A post from America! (And some pictures for Alex...)

[Arlen]

Well, I've been here almost a week now and barely had any time to get online let alone catch up with the posts here!
I've got a wee bit of time at the moment and from tomorrow onwards I'll have more time to be active on Xmarks.
In the meantime, I thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to.
Since I arrived I've fixed the front gate, learned how to look after chickens, been to two Scottish country dancing classes, babysat my two year old niece, had a fishing trip and started hand raising SIX four week old kittens!!! (And I wonder where all my time went?)

Being back with Diane is just wonderful and it's so good to finally have that separation over. Now I just need to keep using my time wisely until my work permit clears!

So, here are just a few pictures from my first week in Idaho.

Alex, these are for you. I live right next to the Boise train depot. It's a beautiful spot and one of the most historic places in Boise.












On to the fishing pictures...

[DTrain]

Congrats, Arlen! Glad to know you have made it here safe and sound. The best of luck to you and Diane. Thanks for the pictures.

[Arlen]

We fished in Robie creek which is just beautiful. I got a chance to try out my new sheepskin hunting sporran which I got to attach flies to while fishing. (Thanks to Joe Gondek for the sheepskin!)
Diane caught a salmon smolt which she released and a wild rainbow trout which she also released. I got nothing so we went home hungry!













The sporran works great so long as, like me, you don't use barbed flies.

Finally... the kitten pictures...

[Spc. Scott]

It sounds like you have had a busy week! Great pictures of the train station and the fishing trip. I really enjoy seeing things like that.

[SFCRick]

great pics, I love fly fishing

[cessna152towser]

Fabulous pics, Arlen, steam trains and the great outdoors, no wonder you are enjoying it so much.

[george7]

Great pictures! Did you see any kilted Americans?

[Arlen]

The kittens are sweet and lovely but a lot of work. Here's the story behind them.
There is a feral cat who gets pregnant as soon as she has weaned her last litter and even with traps no one has been able to catch her to get her spayed.
Because she tends to keep her kittens away from humans they are not the sort who people could rehome unless they wanted a feral cat for their barn.
(And animal control ends up having to come around and trap all of her now weaned kittens who are roaming the neighbourhood.)
To make matters worse, she's not a very good mother. The kittens don't get fed well and generally end up quite sickly and can't really feed themselves because she doesn't teach them.

So, at the advice of animal control it has become a bit of a thing in the area for anyone who can to catch whatever kittens they can whole they are young enough to get used to humans (So they can be rehomed) and see to it that they are fed and cleaned and cared for enough that they don't grow up to be sickly cats.
It's hard work, but more than worth it.
She liked to have her litters of kittens under our deck, so we were able to get this most recent litter.
They were all in pretty bad shape when we got them. Very dirty and two of them quite sick.
They are all now clean, healthy and full of life. (After only a few days in out care.)
So we'll start looking for homes for them when they're weaned and ready to go.
In the meantime I present Runty, Sicky, Fluffy, Purry, Un-named and Hippolita.

Diane and her sister Caroline with them all in their bed.


When I'm feeding them they like to crawl under my Kilt where it's warm and wait their turn.







And, in extra good news, the family who used to own Pip now have a new house with enough space for him and are going to adopt him. So he will be with someone I know and trust to love him as much as I do and they will send me pictures and updates.

It's beed a good week!

[Arlen]

Thanks for the well wishes, guys. I am enjoying it here and I'm very happy. (Even if I do have to spend many hours wiping kitten-butts.)

To top things off, I just found out that tomorrow is 'If you have ever been to Scotland night' and the Flying pie pizza place. (They have them for things like 'if you have been to Japan' or 'If your name is Ted') So I can take in my passport and Diane can bring hers and we get to go in the kitchen and actually make our own pizzas.
Mine won't be gluten-free, but I will give it to my friend Kevin and have a salad. So expect pictures of me Kilted in the Kitchen!

[McMurdo]

Wonderful set of pictures Arlen, I did the same thing with kittens that were born at the barn where my ex and I kept the horses, they were 4 days old and the mother had abandoned them as too many people were around for her liking, we ended up bottle feeding them and doing everything a mother cat should do for them. Here is the one picture I have of them, two females Scoot and Moose.