And the Winners Are...

Congratulations, ladies! You are the lucky four who will get to name our babies!! Please email me, at your earliest convenience, with suggestions for names for any or all of the babies. You can assign a name specifically to a baby (ie, "Big Girl - Bertha") or throw out a name in general. We'll select from among them with, of course, one name from each of you being chosen. The email address is HubbleSpacePaws at gmail dot com.

Tonight's photos did not turn out well* because... the babies are loose! Yes, they escaped the confines of the box at 3 weeks and 1 day old and are having a ball walking and wrassling on the rug under the bed (which I can conveniently pull out to weigh them!). The rug is keeping them plenty warm (I checked) and, even when I removed one side of the box, they have zero interest in staying in it. "We iz BIG kittehs, nao!" they say! And they are! Both Big Boy and Big Girl cracked the one pound mark today! Mama seems very comfy with the new location and appears to be keeping a maternal eye peeled from some of the blocking I saw.

* Now, ask me if I could have photographed them when they were out for weigh in? Yes, I could have. Did I? No, I did not. Where did I try to photograph them? Why, in the dim recesses under the bed, of course! LOL!

Tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on how long it takes the winners to get back to me, we'll announce the babies new names!

So, once again, on behalf of the Space Paws walkers, thank you all so much for helping to raise money and awareness for the MD SPCA. It is truly appreciated!!!

Thank You All... So Very Much

Space Paws walkers resting well after their labors:

The official tally isn't quite in, but it looks like we raised $1700+ in the 2011 March for Animals! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. See our sidebar!

And big thank yous to Judy, for thinking of this and leading the pack, and Sonia, Pam, Leah, Michele, Karen, Frankie, Rebecca, Kathy, Kelly and Katy for joining the pack... all for love of the critters! (And a special thanks to Amy for the very cool Space Paws bandannas!! Click on the pic above to embiggen and check them out.)

One more cute shot, before we go. And tomorrow, the Name Those Babies winners!

Last Chance to Name Those Babies!

Thank you so much to everyone who has pitched in to support the 2011 March for the Animals. I know the Name the Babies pitch was a blatant shakedown, but it's all for a good cause! At the end of the day tomorrow, we'll do a random drawing for four folks to submit names for our little ones and we'll announce them on Monday. Hopefully, we'll have real names for the babies by Wednesday!

The comment I cut short was that years ago I heard the behavior of Jurrasic Park's velociraptors was modeled on that of cats. And for some reason, the two girls there at the end just struck me as tiny, furry, inept velociraptors with their bobbing and weaving!

Big Boy: Eye Iz Mysterious!

Darling Girls

The girls are so much easier to photograph than their dark furred brothers. Thought these two were especially cute. Not much happening today, except growing, of course!! Don'tcha just want to Name Those Babies?

When I tuned into Kitten TV, this sibling blanket shot just cracked me up!

And, last but not least (daily, until the big day), we give you our shameless plug (second for the day... LOL!) for the March for the Animals & NAME THOSE BABIES!

Our lady Two Legs is doing the March for the Animals on Sunday, April 17th, to raise green papers for the MD SPCA. I'm going to round up my siblings and we are going to help! If you can help, in ANY amount, you get a chance to name my sister and brothers and me!!!! Click here, to find out more!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help!

Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate! Three Adoptions!

I'm stunned!!!! First, Kathy wrote yesterday, saying that Poco and Teddy found a home with a nice couple... TOGETHER! And then, just as I was about to do tonight's post, I got an email from Carole letting me know that sweet Skippy found his furever home. Hopefully we'll have some more details, soon, but for now, wish each of these young men all the best with their new families!














Skippy, Poco and Teddy
It's been raining around here... and now we can say it's pouring good news!

Mama makes the roomier box roomier still... better to see her nursing!

Yesterday, I moved the "roll" forward in the box to give the growing family more room. "Ha!" said LBC, "Watch this!" and proceeded to push out the back of the box (as you can see in the photo). There is a rug under the box, extending to the back wall, in case the little ones decide to explore a bit, so I think I'll leave it for today and then turn the box around tomorrow. We'll see if I can't entice the little family into a "nest." We have two... a nice quilted one that Franca sent us and a larger, but lighter one that Ali gave to us. I think I might start with Franca's, since it's more cave like. I think it will be less threatening for LBC.

Hyacinth hit the nail on the head... we're going to be trying for streaming video in a few weeks. It's just too busy right now for me to work on it and I don't want to impose too much on the neph's good will. I can peek in during the day, but the current set up only allows 10 people watch at once... and we've still got a few technical difficulties.

