Smitten

Five minutes after arriving

My have I been remiss.  Last Wednesday I left Illinois for a visit home.  I'm not sure it would qualify as a "vacation" since I'm going to be the primary caregiver for my father after he gets out of the hospital.  The good news is that he's going in for elective surgery; a knee replacement, and will hopefully be happier than ever about four months from now.

Those that know me are probably very much aware of how I've been jonesing for a cat fix over the past five or six months.  Since I moved to the Midwest, I had two brief encounters where I was able to pet a kitty for a few minutes.  Yeesh, the kitty drought is over in a big way.

Grayson going to Mammoth

My first night home I was cuddled by my parent's two cats, Shirley and Katrina.  I figured it was a good fix.  The plan had been to go up to Mammoth on Friday to spend some time with the Storms family where I'd also be able to visit with my former cat Aeris.  Aeris was in theory my cat, until he decided to adopt Kevin.  Since then they've been inseparable.

Not surprisingly, the plan got altered.  Kelli called up on Thursday, saying one of her friends found a young stray kitten, and asked if I could keep him overnight and take him up to the Mammoth area.  He was supposed to go to one of Kevin's mom's friends.

Oh, Thursday night... I met this little gentleman.  He really is a prince. Easily the most considerate and wonderful kitten I've ever had the pleasure of caring for.  He curled up with me the first night and mewed whenever he needed to go use the litter box.  With his wonderful manners, his little gray suit, it seemed like Grayson was a great name for him.  About five weeks old, he only had one little setback on Saturday when he kind of forgot how to eat.  Whoever said weaning was easy?  I think he finally was able to set paws on the floor Sunday when we finally were able to stop cooing over him for about five minutes.  By Friday afternoon we had enough pictures for a twelve month calendar.  By the time we arrived home on Monday, we had almost enough for a 365 desktop one. 

On his way back from Mammoth

Of course the plan has changed again.  He would have had the life of a barn cat with Kevin's mom's friend; but now he's going to the lap of luxury surrounded by a home with three teenage-ish children.  I haven't told him of our impending separation, but knowing this champion, he'll do just fine.  So, while I really want to sing his praises more, I'm going to go downstairs and play with him and a piece of yarn until this afternoon.