Sandy

Well we got through hurricane Sandy pretty much intact.  There are a few shreds to the ego, but nothing that can't be mended.

We lost power at 6:30 PM-ish.. my husband wanted to go to the store for dinner and by the time we got back it was out.  It was relatively warm, we have no power lines to our house (the entire development has underground wires) and no trees to knock us over.  I knew it wasn't going to be 'fun' but I didn't need to stress over losing power.. we ended up finding a place to eat, ate, and called it a night.

sadly I didn't sleep a wink.  The Crew was ALL over me.. quite often I felt slightly claustrophobic so I tried to move to be able to breathe . to which The Crew said, "OHAI, your awake.. PURR PURR PURR.. "  It was sweet if not a little bizarre.. they did not seem stressed at all by the storm as I have seen all of this behavior from them before, but not from all of them all at once.

The morning we still had no power.. and with no power comes no water (oh what fun) and since I don't have a cell phone I had no access to the outside world until I left the house.  There was quite a bit of evidence that there was quite a bit of damage out there, but the crews obviously had been hard at work, and most of the major stuff was well on its way to being removed.

We were lucky.. just about all of our problems were self made and total #firstworldproblems

Silly woman..

Elsa and Ella survived just fine too.  it was just another day for them.  Ella is starting to look like she might be turning into a cat instead of the puffball she has been.  So freakin adorable to see that.. I must get decent pictures.. that iTouch only goes so far..

Working with Minerva & Irene aftermath

She wasn't really in the mood to work when I took this, and it didn't help that I had my hands full with the camera and the clicker. Usually she's jumping right up, not putting her feet up and thinking about it.  Hedwig is all out and about and in the action.  She's a real go getter that girl and is usually right under foot telling me about her life.. sounds just like her mom..

Minerva has not "gone after" me again since the incident with the oven mitt.  I've brought it with me a few times just to be safe, but I'm feeling a bit more confident that she knows that doing that is not acceptable and will not get her what she is after.  She also seems to think that by eating she is "dismissing" me, and that is my cue to leave which I usually take and do.  Fawkes is one interesting kitten. He's either incredibly laid back /lazy or just not interested in the world outside of his bed.  I need to get some picts of him.  I also noticed this morning he's building up quite a "pouch" or dulap on his lower belly.. I've said from the time I got them they are going to be big cats.. And since they are just starting their fourth week and they are already well over a pound...

Then Irene hit.  I can't believe my Sunday post didn't post.  *shrug*  We didn't fair too badly.  We lost power at 2:30 PM after having the lights flicker a few times.  Didn't come back till almost 2:30 the next morning.  We *had* to go out to eat because frankly we didn't want to eat cold food and we weren't grilling in that wind.

Speaking of the wind..


It really was way more impressive in real life. Best if viewed full screen, but even then you miss a lot of the trees in the back ground being whipped around.  Once Irene hit, most of the cats calmed right down.  I felt oh so very thankful they were all indoors and all safe and sound.  Having Minerva in the house kept making me think of all the poor kitties who were out in that storm with out a home.. I'm sure there were quite a few with kittens..   *sigh*  I do what I can.

I stopped by the shelter that the shelter was volunteering at to make it pet friendly.  There were no pets there.  A little sad on one hand, but really great on the other.  Nice that no one needed to leave their home, but sad that the staff had nothing to do.  There were a few people at the people part of the shelter, but not nearly as many as you would think for a "hurricane" (OK fine, it was a tropical storm by the time it hit us)  Odd thing was that the worst of it for me was once it was gone past us.  That is when the wind really picked up and took out the power.  I am lucky though, two of my co-workers are still with out power.  For the most part you wouldn't know a hurricane even hit us.  There were a few tree limbs down on the roads, but not nearly as many as some of the storms that have passed through here.

Hello Irene (was supposed to post yesterday)

So apparently Minerva knew the hurricane was comming.  She has been acting a little off, sitting by the food bowl (as far into the room as possible) and away from her kittens.  I was concerned the first time she did it but she perked right up when I went into the room so I dismissed it the first time, the second I thought it odd, the third, I figured it was the storm.

The kits got out of the nest last night.  Hedwig was out of the box when I walked in the door and Crookshanks came out shortly after I sat down.  Fawkes - the kitten with the perpetual worried look on his face - just sat there and meowed pitifully so I took him out myself.  They are at that stage where they start to soil the box because mom doesn't empty their bladders fast enough, so I decided to bring out the kitten litter box and bought a small bag of clay litter.  I put them in it and they had no idea what was going on.  Heck they didn't even try to eat it like most kittens.  I even tried stimulating them to pee and putting them in there - nothing. *shrug* no big deal.

Hedwig was out and about.  She apparently has no fear.  She tried climbing the wall, she investigated the couch, and even made it to the food.  Rarely do kittens venture out so soon  Usually they hang very close to the nest.  Crookshanks ventured a little bit.  Fawkes would not leave the comfort of the corner.  Crookshanks figured out how to hiss and would not stop doing it to his brother.  No idea why.  I don't know if they got upset at each other or if it was just fun to do.

Minerva is a little co-dependent I think.  She is completely OK with my being there, with my giving her attention, with training and play time.  She hates it when I pack up - even if she was done playing - and she REALLY hates it when I leave.  I had to leave the room for a bit this afternoon as my husband was on his way down to drop off some supplies.  I warned him she was a little wound up, and apparently she swatted at him hard enough to leave scratch marks with her recently clipped claws (I took her to the shelter to have it done because I do not trust her to let me do it)   He also told me that Hedwig went right up to him and tried to play with his ankles.  What is it about him that all the girls love :)

I went back in and did some more training with her.  I got an actual clicker and I was working on that.  Then we had some fun play time.. that cat can JUMP!!  I wore her out and she was laying on the floor with her kittens about her so I decided to try to leave.  She once again went after me as she has several times since the kittens have gotten a little older.  Fortunately I had brought down an oven mitt to protect me to see what she would do when she would "go after" me.  I wouldn't let her get near enough to me to do any damage prior to this, but I was curious if she would bite me or if she would just use her paws.  I wouldn't dare let her try anything with out protection.  I had spent a great deal of time patting her gently with the mitt.  I fed her with it and she was not afraid of it, and only had positive associations with it.  But as I was leaving she went to swat at my leg and I put my hand in the mitt between us and she grabbed it and went to bite it...  Since I wanted to know if she would bite I didn't pull away and she bit me (the mitt).  So I made all the appropriate noises to let her know that was not acceptable and she did turn and leave and went under the couch.  So I turned to leave again, and she came out after me again and bit me (the mitt) again.  More "No!"s and once again she left and went under the couch.  I finally was able to leave because her kittens had come and wanted a snack.  I'm thinking I'll break out the Rescue Remedy in case this is separation anxiety... and if this is just 'storm is coming' behavior it should help her stay calm.

Speaking of the storm, I am on call for the local shelter.  The Animal Shelter is working with the Emergency Management and are helping out.  Not sure exactly what they are doing, but if they need help they'll call.