On April 1, 2005, I was mowing the lawn when I found a shoebox in my yard. When I picked it up, it was heavy, and clearly had something inside it, so I opened it. It was four wet, hungry kittens, who immediately started crying. I figured since they were too young to be adoptable, there wasn't much point in trying to take them to the shelter, so I borrowed a heating pad from a friend and headed over to Petsmart for a bottle and some kitten formula.

Here are the whole pile of kitties, probably about a week after I found them. They were under 2 pounds total when found--they all fit into the shoebox with plenty of room to spare. Two were solid grey and two were brown tabbies. They had one tail among the four of them.

My mom was very good about taking care of them for me when I was off sailing.

Here they are on their first trip outside. The one with the tail, now named Davy, has gone to live with my neighbor across the street.

Once they got to be more active, it became clear that the grey tailless one had a bit of a coordination problem with his hind legs. According to the vet, this is just something that happens with some Manx kittens, a neurological problem. The more serious part is that he poops on the floor-- he starts out in the litter box but doesn't seem to know when he's done. Anyway, it became clear that I would be keeping him, so I named him. Since I found him in a box, it amused me to name him Carl Philipp Emanuel. So far, two other people have found this funny.

The little female, whom I called Stripy Girl (now Lucy), was the next to find a home, with my friends Karen and Michael and Evan (and Muffin, who has been less enthusiastic). She is the adventurous one. Here she is discovering what that stuff is I put in the bathtub in the mornings.

That left Stripy Boy, seen here playing with his sister. I decided since I'm not home that much, it would be better to just go ahead and keep him so Carl would have someone to play with. I named him Johann Christoph Friedrich, sticking to the same theme. Here are Carl and Johann with my mom when they were about 4 months old.

It's hard to believe all four kittens used to fit into this box with room to spare.