A ranch visit and a chance to meet barn kittens

All last week I was immersed in a design project for a client, so when Saturday finally came a day trip to another part of the San Francisco Bay Area was just the ticket. I have in-laws of in-laws (Hubby says that makes them "outlaws") that recently moved to a ranch not very far from John Steinbeck country. They were holding a housewarming gathering at their new spread. We "dropped in" for a visit.

I knew I was going to have an extra-good visit when our hostess informed us that there were "new" kittens in the barn! She happily escorted us out to the outbuildings, introducing us to the chickens along the way while the ranch dogs tagged along behind us. We waved hello to the horses (who we've been introduced to before) and headed into the barn.

In a neat and tidy stall the size of a child's bedroom, we found the 8-10 week old kittens lazing about on hay bales. The kittens weren't born at the ranch, so they aren't all from the same litter. They were adopted to be raised as working kitties on the ranch for catching mice and vermin. Despite they're working status, these kittens aren't wild or feral in anyway. 

Our hostess always makes sure that her ranch cats get lots of love, affection and socializing and raises incredible cats. Our cats Dexter and Dee Dee are offspring from one of her best former ranch cats, Skittles (who lived and died at a previous homestead). 

As these kittens "asked" to be held and cuddled it was clear they are getting the same great upbringing.

Each kitten had a distinct personality. 

The male tabby (whose whiskers have been chewed down to stubs by one of the girls) didn't mind sitting on the edge of the truck bed, but was nervous about being held up high unless he was held close. Once I cuddled him close, his purr-motor started up and he was a real love bug.

The female tabby with the white socks was curious and adventuresome--exploring the bed of the ranch truck and playing with bits of leaves and straw. Hubby held her first and discovered that she preferred to ride around on his shoulders while getting pettings--walking back and forth across shoulders behind his head.

The all-black female with white socks (and whiskers that resemble Salvador Dali's moustache) was such the little princess-in-training. She greeted us from the comforts of "her" pillow on a hay bale and wanted us to come to her. Once I sat down on a hay bale next to her, she got up and wanted lots of love and attention. She walked around high on her tiny kitten toes kneading the hay bale, purring loudly and mewing intermittently if she thought my attention had strayed away from the task at hand (giving her lots of pettings). She was also fascinated with the sound of my camera's shutter and played with my long braided hair.

All three kittens were incredibly photogenic. It was hard to narrow down the photos for this post. And even after narrowing it down, this is still more photos than I usually post. I guess that's what happens when you've been smitten by barn kittens.

Things I'm Learning To Be A Grown Up Kitty ~~ by Lucy Maud

Being 10 1/2 months old, I'm learning lots of things everyday so I can be a grown up kitty. Here are some of the things I'm learning...

I'm learning that daytime is when big kitties sleep and
how it's one of the best time to do "fancy paws"...

I'm also learning that sleeping in some of my favorite places
is getting a little more difficult.
I remember this being much bigger.

I'm learning that big kitties love when Mommy brings in branches of
lemon verbena to sniff, to lick, and to munch...

but I still don't quite understand what the big fuss is over.

Thomasina is teaching me the art of the willful stare.
She says it's a must for big kitties.
She says, "Do it like this."


I think I'm getting it pretty good, don't you?

Well, maybe I need to work on the ears a bit more to get the "attitude".

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I'm A Princess by Lucy Maud

I have decided that I am a kitten princess and everything around me is my kingdom.

I figured out how to make Mommy's fancy pillow lay flat so I could lay on it. If I scramble and play around the bottom of it and push on it with my paws or pull on the tassels, it lays flat for me. Then I climb on it and curl up on the velvety soft part so I look very royal. The tassles make this pillow very special and regal looking--perfect for a kitten princess to lay on. And they're fun for playing with even though Mommy scowls at me when I do it.

None of the big kitties do this, so I must be special to have figured it out. That must mean I have royal brains just right for ruling my kingdom. I think all the big kitties are my subjects. Whenever I want them to leave a warm spot I tell them I want it by biting them on the neck. They obey me and leave so I can have the warm spot. That MUST mean that I am their ruler.




Being a kitten princess is very hard work that makes me tired and kinda sleepy. Good thing I'm on my royal pillow because it's also good for napping.

Doesn't the green of my royal pillow look lovely next to my royal spots and stripes? I am an exotic looking kitten princess. On my royal pillow, I can even look fancy, exotic, and royally lovely while I'm sleeping!



