Kittens!

So if you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you probably already know that I did A Thing. If not, guess what? I did A Thing!

This is the thing...

Four kittens!

Kittens!

Before you get all excited, no, I didn't adopt more cats. I have been doing a little bit of volunteer work for the rescue organization I got Harry Dresden from, the fabulous Super Heroes in Ripped Jeans. They're a small local shelter that was literally started by one woman working out of her apartment, and they are doing amazing work. But they're seriously overloaded, and it is kitten season. So when a good Samaritan found a stray cat and her newborn kittens (and couldn't keep them himself), the shelter was already more than full and all their regular foster homes were also more than full.

I have an upstairs room that is mainly used for storage, and had already prepped it just in case, and decided I could step up. So I took in mama, who clearly used to belong to someone and is very sweet and affectionate, although way too skinny after months on the street

Mama, who I am calling Freya, because we had to call her something

 Initially I just put her upstairs with her kittens in a large box lined with a towel. That was Sunday night. Monday morning, when I checked on her, she had hidden the kittens under a shelf. So I built her a fort from a card table and a table cloth, and moved them back. She seems to be very happy with the new arrangement, and doesn't mind me moving the box out periodically to check on them.

Kitten fort

 Today they're six days old and seem to be doing quite well.

4 days old

 

6 days old

We'll see how it goes. I'll be putting periodic reports up on Facebook and Twitter, but if you really want to track their progress, I'll probably have the most regular updates on my PATREON.

Tell me, have you ever fostered kittens, or any other animals?

Here's where you can see more info about the Super Heroes in Ripped Jeans website Facebook

Book Research Taken to Extremes

I've done some strange research for my books in the past. For instance, when I wrote WICKEDLY WONDERFUL, I had to Google "locations of nuclear plants in California." For weeks I waited to see if the FBI was going to show up on my doorstep...

But this weekend I got a little more, um, hands on, with my research than usual. In the manuscript I'm working on right now, the protagonist--who knows nothing about farm animals--has to milk a goat. I had a pretty good idea of how it was done from looking at youtube videos and talking to a friend who used to have goats, but I wanted to make sure I got it right. (If you get info wrong in a book, I assure you, people will tell you about it later. Repeatedly.)

Luckily, one of the artists at The Artisans' Guild shop I run happens to be a nun who is in charge of the animals at the Holy Myrrbearers Monastery where she lives in nearby Otego, so she invited me to come milk one of her goats. My friend Ellen went along to watch, take pictures, and no doubt laugh quietly to herself.

It's not as easy as it looks.

 I had a great time, even if initially I got as much milk on my pants as I did in the bucket.

The goat was very patient with me.

Mother Katherine with another one of her charges

Where the milk ended up!

 There were three adorable little kittens in the barn that had been abandoned across the street not long before. (People do that in the country all the time, alas.) They were happy to clear away the milk I got out of poor Claire. The rest went to her kids, who took it directly from the source.

Lots of goats!

Ellen with her new friend Caliban

 Mother Katherine also tends to many sheep (whose wool is made into the yarn, scarves, and felted insoles she sells at the shop), chickens, and the working dogs who live there.

So tell me, what did you do with your Saturday? And if you're a writer, what is the strangest research you've ever done?