Well, 2020-2021 has been weird for a lot of people in a lot of ways. For me, it became The Year Of The Pet. Meet Freya and Isla!
This is a good story, let me fill you in.
My original plan was to have the chickens be a financial lesson for the kids; they would gather eggs and sell them, using the egg money to buy a kitten sometime around Christmas. Well. On a walk one day the kids and I saw a “free kittens” sign in the neighborhood. We all were very excited thinking maybe we could rationalize expediting our plan if the kitten was free. I told them not to get their hopes up as it might be that they were all gone, or not a good fit for our family, etc. I texted the number thinking, “meh, doesn’t hurt to check.” Next thing I knew I was texting this guy down the street about an 8 week old litter one of his tabby cat’s just had- and asking to take two. Apparently, a Siamese male is making the rounds in the neighborhood because his other tabby has a litter now too! Anyways, he tells me he will hold a pair for me, and sends me kinda blurry pictures. I didn’t tell the kids because I wanted to make sure this was really happening. Husband went to check them out and talk to the guy- he was so nice! We picked up the kittens three days later.
Having the kittens been such an awesome experience! They came litter box trained and eating kitten food so they adapted really quickly. We named them Freya and Isla. Here is where the story gets a little more…interesting. The guy told us they were both girls. Well, after a few days I’m looking at these little kitten bums and thinking, “I’m no vet but uh…” we took them to their first vet checkup and yep, both boys. The kids had been bickering back and forth for a week wanting to know if they were boys or girls, and quite a bit of consternation was raised. Bear in mind we’ve been calling them Freya and Isla for about a week and a half at this point- basically 10 years in kid time. So, will all the bickering and having already established names… I decided not to tell them, stating that it didn’t matter and they were nice kitties and healthy and that’s all that mattered. That settled that. Yep. I took the easy way out.
(Kids, if you’re reading this one day, I was sick of the bickering so yeah, our boy cats stayed Freya and Isla. Plus, I didn’t want to get into with you, but we are going to have them fixed so..in the end, it really won’t matter.)
Freya and Isla are the most easy going, beautiful, and fun kittens ever! We really lucked out. Online it says a mix of a tabby and Siamese are called a Lynx point Siamese..? It doesn’t really matter to us, but that’s what the all knowing internet says. They are very affectionate which is a very good thing with three littles who want to cuddle all day. Their bond is sweet and entertains us to no end.
They are sure growing fast and love spending time outdoors. Freya is our warrior kitty, who frequently stalks the squirrels in the backyard. Isla is a chunky love who needs to make sure everyone is tucked in at night. They love to wrestle each other and chase a laser. Cosima is loving having little animals to boss around. You can see how this past year was been The Year Of The Pet for us. I’m officially on a self instated pet ban now. I think we’ve maxed out our space and time commitments. That is, until the kids get older and more capable of helping out..and we get more space…maybe a few more chickens would be nice…as a learning experience of course.