I heard that all royalty have distinct and noble profiles. I think my profile is very noble. I also heard that in Egypt cats were pretty special. I think my profile looks like one of those special Egyptian kitties. That MUST make me a princess!

Okay, I'm tired. I need to take my royal nap now.

The End

My First Kitty Grass by Lucy Maud

Mommy brought home a new thing that all the big kitties went crazy for as soon as she called, "Kitty grass! Kitty greens!"

There was a lot of meowing. I didn't know why. So much commotion for something that didn't smell like canned food!

Everyone gathered around the new stuff and chowed down. I waited until everyone else was done before I was brave enough to see what it was.


My new big friend Suzette showed me how to sniff it first.

She helped me understand the importance of sniffing the dirt and all the "green-ness" first.

It kinda smelled like someplace I used to be once but I can't remember where. Mommy's pant legs smell like that when she comes in the door after gardening sometimes.

The smell tickled my nose a bit. Suzette said that meant it was good!


Then Suzette showed me how to nibble on the green stuff that Mommy called "kitty grass".

"Bite it down at the bottom," Suzette said, "So it doesn't poke you in the nose."

I'm so glad she was here to show me how.

I wasn't too sure how it was going to taste. But Suzette was eating it so I decided to be brave and try it.


After my first taste, I had to sit back and just think about how it tasted.

Did I like it?

Should I take another bite?

Hmmmm.....








I decided that I DID like it!

Suzette kept watch for any danger or wild animals that might pounce on me while I really chowed down on the yummy greens.

I was eating and moving so fast that I am a blur in this photo.

Wow it was good!





After I was all done with my first kitty grass snack, I was tuckered out. It was such an exciting adventure that I had to go sack out in my furry heated bed.

Whew!









Mommy! I'm tryin' to sleep here! Go away and let me dream of more kitty grass!


The End

"Lucy News" by Lucy Maud (Day 50)

Hi, it's Lucy here writing my own blog post to commemorate 50 days since I was rescued and brought here to my new home!

I decided to write about one of my favorite activities--sleeping.

When I'm not tearing around jumping and pouncing on the bigger kitties, I'm sleeping. I like to sleep on one of my people best. But if they aren't available, I like to sleep in my lavender fuzzy bed with a special kitty heating pad in it.

It's so cozy!

But for some reason, I get awakened a lot by a flashing light thingy. It's quite annoying.

Daddy why are you always pointing that thing at me?

I usually give up trying to sleep after the flashing light thingy starts. It's too hard to stay asleep, and I'm too curious. I'm usually pretty groggy but that doesn't stop me from being curious. And sometimes I get up with a bad case of bedhead. Yikes! But at least I had the presence of mind to do "fancy paws" like the big kitties do. Well... almost.

Lucy News--Day 33

Every day Lucy looks different. We had this happen with Dexter too. It seems like kittens destined to be long, tall, and lanky go through what we call the "silly putty" phase more dramatically than other kittens.

Some days Lucy has a big case of "Bugs Bunny feet", as she did yesterday (see photo at left). Other days, Lucy has the proportions of a dachshund with a long body and the movements of a ferret. Then there are other days that her head is too big for her body or her back is swayed like an old nag.

The good news is that with all of this growing, her paws that were very "deformed" when she was found are now straightening out. She's walking on her tippy toes like a normal kitty should instead of all flat footed like she was with her little paw pads not doing their job. We suspect that the paw problem was due to improper nutrition living on the street.

Another trait that seems to be a holdover from her life on the street is Lucy's "scrapper" mentality. Our other kitties aren't very interested in people food or table scraps (not even turkey giblets on Thanksgiving, believe it or not!). So we've been spoiled with no begging for our food up until now. Lucy tries to stick her snout into any plate she can, and we are forced to use the word "NO" a lot accompanied with taps on the nose the way her mommy would discipline her.

Lucy has also succumbed to the dreaded "crazy kitten syndrome" that afflicts all kittens during their first year of life. We put a collar and bell on Lucy so the other kitties would know when she was coming because she was ambushing them too much for them to properly socialize and actually LIKE her. The bell has done the trick, and now the older kitties have adapted to Lucy quite nicely and even let her snuggle with them once in a while (as long as she doesn't start biting their paws which she is prone to do).

