Going to have carpal tunnel surgery shortly, Robyn, I know you had it done. Did you get the desired results and was the recuperation lengthy?
It’s been 4 months since I had my carpal tunnel surgery, and it wasn’t bad at ALL. The worst part of it was having to wear the splint for two weeks (which is something a lot of people don’t have to do – it depends on your surgeon) and that was more annoying than anything. The area around the incision was tender for about 2 months, and then it gradually went away. And I would get the occasional shooting pain in my hand up until about the three month point (which was momentarily painful, but never lasted for longer than a few seconds.)
I definitely got the desired result – beforehand, my fingertips would go numb if I were typing or surfing, and that hasn’t been a problem at all since.
(Good luck with your surgery!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the two pictures of Charles on the scratcher showing his side it looks like he has a penguin on his back offering an egg.
I can totally see that!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was wondering if you’re concerned about Caroline’s maternal instincts (or lack thereof) kicking in once her kittens are born? 8 months is young; she’s still a kitten herself in some ways. Have you ever fostered such a young mama cat?
I’ve never fostered such a young mama (usually they’re at least a year old or older when I get them), and I am definitely concerned about her maternal instincts. I am hoping very much that they kick in as they should. Crossing all my fingers and toes!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What color is Charles? It is hard for me to tell on my little screen….
He’s brown tabby and white. And his brown fur ranges in shade from grayish to dark brown to even some caramel tones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charles’ markings remind me of Mercury & the missions
I can definitely see that! (Here’s Mercury, for reference.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whatâs the backstory of Charles and Caroline? Where did they come from?
They were in a home together and were surrendered to a shelter; their owner lost her job recently and is relocating to another state.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is this the first mommy AND daddy you’ve fostered? I hope Charles is a good “Pa” to the kittens.
It is! And I hope all goes smoothly! (Fingers crossed!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you have a weight list of your permanent residents? (so I can compare my cat)
Here you go:
Alice: 9 lb 13 oz
Archie: 12 lb
Dewey: 9 lb 8 oz
Frankie: 9 lb 8 oz
Jake: 12 lb 2 oz
Kara: 7 lb 14 oz
Khal: 13 lb 4 oz
Newt: 14 lb 6 oz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just love Jake and his funny expressions and his cute face with the little cheeks. What became of Elwood?
Elwood passed away from FIP in December 2012; you can read about him here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Those of you who remember Little Stefan on the Prairie…
(Halloween 2016)
Have probably been waiting for this to happen.
Caroline/Ma.
(The hat didn’t fit all that well, because she’s still pretty much kitten-sized and has a tiny head.)
And while we were at it…
Charles/Pa.
(Yes, I know that that’s not exactly what Pa’s hat looked like on the show, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for him to wear a cowboy hat, right?)
Such a muffin, that boy.
Couldn’t you just squeeze him?
“Helloooooo, good-lookin’!”
Playful girl.
If you look closely, you’ll see her fangs. She was giving that toy what-for.
Silly girl.
So the belly is getting bigger and she’s eating pretty heartily now. She’s usually sleeping when I walk into the room, but she comes right over to be petted (that girl loves to be kissed!) and after we snuggle for a bit, she goes off and plays.
The longest we’ve had to wait for a mama kitty to give birth was with Kristi, who made us wait 27 days (which still is amazing to me, because she was huuuuge when we got her!) I would be okay with waiting that long for Caroline.
We’ve had 10 cats give birth while with us, and the number of kittens they had went like this: 4 (Kara), 6 (Maggie), 4 (Emmy), 5 (Kate), 4 (Khaleesi), 7 (Lucy), 4 (Nola), 6 (Mercury), 4 (Katia), and 6 (Kristi.) If the pattern were to continue (and truly, I see no reason why it would), then we could expect 4 kittens from Caroline. I would be PERFECTLY happy if she just had a couple. (By the way, you can see all our previous mama cats here. I need to add Ryder to the list at the bottom, and Caroline to the list at the top. Hopefully I’ll get to that soonish.)
But of course I get no say in this sort of thing, so we’re gonna get what we get. I don’t expect any kittens this weekend, but if she should surprise me, I’ll post on Instagram, which will share to Facebook and Twitter, and I will post here when I can.
Just as a heads up, there will be a weekly roundup post on Sunday so don’t get all excited early Sunday morning. I haven’t done a round-up post since the last of Ryder’s kittens went to Petsmart, and it’s time to get back into the habit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I wonder if anyone will sit in this excellent box,” I mused one day. 10 seconds later, Archie was in it. I’ve added brown paper to the box, and now Archie likes to knock the box onto its side, burrow in, bite off pieces of the brown paper and ptooie them all over the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2018: Flappy McGee’s Monster Egg.
