still no kittens...

Little Kate is apparently not ready to have her kittens yet, even though when I took her to the vet 5 days ago he said it would be any day. The good news she has been eating, using the liter box, and just today has started to come out of her hiding place in the corner. This afternoon she came to eat while I was sitting several feet away from her, then crawled into one of the many beds I have made for her in the garage. I think she picked this particular bed (see photo above) because she can see out of it. The others are a little more enclosed and she likes to keep her eye on me when I am around. Everytime I go out into the garage, she runs out of it back to the corner, but then if I stay still long enough, she will eventually make her way back in it. I quit checking on her because I want her to relax and have the kittens instead of running to hide all the time. I thought for sure she was in labor this afternoon since she climbed in the bed and kept fidgeting about, so maybe later tonight. I read somewhere that kittens are usually born at night or early in the morning.

Meanwhile, the neighbor cat (I call him Daddy cat, but I'm not sure if he is the daddy or not) is still hanging out on the porch waiting for Kate to come back. Makes me kind of sad....

Cat Names

After much debate, Kara and I decided to name our stray pregnant cat Kate. We wanted to name her after someone who is a good mom, in hopes that she will be a good mom to her kittens. So we named her after Kate Gosselin, the mom on Jon and Kate Plus 8, a show on TLC that we sometimes watch. In case you haven't seen this show, it's about a family that had twins, then a few years later they had sextuplets. And I know alot of people criticize the tv mom for being too anal and controlling, but I think she's a great mom.

Still no kittens as of this evening. The garage is getting that nice distinct smell of cat urine though. She doesn't know how to use a litter box yet (she's always been a stray and lived outside), so I think she's been peeing on a blanket. I put the litter box on the blanket so tomorrow I'll check too see if she started using it yet. The blanket will be making it's way to the dumpster soon. She's still spending most of the day in the corner, but I think she's getting a little less nervous. I moved one of the beds closer to the corner and made it more secluded, so I'm hoping she will start to use it.

hiding in the garage

I'm so worried about my little preggo stray cat. She's still hiding in the garage and won't even check out the comfy beds I made for her. Tonight she at least came out to hide where I could see her, so maybe that is a good sign. She's not eating much, although Kara said she ate a little bit out of her hand this afternoon. We are thinking that maybe she is near delivery because some websites say that pregnant cats quit eating much the day or two before they deliver. She also hasn't used the litter box yet. Maybe tomorrow we'll have kittens.....

Meanwhile, daddy cat is still lounging on my back deck. When I got up this morning he was curled up, sound asleep right outside the door. I went outside to talk to him and try to explain that his girlfriend was locked up and he wasn't going to get see her so he might as well go home. He just stretched, got up and starting rubbing against my legs meowing at me. I don't think he understands.

Catching a stray cat

I have problems. Big problems. Big cat problems. Big stray cat problems. Big pregnant stray cat problems!

I have had this cute little stray cat hanging out on my back porch for months now. I started feeding her when I realized that she didn't belong to any of my neighbors, but was living in a hole she dug under my porch. One day a couple of weeks ago, my niece Kara made the observation that she looked pregnant. PREGNANT? I knew that having a stray pregnant cat was not an option. I live in a neighborhood that really isn't safe for animals (the interstate is my front yard and my backyard is ruled by ducks and geese) and I think our homeowner association bylaws state that animals can not run loose.

So I started calling around to shelters, vets, rescue groups, friends, basically anyone who would listen to my story and give me advice. The humane society said they would take a pregnant cat, but could not guarantee the outcome (meaning it could get put to sleep). Another group already had 150 cats in their care and could not take any more. So then I thought maybe I should just keep it and make it an inside cat. The only problem with that is Lewis. He is my indoor cat that i have had for 5 years and he is a little domineering and not afraid to attack and bite me when I am not pleasing him, so I'm a little concerned of what he might do to another cat. But I decided to try it anyway. And I thought, maybe it's not really pregnant, it's just really fat from all the food I've been feeding it (it eats a lot!).

