Many months ago I wrote about an adorably sweet cat that would sit on our porch constantly. We called her "Outside Kitty." At the time I wrote the blog, that's all we thought she would ever be. Circumstances have changed and she now has a name: Molly. As we eventually learned, Molly was in heat for some time period that she was visiting us. Eventually she got pregnant, which became more and more obvious as the days went by. Molly is such a small, petite girl, that her ballooning up suddenly was especially noticeable.
Once Molly had her kittens, we began to become concerned about her and them. How safe were they on the outside? Molly had found a nice nest for them underneath the house next to us. We would regularly see her going in and out of a hole in the bottom of the house and Janessa told me she'd heard high pitched kitten mewing going on in there at least once. Janessa was worried she'd have to go get the kittens to get them somewhere safe before too long. Molly beat us to it, though.
We were in Reno at Janessa's grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary family get-together, when Janessa's cell phone went off. She excused herself, and when she came back let me know that Molly had move the kittens to our porch! The next door neighbor saw the situation and put the kittens in a box so they'd be contained. That she trusted us enough to do this was touching. Logistically, it posed some problems, but we were able to solve them. Janessa had built a small enclosure on the porch for our cats that they were accessing through a cat door. That became kitten central and has been that way for about the last month. Molly was so happy to have the kittens safe and to have the burden off of her she started to let us pet her and even put her on our laps. She is an incredibly gentle and sweet cat and it boggles our minds that someone could ever abandon her.
When I say Molly had kittens, I mean she had kittens. 6 to be exact. Which, I'm not going to lie, has been wonderful to look at every day. When I am doing the dishes and look out the window and see three kittens on a scratcher sleeping smooshed together or two chasing each other around hopping like rabbits, it's impossible not to smile. When I walk outside to check on them and six kittens rush the gate all at once, well, it's every bit as cute as you'd think and then some.
We've had to wait until now to start really trying to get the kittens adopted out, because until recently they were still breastfeeding. As much as we would love to keep them all, 3 cats is already insane, 9 impossible. If they stayed at this age forever, it'd be a different story. Fortunately, one of them finally got a home. We figured the runt would go first, and she did. She has an incredibly squished face which is irresistible. She also has tons of spunk and moxie. It was sad to see her go. Two more followed in the next week. Three remain; we're hoping to get them all good homes pretty quickly. It's much more difficult than you might imagine. All the animal rescues are full and there are tons of people trying to adopt out kittens. Spay and neuter, people, spay and neuter.
We thought Molly might have a home too, but it fell through. At this point, it's seeming less and less likely by the day. It's hard enough to find homes for insanely cute kittens, what chance does a 1 year old - even a super sweet one - really have? We certainly hope something comes up, but at the end of the day, it's looking more and more likely that Molly will be our 4th - and FINAL - cat. She's much too gentle and sweet to have to live outdoors. She deserves a real home. And heck, she adopted us months ago. I didn't know it could work like that, but apparently it does, as we're quite taken with her.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
A trip to the moon
On Saturday night, the wife and I went to see a screening of the color restoration of Georges Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" - a 109-year old picture of which no surviving color prints existed, until one was miraculously discovered in 2000. Restoration - both because of its complexity and because of a lack of adequate technology - took over ten years. But it was worth it! Like many people, I had become aware of Melies primarily from watching "Hugo." That film, as good as it was, though, did not adequately recapture the magic that we saw on the screen Saturday night.
Melies' style is fantastical and magical. Melies made no attempt to represent reality, but was more of a stage magician and artist. His sensibility was wildly imaginative and evocative. The energy in the film is manic and contagious. The film was inspired by Jules Verne's novel "From the Earth to the Moon," and captures a group of astronomers planning and executing a rocket ship trip to the moon - ultimately landing in the eye of the moon's face - in one of the most famous images in film history. The scientists encounter hostile life on the Moon and are ultimately forced to escape back to their capsule and return to earth, where the capsule parachutes into the ocean where the scientists are rescued.
I strongly recommend checking out this film, as well as Melies' work in general. A dvd of the colorized version of the film, together with the fantastic new soundtrack by AIR and a documentary on the film and the restoration process are available now at http://www.flickeralley.com/
Melies' style is fantastical and magical. Melies made no attempt to represent reality, but was more of a stage magician and artist. His sensibility was wildly imaginative and evocative. The energy in the film is manic and contagious. The film was inspired by Jules Verne's novel "From the Earth to the Moon," and captures a group of astronomers planning and executing a rocket ship trip to the moon - ultimately landing in the eye of the moon's face - in one of the most famous images in film history. The scientists encounter hostile life on the Moon and are ultimately forced to escape back to their capsule and return to earth, where the capsule parachutes into the ocean where the scientists are rescued.
I strongly recommend checking out this film, as well as Melies' work in general. A dvd of the colorized version of the film, together with the fantastic new soundtrack by AIR and a documentary on the film and the restoration process are available now at http://www.flickeralley.com/
Thursday, February 9, 2012
How Much is that Kitty in the Window?
