Celebrating 30 years

So, if you were going to celebrate 30 years of marriage what would you do? A big party? A special romantic dinner? A weekend getaway? Something memorable, right? That's what we thought, too. Finances are an issue though, so we planned a low budget day trip to a nearby historical town planning on a simple lunch and perhaps a stroll on the beach on the way home in the evening. Sounds so romantic and downright fun, huh? Yeah, we thought so too.

So this morning Beloved goes out to clean my car for the trip- a WONDERFUL gift!- and while I'm working on getting ready I hear a continuous mewing sound. Coming from UNDER the bathroom. Huh.

A little background. You may recall that I wrote about our cat population in this post:
http://mrsmomsblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/family-expansion.html

Well, Papa Tux's biology lesson was about oh, eight weeks ago. Our Mama Kitty has been having a hormonal week and giving 4 month old Socks a hard time about everything. Which was really rough since Skeered disappeared about a week or so ago and poor Socks has been lost without her playmate. (I'm skimming right over this part because I can't handle the sad when I think about what must have happened to Skeered. Sniff. Sigh. Moving on.)
Anyway, Mama has been a real pill toward Socks. Until yesterday morning when she suddenly decides that she not only LIKES Socks, but she is going to be all motherly toward her. Even to the point of trying to haul her around by the scruff of the neck AND allowing her to nurse- something that has been taboo since, oh, about seven weeks ago. Mama also looked much slimmer and cried a lot. So, we figured that she must have lost the kittens, was having postpartum blues and substituting the older kitten for the lost babies. Pretty smart kitty psychology, huh? Yeah, we thought so too.

A little more background. The cats have been spending a lot of time under the house. This is possible here in the south where we have mobile homes that sit up on blocks four feet high to keep them out of the flood zone. Now, we do have aluminum skirting around the bottom but cats are very good about digging right under that. The sandy soil here makes it less labor intensive. Plus, we have one panel that was damaged in a big storm and is the perfect size for a feline doorway under the house. The problem is that the kittens don't just go under and sleep. No, they seemed to think that the pipes and insulation and duct work all made a PERFECT playground. So, we would hear various clunking and thumping sounds under our feet. A little disconcerting. So Beloved decided that it would be best to close up the openings. Unfortunately he made this decision AFTER Mama Kitty had decided this would make the perfect nursery.

So, Mama Kitty has her baby. Beloved blocks off access to the nursery. Mama acts weird. The stupid humans think she's hormonal and go to bed. The next morning the baby starts screaming for it's breakfast.

I went out and told Beloved about the crying baby under the house and my Hero opens up the panel and crawls under the house to rescue the baby kitty. Who was up INSIDE the insulation. We restored the baby to its mama but mama keeps acting weird. She wants the baby but she doesn't. It looks like she's rejecting it. And the baby is obviously traumatized by the whole ordeal as well as hungry so it keeps crying. Nonstop.

At this point there is no way that Beloved and I can go away from home and think about anything other than our crazy feline family members. So we scrap the trip. And spend the rest of the day monitoring Mama and Baby in the makeshift quarantine nursery that we have created in a back storage room in an outbuilding. Big Fun.

Finally, Mama looks like she's going to accept the baby and feed her but she does. not. like. being closed in. At. All. By the end of the day we're convinced the she will take care of the baby so we let them back outside. Mama is still acting a little weird but we chalk that up to hormones. Again, brilliant psychology.

After dinner DD4 went out to check on the little family and discovered Socks had climbed Beloved's ladder so she decided to get a photo. While she was outside she visited with Mama and the baby and began to hear an echo to the baby's cry. Mama had moved the baby underneath the back porch steps right next to the house. Right next to the insulation that held the OTHER baby. So, for the second time today, Beloved took his heroic self and crawled BACK under the house (this time in the dark) and rescued the second baby kitten.

It only took three days and three not so bright humans to separate and reunited one Mama Kitty and her two babies. If only we spoke Cat.

So, this is how we celebrate 30 years of marital bliss around here. Life is NEVER dull. Here's to 30 more!

Celebrating in Song

This is the song our ladies group sang this morning. It was awesome. Now, we only had six ladies in our group today but they can surely sing! DD4 played the part of David Phelps in the second verse and then switched to Sandy Patty mode for the final chorus (translated: she hit all those through the roof notes, including a few that aren't in the video!) The final harmonies were absolutely beautiful! Enjoy this Gaither Homecoming version. It's almost as good as ours! ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6L0do1lkVE