Unexpected Guest

Wow,
it is hard to believe that October is already half over, and before you know it - Winter will be here again in Ohio.
The leaves are a-changin' and it will not be long before they are dropping on the ground...
If you have a chance, and the weather is decent - go to a local park and take in the natural beauty the trees are providing this time of year.

It's hard to get too depressed about the current position of the wheel of the seasons - when the trees look so beautiful. Granted - once they dump their leaves, it is a wee bit harder to keep the same optimism and not get the here-comes-winter blues...

***

Last month, we went to a breakfast honoring the folks in the Cleveland area who hit the monumental 1000 geocaching finds mark. Sitting at just 109 as I write this - 1000 finds is almost unimaginable to me, and there are people with ten times that!

After the breakfast, we went out and did some (30) caches with friends which made for a nice full day. Arriving home that evening, while walking into our garage a stray brown tiger striped kitten ran through the open door before we could close it.

Hoping that it belonged to a neighbor and already having seven cats of our own already - we shooed it outdoors again and went to bed. Both of us slept fitfully that night thinking about that kitten out in the cold.

The next morning, I went out to the mailbox to get the newspaper, and sure enough - the kitten was back crying up a storm.

At this point - the wife and I looked at each other and we were stumped as to what we should do. We have a soft spot for cats (some people probably think it is in our heads) and just could not bear to shoo the little skinny kitten outdoors again. I was concerned that it would continue to hang around the house and that I might run it over. THAT would just devastate me.

Seeing that we had to run to a Cleveland Indians game that morning - we dug up a small cage from the basement and set the kitten up in our garage on a TEMPORARY basis with food and water while we decided what to do with her.
She was just a tiny little thing - and very underfed - she felt very scrawny.

The next day at work, I found a co-worker helps foster cats and kittens - so we decided it would be best to giver her to him - but only after taking her to our vet for a health checkup.
If the kitten had some nasty bug like FIV, then it would not be wise to foster her - with some many healthy unwanted strays in the world.

Lucky for her - the vet gave her a clean bill of health - except for a colony of fleas.

Our vet asked what name she should put in the records - and I replied "Temporary Guest".
The vet and assistants just chuckled at us - since they know about our aforementioned softspot where kittens are concerned.

Round about that time - something happened - I discovered that the kitten had wrapped her little paws around our hearts - and I started thinking about a scene in "Born Free" where they are taking Elsa and her brother(?) to an airport to be flown to a Zoo. The wife is so broken up - that she can't bear to ride and gets out to wait for the husband to come back with the empty vehicle.
As any fan of the movie knows - he comes back with... Elsa in the back. (Sorry if I just spoiled the movie for you :-D)
Seeing that this kitten was tiger striped - it only seemed fitting that we named her Elsa - and she is now with us to stay.

I do beg of the fates one thing - PLEASE do not send any more our way - we really have no more room - Eight is enough!