My friend Martha asked if there was a trail of tuna leading to my house.  For the second time in less than a month, I have been given a stray kitten.  I am beginning to believe that the lovely Darnell family is running an underground kitty factory.  I must say, they do good work.  This latest delivery is a beautiful five-week-old little girl we named Elizabeth.  Mike is a master gardener, so who’s to say he wouldn’t be a great kitten grower.  He found this little punkin’ head playing near his church.  (Mike’s a pastor and a stand up guy, despite the obvious deal he has made with the Devil to have the most beautiful yard in our neighborhood.)  Less than 48 hours after taking Willy to the shelter for surgery and adoption, (Sue, his charming wife found Willy as a stray and gave him to me three weeks prior), Mike sent me an email letting me know he had another mouth for me to feed.  🙂

The name Elizabeth came to me for some reason.  She was tiny and beautiful, and full of attitude.

Although, she smelled delicious, (your cologne is intoxicating Mr. Mike!) Mulder got to work making her smell like a proper Burlingame animal.

He was quite aggressive in his methods, so Elizabeth showed him how to be more gentle.

Mulder weighs 3.5 times more than our new houseguest and he plays a bit rough with her at times.  She is however, quite scrappy and is a worthy opponent despite her diminutive size.  Mulder seems happy to have a new kid on the block and the other cats (and Buster) seem not to care.  I think they’ve all grown used to the fact that their home is a revolving door for all manner of creatures, and they’ve adapted well.

We were even home to a pair of tiny babies for a few hours yesterday.  The shelter called and asked me to pick  up two wild baby bunnies found motherless and unprotected in a suburban neighborhood.  I nestled them on a heating pad in a bathroom sink until their transportation to the Alabama Wildlife Shelter in Birmingham.  A local volunteer was going to take them to the shelter when she got off work, and I was just stabilizing them and keeping them warm until then.  Sadly they both died at 3:30.  They stopped breathing almost at the same time and they seemed in no distress.  Sorry to end on this sad note, but this picture, taken of them right after I got them home is too precious to keep to myself.

I included my car keys to give you an idea of their tiny size.  Sometimes nature is hard, and there is nothing any of us can do but try to make it easier for the creatures we can help.  They occupy a peaceful spot in our ever-growing pet cemetery and are sleeping peacefully next to Boo Boo, Dutchess, Bitsy, Boots and Roger the Wonder Hamster.   Good company all. 😦