Uninvited Guests

Inspirational song: Blank Generation (Richard Hell and the Voidoids)

I planned my trip a little over a month ago. The Mr had enough airline miles to send me anywhere in the country, but I had to be able to travel before the end of August. I knew already how crazy my month was going to be up until around the 15th or 16th. So I made reservations for the night of the 17th through the day of the eclipse that has everyone losing their fool minds, and I came out to Los Angeles. I haven't been here since we moved away from California just over nine years ago. I didn't think I would want to come back ever again, and I did the little superstitious move that everyone leaving Fort Irwin does to ensure they don't return (I kissed the coyote -- if you ever lived at Irwin, you know). Then kid number one decided that she would listen to what her heart has told her for her entire life, that she belonged out in Cali, and she moved here several years ago. It made my mommy heart flutter to have her move somewhere so expensive and somewhat dangerous, but you have to be hands off and deal with it once they've already left the nest.

Three weeks before my trip, I got a phone call that turned into a video chat. Child One had been in a parking lot, where a desperate little ginger cat was trying to get anyone to pay attention to her. She was starving, and her rotund belly was demanding human intervention. Child brought the cat to her home and called me for advice. I told her everything I knew from watching Tiny Kittens broadcasts, and the Mr imparted wisdom from housing three queens and their litters on his last deployment to south Asia.

A week ago Sunday, one rescued cat turned into seven. Would have been eight, but the first one didn't make it. Daughter said she was compelled to call the mama Billie Jean, and now that I am here and able to see and touch the litter, we have settled on music associations for their theme names. We've already had to switch one from a girl name to a boy, after careful study.

So without further ado, I introduce The Uninvited Guest Litter (that's a Marillion reference, for those of you who haven't had enough exposure to me in person to know my first choice for tunes). They are listed in order of appearance.

This is Johnny Reznik. My daughter's first favorite band was the Goo Goo Dolls, and she still has a soft spot for them as an adult. Yes, that is one eye opening at a mere six days old. Go, Johnny, go!

This all-white bruiser is Richard Hell. From all the books and essays on the early years of punk rock in the 1970s, the word was that Richard Hell was an a-hole. This guy is whiny, mama's favorite, and prone to serious whappy paws when fighting over spigots at the milk bar.

Naming baby 3/ginger 2 was a little hard. We wanted to spread out our associations over different time periods and genres of music a little broader than we did. But the white face with orange stripes on it demanded that we name this little guy Ziggy Stardust. It is the right look for that incarnation of the Thin White Duke.

Like Bigfoot, baby number four was very difficult to photograph. She moved a lot. She is a dark tortie, but she has the potential for light or even white front paws. We will just have to wait to be sure. But she does have a white exclamation point on her nose. It is perfect. Her name is Miss Jackson, and I was told comes from the Outkast song of the same name, not the exclamation from Janet Jackson's Nasty Boys.

Figuring out whether a kitten is a boy or a girl is hard at this age. This dilute ginger is the runt, and for most of the day we thought it was a girl, so we named her Debbie Harry (of Blondie). By the time we were home from our tour of some unusual non-touristy spots of LA, and dinner was cooking, I studied Debbie for a while, long enough to compare to the older brothers. HE is now named Slim Shady.

 Focus isn't great here, but I have other pictures to share, over the next day/week/month/forever. I have been dreaming of naming my next animal Lida Rose so that when I come home I can sing that song from the Music Man "Lida Rose I'm home again Rose, without a sweetheart to my name..." When I saw there was a white-footed calico in the litter, I was overwhelmed. I missed Cricket too much, and when the chance of bringing in another girlie who resembled her fell in my lap, I jumped on it. She's mine.

If you want to adopt, we currently have three or four people who are considering, but other than me, no one has put a hard claim on any one kitten. I will post regular updates, and if you find that you have fallen in love with someone small, get in touch with me. Facebook message to the Scenes From Smith Park page is probably the most reliable for me to see the notification. Unless you are willing to travel, adoptions will be limited to residents of southern California or northern Colorado. References may be required if we don't know you already. They are only going to homes that are safe and loving. Kittens will be ready for their forever homes in mid to late October.