So, this will be incredibly boring for everyone except those who are cat people. I'm a nerd, so suck it up.

We have re-named the kittens. I know dad will refuse to call them anything but Popeye and Bluto, which is what he named them when they were discovered, but part of the joy of getting pets is assigning them names and seeing how they respond. The Alternately Sighted one is now named "Sprocket" after the dog on Fraggle Rock. (I just saw my first episode of Fraggle Rock EVER this morning and I am absolutely enchanted with it.) The cautiously playful one is Harold (a unanimous choice among me, Bryan, and his 10 year old nephew Ed who is here for a sleepover), after Harold from the Red Green show. Five seconds after naming him, his ears were perking up and his face was turning towards us whenever his name was called. I think he likes it. Sprocket's less picky. He would probably respond to "hey you" because he's just that mellow.

I realize we've named all our cats after either TV or the internet, and I would like to say that I TRIED to give them literary names, but they were all rejected by Bryan who is not a big reader. Alison and I also voted for "Aaron" but spelled "Aran" as an attempt to sneak a knitting term in there, but that didn't work out either.

At least we won't run into what we did with the dog, who acts just like his namesake Stephen Tyler---jumping randomly into laps, humping inanimate objects and eating straight from the trash. I think lots of caution needs to be used when naming things after existing people.

Surprisingly, Jerome (the runt who still tries to nurse) has taken the best to the little ones. She's not really affectionate, but she's not hostile either. There's a lot of sniffing, and a little apathy. Louise (usually the more maternal of the two) hissed a lot but stopped once we made her a paper football and tossed that around for awhile. She's more up front with her emotions, but easily distracted from them. They'll be kept separate for the most part and the resident cats will be given lots of treats and attention and love so that they know they're not getting pushed aside for kittens. I'm hoping they'll look after the boys and clean them up a little because they're still sort of filthy.

Poor Steve, he loves the kittens but he's just too big and excitable. They don't like him, and he's likely to accidentally hurt one with his rough, enthusiastic love. He'll need some supervision.

I realize I am on the verge of becoming a crazy cat lady, but seriously. We live on wooded property with lots of bugs and rodents outside, and keeping cats inside really does help with that. Mice won't even think of coming into a house that has cat scent all around it, and the cats will hunt bugs. They seem to be pretty good about knowing which ones to go after and which might hurt them. One of those nature things, I suppose. Also, it's not like we go out actively seeking cats. They're all hobos. As someone who usually LOOKS like a hobo, I can identify.

Besides, it could be worse. Stockpiling cats is better than, say, shooting heroin. Right? RIGHT? Hrmph.