First Day!

I'm going to get the New Year started on the right foot and post on the very first day!

Whether or not I'll be able to post daily is a whole 'nother question!

It was a quiet day, the last day of 2012. No plans to go anywhere, no wild and crazy celebration, just a another day at home with the family. Andrew heard some meowing, thought it was one of our cats locked in the office next to the dining room. Looked in, no cat. Maybe it's the basement. Open the door, no cat. He listened and pinpointed a cat meowing outside the sliding door in the dining room. Oh, maybe one of our cats accidentally got out? Slide open the door and a cat starts to come in. Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's not one of ours! He got the cat back outside and all the kids immediately run to the door to check out the "new" cat.

Friendly little thing! All full of loud meows and bumps and leg rubs. I go out and check it over, doesn't seem sick. Just real hungry. Thick coat, which tells me it's been outdoors for awhile, but you could feel bony ribs and spine and hip bones underneath that fur. Brought out a bowl of food and it was all over it. Not going to do anything now, at this late hour, and we left the cat outside with a bowl of food and a bowl of water.

From my experience, most cats are wary of new people. Most is the key word here. There are exceptions to the rule and some cats are absolute pushovers. This cat here, is just so friendly, even with the dog sniffing at her and the other cats outside eating right next to her. And yes, she let me check "down there" and it's a female cat. I pick her up and she just sits in my arms, content to be there. The kids have each picked her up and she stays there. Looks like a 'lap' cat has come to adopt us!

The kids have begged and pleaded to keep her. Names are being thrown out. Promises are being made to take care of her and feed her. Sure reminds me of myself when I'd bring home a stray cat and beg to keep it. 

I've let them bring her in, after I gave her a thorough look over this morning and made sure she visited the litter box first thing. She promptly peed in it. So far so good. It's been a few hours since she's been in the house and nearly the entire time, it has been in the arms or a lap of a child. I'm betting she'll be resting a lot, catching up on all the energy she spent trying to survive in the cold and snow with no food and shivering herself to sleep. Let's see what happens when she is warmed up, food in her belly and she starts getting comfortable.

I don't know what we'll call her, names from Camilla to Sugar, Britney to Socks have been tossed out, but I'm trying not to settle on a name just yet, in case we decide not to keep her after all. We already have 7 cats, 1 dog and 15 chickens, and we'll have to get her spayed if we keep her... but she sure is a sweetheart, and I've been looking for a lap cat... oh dear. It's looking like we're leaning pretty heavy in the 'keep her' direction, doesn't it?

What a start to the New Year! :o)

Here's hoping 2013 brings out the best in us all!