I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures in the previous entry. I have some more for you.
I wrote about Eler Beth's new kitten Samuel a while back, and that Andrew had decided he wanted to have Samuel's sister; he named her Kana. Well, there was just one more left in the litter, and secretly I thought he was the prettiest of them all. He has been coming across the street to play with his siblings, so I finally decided that he'd adopted us and told Thomas so. Thankfully I have a really wonderful husband who said, "Well, what's one more?" (Now the neighbors just need to find a home for the momma cat {who is actually a stray that just decided to have her kittens across the street} before she comes in season again. She is still nursing these kittens. When they're outside she'll call to them or come over here to nurse them. But she won't let me catch her.)
So the new addition to the family is a blue/black tabby named Ranulf. Eler Beth was trying to think of a name for him and she said, "Mom, what do you think of Ranulf?"
I stared at her in disbelief. "Well I like the name Ranulf, but where in the world did you get it?"
She said, "Why?"
I said, "Because it is an Old Norse name that came to us by way of Scotland, and it means Wolf-Shield. Where did you get it?"
"It's the name of a character on one of Andrew's video games."
Well, duh, of course it is! (!?!)
(We get the names Randolf and Ralph from Ranulf -- Randwulf in Old Norse -- by the way)
So, without further ado, I present to you Samuel, Kana, and Ranulf Helms.
Samuel, Kana,and Ranulf. Kana and Ranulf don't have their collers and name tags yet in this picture, but we rectified that today. Please ignore the shopping bags and clutter on the sofa!! I believe I see some papers and a box that were supposed to have been put away WAY before this photo was taken.
Ranulf, The Wolf-Shield. It really does fit him, doesn't it? Isn't he pretty? He picked me, you know. He is exactly the type of cat I like, friendly, alert, and playful without being too aloof or TOO juvenile, if you know what I mean. (Kana is more aloof and Samuel is very juvenile -- which he is supposed to be, of course, being only 13 weeks old.)
Sam and Kana
Samuel in the back window of my car on the way home from Pet Smart.
The three of them playing under the water maple tree where I'm trying to turn a bare patch with lots of roots into something pretty with some fossil-encrusted rocks and plants -- it's still a work in progress, though! Please ignore the weeds (some of the things that look like weeds are actually live-forever plants!). See the little pink flea comb? That's Ranulf standing; he's bluer than Kana, and Kana has some brown on her.
And now that I feel like a new cat has chosen me, I can bring myself to admit something it hurt too much to write about here until now, even though I know that my J-Land friends would be understanding and sympathetic. My beloved Freedom died a while back. She was absolutely the best cat I've ever had, and I miss her terribly.
Perhaps I'll post a picture of her in time, but it will be in an entry all for her if I do. She was so smart and so special. She was only 6 years old, but she got sick and died before I could get her to the vet. I believe it was just a virus that worked fast, perhaps one that affected her heart. One day whe was fine, and the next she was gone. She was up-to-date on all of her shots, but she was off her feed for a few days, then suddenly she got lethargic and was breathing strangely. I don't know. It's very hard to accept when you don't know what happened. She had a really good life, though, and she was absolutely THE BEST Friend I've ever had in a cat.
I've had to grieve carefully. Eler Beth watched me carefully for more than a week to make sure that I was alright. She still has a problem expressing grief, so I tried to set a good, healthy example for her, letting her see me cry and be sad, but not burdening her with my own grief too much. I remember how she took it all on herself when my Father died, and instead of doing her own grieving when she needed to she gave herself the job of comforting me -- not good for a six/seven-year-old!
Anyway, I'm formaly saying goodbye to my Freedom now, and I thank you for letting me do so here.
