And Now, a Sixth Man

Finally -- we can rotate somebody off the basketball court during games. The whole 'iron man' routine (not to be confused with, you know, Iron Man or "Iron Man") was getting tiring. Apparently, you can also play football with this many people.

The Holly Help folks have been seriously delayed by frequent thunderstorms and pre-registration at King, so we received permission to take our own collection of Poké Balls in an effort to catch a kitten. On Saturday afternoon, we went to campus with Sandi's coworker and King mathematics alumna Kelly with our carriers and a stash of feline comestibles. Within half an hour, we had nabbed one of the little guys, but another thunderstorm kept us from getting another. Kelly graciously let us have the one we got, and thus Ashe became the newest member of the Carroll household.

We were unsure how quickly a feral kitten would acclimate to home life, but Ashe has proven pretty adaptable. While she is still far more nocturnal than we would like, she already purrs when held or petted. She has also (I am outrageously happy to report) taken to litter box usage quite rapidly. She -- oh yeah, Ashe is a girl -- spends most of her time in our carrier, with several sessions of cuddling interspersed. During the day, while Ranger is outside, we remove the carrier's gate and place it inside the Big Bazooka's kennel. That way, she can check out the surroundings yet still have a safe place to retreat.

Peaches has acted more or less as she did when Samus arrived on the scene: a combination of territorially defensive and interminably curious. Samus is on the whole disinterested; the presence of the carrier seems to bother her more than the addition of a new cat. Their actual interactions have almost completely occurred within the aforementioned kennel framework, as Ashe had not been to the vet before this afternoon. There has been a fair bit of hissing and growling, but no arched backs or slap fights have erupted. Ranger has yet to meet the little one. Ashe deserves a chance to get used to the house before confronting our mini-colossus.

Ashe had her first vet visit this afternoon, and things check out. She weighs a whopping two and one-quarter pounds, which puts her at about eight weeks old. Her feline leukemia test came out negative (yay!), but we have to treat her for roundworms over the next few weeks. She was quite eager to explore the animal hospital. To be honest, she is quite eager to explore everything, but we are trying to pace her exposure to all this new stuff.

The upcoming week promises to be hectic, as we have a waiting families meeting tomorrow in Knoxville, along with an eye appointment. Maybe we will get some uninterrupted sleep tonight. Maybe . . .

Have a great week, everyone!