Blog Challenge Day 5: Pets

Do I have any pets?

Sigh.  Yes, yes I do.

I'll start at the beginning.  In the summer of 2000, right after I graduated from high school, a stray cat wandered into the yard of my parent's house.  I was a huge softie when it came to cats, so I befriended the little female kitty with the pretty tortoise shell coat.  Before long, it was clear she planned to hang around for a bit.  I called her Autumn, since her fur reminded me of the season.  She was extremely friendly.  After a few days, we started to suspect she might be pregnant.  We were right and she ended up having four kittens on our front porch!  Two white ones (one with a black spot on her head, the other the tiny runt of the litter), a black one, and an orange striped one.  No one could resist them and eventually they had names and a permanent residence with us. The larger white cat was dubbed "Dot" because of her little black dot, which eventually disappeared, but was later replaced by a black freckle on her nose.  The tiny white cat, we named "Little Bit".  She is still a little bit, incidentally.  The black cat we called Salem and the orange one, the largest was Tigger.  All of them stayed at my parents house until Adam and I bought our condo, at which point Dot, who had established herself as mine, came to live with us.

Pet #1:  Dot, feline (note the question mark tail)

After a while, we decided Dot needed a friend.  My husband's sister's cat just happened to be pregnant.  Her litter only produced one kitten, a white and gray kitten we adopted and named Tippy.

Pet #2: Tippy, feline (picture doesn't do justice to her chub)

Side note:  Dot and Tippy did NOT become friends

 Some time later, my parents and older sister ended up living with us for awhile, along with my mom's three cats (The mother cat, Autumn had been adopted by one of Twin's friends, where she happily remained for the rest of her kitty life) and my sister's dog Misty.  We lived in an apartment style condo at the time and we would walk down to the "Dog Run" around the corner so Misty could be loose and run.  Our neighbor had a small poodle named Boo and we would all chat while the dogs played.  Adam and I liked it so much that when Michelle moved out, taking Misty with her, we found ourselves missing the experience.  The fall, I was in a funk.  I'd graduated college with a degree I didn't want (long story).  I'd gone back to school only to find I couldn't afford it, so that was a bust.  I'd been considering asking if my job could become a full time position when they decided just that.  However, instead of offering me the full time spot, the hired someone else and let me go.  I was bummed out and one night somehow Adam and I decided that a way to cheer ourselves up was to get a puppy!  We browsed the newpaper to see what was available.  I pointed out an ad for beagle puppies.  Adam couldn't think what a beagle looked like, so I googled it and showed him a picture of a beagle puppy and he fell in love.  Thus, Gracie came into the family.

Pet #3: Gracie, canine (beagle)

Bonus photo: Gracie with tongue action

Even later, my sister was literally followed to school one day (where she was working as a teacher) by a small black cat.  He hung around awhile so eventually she took him home.  However, she'd been looking into getting a second dog and when the opportunity arose, since she could only have two pets and I was smitten with the cat, we brought him home and named him Dobby, the housecat.

Pet #4: Dobby, feline (aka Doobie, because he acts like he is on something)

In the summer of 2007, Adam and I bought our first house.  My parents had just recently divorced and we had invited my mom to come and live with us.

My mom and her three cats, the kittens from Dot's litter.  Over the last few years, we have sadly seen the loss of Tigger and Salem, which leaves us with Little Bit.

Pet #5: Little Bit, feline (yes, I woke her up to take this picture)

That's it though!  Aside from our friendly rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and birds that remain OUTSIDE, those are the pets I plan to have for awhile!

This is part of a June blog challenge started by Mommy Someday at Waiting for Baby. Pop over there and join in so I can learn these things about you! 

Cat Attack

So we're all moved. It was so fricken hot. But it's over thank god. And it went off without too many problems. Except one.


The Cats.

In addition to my three cats, Dobby, Tippy, and Dot, my mom's three cats (Who happen to be Dot's siblings) Tigger, Salem, and Little Bit were going to join us, bring us to a total of 6 cats and 1 dog. My moms cats do not like to move. They have done this several times now. Someone always ends up getting hurt. I have scars from a few years ago from trying to catch Salem. My mom usually has a melt down about her babies, so she was sent to the car while my sister, Adam, and I tried to round them up and trap them in over-sized Tupperware with holes cut out. We caught Tigger first, mostly because he can't move too fast cause he's huge. Of course, we had to put my mom's toolbox on top of the box to prevent him from popping back out. We put him in the car and went back in for round two. Several failed attempts later we caught Salem. Michelle got some nasty scratches on her hands thanks to her. Finally we went after Little Bit. By then, we'd refined our tactics: Michelle and Adam would corner the cat, Adam would grab the scruff of thier neck with one hand and hold them down with the other hand. At this point they give up and Michelle grabs the box and I put the lid on.

After a loud and stressful 10 minute car ride, we carried the cats into the new house and let them out of their boxes in my mom's room. We still had a few things to get from my sister's apartment, so we left them to get acclimated. When we came back after an hour or so, Tigger was in mom's closet, sitting on top of Salem--literally. But Little Bit was missing. At first we didn't worry, we figured she was off exploring. But we all started worrying when night came and we still hadn't seen her. Eventually we opened the linen closet and there she was. There's an access hole in that closet for turning off the water and it also, it seems gives access to the ceiling above the basement. So she'd be in there the whole time. WE'd checked it, but she was out of sight. My mom was hugging her and scolding her and the cats giving her this look like, "What? I knew where I was the whole time."

I'm never moving again.

The promised land

What is it with cats? My cat Tippy, has made it her life's work to squeeze by unsuspecting ankles into the hallway of our second floor condo. She's very determined. And why does she want in the hallway? Because she's not allowed in there. And what does she do when she gets there? She rolls around on the carpet orgasmically. What is so great about the hall carpet? It's cheap commercial grade! And it's not especially cool in the hall or something. The little slut just wallows on the floor giving me the eyeball while I'm trying to herd her back into the house so I can go to work. At which point she finally decides that she's ready to go back in anyways, strolls past me, pauses at the dog cage, teases Gracie with her tail, and wanders off to do whatever it is my cats do while I'm at work.

????