I guarantee nothing but, if you'd like to try before it is ready for prime time, go to http://hsp.from-md.com. You'll get an authentication window - just hit cancel. Then you'll get a black screen. If you're lucky, it will change over to the feed fairly quickly. Or not. Once you get a feed it may go in and out. Very frustrating. (But isn't that always the way with new tech - then, once you finally get the hang of it, and figure out the idiot thing you were doing wrong, it seems so simple.) Seems the intermittent "black" was not mama against the lens, as we first thought it might be!

Our Sophie says, "You haven't been paying enough attention to ME!!" So to make amends, here's some Sophie belly:


And, last but not least (daily, until the big day), we give you our shameless plug for the March for the Animals & NAME THOSE BABIES!

Our lady Two Legs is doing the March for the Animals on Sunday, April 17th, to raise green papers for the MD SPCA. I'm going to round up my siblings and we are going to help! If you can help, in ANY amount, you get a chance to name my sister and brothers and me!!!! Click here, to find out more!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help!

Nursing Pics!! And Wendy LOLed Jasper!

Well, our friend Wendy, of the famous LOL Spot has done it again!! When I was incarcerated... errrr... hospitalized, she posted this adorable LOL!! Thanks Wendy!!! If you haven't been to the LOL spot yet, I highly recommend a visit to brighten your day. You'll meet lotsa nice kittehs from all over the intertubes!

Drum Roll Please!! We have nursing shots!

My wonderful niece-in-love, Liz, encouraged nephew Mark to come to the Casa and play with electronics whist she kept the home fires burning. And what did he do for us? Why he rigged up a wireless, high def, night vision, IP security camera to get pics of the babies under the bed!

Here's a sequence of pics. You can see our lovely LBC's face, close up, for the first time! While they look somewhat similar, note the changes in the babies positions.

You know where this is heading, don't you??? ;-D

It may take a little while (spare time is at a premium right now) for us to figure out where, and how, to mount the camera so that Mama doesn't block it... sometimes I've tuned in to a black screen - she's laying up against it!!

And, last but not least (daily, until the big day), we give you our shameless plug for the March for the Animals & NAME THOSE BABIES!

Our lady Two Legs is doing the March for the Animals on Sunday, April 17th, to raise green papers for the MD SPCA. I'm going to round up my siblings and we are going to help! If you can help, in ANY amount, you get a chance to name my sister and brothers and me!!!! Click here, to find out more!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help!

Shabby Chic and Groomin' Babies

Purrayer moment: Sending out hugs to Chrystal, at Daily Dose of Dogs (aka, Cats with your Coffee), who just lost two new foster babies, despite heroic attempts to save them.

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We don't usually do challenges, 'cause we're not organized enough, but Milo and Alfie's Shabby Chic Day was too much to resist. You see Casa residents have been rendering our furniture shabby for years! Who knew it was chic?!

First up is the recliner you saw so often in 2009 and 2010. It only took 1.5 years for it to get into this condition... and the cats WERE using their scratching posts, too! Clearly something about this chair brought out the claws, especially from the guys (OK, Grey, yeah, it was mostly you, sweetie). This is why we now have slipcovered furniture!! The lounge chair is languishing in Space Paws back basement, waiting for me to pull together the green papers for slip covers. Yes, I understand it is possible to slip cover a recliner - the chair is perfectly good - just looks, well, shabby chic!

I feel the perfect accessory to shabby chic is the GIANT MUTANT FURBUNNY! Unfortunately, we did not have any to photograph because we used the loud sucky machine on Friday. But, we can show them to you in the formative stages. First it's a little clump, here. And a couple of little clumps there. And a few hairs showing up everywhere. And THEN, they decide to have a convention.

That's the stage we're at now. Left unchecked, they will float and roll around, picking up members along the way, and pretty soon you have a Furbunny as big as one of your residents. Like I said, the perfect accessory to Shabby Chic!

And now, on to babies!!

Yesterday, when I tickled Big Girl's Belly, she immediately groomed a paw... and she did this over and over! I filmed it but it turned out a bit blurry. :-( But today she was grooming, with no prompting at all!!

We will close todays viewing with a gratuitous toesie shot, courtesy of Miss Little Girl.

Last, but not least, another shameless plug - March for the Animals & Name Those Babies!

