We've Got Babies

The house next door to us, which has been empty for almost a year, has finally sold. And because it was empty for so long the yard was completely overgrown. Until Friday when a crew came in and cut everything back.

So Sunday afternoon the Island King and I were outside and decided to walk over and see what all has been done.

We walked into the back yard and as we came around the corner a cat appeared. Possibly the skinniest cat I've ever seen. She's so thin that you can see all of her ribs and the vertebrae along her back.

She was really friendly and came right up to us, purring and obviously wanting us to pet her.

The Island King was petting her and I turned around to go get her some food when he said "Look at her belly, I think she's nursing kittens."

I stopped, turned around and knelt down to get a better look at her and when I did I saw two little kittens under the edge of the deck.

I reached in and pulled them out and they are some of the cutest little kittens I've ever seen.

In less than a second I decided that we needed to bring Momma and the babies home with us.


I couldn't get Momma to stand still so I could get a picture of her and I didn't want to stress her any so I'll have to get pics of her later.

We gave her lots of food and then put her and the babies in our Florida room.

The Island King has a friend who works for a cat rescue group here in town so we called him for advice.

He said that as skinny as Momma is that she probably won't be able to sustain the babies for much longer and that we should keep them in the Florida room so she won't run off with them - because if she does they probably won't survive.

She really seems to like us and loves to be petted and I thought she was comfortable here. Until late yesterday afternoon when she grabbed one of the kittens, jumped out the window and ran under our other neighbor's deck.

I realize that some people feel that nature should be left to run it's course but I just couldn't stand the idea of something happening to them so I closed the window and when she came back for the other kitten I wouldn't let her have him.

And I wanted her and the one she'd run off with back. Safe and well fed at my house.

I told the Island King that they were under Mr. G's deck so he went out to try and get them back.

Momma came right to us but the baby was up under the deck so he took a few of the boards off the fence and tried to fish the baby out. But the baby was too far under the deck for him to reach.


He went over and asked Mr. G if he'd mind us coming into the yard and trying to get the kitten out from under the deck.

Poor Mr. G.

Imagine a very uptight British man who keeps a perfectly manicured lawn living next door to a family with 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a yard that always needs mowing. Not to mention the bicycles, baseball bats and toys that constantly litter my yard.

We're always civil to each other but we are definitely not his favorite people.

And now we want to plunder around under his deck looking for a kitten. And we know from past conversations that he doesn't like cats.

But he agreed so into his yard we tromped.

The Oldest Island Boy offered to crawl under the deck to get the kitten. He made it about halfway to the kitten and then said "Dad, there's a huge fire ant bed between me and the baby"

Suddenly, I could care less about the kitten and started yelling "Get out of there RIGHT NOW!!!" I was terrified that he'd crawl into the fire ant bed and then wouldn't be able to get out and get them off of him before they ate him up.

He shot out from under that deck like a rocket, looked at me and said "Geez Mom, you scared the mess out of me" LOL

But what to do now? Crawling under there is no longer an option but it's started to thunder and we can tell that a storm is coming. And I really don't want the baby under the deck, in the rain, with the fire ants.

The boards on the deck are screwed into the stringers underneath so the Island King asks Mr. G if he can unscrew one of the boards and poor Mr. G just nodded his head, probably wanting us to just finish and get the hell out of his yard.

So he unscrewed one of the boards and while the Oldest held the board up he was able to reach in and pull the kitten out.






Don't ya just love the look on his face? He may not have said it out loud but I know he was thinking "Are you happy now, crazy woman?" LOL

But really, when you look at this face can you blame me?


Now, Momma and her babies are back in the Florida room and seem very content.


I don't know why she wanted to run off but she's just going to have to trust me that living here is better than living out there.

And besides, 3 more cats is just what we need around here LOL

Wordless Wednesday

I Don't Think the FBI is Really Coming

A few days ago I got an email from Robert Mueller, director of the FBI.

The email states that I am being investigated for money laundering and terrorist activities. It threatens several times that I am going to be arrested within the next seven days.

But... if I'll just send $360 to some woman in Nigeria, I'll get a securities coupon and then I won't be arrested.

Isn't that fascinating? You can launder money and participate in terrorist activities and if you buy a $360 coupon from Nigeria all charges will be dropped.

I was reading this email to the Island King and didn't realize the Youngest Island Boy was listening so intently.

As soon as I finished reading he got really upset, telling me to pay the $360 so I wouldn't have to go to prison. He was particularly freaked out by the thought of the FBI showing up at our door.

I explained to him that the email was a scam, that I wasn't laundering money or involved in terrorist activities and that if the FBI were going to arrest me they wouldn't send me an email telling me to buy a Get Out of Jail Free card.

And I thought he understood.

But then yesterday my SIL stopped by to tell me that she overheard some of the moms talking at the bus stop about the fact that I'm being investigated by the FBI.

Great.

I asked the Youngest what he'd been telling the neighborhood kids and he says he told them all about the email.

"Did you tell them that the email was a scam and that the FBI isn't coming to arrest me?" I asked.

"Well, no. When I told them about the email they all thought it was cool that the FBI is coming to our house so I didn't tell them that it's just a scam."

