Kitty Heaven

I will blog more (lots more probably!) later, but I wanted to officially announce the two new members of our family and get the pictures up.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pcbye1/20080914

Sunday morning we grabbed coffee at Caribou, and headed over to friends Jay & Eric's to pick up a really nice litterbox that they gave us a good deal on (thanks guys!) Then we headed to PetSmart on the south side of Rochester, where they were doing cat adoption days through the Safe Haven Pet Rescue organization. We were greeted by several nice volunteers and started looking at all the cats. Erin immediately zoned in on one, and took it out and held it for awhile. I could tell they really got along. We decided we should go through the whole set though to see what else they had. The lady assured us she wouldn't let this one go without letting us know. We looked at some more, took a few more out, then wandered back towards the first one we looked at. There was another one in the next cage over that looked nice too ("nice" meaning kind of calmer looking). We took him out and I held him - he immediately got along with me really well. We were having a hard time deciding (we had intended to get just one) and the lady told us to take them both out and compare - cleverly making sure we'd fall in love with both so we'd take two :) As it turned out though, she knew what she was doing because this was really the right choice. I never really thought about how nice it probably is for pets to have buddies to hang out with - but after seeing them together I can certainly see how much fun they have! I know cats do fine by themselves too, and I'm sure it would have been fine for us, but having two is not any more work than having one.

We drove home (they were mewing the whole way home, not liking being in the boxes) and set them free, and boy did the have fun exploring the house - I imagine they haven't had this kind of space and things to explore for awhile. Right away they were a little timid but it didn't take long for them to warm right up to us. They also figured out the litter box right away (hooray!) and are eating and drinking just fine too. Mr. Fluffy Face (the boy) seems to be the more curious/stubborn one as it takes him a few "no's" and gentle swats to figure out not to get on the tables and furniture, while Madame no-name (we're still working on the name - were only planning on one!) seems to get it pretty qiuckly. She's a little shy at first with people but is not shy about letting Mr. Fluffy Face know whow's boss :)

The gang came over for dinner last night, and we had fun playing with the "mow-mow's" (as LP calls them). So far they don't sleep in our room, but can basically sleep anywhere else - including a big box we put blankets in and converted to a kitty bed. They are also loving all the cat toys people have already given us (it's great to have a lot of cat friends already)

More cat news to come...today was the first day in my new office, and I'm all moved in now. The first handbell rehearsals are tonight, looking forward to that. Iowa State lost to Iowa this weekend :( but Nebraska won again and is 3-0 :) and I'm excited to see them in person on October 4th against Missouri.