Now that Lucy's habitat cage is left open all the time, she gets visitors quite frequently--welcome or not. Lucy often has to go in and oust Thomasina out of her furry heated bed by pestering Thomasina incessantly. After much protesting, Thomasina eventually vacates the premises. Interestingly, Dee Dee has also taken to going into Lucy's habitat cage and smashing herself into the very small kitty condo. Dee Dee has ended up tipping it over a few times as well, probably as she's trying to extricate herself from the upper story. Goofy cat.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

"Skate" Update: Day 15

Code Name "Skate" Has Been Retired

As many of you know, the little kitten that we have rescued and nursed back to health after a close call with death was dubbed "Skate" (short for Stray Kitty Eight). We always considered "Skate" to be a code name--you know, like Apple uses code names for their Mac operating systems like "Leopard". So after MUCH deliberation we have decided on a more fitting name for the kitten. Her full name "Lucy Maud" with "Lucy" as her everyday name. [She is named after one of our favorite authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote Anne of Green Gables as well as many other literary classics.] So now she shall be known as Lucy when we give updates here.

Lucy News
Lucy (formerly "Skate") has continued to grow and get healthy. Her legs seem to stretch overnight! She's probably going to be one tall kitty when she's grown. Her fur is growing in nice and thick with blond frosted tips to it. It's looking quite luxurious.

Lucy is also learning how to socialize with the other cats in a controlled setting (namely my studio). The cats that are interested are allowed to come in and check her out. During Lucy's closed-door-supervised-romp-time, a couple of the cats have been brave enough to come in and "observe" (Lucy doesn't let them be passive onlookers for long).

Dexter was the first to really decide that he needed to be on everything as far as the kitten was concerned. I think he's just interested in figuring out how to sneak kitten chow out of her bowl through the bars of her habitat cage.

Then, surprisingly, our little diva Thomasina decided to be in on the action. She established who was boss very quickly and now regularly asks to come in and play with Lucy during romp time. It's quite cute to see Thomasina and Lucy playing among the different boxes and play tunnels I have laid out for Lucy. Lucy doesn't feel threatened because Thomasina is so small and Thomasina still feel like she has the upper paw.

The next cat to be interested in interaction was Suzette. Suzette likes to lay on the floor with her tummy exposed and have Lucy charge her. Lucy is fearless and will come at her with all her kitten self puffed up and "scary". When Suzette has had enough, she politely asks to be let out of the studio.

Today during romp time, Thomasina was in the studio quietly playing with Lucy. I was working on the computer when I was aware of some noise in Lucy's habitat cage. It was more thumping than usual. I turned around to find that Thomasina had crawled in and was curled up in the bottom of Lucy's kitty condo. Lucy was in the second story of the condo peering down into the first story through the internal hole that connects the two and was swatting Thomasina on the head as if to say "Get out! This is MY home!"

I grabbed the camera. When I started focusing to get a shot, Lucy turned around to face me (she is SO curious!) so I got a picture of her with her "evil eyes" because of the flash. After snapping off a couple of shots with the camera, I then proceeded to extricate a protesting Thomasina out of Lucy's kitty condo. There was a lot of complaining, I'll tell you! Thomasina is a whiner, and she was whining at me the whole way out. Fortunately, she didn't hold it against me and wanted to cuddle with me shortly thereafter.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

Skate Update: Day 1

Although I will not be writing a "Skate Update" everyday, I did want to share photos to show everyone Skate's progress after only 48 hours. It is amazing what warmth, meds, love, and kitten chow can do!

So here are the latest photos narrated in Skate's little voice the way Daisy the Curly Cat narrates her blog photos:

Hey, it's me Skate! Can I come out and cuddle for a bit?

Please! I'll even help you open the door to my wonderful habitat cage.

Oh good! Now I can rub your hand.

Now that my sniffer isn't so snotty, I love to sniff and rub on everything I can.

Are you looking at my paws?

They are kinda different than most kitten paws, but they still work just fine for me.

I love the patch of sun that shines in every afternoon.

I'm feeling rather sleepy all of a sudden.

Oh wait... I'm hungry! I better eat instead of nap in the sunshine.

I'm really good at eating all the kitten chow I can. My little belly is very big and round now.


Here I am next to Cindy's computer mouse so you can see how little I am.
I only weight 1.5 pounds.

I'm feeling SO much better than I did when I was laying in the street in the cold.

Soon, all the sniffles I have will be gone. Yay! For now, I'm loving all the cuddles I'm getting.

All photographs featured here can be made available as unframed or framed prints, high-quality posters,
bound journals, tile coasters, keepsake boxes, greeting cards or a variety of other products.

Please email Cindy at rosehaven_cottage@yahoo.com for customization information.