So now the neighbors think the FBI is investigating me.

I can't imagine what the people around here will talk about if we ever move.

His First Redfish

The Oldest Island Boy caught himself a Redfish.



Around here, catching a Redfish is a rite of passage for a boy and the Oldest has been trying for 2 years to catch one.

After dinner the other night the boys packed up their fishing poles and off they went for a night of fishing.

They were gone for a couple of hours and when they got back the Oldest was so excited he barely let the truck stop rolling before he jumped out and came running inside to tell me about his catch.

He was so excited and he kept saying over and over again "I finally caught one!"

He caught it on his bait pole which made the catch even more exciting. Redfish hit their prey hard and fast so when this one took the bait it bent the pole almost in half. The Island King says it took the Oldest a long time to get the fish to the beach and that he offered to help but the Oldest was adamant about doing it all by himself.



"Great job!" I told him. "Now let's have a look at this fish"

His face fell a little and he said "It wasn't big enough to keep. It was one inch too short and Dad said we had to let it go"

Bummer.

He was a little sad about not being able to bring it home to eat but since his main goal was just to catch one he wasn't too upset.

He went on to catch a Bluefish, which he did bring home, and we ate it the next day.



I asked the Youngest if he'd caught anything and he said he caught bait for a while and then decided to build a giant sandcastle city so he didn't do any more fishing that night. He loves to catch bait because that happens pretty quick but he doesn't have the patience to sit with his line in the water waiting for a big fish.

And since this happened, the Oldest has wanted to go fishing every night so he can catch another one. Hopefully he'll get one he can keep next time because Blackened Redfish is REALLY good.

So He's A Wolf

I was cooking dinner the other night and realized that the container I thought was filled with butter was really filled with leftover chili. I told the kids that I would be right back and I went to the Jr store.

I ran into a friend and ended up chatting for a few minutes so I was probably gone about 10 minutes longer than I would have been if I hadn't run into her.

When I walked in the door the Oldest Island Boy (who has always been my drama queen) threw his arms around me and said "Thank God you're home! I was SO worried about you"

He was kidding and the other kids knew it so they had to get in on the act. They were wailing and hugging me and telling me that they were so thankful I'd come back safely.

I laughed and told them that I was glad they missed me so much in the 15 minutes I was gone.

The Oldest said "If you hadn't come back we'd be left alone with Dad." The Island Girl chimed in and said "It would be like the Lord of the Flies around here. Only the strongest would survive."

Which prompted the Youngest to say "We'd be like wolves and have to fight for our food!"

The kids started howling like wolves and I was laughing so hard that I had to sit down right in the middle of the kitchen floor. And of course the Island King walked in and wanted to know why they were howling and what was so funny.

It took a while for me to stop laughing and tell him that the children said that him raising them alone would be like being raised like wolves.

The kids were teasing him and he thought the whole thing was funny. He told them that was right and that if he were raising them he'd not only make them go out and fight for their food but they'd have to bring some back for him too LOL

And now we all call him Wolf. He likes it. He asked them what they were going to call me and all 3 of them said "Mom" at the same time. The Oldest looked at him and said "Wolves are cool but we really need a Mom"

It's nice to be appreciated.

It's also easy to look good when you're being compared to a wolf.

Good Grief

Good grief. It's been so long since I've paid any attention to my little blog here that I had to look up my password to log in. I can't believe I've been gone this long.

I mentioned a while back that my computer was misbehaving and things were breaking down on a regular basis. As fast as the Island King could get one thing fixed, another would break.

And then one night I turned on the computer and got an error message telling me that the administrator had locked me out and that I would need the administrator's permission to log on.

What? I am the administrator. A little digging uncovered a virus and it was a bad one.

I had virus protection so I have no idea how it slipped through but it did.

The Island King is one of those hard headed people who refuse to take something to be fixed if he thinks he can fix it himself - and he was convinced he could fix this.

Hours he spent poking around in every registry file on the computer and as fast as he'd fix something, the virus would reinstalled itself all over again.

This went on for days and days and days. And the more the virus spread the more determined to fix it himself the Island King became. But every time he'd think he'd gotten rid of it, it would come back and then he'd rant and rave for hours.

I'd channel Andy Griffith, telling Aunt Bee to "Just call the man", and on NUMEROUS occasions I suggested wiping the hard drive clean and just starting over.

I mean really, is it necessary to find the exact files that contain the virus? Can't we just kill the whole thing and then start over? If my husband were a normal person the hard drive would've been wiped clean the first day. It's funny that some of the things I like best about him can also be the things that make me want to attack him with a skillet.

So while this went on and on I used his computer when I needed and spent more time doing other things. And realized that I spent a LOT of time in blogworld. And once I quit spending so much time on the computer I had a lot more time to do some other stuff. Stuff I used to complain about not having time to do.

Genius man finally decided that he wasn't going to find the original file that started the whole thing and he wiped the hard drive clean. Fixed the problem. Took about an hour. Well, an hour and a month, if you count how long he's been messing with it.

And I finally have my computer back.

Just in the nick of time too.
I can only stay caught up on the laundry for so long before the kids get nervous and want to know if something bad is about to happen LOL