Sangria hates being locked up in the utility room... but we figure we need to keep them in there for at least a week, until they get used to being here (how many stories did Paul Harvey tell about pets that walked hundreds of miles to get back to places they thought of as home?). And maybe it's the rain, maybe it's a nervous reaction, but she has been sneezing since the ride home yesterday.

Bitumen likes to play follow the leader. She's fine until she sees that Hepsebah is nervous, then she acts like her sister. But after petting her soft, black fur for a while, she totally relaxes and even closes her eyes.

Hepsebah hisses. Whenever I try to pet her, she'll run into the back of one of the pet carriers and hiss. She doesn't bite or scratch... but she loves to make noise. Once she figures out that I'm not going to hurt her, she'll stop hissing as I pet her... but she never comes to me... and picking her up is always a source of tension. Once I have her, she'll let me pet her as long as I want... but she NEVER relaxes. Her little legs are always rigid, as if she's waiting for her chance to leap out of my lap. And she doesn't close her eyes... she just looks up at me occasionally as if to say "okay, can I go now?".

But it's only the first day. I'm sure things will settle down.

Philip brought back some yummy home-made food from his mom's house. I ate it while we watched another documentary about Alexander the Great, then "The Simpsons" which I taped earlier in the evening before Philip got home.