He Has A Name - Finally!

And it is: Lafitte!

Our little guy is named after the town outside of New Orleans where my aunt and uncle have their fishing camp and where Mike and I spent many a crazy weekend while we were in college (we're hoping no pictures exist to prove that)! The town was named after the infamous pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte, who were rumored to be our 7th cousins. Whether or not that's true has yet to be proven, but it's a good story and makes his name even more interesting. It's pronounced La-feet, by the way.

The kids latched on to it right away and have been calling him by his name all day. He, being a cat, just blinks at them and hides under a table. I still call him Little Guy, because he is one. He'll grow into his name, if his feet are any indication!

Yes, the second picture was set up, but neither of them fought it and it made a cute picture!

Our New Addition

After we lost Chicory, we knew that having only 2 pets was just WAY too sedate for our household. Within a couple of days, Mike was asking how one went about finding a new cat, since our first two basically found us. I contacted a friend of mine who works at a shelter in Tracy, CA and she said they had a little black male kitten who might be good for us.

The kids and I headed out there (it's about an hour east of us - depending on traffic) to meet him and the rest is history! We had to wait to bring him home because the shelter won't release unneutered animals, so he had his surgery on Wednesday, my friend picked him up for us and took him to her house yesterday, and we got him from her today. He's got a kitty cold right now, so we have to keep him away from our other cat, Beignet (who is 20), and be diligent about washing hands after handling him. He's also staying mainly in a crate in our living room until he stops sneezing for the same reason. When she's not around, though, we let him out to hang out on the couch with us or explore the kitchen.

He still doesn't have a name, so we're taking suggestions for New Orleans-themed names for him. He's currently about 2 1/2 pounds, he's got solid black, medium-length fur, and he's about 4 months old. Feel free to send us your ideas!

I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this little guy very soon. I can already see the potential for videos involving him and Zatarain.

Catching Up

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Our summer started off nice and calm, with a good rhythm to our days. And then camp started and everything went crazy. My son did one week of camp and loved it so much that he asked to go back this week. Since they had open spots, including for swim lessons, we signed him again. So instead of just having one kid in camp (my older daughter), I've been juggling two and my poor little one has been suffering with very short naps the last few days. The up side is that all three kids have been going to bed very early, so my evenings have been pretty quiet.

I finally had time tonight to get some little chores done that I've been putting off. My older cat, Ben, has always had an amazing coat. She sheds like a German Shepherd and I periodically have to really go over her to get her undercoat out or she mats badly. I've put it off too long this time and now I do have to battle big chunks of fuzz under her coat. She is not a happy kitty when I start working on her and she lets me know loudly. It should at least decrease the hairball puking, if nothing else.

I also sat down and trimmed Zatarain's feet. Leonbergers are pretty low-maintenance as far as grooming goes. They have a lot of coat and do require brushing, but you aren't supposed to do any kind of fancy trimming. The one thing that does need to be done on occasion, though, is trimming the feet. Audubon's mom, and therefore Zatarain's grandmother, had amazingly fuzzy feet and both of my dogs ended up with the same. Left alone, they start to look like snowshoe rabbits. It's not the best look for a Leo, so I trim Zatarain's feet when they start to get furry. I let them get pretty long this time, so it took a while to get them under control. Zatarain closely monitored my scissoring, resting his head on my left arm while I trimmed his feet with my right. It was very cute and he was very patient, wagging his tail when I would talk to him and tell him how handsome he looked. He was less happy when I started working on his nails, but he cooperated better than usual and I was able to get them done fairly quickly.

I've also been trying to work out more the last few weeks and that takes up a chunk of time in the morning. I'm having foot surgery on July 22, so I want to get into the best shape I can ahead of time since I won't be allowed to work out for a while afterwards. I try to run on Mondays, do a cycling class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and do Pilates on Fridays. I just added the cycling back in after 2 1/2 years and it's been miserable getting back into it. I'm finally feeling better during and after the classes, so I think I've gotten past the worst of it. I'd love to add one more day, but I've never been good about working out on the weekends.

So that's the update. Hopefully I'll be more timely over the next couple of weeks since our pace will be slower.

Some Pictures

On Sunday, we were finishing up the garden. My older daughter really loves gardening, and likes to be involved in all aspects of the process, from turning in compost, to choosing and planting seeds, watering, and especially harvesting. Right now, she checks our blueberry bush for ripe fruit and then gives any berries to her brother. She is allergic to raw blueberries (but fine with cooked ones), so she is happy to pass them on to him. This is her going through the seed box and picking the ones she wanted to plant. The compost bag made a perfect seat.

This morning, I had to take Ben back to the vet to recheck a urine sample and do one more blood test. While we were waiting for her to come back into the room, my youngest was entertaining herself with the crate. She was actually able to get entirely inside - and get back out again - but I didn't get a picture taken fast enough. It was better than her usual means of entertainment, which is to be as loud and obnoxious as possible.

The cats

We have two cats, Beignet (pronounced Ben-yay) and Chicory. Strange names, I know, but we started this theme of naming our animals after things from New Orleans. It's worked out fine so far, but we'll have to see how long we can keep it up as we add more animals to our lives.

Ben is almost 18 years old (we say May 1 is her birthday, but we don't know for sure) - she's the tabby in front - and is starting to have the problems you see in really old cats. She's been completely healthy until now, so we've been very lucky. Of course, with an inside cat, how could she possibly get sick! (Lesson for the day - keep your cats inside, unless you really don't like them and would prefer to see them live for less than 10 years.) Her kidneys have just started to fail, which is one of the most common causes of death in old cats. So every night, I get to give her subcutaneous fluids, which means I have an IV bag hanging in my laundry room, a sharps container by the sink, and baggies full of needles. How do you explain that one if your house gets searched - "No, really officer, it's for the cat!"?

As you can see in the picture, we now have a blue tarp for a bedspread. Lovely addition to our bedroom decor, don't you think? When Ben first got sick - this started as a kidney infection that we're still trying to fight - she decided it took too long to go to the litter box, so she was peeing on our bed instead. We don't trust her to stop being lazy even though she's feeling better, so the tarp stays. What we do for our animals.

Chicory is 14 1/2 and you'd never know it to look at him. He has the most amazingly glossy black coat. He's the more outgoing of the two cats, loves to sit in people's laps and be pet. He and the dog are good buddies and will play together (more on that later), which is pretty funny since Chicory is 9 pounds and Zatarain (the New Orleans thing again) is 100 pounds and has a head the size of Chicory's entire body. When they play chase around the house, it sounds like a herd of elephants has decided to tromp down the hallway.

Now you've got a not-so-brief introduction to the Zoo Crew. There will be more to come, I assure you.