It has been about 4 months since Freyja, passed. I am still struggling with the loss. In my recent therapy appointment it took a good chunk of my hour. However, it did feel like it was about time to open my heart again…to some extent. I thought about just letting Shannon pick a new kitty out, since I perhaps, wouldn’t feel as connected, but Shannon insisted that I participate, which is completely fair, and also probably good for me.

We saw a little girl, that was mislabeled on the outside, so we thought that she might be a small kitty like Freyja, but after seeing her, and finding out her name was Greysie. In reading through her medical records (rabies, etc), She started as Greyson, then on a gender reveal, Greysie, and after a bit of discussion, Iðunn (Idunn) in our home. Born of a feral mom, she's shy and hesitant, as we try to get her to more people friendly. So far, she started hiding in a small bookshelf, moved to under the bed. She's explored the room a bit, but is still a bit hesitant when we are in there. She’s explored the room a bit more, with Shannon’s nap today, apparently ending in a nose to nose touch, where she went back to her under-bed kingdom.

Máni was also semi-feral, but I think Iðunn is more shy, and perhaps a bit more on the feral side, as she has lost a bit of her ear at some point.

But the plan stands at

1. Get her used to the room, which is quite a bit bigger then her area at the ARL

2. Get her used to us.

3. Introduce her to Loki and Máni.

4. Let her free on the house.

After reading some fairly scary items, Iðunn, will be the first non front declawed cat in this house. We have provided her with a ton of different scratching items to see what she prefers (we made this decision years ago, but this is the first time it’s been put into practice). Both of us think this will probably end up being a fairly long process, but she seems to be showing progress, which is good.

This is also mid-fancy beer season. I’ve got two special beer release trips under my belt (Big Grove (a bit ago), Lua (today)) and a couple coming up (Toppling Goliath (tomorrow), and Big Grove (December)).

On the food front,

• Taco Salad

• Sloppy Sammys

• Red Beans and Rice

• Chickpea Vegetable Stew

• Macaroni and Cheese