Wow, when I wrote the previous post on Wednesday, I thought we'd have to wait a bit longer for Galadriel's next litter....but she had kittens yesterday!!! :) I really didn't think she'd have them so soon - today (technically) was the 9 week mark for her so I thought it would be this weekend or even Monday. Nope! Just goes to show that we cannot predict nor control these things :) Elbereth was very sweet and helped her "sister" during the process. It's nice to see them share the burden a bit :) (They are not related by blood at all, but Galadriel and Elbereth are so well bonded that I think of them as 'sisters'.)

Mother and babies all seem to be doing well. I'm not sure on genders yet as I don't handle them for a few days at a minimum unless absolutely necessary, but I did see that at least a few of them are males. I'll also reserve judgment on their colors for a bit. It looks like there might be a couple champagnes in there plus sables, but too many times I've called it wrong at this early stage, so I won't make any promises :)

Not knowing final colors or genders yet I cannot be certain, but I am hopeful that many of you on the waitlist will be offered one of these precious little ones! The likely pick up date will be September 17, 2022. I wouldn't book any flights or take time off work just yet - but it's a likely date for your planning purposes. In keeping with past practices, I will not be making any official offers until around the 6 week mark.

(If you're not on the waitlist for one of these current or upcoming kittens but would like to be, please fill out an application to get the process started!)

What about Lúthien?

She's been tricky to determine this time around - one moment I think I see a baby bump forming and a "waddle" in her step, and then the next moment it feels like it's in my imagination. I'm fairly certain, though (shall we give it a 85% confidence rating?! Lol) that she is pregnant :) Assuming that it's not in my imagination, she will likely have this next litter in early August, which would put them going home sometime in October. If I'm wrong then we'll know pretty soon; now that she's in the 5 week range, she'll start to balloon out and show a lot more clearly is positive, and have an obvious lack of ballooning if she's not.

How are y'all spending your summer (besides waiting patiently for kittens!)? Well, I've been going through/purging boxed up childhood things in the garage! They say that the first step to recovery is admitting something - so I will admit that I am a recovering packrat. Well, not sure how "recovering" I am at the moment, but it's a goal I'm working towards! (and the many garbage bags and donation boxes prove that I'm trying!) Lol :D Unfortunately for me, I have distinct, fond memories of almost every single toy and piece of memorabilia I've stored, which makes it harder for me to purge them. And it's hard to just throw things away because I was careful with my things as a rule (even as a young kid), so purging something that's still in "good shape" hurts - but I know it's the right thing to do. I am very thankful for our ability to take pictures of everything. It makes it easier to throw these things away or put in a box for donations after a picture is taken for posterity. Anyway, I found this old paper (below) I'd written, proving that ever since I was little, I've always had an affinity for cats :) I don't know exactly how old I was when I wrote this, but given the box it was found in and the style of cursive I used, somewhere in the 3rd-5th grade (ish) range (?). Oh, the other thing I've discovered about myself in going through these memories? Yeah, I didn't receive as high of grades as I thought I did ....it's definitely been easy to throw those papers away! LOL

Have a great weekend, everyone! More details to follow on Galadriel's new babies and hopefully more solid news on Lúthien in the coming weeks!