Kittens and Critters

I was raised not to be a cat lover. My parents always talked about how nasty cats were. In the words of my brother, "I love cats...they taste like chicken." Obviously he is kidding. I remember we had cats when I was very young. My first memory of cats ever, is when I stuffed 5 kittens into the little hay loft of my Fisher Price barn. I'm sure you remember the one...the barn doors mooed when you opened them. Well, think of the loft now...teeny tiny! How in the world I got 5 of those kittens up there is beyond me. All I remember is that they were my farm animals. I had the white fence all set up and I was having fun with those kittens. The next thing I know, I was getting a spanking! lol! I think the kittens survived. The more I think about it, maybe the reason we didn't have cats after that was because my parents didn't want me torturing any more kittens! That is probably it! Well...my kitten torturing days are over and I just LOVE my new kitty! He is the sweetest thing and I love to take breaks and go out in the courtyard and snuggle with this little guy. He is so cuddly and just cuddles right next to me and purrs his little heart out. Our cat patches has had several batches of kittens, but they never warmed up to us like this one has. We ended up giving all of Patches kittens to neighbors who wanted them. This one, however, is a keeper!

This nasty critter was some entertainment for our new kitten. This insect (I have NO idea what kind) was in our courtyard. It is big...it doesn't even fit in the bottom of that jelly jar. It also has pincers! But the kitten was having a blast batting that thing around. I am pretty sure that Hillary was the one who caught it for us. He is often catching neat critters and putting them in jars for the kids to see.