We have dubbed our spare room, which is mostly used for storage, as the “cat room.”   We have a baby gate blocking the door so the cats can come and go, but the dogs can’t get in.   This gives the cats a safe haven from the dogs if they don’t want to be bothered and we can free fed them and not worry about the dogs getting in the litter pan.

The cats were long adult by the time we blocked the room off for them, so the room being kind of haphazardly arranged wasn’t an issue.   It is not kitten safe though, so this weekend was the kitten-proofing of the “cat room” project.

Bun, does not like change…at all.  Thus, kitten-proofing the “cat room”  translates to a time of great worry in Paxtonland.  Paxton’s ears are a really good barometer of his mood.   Up ears is a happy Bun.  Floppy ears is a stressed out Bun.

Here is Paxton, relating to his dad that he’s had ENOUGH of this change crap and would like things to go back to normal.

Here he is looking at the kittens playing, but as you can see his ears show he’s not very pleased about the whole day’s events

Here are a couple close ups I got when he was watching Parker play with the camera strap.

Not a whole lot new on the kitten front, other than they are so much fun and they are really good kittens.  They are still being crated part of the time as all the dogs aren’t quite kitten friendly yet and we have a foster dog that will (thankfully) be leaving soon that will *never* be safe around them.

They enjoy anything we give them to play with.  I had gotten a little cat tree/house thing for Otter and Orion a while back and both of them shunned it and wanted nothing to do with it.   John got it out for Riley and Parker last night and they had fun exploring it, climbing all over it and using the sisal scratching post areas.

When I got out the camera to take pictures, like a moth to a flame, Parker ran over to play with the lens cap and I got this super close up of Paxton checking our Parker.

We finally were able to pick up Zach’s ashes from the vet hospital.   I was surprised to find out that they used a different service for cremation than our regular vet.   They use the same schedule, so I just assumed we would end up with matching urns.

I’m not really sure a box is called an urn, as an aside.  To me an urn is more like a jar or vase…anyway, I digress.

The service the vet hospital was equally compassionate and also sent a lovely certificate certifying that the ashes we got back were, in fact Zach.  The urn is also very nice and has a plaque that has his name and birth/death dates.

This week our assignment was to make a log cabin.   This was a very time consuming lesson with many tiny parts, but it was not nearly as complicated as I thought it was going to be on first look at the lesson.

I’m pretty happy with the way my cabin turned out, but I am not a fan of light woods.  I may try this little cabin again using darker tones for the wood.  When I think of a log cabin, I think of dark bark.

We have been keeping the kittens in either a crate or an expen as we slowly introduce them to the dogs.   At first Paxton was not at all happy with these tiny interlopers and he would bark frantically (bordering on hysteria) when we first got them.

Bun has a bit of problem with change.  I don’t blame him.  I don’t like it either.   So we have tried introducing him to the kittens while holding one and he was having none of that either.  Finally I decided he would get used to them and settle down.

Last night, he was showing some interest in them without being hysterical so I decided we would try introducing him to them today while they were playing in the bedroom.

As I expected, he was fine with them today, now that he is used to them being around.  He DESPERATELY wanted to play with them, but they are not quite to that point yet.  He tried every cute trick in his book to entice them into playing with him.

After he calmed down a bit (he was pretty excited at first), they started playing with each other.  He watched them and tried to get them to let him join in, but had no luck on this first attempt.  He finally gave up, in disgust, and asked to be let out of the bedroom to continue on his normal morning routine.

Since pictures are so small so it’s hard to see this, but Parker is playing with Paxton here and batting him on the nose.  I cropped out a close up to make it easier to see.

Parker was very broken from the shot yesterday, but she is much better today.  She is still not quite 100%, but I expect she will be by tonight.

She looks kinda scared here, her eyes are so big. She is actually watching Riley in what appears to be disbelief that she is being SO bad.  Riley was busy climbing up and down the TV pillow and trying to get on top of the headboard to get something she sees on the wall (that is invisible to the human eye as far as I can tell).

Parker continues to have quite a good time with the play mat that we got for them.

Parker is VERY intrigued by the camera and in particular the lens cap and the nylon camera strap.  It makes taking pictures a challenge when you have a small foot batting at the lens cap or pulling on the strap.

Ever since her trip to the vet, Miss Riley has really turned the corner with her timidness.   I guess it just took her a few days to get her bearings and her true personality to come out.   She has now earned the nickname “Danger Cat” because she’s actually far more bold than Parker (aka: Adventure Cat) in some regards.

We are not letting them roam free in the house yet because we are slowly introducing them to the dogs to make sure everyone is kitten friendly (the other cats were long adult by the time most of the dogs came here).   We have them in an expen with a cat tree and toys in the livingroom to get the dogs used to them and used to their fast, pinball like movements so they don’t treat them like prey.

Parker will jump out once in a while, but you can tell she is planning it and cut her off at the pass most of the time.  Not Riley.  She just crawls up the cat tree and goes over the side in one fluid motion.

Today, they were running around the bedroom and Riley was having a lot of fun exploring.  So much fun, in fact, that I had a really hard time getting any pictures of her.

Well, I got lots of pictures of her tail, the space where she was, the corner of her ears etc

Here is pretty much the only good picture I managed to get this morning.

So soft, sweet and innocent looking.  I have a feeling this one is going to end up the more evil of the two!

I also got a good one of Riley and Parker playing on top of the TV pillow I have sitting on the bed.

That is Riley on the top and Parker on the bottom

Today is Orion’s 11th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Moosh!

Yesterday was the kittens first vet appointment. They did well and got a clean bill of health, so we are happy about that.

It was interesting to see that while Parker is the brave “adventure cat” while in the house, she’s not as confident when she’s somewhere new. She was very vocal about her dislike of being “manhandled” by the vet and the vet tech.

Today she is “broken” from the shot and just wants to lay in her crate and be left alone thankyouverymuch!

Yesterday when we got home, she was full of energy. We got them a new play mat and she really makes getting toys fun because she absolutely gets her value out of any new toys.

Riley on the other hand was VERY interested in the exam room at the vet.  She explored every corner and took their “torture” like a big girl.

She was “broken” yesterday (as shown in the photo below), but today she is ready and raring to go.  She was sticking paws out of her crate first thing and hollering to be set free (and oh by the way FEED ME!).  She is not sure what to do with herself since her sister has no desire to do anything today.

Last week (I’m a bit behind with my pixeling with everything going on here) we made clouds, trees, rocks, flowers, grass and sky in our lesson.

I put all that stuff together in a scene to post my homework.  I’m sure it will change once we get the rest of the items made, but here is my scene as of this week.