While we were home this summer, Yoshi and Wesley ended up getting sequestered to the part of the house that wasn't carpeted (our kitchen). Let's just say Wesley had some regression in his behavior while we were gone. Anyway, we returned to discover that Yoshi found a new home in the kitchen, high above the cabinets, apparently the only place he could find to get away from Wesley's constant sniffing and meddling. Wonder how long it will take to break him of this habit.
If last month left you reeling with all the things we did, then this month will be a real snooze fest. A snooze fest with a side of kittens. That's right kittens - as in plural. Six to be exact! Our friends who regularly foster kittens went on vacation and she knew I had been interested in trying out the foster gig, so she asked if we could keep them while she was gone. I didn't even blink (or ask anyone - cough cough Jim) I just said YES!!! Jim loves animals, so I didn't think he would have a problem with it but he did look at me sideways when he discovered the newly arrived giant cat cage on our sunporch. Wesley and Yoshi were also extremely unhappy about this new development. They had just gone about 7 weeks with no people to love/dote on them and now there were suddenly 6 tiny balls of fluff stealing all the attention. But just look at them!!!
Our friends had gone with a "Stranger Things" theme for the names. There were three boys and three girls. Two of the boys were black (Steve & Dustin) and the other was a tabby (Hopper), while the girls were the reverse - two tabby (Joyce & Nancy) and one black (Eleven/Elle). Thankfully all the kittens were already spoken for so I knew I wasn't going to be getting the pleading eyes later about keeping one (or all of them). All day they played on the sunporch, and at night we would put them back in their cage to sleep. Even though there were several nice soft beds/hammocks for lounging, they all crammed in this cat food box - every night! It was hilarious to watch them pour out of it every morning.
That week flew by in an instant, and I was preparing emotionally for the babies to go back to their regular fostering situation, when suddenly we got an extension! Our friends' travel plans changed and they asked if we could possibly keep the kittens for another week - OF COURSE! Prayers answered.
Even though we were fully operating a kitten cafe at this point - all the kids' friends were coming over and soaking up all the kitten love - we also still had real life happening. The girls had Varsity volleyball tryouts and Ben decided to try out for the JV football team. Everyone made it!
In the meantime, Jim headed back down to Okinawa for a Change of Command and his favorite run on the "stairway to heaven." He was sad that by the time he got back the kittens would be gone. As were we all.
Yoshi began to creep onto the sunporch every time the door was left open and he would hiss at the kittens if they happened to pause in their play to check him out. Wesley on other hand would happily bound into the middle of the room and we had to try and keep him from unwittingly running over the kittens. He also couldn't herd them all into one place and that really bothered him.
Jim made it back just in time to spend the last weekend before school with us, and we decided to celebrate by letting him test out the teppanyaki grill I picked up before we left for the summer. It was yummy!!
We also managed to squeeze in a Saitama Sebiu Lions game. They were playing the ORIX Buffaloes. The field is a domed stadium about 30 minutes or so from base. It was pretty well attended and we enjoyed the game, but it was super quiet because of the COVID restrictions against loud cheering. Not making this up. We were informed that we shouldn't yell, and the crowd remained sitting for the most part. There was one section of the stands near the this giant drum that some guy was beating on that stood up, but everyone else stayed in their seats. Lots of towel waving throughout. Sadly the Lions weren't able to eek out the win, but we all enjoyed the game nonetheless.
The next morning, Jim and Ben got up super early and headed to Mount Fuji with the Boy Scouts for another summit. The girls and I decided to stay home and take a nap with the kittens.
Lucy turned 16 while we were in the US, and as soon as we got back to Japan we signed her up for driver's ed. She got her permit and now we are in the process of letting her drive around to get her hours in. It isn't easy to do because the base is pretty small. She was asking if we were going to buy her a car, and this is a tricky situation because by the time she gets her license we will be about 8 months out from moving back to the US, where she probably will have to retake the driving portion of driver's ed over again. But we want her to get in as much practice as she can while she is here. Ben and Jim have been searching for a classic car to bring back when we return, and we found this cool Rover mini. So once Lucy gets her license, she will have this little beauty to drive. Only one catch - it is left-handed manual, so she has got to learn how to drive stick. We have started her lessons, and I must say she is doing really well.
FINALLY ... school is starting!! I love the summer - I really do. The kids have been great but we do love it when school starts. We are particularly excited to have them all at the same school for the first time since our days at Gowan Science Academy in Yuma.
Meanwhile, the kittens are still here. As soon as our friends got back, they ended up all catching covid and so I talked them into just leaving them with us. Sadly they really will be leaving at the end of the week. Jim said they need to go because we have basically done NOTHING this month. We rush home and lie on the floor. Before the week is out, two have moved on to their forever homes and we are down to four. We are all going to be soo super sad when they are gone.
Not just us, I think Yoshi will be the one who misses them the most. The last two weeks he really came around. If the door to the sunporch was closed he would sit outside and BEG to be let in. He really bonded with Steve. I would see him playing with all the kittens but Steve was the only one to get groomed. Who knew Yoshi would end up being the fun uncle? Maybe when we get back to the states we will get him a kitten of his own.
Last thing for the month is the first Football game. Not every school has a JV team, so unless Ben gets moved up to Varsity he might not get much playing time. The three closest teams hold a Jamboree every year to kick off the football season and Ben got to get some real game experience. He liked it! Jim was ecstatic! Fingers crossed for a great season!
No comments:
Post a Comment