2017: Everyone loves Stefan.
2016: We’ll call her Koko, of course.
2015: No entry.
2014: No entry.
2013: Have we met? You look familiar.
2012: Alice Mo fumes.
2011: She sure puts up with a lot from Fred.
2010: That’s okay, we’ve got plenty of time.
2009: No entry.
2008: We are not keeping him, so you can shut up about that.
2007: “Sponge,” I said. “What IS your problem?”
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Aw, Stefan… Love that picture of him in his bonnet.
I really do hope that Caroline has a few more weeks before her kittens are born. Every day is better for their well-being, and hers. And gives Pa a chance to go out and get the fields plowed.
Refraining from making an earthy comment….
You mean like “he already did?”
Bwahahahaha!!!
*waves hand* Horrible human being, at your service. đ
Well, no wonder Kara is a tough girl! She has to hang with those heavyweights!!!!
I just love Caroline’s playfulness and how affectionate she is!
Stephan – fab pic!
I am in love with Ma and Pa. Each of them is incredibly charming.
I also love that you used the word âptooie.â We used to use it in my family all the time, so imagine my delight when I was learning Ancient Greek (Iâm a Latin teacher) and discovered that the word for âto spitâ is ptĂșein (pronounced just like it looks!).
Huh. Interesting. That’a a fun fact to be filed away, thank you!
I took Ancient Greek! Why wasnât I taught that? All I remember is blepo (to see?) and glossow?(tongue?). I have a funny story about the tongue one.
Regarding Caroline’s maternal instincts: I rescued a pregnant cat who was about Caroline’s age (maybe a few weeks younger). She gave birth to 4 healthy kittens. I was also concerned whether she would know what to do, but she was fine and took good care of her kittens. However, once they stopped nursing, her mothering duties were DONE. We ended up keeping a couple of her kittens, and she basically wanted nothing to do with them once the nursing ended. She is a bit of a diva anyway.
Oh I am dead from those bonnet and hat pictures!!! Plus Stefan! And I remember in the books Pa helped herd cattle once, to pick up some extra money. So maybe he got a cowboy hat, too!
I like the differences in their personalities. Calm, sweet, mature Charles sure must’ve been enamoured by wild & crazy young Caroline… but now it’s like they realize they have nothing in common (but are still cool with remaining friends).
Also, Archie cracks me up.
The Mama Kitty page is great. As I was scrolling along, I was thinking it would be funny to add the Fakers to the page, and poof! there they were.
Stefan definitely wins the “who wore it better”.
For sure!
And as for Charles wearing a cowboy hat — well, Charles was played by Michael Landon, who certainly wore a cowboy hat in his “previous life” as Little Joe on Bonanza!
am I the only one cracked up by the fact that the Sheriff is the lightweight of the family???
So my first cat was a boy and about 5-6 months after getting him a female showed up outside my apartment. She turned out to be pregnant. She and Tody got along really well from the beginning. After she had her kittens in a corner of a bedroom behind a nightstand Tody would go and pick one up and take it downstairs to the middle of the livingroom. He started doing that when they were just a few days old. Stormy would watch him do it and after he’d moved all five she’d go down and pick them up and move that back upstairs to their little corner. Cracked me up that she would let him pick one up, let alone all five, and then move them to a whole other floor before she’d do something about it. But she apparently knew he didn’t want to hurt them in any way. He’d also climb in a snuggle with all of them from time to time.
Hopefully these two will be just as good together.
Laughed until I cried – thanks for sharing this!
Classics and Cats nerd heaven moment! I was all set to write about the Archie-in-the-box caption that I have never seen the word ptooie used as a verb before, and that I approve of it a whole lot, and that that was a word which needed to have been invented a long time ago. Then scrolled down to see Alexandra’s post that “Ancient Greek’s word for âto spitâ is ptĂșein (pronounced just like it looks!).”
How cool is that!!! Learning has happened to me today! Erudition, boxes and imminent kittens all in one set of posts and comments, what a winner.
Glad my nerding out could bring a little joy! Classics and cats go well together indeed.
Robyn my Smokey had kittens when she wasn’t much older than Caroline – She did fine with her kittens!
I wouldn’t worry about it tbh I’m sure she’ll be just fine!
Thank you for the update on Elwood, I had missed that story. I’m so sad and sorry. That FIP Is the worst, well, not the worst maybe but pretty awful. (My Sammy died from a saddle thrombosis, which I think is the worst.) Anyway, he was darling, and I love how big, sweet, and loving he was. Those gray cats can just be such beauties and sweeties.