Oh, and I came home with three more. 😂
08.10.2025 02:24 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a scruffy lynx-point kitten (Finn) with beautiful blue eyes. The image is a little blurry because Finn refused to hold still.
Photo of a solid gray kitten (Orla) looking to the left like she's not sure about the toy being used to get her attention.
Photo of a solid gray kitten (Ronan) seated and looking above the camera.
Photo of a gray tabby kitten (Shane) seated, looking extremely innocent. Don't be fooled! Shane is never the innocent party. I have security video to back this up!
Four of my fosters went back to the shelter for surgery and adoption today!
That means... graduation pictures!
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
08.10.2025 02:21 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Spanner says hello.
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
07.10.2025 03:21 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
A friend donated a scratching post for the foster kittens to use, and they definitely enjoy it!
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
06.10.2025 04:13 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Mirror Mirror – Day One
_2025 October 1st_
You remember the rules. Don’t look in a mirror in the dark. Don’t keep a cracked one. Don’t catch your sleeping face in a black screen at three a.m. You learned them from neighbors and grandmothers and the hush that follows a flicker in the hallway. You pretend you don’t believe them. You still keep them.
You tell yourself mirrors are tools—glass and paint, a way to check the collar, the curl, the lipstick you’ll swear isn’t too much. You lean in close until your breath fogs the surface and the world becomes you, then smaller than you, then only the small square where your mouth is. You say you’re adjusting. You are practicing.
Here’s what you don’t like to name: every practice is a rehearsal, and rehearsals are for performances.
You’ve felt the wrongness already. Not with your eyes—your stomach felt it first. A half-blink. A smile that held a beat too long. A tilt of the head that finished after you’d stopped caring. You laughed it off, because laughter is a bandage you keep in your pocket. Still, when you left the room, you kept your eyes on the doorway, not the glass. Just in case.
Listen closely. October sharpens edges. Screens and mirrors behave like siblings who made a pact you weren’t invited to. The silver behind the glass is not empty. It’s crowded with what you’ve taught it. Your hands hovering near your face. Your shoulder set against bad news. The way you pretend you’re fine, and then the way you really are.
You can keep the rules if they help: drape a towel, face the frame to the wall, speak to your reflection only in daylight. You can also break them to prove a point. Either way, the glass is patient. It’s been taking notes for years.
Before the month is out, you will see something you cannot explain. No thunderclap, no violins. An adjustment you didn’t make. A gesture you didn’t teach. A mouth forming your name without you.
When that happens, don’t argue with yourself about belief. You always believed. You were just waiting to be addressed.
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### _Related_
Miss Meliss is publishing a delightfully creepy piece about what's on the other side of the mirror as daily flash fiction during the month of October.
Day 1 is here: https://www.missmeliss.com/2025/09/mirror-mirror-day-one/
#AmReading #Spooktober
04.10.2025 19:16 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of two tabby kittens, one buff (Sabot) and one orange (Spanner). Sabot is further away and looks a little worried. Spanner is closer and is looking toward the photographer's feet.
Churu is my best tool for socializing fearful kittens. But their need to "help" me clean litter boxes (what a friend calls "scoopervising") is a close second.
Spanner is a scoopervisor. Her sister, Sabot, is food motivated. They're getting more social by the […]
[Original post on mstdn.social]
04.10.2025 18:48 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a disgruntled orange & white cat staring at the camera. The tip of her right ear is missing. A black wire dog crate covered with a blue sheet is visible behind her. She looks pretty good for a cat who had major abdominal surgery (spay) today.
Here she is: feral mom, post-spay, looking less than impressed with the room service. Her right ear has been "tipped" so anyone managing a colony or trapping feral cats will know from a distance that she has been spayed.
I'm going to keep her in the big dog […]
[Original post on mstdn.social]
01.10.2025 02:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I have a spay appointment tomorrow for the feral mom! I'm super excited about this.
29.09.2025 20:50 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I did not click fast enough, so I don't have a spay slot for the feral mom tomorrow. I'll try again tomorrow night at 10pm for a Tuesday slot. Eventually I'll get one.
29.09.2025 05:14 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
10k training, week 2 day 7: 2 mile run (race pace):
Joke's on you, training program, because last week's "slow 2-mile run" *was* my race pace. So there!
