What a week!!

I did get last weekend off, but it was kind of hectic with robot wars and such. Which, by the way, was totally awesome. We also got to meet Grant from Mythbusters.

This week was totally insane crazy, but I finished my deadlines around 3pm Friday so I left work. Just, exhausted. I've still got a ton to do, and a couple of deadlines. But I was so determined to not have to work this weekend. So, I think the worst is over. Phew!! Maybe one more week of OT and then it should be pretty 9-5. I will also get a couple of 3-day-weekends in May.

I am very delighted to have a quiet weekend.

----------------------------------------------------

There are a large number of no-kill groups that foster shelter cats and showcase them at local pet stores at the weekends. For reference, I have felt compelled to take one of those cats home in the past though I could in no way shape or form do so. So, we have been by quite a few times, but I swear all the cats sleep and totally ignore us. Learning about the groups has warmed my heart and we have seen quite a few elderly cats gets adopted surprisingly fast. So it's been all good, but I couldn't feel any more like I was getting a signal from the universe that it was *not* time to get a cat. {I am not sure I have ever in my life seen a bunch of homeless cats and been able to resist}.

Dh and I even went to the shelter one day - same kind of thing. Dh even told me he had never adopted a shelter pet, and it was kind of weird and how do you know if it's a good fit? I told him, "You know. Nothing's grabbed me yet, but you will know when you find the right one." So we talked about how we just weren't clicking with any of the animals.

So, anyway, there was this beautiful cat that really caught my attention on the shelter website. They have $5 adoptions for adult cats on Fridays. So I told dh if I finished all my work I would take it as a sign and we should meet up when the kids get out of school.

There were also two black kittens there. I know - bad bad bad!!! Ideally we want a 1 or 2yo cat. BUT, I reason, what's the difference really? IF they are 6 months, they will be 1yo soon enough.

So I did finish my work early, only to find the cat that got me so excited had been adopted out already. But I was committed to perusing the shelter and getting out early. & heck, maybe we could sucker dh into those kittens. (Lord knows if we looked at kittens with the kids, we were coming home with them).

I did notice a pretty Siamese cat that had just been posted to the shelter website, so noted that one.

Shelter is very short-staffed, unorganized and frustrating. It took forever to get to meet this cat, and I wasn't expecting much. Next was going to be the kittens, and lord knows how long this would take, we didn't have a lot of time before closing. Well, they brought out the Siamese and we all fell in love with him. That was it, I did not want to look at any other cats. By some miracle, we all four actually agreed, so what more can you ask for? That is as good as it's going to get.

This is not him, but his general likeness:



He needs to get neutered, so we won't get him until Monday. Which is good, because I probably have some clean up to do around here, first.

Some name ideas:

Senor Chang

Sir Catsalot

(I like Ziggy, but no one else does). We will give it some time. We still don't have a strong sense of his personality, from our brief meeting.

---------------------------------------------

The shelter experience?

When I adopted my last cat, she had been abandoned by prior owner. They had filled out a questionnaire a mile long, that I still have. Then, I remember them absolutely grilling me and giving me the third degree. To be fair, it was the first cat I had ever owned as an adult, and they were mostly concerned that we both worked full-time and cat would be alone. That is what I remember them grilling me about.

This shelter experience? Gah. Supposedly the owner dropped him off yesterday - surrendered. But he didn't know the cat's name or sex. ??? What is that about? I've got nothing. (That was all they really asked on their questionnaire. Not what kind of food he eats, favorite toys, personality, yadda yadda). I am skeptical if he was someone's pet or what the heck. But he warmed up to us pretty fast and all you can do is go with your gut.

& yeah, he hadn't been neutered, so that kind of sucks that we have to deal with that. That we get to bring him home fresh from surgery.

Oh, and then they kind of just shrugged and took our $5 and that was that. No third degree this time, for sure. They seemed happy that we were alive and breathing, and that fit their requirements to be good pet owners. Maybe having a record of keeping one cat for its whole long life was good enough for them - we had filled out a brief questionnaire.

So, the whole thing was kind of weird. I feel like we are flying in very blind. But kitty needs a home, so what can you do? (We live in a different city now, but is helping me to appreciate how well run the other shelter was).

He is 1-year-old so I think he will be a good fit for the kids. A little more high energy than they are used to.