Here Kitty Kitty…

I am a pushover for animals. If you have known me long you might remember me as a child zipping my hamsters/chinchillas/horned toads/whatever into my plastic footed pajamas so they wouldn’t get away. Or Mortimer, the parakeet who lived in a ficus tree in my room, because he didn’t like his cage. Or even more recently, StinkeyPants, our blind skunk who spent the better part of a year living in our window well, possibly doubling his girth eating cheesy scrambled eggs. Yes, I am a sucker for anything furry, scaled, feathered or otherwise. So it won’t come as a surprise to hear that we spent an extra 3 days in a scanky campground because I [read: we] had fallen in love with a small African kitten.

We met him as we had just pulled into camp when he literally jumped into Glenn’s arms. But that night, despite being smitten Glenn refused to let him sleep with us. I couldn’t bear to toss him out into the scary cold night (he was shivering with freight), so after staying up as late as I could keep my eyes open and being pretty certain Glenn was asleep I tried sneaking him into bed. But a purring kitten is not an easy thing to conceal. I got busted and Glenn had to eventually wrestle him away from me and toss him out himself. The kitty slept curled up inside the spare tire under our back step. And as soon as I opened the door early the following morning I was greeted with his fuzzy little head poking out from where the towing hitch attaches to the frame. This kitty is good and I was more or less a goner.

From here on out I would resort to begging.The next night I pulled out my trump card using the time appropriate, 'for my birthday can kitty sleep in the car' number. He couldn't resist. Kitty was in, and slept happily kneading the furry blanket for the next three nights curled into a little ball of cuteness between us, though he was supposed to stay on my side. Kitty had been working his magic on Glenn during the days and as much as I would like to brag about the powers of my feminine wiles, I think kitty secured his own way onto the fleece blanket. He spent the next three days road tripping around town as a small extension of our little family.

Of course we couldn't possibly take him though Africa with us but I wasn't about to think of leaving him behind. For the next few days he resumed his position as our passenger while we completed our to-do list before crossing into Zimbabwe. Which is more or less when we met Steve and Mike, a Polish Father Son electrical engineering duo who to our good fortune solved our energy storage needs, meticulously went over our solar system with Glenn and wouldn't take a dollar for well over an hour of their time, use of their tools and giving their much needed blessing that all systems were go. After about 2 minutes of conversation with Steve Glenn and I were in love. He is the sweetest man you could ever imagine. He talks with the singing nature of laughter and a cute Polish accent. So jokingly I asked Steve if he wanted the sweetest kitten in the world. And without hesitation he said, "Yes. I love animals. I will give him to my son; he has been wanting a kitty…even trying for a month to trap a wild kitty to make a pet". 

So in the end our solar panels/batteries are in top working condition, blessed by two electrical engineers and for their time and attention Steve and Mike were 'paid' in kittle love dollars, a never ending supply of snuggles and purrs.

Grateful (again) for the love and help of strangers,
G+C

PS: Steve, we aren't worried one bit!
PPS: Mike, Thank you for loving our kitty, for your laughter and brilliant expertise.