Can I crack the 14-minute mile? Not today!
28.09.2025 12:14 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Second kitten trapped!
I think there's at least one more out there.
28.09.2025 04:38 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I have officially signed up for the Turkey Trot 10k.
This is probably a bad idea...
28.09.2025 03:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
@wendypalmer @Emmacox @writingbooks
That one-line paragraph does a great job of emphasizing what is important and setting the tone!
28.09.2025 03:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Original post on mstdn.social
I went into my garage (to pick up a sick kitten from the shelter) and a bunch of kittens skittered away.
So when I got home, I set a trap for the kittens so I can get them inside, socialize them, and get them adopted. 30 minutes later, the trap had one kitten AND the mom, whom my neighbor has […]
28.09.2025 01:47 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Photo of a lynx point kitten. His face and chest have dried food making his lovely fur look unkempt. His eyes are currently a lovely blue (and may even stay that color!)
Finn's going to work on his personal hygiene next week. 😂
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
26.09.2025 18:56 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I was trying to get a video that showed Finn's bowlegged stance, but he was too busy playing.
#CatsOfMastodon #FosterKittens
26.09.2025 17:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
10k training, week 2, day 4: 30-minute run/walk
The running wasn't bad, but constantly messing with timers was a pain in the butt. I think I'll just make a playlist with special tones for this run next week.
25.09.2025 12:45 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I let Bailey (the Potato) toddle around in the office with the three older kittens, and Ronan is being so gentle with her. It's very sweet.
(For comparison, the big kids play with each other like it's a WWE match — Shane jumped off a carrier to land on Orla.)
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
24.09.2025 23:18 — 👍 0 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Izzy and the Gilmores made their weight limit for surgery and they've officially gone back to the shelter.
I am down to FIVE (5) foster kittens! Single digits! Amazing!
24.09.2025 00:37 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
10kk training, week 2, day 2: 30 minutes "easy"
Sadly, no Rapture, so my run was just very slow and boring, but it's done!
23.09.2025 12:26 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a tuxedo kitten (Lane) ready to go after something to the left of the camera.
Slightly blurry photo of a gray tabby (Izzy) strutting toward the camera. She refused to hold still for any of this photo nonsense.
Photo of a seated tuxedo kitten (Lorelai) looking to the right of the camera.
Graduation photos of Izzy Isbourne and the Gilmores!
2/2
#CatsOfMastodon #FosterKittens
22.09.2025 22:31 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a tuxedo kitten (Rory) whose tail is curved over her back.
Photo of a tuxedo kitten (Sookie) on a blue sheet looking upward.
Photo of a crouching tuxedo kitten (Luke), intent on something in the distance.
Graduation photos of Izzy Isbourne and the Gilmores!
1/2
#CatsOfMastodon #FosterKittens
22.09.2025 22:28 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
10k training week 1, day 7: 2 mile slow run.
When they said slow, I don't think they envisaged *that* slow, but it's done!
21.09.2025 12:57 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I just burned my toe making lunch, so that's how my day is going...
20.09.2025 20:58 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Original post on mstdn.social
Okay, day 7 of the 10k training schedule requires me to measure the distance I go, so...
What's the best iPhone app for this? I'm looking for something that isn't going to violate my privacy or leak my current location. The closer it is to *just* keeping track of my route and distance, the […]
18.09.2025 17:00 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Original post on mstdn.social
In case you're wondering about the state of scammers who prey on indie authors...
I have, yet again, received another LLM-generated solicitation to market my books. And once again, it's talking about a book I have not written.
A solid 50% of the sales pitches I receive reference the wrong […]
18.09.2025 12:52 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Original post on mstdn.social
10k training, Week 1, day 4: 20 minute "easy"
The beauty of running at 5am is that nobody is around to see me shuffle around the neighborhood. I gave myself the option of pushing this one out a day since I was vaccinated yesterday, but I felt okay so I went.
My legs are sore. And now I […]
18.09.2025 12:45 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Flu and covid vaccines have been acquired! I went with one in each arm this time — maybe that will make a difference?
17.09.2025 19:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Photo of a gray tabby kitten asleep on his back, wedged into the crevice of a circular cat bed.
Little Shane seems comfy in his bed.
#FosterKittens #CatsOfMastodon
17.09.2025 03:17 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
