We adopted three new kittens over the weekend. Their mother was killed by a bulldozer at a freeway construction site (at 99th and Glendale, Zonies), and the kittens were found beneath a PortaPotty. They weren't weaned, so they were bottle-fed for weeks. We agreed to give them a foster home for Saturday night, which turned out to be plenty of time for us to fall in love with them. This raises our quota of permanent resident pets to three dogs, four cats, a gerbil and a cockatiel. Zero possibility of reproduction, thankfully.

Here are the kittens:

This is Obsidian, an all-black male longhair. He's the most independent and adventurous of the litter, and the best at dealing with the dogs and with Shale, the eminence grise we got last summer from Maddie. Obsidian is a very Maddie-like spirit, so he'll be Maddie's cat when she's here.

This is Onyx, an all-black male shorthair. Onyx is Meri's cat, and they really, really like to snuggle together. Onyx is technically the prettiest of the kittens, in my opinion, but he's also a little klutzy in his movements, which makes him fun to watch. Meri's job for the new kittens is to make sure they always have food and water.

This is Chess, Cameron's kitten, a shorthaired female, dappled black and white. Chess is an amazingly gentle soul. She spends a lot of time snuggled up with Cameron, and he carries her around like a baby. Cameron's responsibility to the new cats is to scoop out their litter every day.