Love it or shove it

Like the new picture of me? Much better than the books. That tan ball of fur in my hands is not a hamster but a not-quite-two-week-old kitten. My mom's friend's husband noticed the cats at work and saw the mother leave with one kitten but unfortunately, she didn't come back for the other. Maybe she was spooked, but the kitten couldn't survive on his own and he took him home.

Well, the kitten couldn't survive there, either. He has two small children. My mother happened to go over and knew she could dump the baby cat on me, so she took him home. Yes, that's us giving him bottles. That went on for about a month. Every time he cried, someone was there to jump up and feed him, the spoiled little baby. But who could replace his mother for bathing and taking care of him?

That would be Blinky. We just got her from the pound a month before (funny aside: we thought she was a boy until the vet lifted up her tail and went nope). She was about four months old, mostly a kitten herself but the maternal instincts were still there. She even tried to pick him up and carry him away! When she stopped having to clean him up, they remained best friends, like littermates.

Tell me that's not the cutest thing you've ever seen. And eventually, that little kitten turned into this:

We named him Roly, because he is so roly-poly. Every time he comes in the house, he yells at the top of his lungs until someone comes out to greet him. Seriously. Last night, no one was around and he was yelling his head off. He's also quite chub, as you can see. But so cute!