Don't hesitate to ask about a special request.

Check out our online store to see the variety of products available and pricing.

We've become a "foster" family

As often happens, yesterday morning brought some interesting unexpected events around here and now Rosehaven Cottage has a temporary little houseguest for the holidays and probably for a some time beyond that as we "foster" her until she's well enough to find her "forever home".

I was sitting in the back of the seminary classroom yesterday morning at 6:40 am while my team teacher was conducting a worksheet exercise, when one of my students showed up late, peeked his head in the door, and motioned for me to come out in the hall. He had a little kitten wrapped up in a towel. It's head was covered in dried mucus from its eyes and nose. Its eyes were almost sealed shut by the gunk and its nose was too. My student told me that on the way to class, his mother had almost hit the kitten with her van as the kitten was curled up in the middle of the street. The student's mother didn't see it until the last minute, slammed on her brakes, and came to a screeching halt with the bumper hovering over this motionless kitten. It was still 32°F outside (that's 0°C for my non-U.S. readers). The little thing was probably freezing to death--literally.

My student's mother didn't know what to do and just wanted to leave it there, thinking the kitten belonged to someone in the neighborhood. My student wouldn't accept that answer, bundled the little thing up, and said, "Cindy will know what to do, Mom." And that's how I was introduced to this little kitten that had a brush with death yesterday in more ways than one.

I took the kitten to my vet as soon as their offices opened. I have an amazing vet with an incredible staff. Dr. Laurie Noe and her staff at Well-Pet Animal Clinic are the epitome of what you want a vet to be: loving, caring, compassionate, intelligent, quick-thinking, and affordable. The doctor wasn't able to see the kitten for a couple of hours, so in the meantime kitten napped in the cozy carrier I had her in with a warm cuddly box in it. Once she had a decent nap in a warm place, her lethargy diminished significantly and she transformed into a sweet and affectionate little kitten.

Purry and adorable, but still sneezing and coughing from the mucus, the kitten went in to see the doctor at 10:45 am. She was first tested for all the scary things like feline AIDS and leukemia. All those tests came back negative so it was wise to proceed with further treatment which included: de-worming, ear mite treatment, eye ointment, antibiotics, and flea drops. She was a little trooper and was affectionate and purred through the whole thing. The vet guessed she's about 8 weeks old (or maybe an underweight 10 week old). She only weighs 1.5 lbs. so we need to get some weight on her. Luckily, I walked out of the vet with a free courtesy "new kitten kit" that had a 4 lb. container of premium kitten food from Purina! Sweet!

Both Hubby and I don't feel good about adding one more kitty to our family so we weren't going through the process of naming her (note the key word in that sentence is "weren't"). We did photograph her for my seminary student so he could make "FOUND" posters for the area where he picked her up. Even though I avoided naming her, yesterday evening Hubby came up with the nickname of Skate which stands for Stray Kitty Eight (since this is the eighth cat in our home right now). It seems to fit since the little one also "skated" on the brink of death yesterday.



Since Skate needs to remain in isolation while she has ear mites and the upper respiratory virus (and because she isn't going to become a permananent resident in our home) Hubby and I spent yesterday coming up with a special living arrangement for her. Earlier this summer, my ingenious and ever-resourceful sister had figured out a way to build a rabbit cage using storage cubicle panels from Target that cost $14.99 for a box of 26. I rang her up to ask for tips after we priced other kennel cage options and realized everything else was way too expensive! My sister pointed me in the right direction, and we procured two boxes of the necessary panels as well as a carpeted two-level kitty condo and a container of cable ties to supplement our own existing supply. We spent last night building a cage for the little thing while she napped in the carrier I had outfitted for her with food, water, and a bed.

Skate's kennel now resides in my studio on my worktable. My studio is where I work all day so she isn't lonely. She has plenty of room to run around (which she's doing a lot of this afternoon). She's already got a lot of energy and is acting like a spunky little kitten should. She has a square of lavender fake fur in the lower cubby of the condo that she slept on all night and has napped on. Sleep is the best medicine for her right now. She's eating VERY well, her eyes are clearing up, and her mucus is dimishing--all very good signs.

Hubby fashioned a high shelf for her out of a spare panel and one of the un-used shoe brackets in the storage cubicle kit. She's already using it despite her obviously slightly deformed front paws and legs (probably a birth defect).

I suspect that it won't take long for Skate to be the necessary 2.5 lbs. to have her spayed by my trusty vet so she can be placed in her future "forever home" wherever that may be.