So one night I saw the kitty sitting peacefully on my deck and I slowly approached it to see if I could pet it. It freaked out and ran off for several days. That's when I realized this was not a tame cat, but a feral cat. So then I started reading all kinds of stuff on the internet about feral cats, pregnant cats, etc. I realized this wasn't going to be easy.

I talked to a very nice vet at the Wichita Cat Hospital who gave me some tips on using food to make friends with the cat so she would start to warm up to me. I've been doing this for a week and it seems to be working, although she still won't let me touch her.

Since I can't seem to touch her, I decided I would trap her to take her to the vet. I needed to find out if she was pregnant or not, get her tested for diseases and vaccinated, and finally get her spayed. So this morning I took off a few hours from work, had a live trap I borrowed from the vet, got some really yummy seafood smelling cat food and set the trap in my backyard. After much hesitation, she finally went in and we were off to the vet. The vet explained to me that she could go ahead and spay that cat even if she was pregnant (which was still an unknown), but it would terminate the pregnancy, but if she was a stray, this might be the best option. So I agreed, and realized I was funding an abortion. What a horrible thing! But I was preventing more cats who might end up having to be put to sleep. Everytime a litter is born, it prevents other cats from being adopted. Did you know that one female cat and her offspring will produce 100 cats over seven years? That's why it is so important to spay and neuter all cats, but especially wild cats.

So i went back to the office, confident that the vet was taking care of everything and tomorrow I would be picking up a healthy vaccinated, non pregnant cat to bring home. But no. As soon as I got back to the office i had a call from the vet. Apparently the stray kitty was to far along in her pregnancy and they could not spay her. They went ahead and tested her for diseases and gave her the vaccinations, but they said i would have to come pick her up and take her home to have the kittens, which should be arriving within days. YIKES! This was the worse case scenerio!

So I debated whether to let her loose outside again, as she had clearly picked out a spot under my porch to have the kittens, or to keep her locked in my garage to have the kittens. I don't think I can bring her inside yet because of my crazy indoor cat. I'm sure the end stages of delivery is not the best time to help them get to know each other. So after talking with the vet, I opted for the garage. We decided that even though she will be very scared, at least she and the kittens will be safe. So I set up a litter box, food, and a couple of soft beds for her in my garage and let her loose. She's been hiding in a corner behind an old door for the last 8 hours and won't come out. So now i'm sitting in the garage with my laptop for a few hours talking to her to try to calm her and coax her out. It's not working. I feel so terrible because I know she must be terrified. She won't even come out to eat her food. Now I'm wondering if i made a bad decision I should either let her in my house (and send my other cat to my parents house for a few days) where she can explore and be comfortable and get used to me more, or if i should let her back outside to the environment she is used to.

The only good news from this is that now i will have kittens and kittens are so cute, and I will have something to update on my blog. When I went looking for my blog today I couldn't even remember the web address because it had been so long since I visited it. I had to go to the church website to click on it :)

So stay tuned for kitten updates and photos. Here's a couple photos of my cute little pregnant stray cat. Lewis is the orange tabby looking out the window.

Republican Caucus

I am still a registered republican, though sometimes I'm not sure why since it seems there are as many things that I disagree with the party on as there are areas I agree with them. But since there isn't a political party that is perfect, I've kept my registration republican. So I decided to attend the caucus last Saturday just to see what this was all about. I was really glad I did, as it was kind of fun to be a part of the process. I made a little clip for those of you who did not attend (shame on you!). I arrived a little before nine and the line was already wrapped around Century 2 and down to main street. Everything was really well organized though, so the line moved quickly and once I got in, I was fortunate enough to be ushered to seat near the front in the very last section to fill up. I happened to have my camera with me and thought I would have a little fun making some video clips.

I'm not endorsing any of the speakers in the video. Some I agree with, some I don't agree with, and some I just thought were really funny. It starts off with the representative who was there to speak on behalf of Huckabee, then moves through several other speakers, ending with Tiahrt, who was just there to encourage the process but not to endorse any one in particular. In the middle there is a guy who was there to speak on behalf of Alan Keyes (who I didn't even realize was running) and I'm not sure I got enough of him speaking to make his point understandable, so let me summarize it quickly: he stated that Keyes was running for vice president and that we should vote for him because America wants an african american in the white house and Keyes is the man. He states that Obama's popularity is soley based on his skin color, but that he is wrong man for the job, and Keyes is a much better choice (for VP) to represent the race. Or something like that. My comment on that is....no comment.

