heart of stone: NewMex and the Trifecta

Every year since forever, the women in Whatahusbands family have gone to the mountains in Ruidoso for a week in the summer. It is the ultimate girls trip, and a great way for me to bond with the ladies.

This year, I had my first genuine bear siting! Yes, that is a real black bear crossing the street in front of our car.

While I was gone, we added 3 new members to our family! 3 wild Ferrel kitties: Munch, Mungo, and Toonces. We are trying to tame them with our love...and kitty treats.

Munch is the short haired-blue eyed Siamese. He was named after my favorite printmaker (whose name is actually "Munce" (rhymes with once) but everyone in my family calls him munch - I have no idea why.)

Here's Munch in my lap...

...And in the car on the way to the vet. He's a thoughtful little kitty, and it seems like he's always thinking about something. He's is the first to rear up if there's trouble.

Next we have Mungo, the green-eyed black and white kitty. He was named after one of the animated "Cadillac Cats". He is by far the bravest kitty in the trio. After about 10 minutes at the vet, he had crawled out of the cage and was looking over the edge of the table planning his escape. No fear. The Vet says he'll be our star hunter.

And last but not least, we have Toonces, the long haired blue-eyed Siamese. She is the resident female in the group and also the smallest, but she is the sweetest. She was named after "Toonces the Driving Cat" - an old Saturday Night live skit about a cat that drives a taxi cab. Whatahusband has been saving this name for our first kitty. Every car guy needs a driving cat, you know.

She is brave for sure. When she was first caught, she was kept in the laundry room at my inlaws house. The kitties were hanging out behind the dryer and, needing them to be moved, my mother-in-law pulled the dryer out from the wall. Well, little toonces jumped up into the dryer tube, scurried up through the hose, and jumped out the other end, flying through the air into the backyard! She was caught again the next day, and the trifecta of kitties were again complete.

Here she is behind the dryer at our house. They love it back there!

She is the kitty that will fall asleep on your lap if you pet her. I'm secretly hoping (and actually praying) that she will be the kitty that wants to be with us the most, and the kitty that hangs out at the shop the most. I can just see her - perched up on one of Whatahusbands project cars - Toonces and her car! So Precious.

Our goal is to "relocate" this colony of 3 onto our property with the hopes that they'll be friendly ferels. They were originally caught in San Antonio by my mother-in-law, the ultimate animal lover. She and my father-in-law got them used to being with people. They are still so little, and when they get a bit older, they'll be re-introduced to living outside all the time. It is very tempting - I want to keep them inside all the time, but I know they'll be so happy to be out hunting mice and probably killing the birds I have been feeding. It really is amazing to see them light up when we take them outside. I can tell they miss it.

The kitties look alot bigger in these pics than they really are. They are living in Norman's old dog cage. The maroon water bowl is about 5" wide.

(Toonces is under Munch)

Speaking of Norman, he is not happy. The kitties were out getting fresh air, and when the Norms walked up to check it out, you suddenly heard three little hisses and they were all arched up with fur standing at attention, claws out. He has decided he does not like kitties.