Adorableness rating: 11. Yes, these kittens go to 11.

Introducing the Fab Four: Gordon, Patrick, Dylan, and Petal

These four dangerously cute kittens are currently being fostered by my friend Prudence here in Baton Rouge.

I was lucky enough to meet Prudence last month while she was making her daily visit to her mother Susan, our very sweet downstairs neighbor. I discovered that Prudence and Susan have been caring for my two favorite neighborhood cats, Sebastian and Rosie. Back in early March, Rosie gave birth to four kittens on Susan's patio, and I got to know both Susan and Prudence while cooing over the new babies.

When the kittens were four weeks old, Prudence and I took them to the vet for their first check-up, where they got a clean bill of health from the doctor. After that we decided to move them inside to Susan's apartment, because the little boogers were getting brave and venturing out away from Rosie, and we didn't want them to get lost. We tried to coax Rosie inside too, but she wasn't having it. She's more comfortable living on the patio, having the freedom to come and go as she pleases.

Over the following weeks, Prudence, Susan and I did kitten duty around the clock, taking them outside in shifts so Rose could nurse them and (slowly) introducing them to solid food per the vet's recommendation. Two weeks ago, we took the babies to the vet again for their six-week check up and their first round of vaccinations. The doctor said it was okay to completely wean them off their mother's milk, so they started eating solid food full-time.

They are now eight weeks old and they are adorable little purry furry fluffballs who must be kissed and played with and loved and petted and cuddled. I love these little noodles so hard!

Tomorrow Prudence and I take Rosie to the vet to be spayed. As adorable as these little boos are, we don't want Rosie birthing any more fuzzy little "presents". She's a good mommy, but we've all agreed that it's time for her to retire.

After the spaying, I'm heading to Prudence's house for some kitten time. I need my kitten fix!

The aftermath of their wrestling match. Passed out kittehs!

Ugly face! 

Ugly face! 

Ugly face! 

Ugly face! 

Ugly face! 

Heh heh, sorry. That's always my delighted reaction when I see any cat make this face. I've amused countless friends and family members over the years by shouting out "UGLY FACE!" anytime I see this peculiar and hilarious feline response to an unrecognized smell. 

Apparently it's a thing called the Flehmen response, a.k.a. "flehming" (I prefer it as a verb) and there's an actual scientific explanation for it. The origin of the word is the German flehmen -- "to bare the upper teeth." The purpose of this action is to expose the vomeronasal organ, located on the roof of the animal's mouth. Curling the lips in this fashion helps draw scent molecules into the organ, helping the animal to identify the smell. 

Cool science-y diagram

Apparently cats aren't the only ones that do this. An image search for "Flehmen response" turned up these (awesome) photos: 

Whether or not the Flehmen response is a real thing in humans is up for debate. However, I did find some photographic evidence of a certain homo sapien clearly exhibiting some flehming-like behavior...

I don't want to know where that hand has been.
(Just kidding, Billy)

Also, I happened to find this very funny post by another flehming-obsessed blogger who conducted his own flehming experiment in the workplace.

So now you know the fascinating explanation for The Ugly Face. And knowledge = power. 

BARBIE GARDEN PARTY!

While I was out walking the other day, I stumbled upon this random bit of fabulous. Right in the middle of a painstakingly manicured urban garden were three Barbies having a coffee-less klatsch of sorts, along with their two mutant insect pets. Since I LIVE for this kind of weirdness, there was no way I was going to pass up this delightfully odd scene without photographic documentation.

I scanned the area to make sure no one was around, which in the middle of the city is damn near impossible so I'm sure at least someone (hopefully not the homeowner) saw me crouch down and carefully pick my way through the greenery, kneel down in the damp mulch, and snap several pictures with my iPhone.

In my attempt to get as close as possible to the scene, I got pretty well drenched by a nearby sprinkler (note the water droplets on the grass and in the doll's hair. Oooooh....artsy!) but in the end I think it was all worth it. Also, I was in such a hurry that I didn't even notice until later that the Barbie on the far right is having a sort of wardrobe malfunction. At any rate, it's probably intentional (crazy redheads!).

Anyhoo, thank you to whomever is responsible for creating the Barbie Garden Party. This whimsical little vision made my day.  

Princess Audrey of Pawdry

I love the lighting in this photo of Alice. 

You know I'm gearing up for an epic blog post when I post filler photos of my cats. If you didn't know that...now you do. Stay tuned.  

Birds do it. Bees do it. And so do chickens, apparently.

I think I must have been about 4 years old when I asked The Question. My family was living in Greensburg, Indiana (this was before we made our big move to "The City" - Indianapolis) and Stuart, my buddy next door, was about to become a big brother. Stuart's mother was the first pregnant lady I'd encountered and, as the months went by and she grew steadily larger and wider, I must have been curious. I'm guessing that's what prompted The Question. I don't actually remember asking it, but I do remember The Answer, and it came in the form of a real doozy of a book: How Babies Are Made.



My mom, naturally, was the one to proffer the book and broach this delicate subject with me. She was the typical 1970's earth mother, quite different than the conservative mothers of my friends, and definitely more "with it" than the small-town mothers of Greensburg, so it makes sense that she would have used How Babies Are Made, a Time-Life book first published in 1968. Apparently it's quite famous (Judy Blume even mentions it in Superfudge) and pretty much the go-to book for forward-thinking parents of the era who wanted to teach their kids about the birds and the bees. The images in the book--crafted entirely from construction paper--have a sweet, touchy-feely quality, but at the same time are rather explicit (check out the equipment on the dog, for starters). I don't remember the details of "the talk" but--as the cliche goes--a picture is worth a thousand words. And this book had a lot of pictures.

Here are a few highlights....


Here we have the artist's rendering of a bee pollinating a flower, but I can't even pay attention to what's going on inside that flower because, seriously, that bee is AWESOME! And it's made completely out of construction paper.


A mommy chicken and a daddy chicken doing...well...The Funky Chicken.
But wait...there's more! Turns out that dogs do it too. (YOU probably thought I was going to make a joke about doing it doggie-style, didn't you? Well, ha! I resisted the urge, so there.)



Look, it's Angelina Jolie's wet dream! (Sorry, I had to.)


And here are the babies, all grown up! I was mistaken, that's not Angie's brood. Clearly it's (clockwise from upper left) Zac Efron, Jessica Simpson, Barack Obama, Adam Brody, and John Cho (sporting an unfortunate haircut and a seriously groovy shirt)!


This is how humans do it. Under the covers, missionary-style. End of story.
Note: I like that the woman seems to be enjoying herself; that's a sure sign that this book was crafted in the late 1960's. In the 1950's such a notion would have been soundly mocked and quickly dismissed. Women enjoying sex? Hahahahaha! Surely you jest!


After the mommy and the daddy get nekkid and lay in bed and kiss for a while, a baby comes out!


Awwwwww! I can't even make fun of this picture, it's too sweet. I'm gonna go call my mom now.

While searching for images from this book I came across other people who had blogged about it. Check 'em out:

One of a Kind Wisconsin -- I really loved this post and the writer's commentary!

Teri has a highly entertaining blog and a great story about how she discovered this book.

Jennifer blogged about this a few years back. Check out her recollections of How Babies Are Made. (Her current blog, btw, is here.)

Do you have memories of this book? How did you find out about the birds and the bees? Tell me about it in the comments.

And speaking of books, here's mine.