Our lady Two Legs is doing the March for the Animals on Sunday, April 17th, to raise green papers for the MD SPCA. I'm going to round up my siblings and we are going to help! If you can help, in ANY amount, you get a chance to name my sister and brothers and me!!!! Click here, to find out more!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has pitched in to help!

Happy 2 Week Birthday, Babies!

First, a purrayer alert: Everyone please keep Jordan and her kittens, over at "Tails from the Foster Kittens" in your thoughts. And Connie, too, as she works to help this fragile little family. Our hugs go out to them.

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I can hardly believe it! The kittens are two weeks old today! They are starting to be curious about their surroundings and, shaky as they may be, are actually walking with steps, instead of scuttling around. From this clip we can tell the box under the bed isn't going to hold them for much longer! Why does it always seem to be the littlest one who is so anxious to get out?

I'm kind of anal, so I've been charting their growth. I've added a tab so you can see it charted against both a "Normal Growth" chart and the Maples Family's average weights at the same age.

And, is it my imagination or is the dark portion of the Tortie Girl's coats getting lighter and lighter?

NAME THOSE BABIES!

Big Girl here! I'm doing a shameless plug for the March for the Animals our lady Two Legs is doing on Sunday, April 17th, to raise green papers for the MD SPCA. I'm going to round up my siblings and we are going to help! If you can help, in ANY amount, you get a chance to name my sister and brothers and me!!!! Click here, to find out more!

Big Boy: OK! I'm in! I think we should go this away...

No! Wait! I meant that away...

Little Girl: OK, everybody together now? Forward ho!

Thank you to everyone who has pitched in to help this fundraiser!

Tomorrow - we know how to groom!

Hear Those Babies Mew!

Whew! It's been a busy day so I'll just leave you with this little video we made a couple of days ago and catch you up on the goings on tomorrow!

And don't forget... you have a chance to:

1. DO SOME GOOD and

2. NAME THE BABIES!!

Just follow this link to find out how!

A huge Space Paws "Thank You" to everyone who has pitched in and reposted!!! Our readers are the very best!

Name Those Babies!

Space Paws has formed a pack to walk, on April 17th, to raise funds for the MD SPCA!! Frankie's mom, Judy, is our pack leader and came up with this great idea (Frankie, aka Emmett, was from Bitty's Brood).

We know discretionary green papers are often slim these days and there are many worthy causes. Any amount you might be able to contribute... whether it be $5 or $500 would be so very much appreciated. For us, this is as much about showing community concern for the welfare of critters as it is about the amount raised!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

As a little fun for our readers, we stole an idea straight from such illustrious folk as the IBKC and Love & Hisses! We figure we're not above hawking naming rights for a good cause either!

Anyone who contributes to the walk, in any amount, gets a chance to name one of our new foster family! It will be a random drawing and we'll announce the winners the day after the walk!

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER "NAME THOSE BABIES!"

• Make a donation, of any amount, to the MD SPCA 2011 March for the Animals for the Space Paws Pack.
• You MUST list a name YOU will recognize on the honor roll when you donate. It does not need to be your real name (but it can be, if you wish!). For instance, I could donate as HubbleSpacePaws.
• We'll draw randomly from all the contributors and, when we announce the winners, we'll invite you to email us.
• You do NOT need to show the amount of your contribution.
• There are four chances to win - one for each of the babies.
• Who gets to name which baby? We'll ask the winners to submit name suggestions for each of the babies and we'll choose from among them. (Hey, we get to have some fun, too!)

First disclaimer, to protect the Institute: Neither Space Paws, the Space Paws Pack, nor this raffle are sponsored by STScI or AURA, Inc. These projects are solely staff initiatives.

Second disclaimer: This raffle is intended to be low-key and just for fun and, as such, Space Paws reserves all rights regarding decisions in administering it.

HERE'S WHO YOU'LL BE NAMING!

Little Girl

Big Girl

Little Boy

Big Boy

SOME OUTTAKES FROM TODAY'S WEIGH IN

Just 'cause these babies are so darn cute! But I may be biased!

Big Girl: I can get out of here... just a little more, a little more!

Little Girl: NO! The stupid towel does not make this any more fun! It's cold out here! Moooooommmmm!

Little Boy: Mommy is right over theeeere.... I see you mommy...

Big Boy: What's all the fuss about? Aren't I handsome? My adoring fans love me!

Momma, slinking away from the box. Mom and babies were mashed in the very back of the box and she's starting to push out the wall we cut down for entry. Repairs tomorrow!

And tomorrow, more from Rancho J2!