Monday Night we got a visitor to our patio. Specifically, a black and white cat. This isn’t uncommon for us. Our neighborhood has many stray cats wandering around; several of our neighbors allow their cats outdoors. This one planted itself on the mat outside our living room. We have no shade, so outside kitty could just stare in at us and our cats – and it did.
As expected, our cats were interested in this stranger. The outside cat was extremely friendly. It repeatedly tried to play with our cats through the glass, flopping and showing its belly whenever they got close. Later, when we played with Louis with a laser, it saw the laser and went after it. Outside kiddy is adorable.
We didn’t give outside kitty too much thought until the following morning, when we found it in the same spot it had been in the night before. We wondered if it had been there all night. Did it have an owner and was lost, or was it simply abandoned? Outside kitty looked well taken care of, not skinny, with fluffy fur and a positive disposition. No collar though.
Or maybe outside kitty just really liked us. Janessa guessed the kitty was a girl and that she was there because she had fallen for Louis. Outside kitty seemed to get especially excited with Louis paid it attention. Whenever we went out and tried to approach outside kitty though, it was skittish. Through the glass it didn’t mind us, but up close, it ran away. Still it persisted in its spot, trying to get our cats to play with it whenever it had the chance.
Outside kitty was there the next morning. And the next evening. We had no way to know if it had been there all day or had gone somewhere to eat or sleep or anything else. We were getting a little concerned. Was this cat stubbornly waiting us out?
We certainly couldn’t let it in. Our household was still adjusting to Francis, our kitten, and Francis himself was still recovering from being neutered on Tuesday. We couldn’t seriously consider adding another cat to the household.
This continued and, as far as I know, is still going on. Every once in a while, outside kitty vanishes for half an hour or so but then returns as if it had never left. We hope it is going somewhere and eating. We can’t put food out for it – both because it’d never leave and because it’d attract other strays and wild animals – but it doesn’t seem as though outside kitty is going hungry. Still, we’re at a loss how to proceed. We resorted to google to try to figure out what was going on. All we learned was that some outside cats hang around a house if they think the owner is “neat.” Thank god outside kitty hasn’t seen my studio!
So here we are. Each time outside kitty has disappeared part of me has been relieved and another part has hoped it would reappear. Assuming outside kitty stays around even longer, our only plan right now is to try to see if it has an owner. If not, I guess we’ll try to find it a good home. One thing’s for sure, it’s extremely stubborn. It’s as though outside kitty has decided it will adopt us, come hell or high water, and it is holding a vigil on our porch-step until we come to our senses. It’s a sweet, adorable cat and I really hope it has – or finds – a loving home.
As expected, our cats were interested in this stranger. The outside cat was extremely friendly. It repeatedly tried to play with our cats through the glass, flopping and showing its belly whenever they got close. Later, when we played with Louis with a laser, it saw the laser and went after it. Outside kiddy is adorable.
We didn’t give outside kitty too much thought until the following morning, when we found it in the same spot it had been in the night before. We wondered if it had been there all night. Did it have an owner and was lost, or was it simply abandoned? Outside kitty looked well taken care of, not skinny, with fluffy fur and a positive disposition. No collar though.
Or maybe outside kitty just really liked us. Janessa guessed the kitty was a girl and that she was there because she had fallen for Louis. Outside kitty seemed to get especially excited with Louis paid it attention. Whenever we went out and tried to approach outside kitty though, it was skittish. Through the glass it didn’t mind us, but up close, it ran away. Still it persisted in its spot, trying to get our cats to play with it whenever it had the chance.
Outside kitty was there the next morning. And the next evening. We had no way to know if it had been there all day or had gone somewhere to eat or sleep or anything else. We were getting a little concerned. Was this cat stubbornly waiting us out?
We certainly couldn’t let it in. Our household was still adjusting to Francis, our kitten, and Francis himself was still recovering from being neutered on Tuesday. We couldn’t seriously consider adding another cat to the household.
This continued and, as far as I know, is still going on. Every once in a while, outside kitty vanishes for half an hour or so but then returns as if it had never left. We hope it is going somewhere and eating. We can’t put food out for it – both because it’d never leave and because it’d attract other strays and wild animals – but it doesn’t seem as though outside kitty is going hungry. Still, we’re at a loss how to proceed. We resorted to google to try to figure out what was going on. All we learned was that some outside cats hang around a house if they think the owner is “neat.” Thank god outside kitty hasn’t seen my studio!
So here we are. Each time outside kitty has disappeared part of me has been relieved and another part has hoped it would reappear. Assuming outside kitty stays around even longer, our only plan right now is to try to see if it has an owner. If not, I guess we’ll try to find it a good home. One thing’s for sure, it’s extremely stubborn. It’s as though outside kitty has decided it will adopt us, come hell or high water, and it is holding a vigil on our porch-step until we come to our senses. It’s a sweet, adorable cat and I really hope it has – or finds – a loving home.
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