With everything that has been involved with the kittens and Styx, (Mama, Lady, Mama Styx, - whatever her name is) I was going crazy. I was still trying to keep Styx from letting Babe nurse while giving them a chance to be together some of the time. Styx needed to be dried up to be spayed on Tuesday, which was a whole other operation to plan and prepare for. And then there was trying to keep them calm during the healing process. In addition, Styx came into heat Sunday evening. This was also the week of Thanksgiving, which reminded me, no matter how crazy life gets, I have so very many blessings I am quite thankful for.
It poured rain most of the morning, letting up long enough for a quick walk for the dog to do her thing. I was sure my drainage ditch was working well, but not about to go check on it. The creek and pond were rising and more leaves cluttered the deck and yard.
I knew I needed to get started on my to-do list, but was waiting for the caffeine to kick in. Once I got up and started getting last minute chores done, I was feeling better.
I kept an eye on the cats as I mopped the kitchen and dining rooms, did more dusting, and started planning my morning of cooking. I got the turkey in the oven to begin with. Then, at one point, I caught Mama cat letting the kitten nurse!
So Styx was confined to our bedroom, where she would be spending the night.
A little later Patty got here and then Dan and Val with Tango. All four of us have white cars/SUVs.
I had great help in the kitchen, not counting Maggie and Tango, but they did clean up the spills. We had turkey, spiral ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, a wonderful sweet potato casserole Val brought, corn, beans, and rolls.
We enjoyed a great meal and the champagne Moo brought.
There was time for a Tom Hanks marathon movie, games, pies Patty made, birthday brownies and ice cream, and then we went to town to see a play.
We originally had six tickets to the play, so bought the seventh one right in front of our row, which is why Joe was in front of me.
We saw the musical Elf, which was similar to the movie. I was disappointed that they didn't sing my favorite song from the movie "Baby It's Cold Outside."
Once home, I was too tired to finish a game we had started, and fairly quickly went to bed.
It was a slow moving morning. I made Farmers casserole and those who were up ate and Patty had come to join us. Courtney took a morning nap because her sleep up on the balcony had been interrupted too.
Then she brought in Zorro while I was out getting Amiga. We brushed them both while Moo watched and Joe took photos. I decided to hop on Amiga and let her graze out behind the hay barn while Courtney messed with Zorro.
Meanwhile, Moo was doing a great job learning about and getting comfortable with horses, Zorro in particular. Zorro is a great ambassador for horses.
Soon, everybody hit the road for home. Tango remained behind with us because Dan and Val would be out of town for five days, enjoying Thanksgiving with her family.
While Courtney was here, she had let Babe out in the main room, under close supervision. Babe was getting along quite well with both dogs and Stevie. And she always made it to a litter box, so I was feeling better about that. However, Styx was coming into heat and starting to act peculiar. She was actually wanting to be with others, being very affectionate, rubbing on me, etc.
I started in on cleaning up after the guests. I stripped beds and air mattress, started laundry, put balcony furniture back where it belonged, cleaned up more in the kitchen, put the table leaf away, and some of the dining chairs, etc. etc. etc. I did not sit down for a few hours. Tango had been following me around, but eventually gave up and settled down for a nap on his bed with his blanket.
Tango had a little trouble navigating up this rocky section of trail on the way home.
We had a quiet evening at home. Joe sat in the mancave with the two dogs, watching Sunday night football. I was exhausted and in bed by 8:30.
We had had a pretty good night with Tango sleeping in our room. He got up and moved around on his bed a few times and a couple of times there was a lot of licking. But at least he didn't bark at all.
Half of the morning, Tango hung out here in the sunroom with Maggie, Styx, Babe, and I. Monita really waned to join the party.
Babe napping on the cat tree.
I started the Christmas decorating process and Tango followed me around a lot. Early in this process, it basically involves just making a big mess. I pulled all the bins down from the bunkroom attic storage area, choose one, opened it up, and pulled out the contents. A few things got put in their usual spots, but others were left to be decided on later, or set aside for repair. Then I'd opened another bin.
The house is always a crazy wreck during the several days (alright, more like a week) it takes to get all the decorations up.
Eventually all of the fur babies got bored with what I was doing, and found places to nap. Monita chose on top of the wreath that I got 75% off at a thrift store last January. I need to repair/redo it.
I had to take the food away from Styx and Babe at 8pm, in preparation for the morning's surgery. I still had them separated due to the nursing problem.
By days end, I had already moved Tango's bed into our bedroom but he was still hanging out with Joe in the mancave, so he had to squeeze to fit onto Maggie's bed.
Patty picked me up at 6am, along with my cat and kitten, and we dropped them off, and her kitten (the three total seen in this photo) at the Wild About Cats transfer car and they were then taken with four others to get spayed and neutered in Harriman at Planned Pet-Hood.
In preparation to let Styx and Babe have more run of our house, starting with our bedroom, I needed to fix the underside of our box springs. Stevie and Monita had worked their way up under it and loved hiding there. It was an easy fix with duct tape and staple gun, and my two assistants. I then put clean flannel sheets on our bed.
Once it warmed up some, I went for a nice ride in the Glade. I took Amiga to the Dorchester golf course area, letting her graze where the grass was fairly thick and tall.
Riding down Beachwood, she became very alert and I quickly saw the reason for concern.
I had a big, late lunch of leftover turkey etc. Then I was wanting a nap but it was close to time to pick up the cats, so I did a little Christmas decorating. As usual, Stevie loves climbing up and siting on the top of the ladder.
