A family photo for #Cabanaandthegang

Hey, Casey, do you think we can get a family photo??

Is there baby food involved? - Casey

Did someone say baby food?? Cape and Cabana (with Casey in the background) 

Okay, everyone on the couch, try not to move too much while I figure out the white balance
Could you get a little closer?

Arrgh, my white balance again.. Cabana, could you be a little less brilliant for me?

Okay, but more brilliant than that, I kinda need you to look at the camera

well now you all look like you are about to be abducted by aliens.. 

Lady - you are weird - Capa

Okay, that's better, that is a little less alien abduction and a little more album cover photo..
but can you get a little closer?

oooh, got it!!

Casey!! it is not that kind of photoshoot!!
and no, these kinds of photos will not have people sending you oodles of baby food.. 

Pawsome customized Jack socks made by Socksery

Olivia from the Socksery Team - that want to spread joy by making pawsome customized pet socks with people’s furbabies on them - reached out to me last month regarding their custom socks. She was wondering if I might be interested in a free pair of socks in exchange for a review.

I jumped on board immediately. I was offered a similar opportunity a while ago but it slipped out of my fingers because I couldn't find the right photo of Jack to use. This time I was prepared as I had found one and kept it on hand in case I decided to buy a pair.

Because... Jack. He was just so freakingly handsome.. *sigh*

I sent off the image and Olivia said that would be great, so I sat back and waited for the "magical socks, personalized with (my) furry friend’s face" to arrive.

I chose a size Medium and to have the background purple. The background comes in different color choices such as blue, light blue, pink, red, green and orange. You can also choose two or even three faces to put on your socks. You can see those options here. They also have a face mashup where there is no background to it. (Okay, fine, you can even get your dog, or put your own face on a pair of socks. Heck, if you were clever you could probably use just about anything - but you know my preference.. kitties!!)

So.. what do I think of the socks? Well, come on, they have Jack on them, they are freakin awesome!!

I will tell you that I wear a size nine wide shoe.  I'm also not a completely fair representation of what they look like on because my calves are incredibly thick due to my lipedema.  Because I generally have an impossible time getting socks like this on my feet at all, I was incredibly impressed that I was able to get them on. They have some good give to them, but they aren't all loosey-goosey so you would have to worry about them falling down.

Negatives?? well, um.. well there is a seam down the side that runs all the way up the sock, but that's minimal... I mean like I'm digging for a negative here.

Now that I'm looking at the photos I will say that the purple is showing up on my screen as a shade or two lighter than they actually are.

So I grabbed some Crayola crayons to help you understand the color a little better..

The wrapper on the Plum and the Violet are very similar to the sock color, but the swatch of the violet was the closest in color.

I love them.. LOVE them.. Now, the question becomes if I had normal-sized calves would I wear them. I am so torn on that because I'd LOVE to show them off, but I would hate having them wear out. On the flip side of that, I could always buy new ones! 😸

If you have a pair, or you buy a pair, I'd love to see yours.. cause I think these things are so cool..

A photoshoot for #Cabanaandthegang

Being afraid of their own shadow, I wasn't very comfortable bringing my big camera down and subjecting the kittens to the click and the flash of my Nikon.. so all the photos so far have been on my phone.

But with their time drawing to a close I wanted to try to get some better photos of them.

Since they weren't keen on sitting still for me, some of these aren't the best.

Casey - she takes a minute to realize she likes me

Cabana finds me interesting, my hands are still very evil.

Capa is now a lap kitten. She was not sure about the camera, but if I sit down she's on my lap

Cape is almost always under the cat tree.
If I pull her out she purrs like a motorboat and loves attention.
If I have baby food or a toy she will come out on her own.

Capa wondering what the camera thing was

Cabana almost looks worried that I am going to try to sit on Happy Bear with him

All in all not a bad time of it. They didn't make it easy as they moved a lot so I have a lot of fuzzy photos.. and white kitties and flash do not go well together as you will see in the next post about them.

Major developments with #CabanaandtheGang

With Briget and her sisters gone, it was questionable if I should let Cabana and his sisters out of the bathroom or not. There is a lot more space to get used to, a lot more to defend against, a lot more to be afraid of.

But the four of them were destroying the bathroom in less than 12 hours which meant leaving them there was a lot more work for me and it wasn't challenging them at all. They were used to the bathroom, they were not progressing any further toward me (well except Casey who figured out she adores having her neck scratched) so I took stock of the full room to see what I was dealing with.

The new couch is kitten height off the floor so I realized pretty quickly if I left that in there I'd never see them. Fortunately, we still hadn't taken the old one out, so we switched couches. They can still hide on one side of the couch where the arm comes up off the floor, but I can easily reach them in there without acting like a predator (scrambling to get them) so that worked.  The cat tree nearish the cabinet wasn't going to work either because I could just see Cabana making a scramble to get over there and leaping, and either making it and I wouldn't be able to get him or not making it and his falling from 7 feet, so I moved the tree far away from it. I removed a few items that would make scrambling for cover possibly worth it (like the unicorn and the giraffe) but left a few things to hide in. I also left the bathroom open because that was comfortable to them, smelled like them, they knew that.

And I was fully expecting to have to return them to the bathroom because I didn't know how it would go.

That first night they were out exploring and having a grand ol time. I knew in the morning they would be right back in the bathroom hiding from me - and they were.  After that, we have had some successes and some not so successful moments.

Casey loves me. She is usually quick to remember that the great big thing that invades her space delivers love and baby food..

and with baby food, usually, I can entice everyone else over. Cabana trusts Casey, so he'll usually come over to check it out and his love of processed meat product does the rest.

He still does not trust me though. I can only get him to come over if I have something he wants. Food, toys, or his sister's snuggles. Other than that he stays well out of reach, but the fact that he is not hiding is incredibly impressive. I did not think it was possible. I was certain he was going to have to be a barn cat when I first met him, so huge kudos to him.

Capa, the black and white one, still growls at everything. I offer her baby food and she growls. I go to pet her and she growls. She doesn't mind being with me once I have my hands on her, even volunteering to lay next to me the other day when the food was gone and I told her she could leave from our forced cuddle session. She has a way to go - or she needs someone who is willing to put some work into her.

Cape, the tabby, likes attention a lot but does not feel comfortable asking for it. She skulks around the room like she's expecting to be called on by a teacher after not doing her homework. If you can get your hands on her, she purrs up a storm. She likes baby food and play but holds back as if the other kitties have told her that they get to do these things first.

Since they are already neutered, I'll probably have them for another week or two, but we'll see. I've already the next litter set up waiting for me..

What a difference a month makes

This past weekend Briget was adopted by a lovely woman who has already given me an update. Her new name is Kit. My husband and I both teared up at that. I am so happy for her.

Molly and Evie are going to be adopted together. I have not heard, nor do I expect to, where or when they are going, and I am okay with that. I know that people love updates but they aren't always meant to be.

They came so far from the scared little balls of floof that showed up here a month ago. It was a privilege to know them.