The Return To Innocence

BRAIN-EXPLODING INCOHERENT SOUNDS OF PURE INCHOATE GIBBERISH WITH A SIDE OF VIBRATIONAL SQUEALING AND OH MY GODS WHAT WHAT WHAT.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/the-cutest-things-that-ever-happened
Be warned: Very cute things lurk within the link, for the abyss is gazing back and it is adorable.

My top favorites, in no particular order: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 29, 32, 36, 40, 44, 46, 47, 50.

After Adam and I took Puff to the vet to have her wound checked out (she has to wear the collar for another week, but that's it), we headed to Charlotte's and Adam helped Billy start rebuilding their downstairs bathroom. I then convinced Adam to go to the local animal shelter, Montgomery County Humane Society, to look at kittens. I wasn't planning on filling out applications, I just wanted to look. We went into one of the Cat Rooms, and I immediately gravitated toward the friendliest, most active-looking kitten there. Her name was Felicity. A black and white, seven-month-old, extremely social little girl who had been getting over a mild cold. She was brought in last month as a stray, and if she is adopted, her spaying will be free. She will also be microchipped. She reached for me through the bars and chirped, and in that instant, I realized I wanted her. I went back to get a little form that would allow Adam and me to play with her outside her cage. The woman who helped us was apparently a favorite of Felicity's -- the kitten was rubbing her face and purring madly. But she also did the same with me and Adam, nuzzling Adam's nose and kissing me right on my nose. So, I filled out an application. We are first on the waiting list. All that needs to happen is that our roommates need to come meet her tomorrow, and then someone will be coming to the house to interview us and check out Puff and Jupiter. I also picked up a form for Jason so he can get Jupiter to one of the low-cost spay clinics as soon as possible. Application process for adoption will take seven to ten days anyway, and hopefully Jason will get Jupiter fixed soon enough now that he has that form.
Everybody cross their fingers. If we do wind up getting Felicity, we'll want to change her name, but first we need to get her!

Next stop was Home Depot. Adam will be building a vegetable garden in our backyard. He is tilling soil as I type this. He lay down the wood frame already, and he has the the peat moss, and the plastic sheeting. We bought sunflower seeds, lettuce seeds, snow pea seeds, and a few others. This will be interesting indeed.

On the kitten front, there is good news. Last night I ran into Michelle, the neighbor lady who was working with a friend to capture the stray mama cat and four kittens running around outside. She had set up little "tents" and food, with blankets and water. She would even heat a skillet and keep the soft food for the kittens warm, while the mama ate dry food. There are also two fathers, who will be captured as well. There are four black kittens; two are females. One, Michelle says, is brindled. They're all friendly and sociable toward people. She apparently has done this many times: capturing stray cats, taking them to a vet, rehabilitating them into new homes. The reason it's been taking her a couple of months to catch the cats is because she wanted to meet with them on their terms, in their environment, to earn their trust; so that when they do get adopted out, they would be accustomed to humans. And the kittens are still young enough to be impressionable and become domesticated, while still having that slight feral edge. Michelle says she should have them by the end of this month. She will take them to be spayed and vaccinated before adopting them out. If the kittens are too young for spaying, she'll have a talk with us once she's ready to give us one. She also wants to make sure they'll be okay if they are separated into different homes; if need be she says she'll keep one kitten and the mother. She's hoping at least two might be adopted together. But she is confident, at least, that she'll have them soon. And that means a kitten for me.
I'm very, very hopeful and optimistic.

Several posts back, I had squealed about an episode of "Scrubs" that featured a box of kittens curing a dying man with a broken heart. Now my magnificent sister Beca has found the video and sent it to me.

I give you... JD's box of kittens

Adam and I are beginning to look for places to adopt a new female kitten (I have to admit, there are not many shelters in the area). Additionally, if anyone knows of any place or person in the Maryland area near Gaithersburg and Rockville who has kittens for adopting, let me know.

Kittens!
I actually had to stuff my fist in my mouth to keep from squealing out loud in my office. This is the most adorable kitten video I have ever seen.