Reboot

Wow, it's been five and half years since that last post. My life has taken so many dramatic twists and turns. All the cats and rabbits have passed away, except for Buster, my last post.  Buster lives next door with Duane now. Bright Eyes passed away this year just before Thanksgiving.  I always thought when Bright Eyes died that I would go too.  Instead it was Bootsy two weeks later.  Tennessee passed just before Mother's Day.

The one thing that stayed the same, I'm still working at that call center.  I thought the call center job had sucked all my creativity, but I think it was when Butterscotch passed. Now, I'm feeling like that woman on Julie and Julia. My job is sucking the life out of me and I need to get back to a creative outlet.  This blog pulled me out of my funk before.

My granddaughter Faith lived me for a few years and now she's back in New York with her mom. She is how I ended up in this two bedroom half a duplex. Duane lives in the two bedroom single unit next door with his four cats.

So now, its me with 9 cats and my dog Charlie. He thinks he's a cat.

Then there's Lars. I knit him hats and socks.  Ankle sock with double knit heels as he blows through heels and I have pile that need repairs. He's also the crazy catman.

I considered starting a new blog, but Covered In Cat Hair was taken. Not wanting to step on someone else's turf and a quick Google search, I decided, I'm still Knitting Kitties. The characters aka cats might have changed but I'm still me. So hang on from the whiplash, I hope you enjoy the whacky adventures of my new life.

Next post I'll introduce you to the 9.

Meet Buster

After days of being despondent, Duane suggested I should get a kitten.  Before we took Butterscotch for his final sleep, I held him to say a private good bye.  I thought about when we got the tuxedo twins.  Butterscotch was so happy to share his home.  Gave them welcome licks on the head and showed them where the food is kept.  It felt like he was saying he had a good life and I should give another cat a good life.

The lady from the ad on Craigslist said her neighbor found the litter of kittens in the backyard, dehydrated and dirty, three weeks ago.  She cleaned them up, bottle fed them, weaned them to solid food and litter trained them.  When I told her about Butterscotch, she said she had the perfect kitten, lovable and cuddly.

He is just that and more.  He's attached himself to Duane's chest.

Duane sits on the couch and Buster attaches himself.  Duane apologized that my kitten became him his kitten.     It's ok.  He did suggest that maybe I should get another for me.

Precocious little thing.  He's not put off by his grumpy aunties.  The girls fly into hissy fits when he comes up to them.  The past two days, he hides under things waiting to ambush them.  Not the least bit dissuaded by their hissing.  He is determined they will either like him or explode.

Duane said, "Great revenge for you, Butterscotch.  Come back as a kitten and go after them."  The girls weren't very nice to Mr. Scotch the past few years.  The timing isn't right for Buster to be a reincarnation. Maybe in six weeks, I'll take a scan over Craiglist and see if something jumps out at me.  Maybe.  Still waiting for the feeling like I've been punched in the gut to lessen.

Duane wrote a post about Buster.  He's much eloquent with his words than I am.

In other news, Duane had a lung cat scan in April.  The pulmonologist says that the scarring has not improved since his last scan in the ICU last year.  There are three holes in the center of his lungs.  They are looking into putting him on the transplant list, as his name wouldn't come up for three to five years.

This weekend, I joined Summer of Socks and Tour De Fleece, team Cranky Pants.  Hopefully it will bring back my mojo and there will be pictures.  I did get some nice quilting thread for my yoyo quilt on Saturday.  However, I can't find where I last put my fabric cutting scissors, so I sat down defeated for the moment.

Back to work today, when you'll read this.  Need to head to bed, 5 am comes way too early.

Thank you for all your comments of sympathy for Butterscotch.

So Sad

I haven't been around much this year, so busy with work.  Along way, I'm so tired when I get home, I lost interest in my knitting.  Work is going well, though.  A woman at work makes yo-yo quilts while she's on the phone. I was thinking that would be a great way to use up my mountain of quilting fabric without much effort.  This weekend, I sorted through some of it.

This past weekend, our Butterscotch stopped eating and drinking very little. A few days before, instead of fighting me over my chair, he started sleeping on the floor in the corner next to my chair.

We took him to the vets.  His liver is completely shut down.  The vet thinks it's liver cancer.  They re-hydrated him and sent him home with us for a couple days.  Wednesday at 9am, we take him back to be put to rest.

He was born in my closet on Memorial Day, May 31, 1999.  A week later, I injured my back at work and was put on bed rest.  The kittens were just opening their eyes.  We laid in bed together, just staring at each other.  Butterscotch has been my constant companion, ever since.

He loved to sit and watch the birds. 

My chair thief.

Lover of catnip.

Such a wonderful gentleman.  In the mornings he would let the girls eat their can breakfast first.

My knitting and spinning wheel buddy.

Before we got Dammit bunny, he was best friends with our Lexie bunny.  They would curl up together in front of the bookcase.  He would take his big clumsy seven-toed paw and try to pet her head, just the way we would pet him. Lexie resides on a shelf in our closet now.  Soon, Butterscotch will join her, to keep her company again.

Butterscotch, May 31, 1999 - June 13, 2012

We will miss you!

RIP Emily Bird

We don't what happened.  Duane found little Emily at the bottom of the cage just as I came in from home work, tonight.  She's the all yellow one in the back.  We got her as a baby bird in the fall of 2009, just before we moved down to Tucson.

She was ok, hopping and playing with the other birds earlier in the day.  She is survived by her best friend Mr. Bird (the light blue guy, front right.)  No squabbles or fights were heard.  We just don't know what happened.  I think that's the hardest is the not knowing.

RIP Emily, you are missed.  Sept 2009 to April 2012.