When you have only one cat (an old neutered male) kittens are a bit of a surprise.

Eating breakfast outside on the deck yesterday, we saw a stray that frequents our yard. She came out from under our woodpile and sat on the deck staring at Sage. She called him over to her (a first for this shy kitty) and he followed.

Moments later Sage raced into the house where I was cleaning up breakfast. "Kittens! Kittens! KITTENS!" he shouted. We ran outside and there they were, two fuzzy kittens.

Bear in mind that the kitten surprise followed just two weeks behind the hamster surprise.

(Again, we had only one hamster. You explain it.)