It's actually been a good Independence Day...

Despite the SCOTUS and the POTUS screwing us like a prison cell mate, and the fools setting fireworks off after midnight, it's been a very good day.

Not just for us.  We went ahead and adopted a pair of kittens today.  We'd planned to do it Saturday--turns out our beloved cat wasn't as useless where mice are concerned as we thought*--but went to PetSmart today and adopted two kittens hosted there from one of the local humane societies.  One of them is black, and the other black and white.

The black and white kitten, Cricket, has chosen the imp as her person, and rightly so.  She's a hyperactive little critter: she's been running from the front door to the back door, then back to run down the hall and then back into the living room.  For a cat that's about ten weeks old, that's really not bad.  She and the imp spent an hour before bed cat-fishing with one of those stick-string-toy combos that pet stores sell.

The solid black kitten is nine weeks old, and was named Ebony--but the imp couldn't pronounce it, and wouldn't try.  Her name is now Shadow.  Both the imp and the pixie can say that.  She's chosen the pixie as her special person.  She and the pixie spent about forty minutes playing a funny combination of peek-a-boo and tag. 

Both kittens are pretty delightful.  They're both playful, and affectionate.  Though, something tells me (satellite dish ears, very long tails, long legs, and skinny) that Shadow isn't going to be able to perch on my shoulder for very long.  I've got a strong hunch that there's quite a lot of Siamese blood in these two, and they won't be small cats.

Believe it or not, I feel a lot better.  Thanks to everyone for the prayers.  I'm pretty sure they're probably what led us to PetSmart to adopt these two today (even if it was Odysseus's whimsy that led us to adopt the kittens on Independence Day, rather than go back for them tomorrow).  I guess Odysseus was right--a lot of my dark mood was because I no longer had a kitty keeping me company after the kids went to bed.

*Binx caught her first mouse about three years ago.  After Odysseus dropped her on it.  And only because it couldn't get out of the bathtub.  She spent last summer trying (and failing, most often) to catch mice in the laundry room.  The ones she caught were ones that acted like they were dying from the heat.  The second to last one she caught yanked some fur out of her chin, and she spent about four months running from mice, until she killed her last one about three months ago.  That one was caught by one of its hind legs in a mouse trap.

So, yeah: kind of useless as a mouser, but a very sweet and affectionate lap cat.  An important part of our family, in my opinion, my kids' opinions, and Odysseus's opinion.  We're not going to be able to even look at a gray and black tabby without thinking of her for a long time.