3 Kitties Find New Homes!

I was thrilled to hear that 3 of our 5 foster kitties were adopted at this past weekend’s Animal Humane Adopt-a-thon!

Chubby, Gumdrop and Twinkle Toes have found their forever homes, yay! Thanks so much to the generous people who’ve given them a loving home & secure future.

That means only Buck (male, Animal Humane ID #7198) and Frieda (female, Animal Humane ID #7203) are still waiting for adoption.

Oddly, if I’d been able to pick any of our foster kitties to keep, it would have been these two: Buck for best personality & most playful, and Frieda for her sweet temper & extraordinary good looks.

I think I can understand why Buck might not have been someone’s first choice. He’s a wonderful kitty, but he hates being confined in those display cages.

When we visited him during the Adopt-a-thon, he was yowling and reaching through the bars to snag passers-by. I can see how might have scared off potential new families!

Seriously, once he’s out of the cage he calms down immediately, and returns to his normal fun self. I swear!

But I can’t imagine how Frieda got overlooked! She is the real beauty queen of the bunch, with those wonderful tufted ears & cheeks that make her look like a miniature bobcat.

How could anyone resist this face??

So if you want to make Buck and/or Frieda part of your furry family, please hurry down to rescue them. (We can provide all the baby pictures & video you’d ever want!)

Animal Humane of Albuquerque is located at 615 Virginia Street SE, and their main phone number is 255-5523.

Their Adoptions Department is open 7 days a week from 10:00am-6:00pm (but closed for the lunch hour from 12:00pm-1:00pm). Their website is http://animalhumanenm.org .

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

All 5 Kitties Ready for Adoption!

Well, the big day is finally here. All five of the kitties have reached their 2-pound weight goal, and this afternoon I am taking them back to Animal Humane.

Tomorrow they’ll be spayed or neutered. Then they’ll be ready to go to their new homes by Saturday! They’ll make their first public appearance at this weekend’s Adopt-a-thon, 10:00am Saturday, June 13th thru 4:00pm Sunday, June 14th, at Central and Carlisle in the Nob Hill area of Albuquerque.

Here are their mugshots & ID numbers:

 

 Chubby, female, Animal Humane ID # 7200

Shown here with Gumdrop -->.

 

 

 

 

 

  Buck, male, Animal Humane ID # 7198

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Gumdrop, male, Animal Humane ID #7201
What a prankster!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Frieda, female, Animal Humane ID #7203
The beauty queen, with tufted ears.

 

Twinkle Toes, male, Animal Humane ID #7204
The ultimate lap cat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Humane of Albuquerque is located at 615 Virginia Street SE, and their main phone number is 255-5523. Their Adoptions Department is open 7 days a week from 10:00am-6:00pm (but closed for the lunch hour from 12:00pm-1:00pm). Their website is http://animalhumanenm.org .

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

P.S. You can find out more about animal fostering, and see the kittens’ baby pictures, in my previous blog post. Links in my blog sidebar will take you to video of us bottle-feeding them when they were tiny. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown since then!

2 Foster Kittens Ready for Adoption!

I’m so happy to say that the five kittens we’ve been fostering for Animal Humane of Albuquerque are thriving. All five are healthy, happy, and fully litter-box trained. They’ve been with us 6 weeks, so we assume they’re around 8 weeks old now.

They’ve spent their time socializing with our friends and neighbors, our 4 adult cats, and our 4 really big dogs, so they’re completely comfortable with humans and animals, both.

And two of them have reached their 2-pound weight goal, which means they are ready now to find their “forever homes”!

The two ready to go are “Chubby” and “Buck”. Please note, we didn’t name these kittens – they were given their names on intake at Animal Humane back in April. (Do Chubby a favor, please, and pick a better name for her!)

This is Chubby, a gray and white female with pretty blue-green eyes.

From the beginning, Chubby was the largest and healthiest kitten of our mixed litter of fosters. She has a friendly, outgoing personality, a nice mix of playful and cuddly.

 

And here’s Buck, a.k.a. Buckaroo: a marmalade tom whose eyes have stayed blue! Oops, you can’t tell that from this photo.

Nor can you tell from this picture what a swashbuckling adventurer Buck is! Fearless and bold, Buck was the first to swat a dog’s nose, and the first to bravely venture into the Land of Upstairs. If you’re looking for a mouser, I think Buck’s your boy!

