Over and out

Won't be able to post much this next week (OK, at all) ... am going to the Wilds of Minnesota for a week. If someone needs to reach me:
1) Check out the link, I'm sure there's a contact number on there. Use that -- no cell phone reception anywhere in the area.
2) The contact number will be for the main lodge, which is across the county highway and down a hill from where I'll be.
3) The lodge owners will answer. Tell them it's a message for "One a' them Williamses." They'll take the message.
4) If we're lucky, my dad (or Uncle Bob, or Aunt Lynn, or cousins Mackenzie or Andrew ... you get the idea) will get the message when they stop by for coffee or doughnuts.
5) If we're really lucky, someone will remember to tell me later.

They Don't Sleep Much

The kittens are now Officially Our Problem! In other words, we've adopted them. God help us all.

As they are now

Location of kittens at present:

Molly on the computer desk, just finished checking out Michael's inbox, is making her way to the keyboard, playing with a pencil en route.

Merlin and Miri are playing; Merlin is on my lap, Miri is attacking from below and occasionally snagging my knee. Now Merlin's looking up and biting my wrist.

So Computer Time is a group activity. Merlin wants to hit the space bar, and Molly keeps batting a pencil down on my hands for me to put back up on the desk for her. Aaugh.

We tried a cat dancer last night, to unusual results. Merlin caught it right away, then started trotting off kitchenward with the bird. When the string fishlined him, he started tugging at it. Well, I tugged back and started dragging him back toward me. He dug in his little claws and growled (yes, cats can growl. You just don't hear it often.). When I got him all the way to me, I kept pulling until Merlin was dangling two feet above the ground, hanging BY HIS TEETH. He finally slipped down one of the feathers and dropped to the ground.

He did this little routine two more times. Can't say he doesn't know the Rules of Hunting (if you catch it, it's YOURS. AND NO ONE ELSE'S.)

Molly likes to get herself stuck in the bathtub.

At present, it looks like Miri will be the Alphakitty -- her siblings tend to follow her lead, and Molly's actually been known to stand by and wait for Miri to finish eating before going to the food dish.

More kitty pics

Well, while I can't possibly compete with Jordlet's news, here (by husband's request) are some more kitten pictures. Closeups of Miri, Molly and Merlin (in that order).

P.S. We didn't intend to go with all-M names. Those faithful readers will know that we started with Rosie, Molly, Cricket and Mirabel. Well, Rosie turned to Merlin and Cricket died. We didn't realize the 3-M thing until all the kits were already responding to their names. Oh, well.