I am so proud of Mozart! He has really taken to the new kitten, including trying to catch the little guy when their wrestling brings the kitten too close to the edge of the sofa, and coming running when the brat starts squalling.

Mozart played a little rough and the kitten's sharp "meOW!" was bringing an automatic, loud, and shocked "Mozart! Play nice!" and Mozart would loose the kitten, who would cease the screams... When I heard it start again this morning I responded without turning.

However, unlike before, the kitten's cries continued so I turned around and found the brat was mewling because Uncle Mozart had him pinned for a much needed and thorough bath. Sorry Kid, no sympathy here!

I told Mozart Santa made an early delivery, but the truth is Wednesday morning when I went out to the car to leave for work I was rushed by this tiny kitten mewing at the top of his lungs. Scared the hell out of me since I heard him before I saw him and he sounded BIG, and as I live in the woods, who knew what was coming out of the mist and fog at me from the shrubbery? Of course I knew it for a cat, but was it sick, rabid, wormy-What??

I shined the key ring torch at the thing, and my LED light bluely illuminated a truly tiny black and white kitten with, of all things, a wagging stub where a cat usually has a long and luxurious plume (oh, jeez, I hate cliches when the cliche fits!)

Did I mention the weather was misty and foggy? It was also breezy, and cold. And, because I really didn't want to run it over, I went to the door meaning to go in and retrieve a plastic box and some old towels to make a shelter...

Kitten had other plans, and he scooted around me into the house, whereupon he came face to face with Mozart, who was not happy to see this weird little cat without a real cat tail.

I couldn't catch the kitten, who'd taken shelter behind the toilet, so I threw down an old towel, a little tin of wet cat food and another of water, then I closed the door and left for work.

Thinking I'd get home early enough to ask around the neighbourhood, I got through my day, but didn't get home until nearly nine pm. I brought the kitten out of the bathroom, set him up in the LR in Mozart's cat carrier, and fell asleep in my clothes on the sofa.

The next morning I fed the kitten again, tidied the carrier, and went to work, where I tried to get a co-worker, any co-worker, to take this poor kitten.

Same on Friday, and Saturday afternoon. But late Saturday night Mozart took a ball and set it down outside the carrier. He stopped hissing and growling at the kitten.

So Sunday afternoon when I got home from work, I let the kitten out of the carrier, and he and Mozart have become fast friends. At night I still put the kitten in the carrier, but will more than likely leave him out tonight. I have to feed him in the carrier since Mozart feels he needs to test the kittens food, but then again, last night I put the bowl on the floor outside the carrier and Mozart just tested the water side of the dish while the little guy inhaled his Kitten chow.

It was comic, really, Mozart watched the kitten out of the corner of his eye, gauging the reaction when he tried to nudge his way into the food section-when the kitten didn't growl but kept eating without moving in response to the nudges, Mo moved to the water, then away completely.

When the kitten tried to chew the electrical wires he found here and there, Mozart played Kitten Bowling, and now Kitten doesn't bother any wire he finds.

Still, I think the kitten will spend the work day in the carrier.

I got the Christmas tree decorated on the 23rd; it looks pretty nice. It needs lots more ornaments, because 'it' is really three (graduating sized Alpine pre-lit fakes I got last year) bunched together in the corner. Mozart has behaved nicely this second decorating attempt; see, he has really made me proud this first Christmas of his! I guess his behaviour the first time I tried to decorate was his way of understanding this Christmas thing:)

So, now we are three, me and two cats.

I am trying to figure out what to name the kitten, who is going to stay as the people who 'owned' him are total goobers who's stepped on his tail when he was about two weeks old (they 'own' his mother), and were relieved when he scooted out the door Sunday week and didn't come back-they told the kid next door they thought the wolves had got him, and oh hell no, they do not want him back!

While I'm glad to have a friend for Mozart, and this kitten is so damn cute I am amazed, vet $ is going to have to be spent and I had other plans for that $, dangit. Sigh. Life happens when you have other plans...

The landlord is going to level the house and replace the front door, then I am probably going to buy this place from him. I love the back garden, a tangled and overgrown mess with a beautiful garden hiding underneath...
I am learning to do electricity again, and am going to run a dedicated pair of circuits for the electric fireplace heaters I found online (which will have to wait now that I have a kitten AND Mozart to take to the vet, Mo for his annuals, which are coming up the end of Jan, and of course the kitten will need everything), plus a wood burner for the kitchen for grid failures-which happen a lot up here.

One room at a time this spring I plan to strip the tin from the outside and re-insulate the walls; the bathroom has to be redone-I WILL have a decent bathroom before I put another year on my life, dang it!

Ah, the adventures of living in a tin shack clinging to the side of a North Georgia mountainside!

Happy Christmas! If you see Fox, tell him I miss him...