First post

Hn, where to begin. . . .

Spent several hours working on a picture for the header, but it's still not quite right, and I couldn't get a properly working transparent background, so I finally just gave up and made the picture's background black. Oh well. On to business.

I'm bottle-feeding an orphaned litter of kittens at the moment. My aunt sometimes takes care of orphaned animals for her vet, but she's been sick with pneumonia, so she passed the kittens on to me. She said it's probably going to be the first of many litters, as it's the season for them. They have to go back to the vet's office when they're old enough to eat solid foods. We believe they're about three weeks old right now. Their eyes are open and they're wobbling around unsteadily on spindly little legs and ballooned bellies.

My cat, Rook, is terrified of the kittens. Whenever he's in my room he sits and stares at their box (which is covered, so it's not like he can even see them) with wide, unblinking eyes, as if it's some sort of UFO that landed on his turf, and he's waiting for the "evil aliens" to jump out and try to suck out his brains.

My sister named the kittens within a few hours of our receiving them, which is not really a good idea, because it tends to make you more attached to them, and we have to give them back. But of course that won't affect my sister, since she doesn't live with us and doesn't have to take care of them and have time to get attached to them. Oh well.

There are five kittens: a calico, a tortoiseshell, and three that are black and white. All but one of them are female, one of the black and white ones is a male.

First we have the kitten of many names (there's one in every litter we've cared for) My sister named the tortoiseshell Tortilla (yes, my sister is weird), but lately I have been calling her Miss Adventure (or Misadventure), because she's quite adventurous. She keeps trying to escape from the box and go exploring. My brother, who says she is his favourite, calls her Torte, because he says it sounds sorta like "tortoise." She eats with the least fuss, and is usually the first to start crying and trying to climb out of the box when she's hungry.

Next is Mostly. My sister named her that because she is "mostly" black with very few white markings. She has white toes, a white spot on her nose, and a white stripe down her chest and tummy. She's usually the second one to start crying for food. My sister's favourite.

Then there's Tres. The three black spots on her back make her look like a domino, so my uncle said we had to name her after the "tres domino." But we've also begun calling her Domino, because it's sounds more feminine than Tres. Just about the most sedate of the litter, she rarely makes a fuss and is usually the first to fall asleep after eating. She's also the one most often stomped on by her siblings.

Then there's the calico, Tina, who is the only one my sister didn't name. My mother named her Tina, because she's "teeny." Um, can't really think of anything particularly remarkable about her. . . .

And finally, my favourite, True, AKA Troubadour, the boy. My sister wanted to name one Troubadour, and I wanted to name him True, so we agreed that True would be short Troubadour. I don't know why she wanted to name one Troubadour, but I had a reason for calling him True. My best friend online uses an avatar of a black and white kitten, and this kitten looks almost exactly like that picture. I didn't want to use my friend's current nickname, because that would be weird and confusing, so I used the nickname I used to call him: True. He's the hardest to feed, because he won't open his mouth when you try to put the bottle in it.

I intend to take some photos of them, but right now my digital camera is deader than a doornail, so I don't know when it'll happen.