But I do want to say thanks to all the organizers. Several friends from church were instrumental in this and worked really hard and I thought it was a great event for my first ever caucus.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New Year Blessing and The Year Of Prayer

I am very grateful for the abundance of good friends that God has sent my way. In the various places I have lived I've always found good friends and have been able to keep in touch with many of them even after I moved on to new jobs in new states. One of those friends, the focus of my blog post today, is my friend Rachel. Rachel and her husband Jason grew up in Hillsboro, Kansas, but we actually met when we both lived in Naperville, Illinois.

I had been working as a Director of Children's Ministries at a church in Naperville for a couple of years when I found out we would be getting a new Worship Pastor, a young couple who were coming from Phoenix. Not only did I enjoy working at the church with Jason as our new Worship guy, but I found out that his wife was quite witty and fun also. And it was a bonus when I found out that they grew up in Hillsboro! (Side note: one day when talking about high school shootings with Rachel, we discovered that Rachel's college roommate in Phoenix married a friend of mine from my high school youth group.....we seem to have lots of those "it's a small world" stories!)

Eventually I moved back to Kansas, while Jason and Rachel and their kids stayed in Naperville for a few more years. I still saw them occasionally when I went to IL for visits, or they were home in KS for visits, but I was really excited when they finally decided to move back to Kansas. After a few years in Hillsboro, Jason recently took a job with a church in Salina where they now live. I haven't been to visit them in Salina, but I hope to soon! It's been too long....

Last week I received a really cool card from Rachel. It was a New Years Blessing card and on the inside of the card (next a photo of their adorable kids) they had written this:

"We have designated 2008 as a year of prayer for our family...practicing it, studying it, and prioritizing it. As we received Christmas cards this holiday season, we began filling in a calendar with names. Yes we added in some extras - you know who you are! We would love to hear any specific ways in which we can uplift your family this year, so please feel free to email us. We are committing to pray for you on the 21st of each month, as well as any other time we know of your needs. May God abundantly bless you, and others through you!"

What a cool idea! And how blessed do I feel for being fortunate enough to make it on their list of people they are committing to pray for this year (even after I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year). Thanks Rachel! This gift means more than you know!

New Job

I have a new job. Same company, but new responsibilities and new title. I am now the Training Director. I'm excited, and more than a little overwhelmed at what I need to get done asap. Here are some of the things that are occupying me this month:

1. We are considering a move to a new LMS (Learning Management System) for our online learning program. There is a problem though. I need Consumer Reports to do some comparison shopping for me and lay out all the pros and cons for the top LMS systems out there. There is no time to search the internet to find out about all the different systems, test them out, talk to other users, figure out if it meets our needs etc. And now to complicate things, there are all these open source programs to consider too. I've been meaning to check out Moodle for a couple of months now, but everytime I go to their website, I get overwhelmed trying to figure out what I am looking for. Anyone have a good, affordable, LMS to reccommend?

2. We are going through our accreditation visit this summer. We go through this every three years or so, and I've been through it twice before, so I know what's coming and it's going to require a lot of work, though in the end it's always a good experience. As the new Training Director I need to make sure we are meeting all of the standards for training that are required. I have six months to accomplish this. In some cases, this is probably going to require developing some trainings, getting our 200+ staff across the state trained in them, and pulling reports showing that everyone has received the training. Sounds fun, right! I love a good challenge, especially when it involves systems building. And if it involves a database, then it's even more fun. Seriously- I'm really looking forward to figuring this challenge out!

3. And in between figuring that stuff out I'll keep my other job duties which includes teaching online courses until I can hire someone to take over that part of my job, managing a collaborative grant with several local partners, providing oversight to our trainings for foster parents across the state, and attending a lot of meetings.

I think I'm going to have a panic attack.