Buck’s favorite toy is this wicker basket. That’s Twinkletoes in the back.

The week we were asked to foster these kittens, Animal Humane took in more than 100 homeless kittens, all abandoned at approximately the same age. That means that many of them are now ready for adoption, too.

You can see more kitties at Animal Humane’s next Adopt-a-Thon, 10:00am Saturday, June 13th thru 4:00pm Sunday, June 14th, at Central and Carlisle in the Nob Hill area of Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, last week Animal Humane asked if we could keep these sweet kittehs here at our house a while longer while they find homes for the dozen or more in their care right now … which of course we were (secretly) happy to do.

So if you’d like to adopt Chubby or Buck, just drop me a line and I’ll take them in to Animal Humane for you to meet!

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

P.S. You can find out more about animal fostering, and see the kittens’ baby pictures, in my previous blog post. Links in my blog sidebar will take you to video of us bottle-feeding them when they were tiny. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown since then!

Knittin’ n Kittens

I love weekends. I mean, does it get any better than this?

So here I am, spending some quality time with my knitting (the sleeve of my Sonora Cardigan, RavLink), an audiobook (Twilight series Book 3, Eclipse) and all five foster kittens (from bottom, Buck, Chubby, Gumdrop, Freida and Twinkletoes).

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM

Update on the Belize Earthquake

I was concerned to hear that Belize & coastal Honduras were rocked by a 7.1 earthquake in the wee hours of May 28.

While this quake was most destructive in Honduras (just south of Belize), it was felt as far away as Guatemala City. Honduras’ Bay Islands of Roatan and Utila were the closest land to the epicenter; evacuations were reported as far inland as San Pedro Sula.

However, thanks to reports from friends in Belize, including the US Embassy rep for the Northern District, I’m happy to say that although damage in the southern district was wide-spread, no one was killed, and damage in northern Belize was minimal.

Several stilt houses in the southern district collapsed; the water tower in Independence toppled; and electrical power went out from Punta Gorda to Corozal.

Yes, Belize occasionally gets earthquakes, though they’re typically felt more strongly in the southern parts of the country – Placencia, Punta Gorda, Seine Bight, Dangriga – than they are in the northern part where I lived.

I do remember being told of an earthquake years ago, when I was living in San Estevan for the Belize Postclassic archaeology project. Everyone else felt it in the village of San Estevan, in Orange Walk and even out at Lamanai – but I totally slept through the tremor, darn it.

For those of you looking for news of this most recent quake, which was followed on May 30 by a smaller 4.6 trembler, epicentered in roughly the same offshore spot, here are some links:

1. The USGS map of the May 28 quake, measured at 7.3, centered about 80 miles off the coast of Belize & Honduras.
2. The USGS map of the May 30 quake, measured at 4.6.
3. A tsunami watch for coastal Belize and Honduras was posted on May 28, but cancelled without incident on May 29.
4. Funny first-hand account from “As the Coconuts Drop” blog, written by a resident of Maya Beach, in southernmost Belize. Titled GRAB SUMPTIN AND HOLD ON,,,,! or, DID THE EARTH MOVE FOR YOU TOO? Updated with photos.
5. Another first-hand report from Sue Harris in Monkey River, Belize, where several homes were damaged or destroyed.
6. A Facebook group has been formed by the staff of the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) on behalf of the people and Town Council of Monkey River.
7. Fiona’s photos of post-quake damage in Placencia, on Flickr.
8. News article from the Huffington Post, and the AP report, which go into more detail about the damage in Honduras.
9. Mission 2005/the Atlantis Projects (MIT) assesses “the seismic background of Belize”, noting that

“Every 8 years approximately, Belize experiences a 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale subterranean earthquake in the ocean at the fault between Hunting Caye and Puerto Cortez. According to the Belize Development Trust, Belize has a 100% chance of seeing 5 earthquakes and 75% of seeing 10 in the next century. Furthermore, the Northern Lagoon where the Blue Hole is located is cut up into three reef sections separated by three wrench faults.”

The yellow lines on the USGS map shown above illustrate the regional plate boundaries (90% of all earthquakes occur on these shifting edges). It appears that both of these quakes centered on the plate boundary that runs roughly east-west under the Bay of Honduras.

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Former Resident of Corozal, Belize