Patty picked me up just before 5:00, and in no time at all, we were home with our three kitties.
The nap did me more harm than good and I wasted the rest of the evening. I did do some research on cats in heat. A female cat is in heat for 4 to 7 days on average, however her heat may last as little as one day or as long as three weeks. What??? I also read that during the heat cycle their appetite is greatly decreased, so that explained her not eating.
Until Styx was acting more normal I would not introduce her to Stevie and Monita. I really wanted to let them all intermingle.
I went for a very short walk with the dogs because it had already started raining. And then I was in bed before 9:00.
Babe did try to nurse and may have been able to suck for several seconds, but Styx was not complying.
It was so nice to see them getting along, and content being together. And I didn't have to worry about the nursing, Styx was now spayed. I was sure she was dried up, but wondered if the sucking would start milk production, even though Mama was in heat and has no overies.
Babe has always been fascinated by others in the litter box and I hoped getting a close look at Mama using it would re-enforce the same behavior in this kitten.
As I was finishing up at my computer, I heard loud purring and sucking sounds. I got up and took some photos and this (video). They are just so happy to be together and allowed to snuggle in this way.
I went to gym for a few hours and then spent a good part of the afternoon working on Christmas decorations. I had closed Styx in our bedroom and opened the door to the sunroom so Babe could come out. Stevie and Monita were delighted to once again have access to the sunroom.
All the cats and dogs seemed to like being where the action was, which is usually where I am at. I kept an eye on the kitten to watch for incorrect potty choices. I watched the dogs to be sure they didn't steal cat food or cat toys. And I was observing behavior between my two cats and the kitten. Needless to say, I was very distracted from decorating and had lots of interruptions.
Now that the sunroom was opened up (so Babe could go in and out to use the litter box and play) Monita and Stevie had access to it. They both seems so glad to be able to go back into this space. Monita had been going in and taking kitten toys, coming into the living room and playing with them, and when she'd lose one, she'd go back in to get another one.
Tango went in the office with Joe to get a break from all the activity. Maggie is able to sleep regardless of the crazy chaos.
Tango is more restless and wanting to be around people, so he would move to where Joe or I were, like here in the dinning room at lunch time.
I made it to the gym for a few hours, and then did more Christmas decorating while attempting to monitor Babe who was darting around the main part of the house. Mostly I was working on a new arrangement on the mantel and fireplace shelves, trying different configurations of deer and tree placement.
Once I settled on one I liked, I added the wreath on the chimney and Santas and snowmen on the shelves. In the process, I was also thinning out some of my Christmas stuff, deciding to get rid of more things, especially the items I am not that attached to.
Next I added lights.
The stuffed toy reindeer is not part of the display (far right on mantel) but up there so Tango wouldn't get it.
Joe got home early because th
Joe sometimes comes out into the sunroom to drink his coffee and we talk over our day's plans.
Monita is scared of Babe and hisses and runs away when Babe approaches her. She found a safe place on this card table, among some decorations, which is too high up for Babe to get to.
At one point Babe disappeared. With accesses to the main house, I had lots of places to search for her. I about panicked because I could not find her. Eventually, I found her in the box hanging on the wall above my desk because she stuck her head out when I was calling her.
Maggie got ahold of this stuffed bear, which was in the 'to go to thrift store' pile, so I let her have it. Tango later helped in removing the other eye, which I was sure to throw away. Actually, now that I think of it, Tango might have helped get the bear down off the card table.
Joe's only decorating job is to put together the artificial Christmas tree. He had lots of help this year.
I gave Joe credit for a job well done, even though I couldn't get him to 'fluff' the branches. (One year he had the branch sizes all mixed up, not realizing they were color coded.)
I continued to keep an eye on Babe, hoping the issue of her peeing outside the liter box was finally resolved. Sometimes she would slip away to nap.
Other times she would be eating, watching her mom use the litter box (left), or using it herself. She even watched Stevie use it, who came strolling out past her (right) without seeming to mind the kitten being so close.
I really don't know where the day went. I did pull out the lights and ornaments to start on the tree. You can see my little helper here.
I don't know what it is about this old wreath that all the cats like. I needed to 'fluff' the tree branches before putting the lights on, but didn't feel like doing it, so put the tree on hold till Friday. Joe watched an episode of Blue Bloods with me, between football games.
Eventually I got started on the Christmas tree. In this photo, all branches except the bottom row have been fluffed.
Babe was able to get up on this table using the chair.
The white cotton fluff is waiting to get put on the mantel.
She is just so cute wherever she takes a nap.
Monita was now sleeping on the old wreath in my 'fix it' pile.
And Stevie was trying to keep watch on the action while Tango was trying to keep track of the cats. I had Styx confined to our bedroom because she is a bit aggressive, trying to protect her baby I think. Or still in heat a little, although most of those symptoms were gone.
I got the lights on the Christmas tree and started putting on ornaments.
Stevie hasn't hissed much, except when Styx came charging at her hissing. Or the kitten got too close. Stevie likes to follow them both around and watch what they are doing, and try to smell them when they aren't aware. Here she is on the bathtub watching Styx eat (who has no idea she is up there).
Okay, I did it again. I included four of the eight photos I took of Babe sitting in this chair. She is just so stinkin' cute I can't pick a favorite photo.
Since I have been so busy with decorating and household chores, (juggling cats, an extra dog, overnight guests, and extra cooking) Joe was agreeable to doing more leaf raking, although it has been driving him crazy,
