tabby and the orange one Gingie (Which little known fact female orange cats are harder to come by due to genetics). Of course everyone got along and then he went back on the road. By the time he did go back on the road I was growing a little concerned that I was over feeding them because Tabby was starting to pack on a little bit of weight.

As time progressed I was really growing concerned that she might have intestinal parasites for how much she was eating. Gingie seemed perfectly fine though, she was putting on weight but just the weight that she needed to be healthy since they went so long without proper food. Tabby though was exceeding the healthy weight and I did have some serious concerns to her health.

Yet then I start to notice that her weight in her stomach was a more distinctive shape, and yes as time passed and the shape became more pronounced it was pretty obvious. She was pregnant. She started to really show around the 5th of September and as time passes she just keeps getting bigger and bigger looking like she's gonna pop any day now. Hoping she will wait till my hubby is home because he actually has experience with newborn kittens but don't know if she will last that long.

I had to cancel the original vet visit we had scheduled because that day the air quality was deemed hazardous to be out in. Now I'm going to schedule it for when my hubby will be here so he can go with and meet the vet too. Hoping Tabby will hold off till then but we will see. She can't get some of the shots because she's pregnant anyways. Gingie however we will be getting spayed just in case she gets out again. They had said they can abort the kittens if that was needed but there's no way I could do that to her. I wouldn't want someone to make that kind of decision for me, I can't do that to another creature. So we will do our best to make sure mother and babies will be healthy and safe, and be sure to find them good loving homes with people who will actually care for them.

We are eager to see how Tabby will be when she's not pregnant, I have a feeling she will be a bit of a cuddle bug because she has her moments now where she really likes to cuddle up with you but then she will leave and I think it's because of the effects of the pregnancy. Gingie is one hell of a character as well though, she's a lot of fun and can be a little goofy at times. She loves to meow at you and beg for attention but make you chase after her to give it to her sometimes. She also loves to play and ambush you to tag you on the leg then dart off again.

Both of them have slowly been warming up and relaxing as they've settled in. They are starting to learn that this is their home now. I see evidence of this by the lack of shying away when petted has grown less. They both would let you pet them but always crouch when you reached down to and shy their bodies away from it till you made contact. As if afraid it was going to hurt until proven otherwise. Now they have learned that our touch isn't going to hurt them and that reaction doesn't happen as often. I really can only imagine how they must have been treated in a home where they ended up kicked out of. Especially when they are so well behaved and how much tolerance and acceptance they have for small children like my son.

In the end the Universe has set us up perfectly to have these two be a part of our family and soon to be a few more temporarily. There were to many things that spoke of how well we fit together to not keep them and I'm so glad that we have. I can't wait for them to see the new house when we actually manage to fully move over there. They're going to love it, and that deck I plan to enclose with some screen to keep insects out of there and give them their own outdoor play area to go out into when they want. It's going to be great.