Rescues & Soup

The title would suggest all I have been up to the past few weeks is being a super hero and making (or eating) soup, but the reality is I have been going about our ordinary activities with just a few acts of super heroism and soup (making and eating) tossed it.

On Friday, I spent a few hours over at some friends' house for some vegan fun and games. It was a good time with delicious food, new friends, and a hilarious game of pictophone (or telenary). You play the game by taking a long piece of paper divided into ten or so sections and pass it around the room alternating writing a sentence or drawing a picture. The goal is to have the last sentence resemble the first sentence as closely as possible.The first person writes a sentence, any sentence, then passes the paper to the person on their left. That person must draw a picture representing the sentence, fold the paper down so the sentence is hidden, and then pass the paper to their left. The third person now starts with the picture and must write a sentence representing the picture, and so on. Each time, the paper is folded so the new person has just one sentence or picture to work with. You can see how it is a combination of pictionary and telephone, yes? Much hilarity ensued.
I didn't want to stay too late since The Boy had a semi-early soccer game the next morning, so I found myself driving home a little after 9:00pm. As I approached the far side of Champaign (eight hours later), I saw something moving along the curb on Springfield Avenue. It didn't quite look like a squirrel, so at first I thought it might be a rat (which would be unusual?), but as I drove past I saw it was a small kitten. I immediately pulled into the next drive and parked in the parking lot to try to catch the wee thing. It was trotting down the sidewalk at that point, heading for a very busy intersection. A woman and her two teenage kids joined me in the chase, and we were able to herd the kitten back into the parking lot. Fortunately, this is a huge and mostly empty lot at most times of the day, so it was barren in the evening. The poor thing got tired of running from us, and I was able to throw a jacket on top of it to scoop it up. The woman and her kids could not take it home, so I called The Boy to ask him to prep the half-bath with food, water, and a litter box and finished my drive home.

The kitten is three months old or younger. She is a tortoiseshell, and pretty obviously not from a home. Or, if she is, a very poor-caring home. She hissed whenever we came near, but purred like a motor boat when we held her. On Saturday morning, her eyes were gunked up, and her belly was very round from eating (and not using the bathroom, apparently), so I decided to take her to a vet just in case something more serious was wrong with her than I could see on the outside.

Rescued kitty in her make-shift bed

Fleas? Check. Worms? Check. Infection? Check. *sigh* So, $100+ later, I have a healthier kitten on my hands that I do not intend to keep. I have been thinking the past few weeks of adopting another cat from our humane society, but I wanted to get one who was in the same age range as out current two cats (who are between six and nine). She is even more active today, though she still hissed at me when I first approach her. She was interested in playing with a little toy, and she started mewing at us, too.

I am keeping her isolated still. Our cats know she is there, but they leave the door alone as long as the kitten is not scratching at the gap. Anyone looking for a kitten? (Oh, and I am going to have to take the garbage can out of there as she's taken to sleeping in it despite the comfy blanket I left in there for her.)

Now for soup! I have an acorn and spaghetti squash sitting on my counter from the food co-op, and I decided I needed to make something with them today so they do not go to waste. I found a recipe for sweet potato squash apple soup that sounded good, but my ingredients were going to be yam, spaghetti squash, and pears since that is what I had on hand. Then I remembered that I had some frozen butternut squash in the freezer, so I went with that. Now, I still need to use those other two squash. Argh.

Soup on the stove.

It did turn out delicious and hot. (I might have been a little heavy-handed with the cayenne.) The recipe called for two cups of veggie broth which was not enough, IMO, so I will increase that if I make it again. There was enough for two large servings in coffee mugs, plus another large serving tucked away for a meal sometime this week; I don't own soup bowls.

Vegan Yam Squash Pear Soup.