Jim Croce, Rockwell, and Talking Heads

Last time I posted, I told you I'd tell you all about the cats.  Well, I've already posted a few times about Booker and Wendy, so I'll only touch on them, but I will give you an update on the newest fur kid, Archimedes a.k.a. Archie.

Booker the Wonder Kitty (a.k.a. Booker, Boo, and Fat Man, among countless other stupid nicknames) is still 20lbs (though, truthfully, I haven't weighed him lately) and still a sweet boy with approximately two brain cells.  He's extremely vocal and extremely needy and he drools when he's happy.  Boo is now about ten years old and (in my opinion) starting to show his age.  We adopted him from our local shelter in 2016 and they claimed he was two when we got him.  2 + 8 = 10.  (But, I can't "math" so, I might be wrong.)

Wendy Lou (a.k.a. Wendy, Wendel, and Wendelkowsky, among countless other stupid nicknames) is about 8lbs, and she is approximately 17 years old.  She's my princess, my Velcro kitty, my baby girl.  She's wicked smaht (that's for you, Bostonians, though I have no idea why it sounded like that in my head) and sneaky, but she's a sweet, sweet baby.  She's been with us since 2017.  She was adopted (not by us) in 2010 and the shelter folks thought she was probably four.  You do the math.  She might actually be 18 now, I don't know.  (Refer to "math" statement in above paragraph.)

Now - enter Archie.  Hubby found him outside of our house last August.  He was skinny and scared and probably about 12 months old.  He would back himself into a corner and hiss and spit and meow like crazy whenever we saw him, but we both felt it was an "all bark and no bite" situation.  (Watching a little black cat hiss and spit, arch his back and get all puffy made me think we'd picked up a true Halloween kitty!)  Hubby's goal was to get him socialized enough so that we could take him to the vet.  Well, he softened up, became extremely friendly, was (still is) extremely food motivated (I've never seen anything like it), and eventually he went to the vet, got checked over (no diseases, no parasites, perfectly healthy - which was weird for a stray) and was neutered.  Then, right before it got super cold, he came in the house and has been there ever since.

He spent the first several months with us in a very large cage (it took up practically half of our bedroom floor space) because he had trouble socializing with the other fur kids.  Of course, he didn't stay in the cage all the time (we're not monsters) but if he was out in the main house, the other kids were in the bedroom.  It was a juggling act.  It was not only for his own safety, and to get him acclimated to his new situation, but also for the safety of the resident fur kids.

Archie and Boo eventually started doing just fine together, so when Archie was exploring other realms, we left Boo out there to explore with him.  Sometimes there were fisticuffs, but mostly it was annoying little brother to disdainful older brother.

On the flip side, Wendy and Archie still HATE, LOATHE, and DESPISE each other.  She's a scaredy cat by nature so anything new (or loud, or smells weird, or moves too quickly, or possibly looks at her the wrong way) makes her duck and run.  In her mind, this little brother was evil.  And, of course, since she always made (makes) her displeasure known, Archie sees, "Enemy!  Must kill!"  And then the fur flies and the screaming happens.  Oh - the screaming.  Wendy screams even if Archie isn't touching her.  She hates him.  He hates her.  And it was totally stressing her out.  She wasn't eating well, she started to lose weight, her fur was looking straggly - and I'd had it.  She's my baby and, though she's a pain in the ass sometimes, she's old and deserves to feel safe.

So - now Archie and Boo live "outside" our bedroom, and Wendy lives "inside."  She's so much less stressed out.  She's eating well, her fur is back to being it's long, beautiful self, and she's an absolute riot sometimes.  She chases her tail in circles on the bed and gets the zoomies.  Sometimes she seems to wants out of the bedroom but whenever I open the door, Archie is there and he sticks his long arm in the door and starts swiping at her.  Whenever she interacts with Archie (because he's sneaky and FAST and occasionally gets by me when I enter the room) there's still screaming because he still tries to murder-ize her.  I just don't want her getting hurt and Archie is still young and dumb and doesn't know his own strength.  I want to let her out of the room, but I don't trust Archie not to go after her.  He's cornered her under our bed where I can't reach them and started trouble more than once.  I'm not sure she really knows how to fight back other than screaming her fool head off.

I've had people say, "Don't you think you should rehome Archie?" or "Don't you think you should find another place for Wendy?"  NO!  Because they are all family and I absolutely cannot do that to them.  I know it's a struggle and that it isn't an ideal situation for anyone but they're all safe, warm, fed, watered, and loved.  The humans are really the ones who are inconvenienced.  

I don't have much longer to love on my baby girl.  She might live several more years, but she's definitely having trouble with her hips now and, despite the tail chasing and zoomies, she's slowing way, way down.  I coddle her.  I just want her remaining years - however long that may be - to be good ones.  

So, judge me if you will - but I might just judge you back.  Are your fur kids not also your family?  Are you not willing to sacrifice for them the way you might sacrifice for your human kids?  (Ok - maybe not exactly the same, but you get the picture.)  And yes, I realize there are definitely situations where rehoming is the only option, but I do not feel that is the case here.  

So - to recap:

Boo - big and dumb as a man can come.

Wendy - always feel like somebody's watching me.

Archie - psycho killer.

TTFN

JMS

My First Video Blog (Vlog)

Aren't ya proud?

TTFN
JMS

Forcing myself to think of the good things

I think I mentioned in another post (and probably, if you really dig, several other posts) how I struggle to keep my emotional head above water and to not be so darned negative all the time.  But my negativity is about to rear its ugly head.

WOULD 2016 JUST END ALREADY?  PLEASE?

SHEESH!

Okay.  I've gotten that out of my system.  Feel free to sound off in the comments, too, if you want.  It's an open forum after all, right?

Do I feel better?  Not really.  But in order to make myself feel better, I'm going to say a few things about stuff which has made me feel good this year.  In no particular order, they are:

** Going to see Alice's Restaurant performed live at a local restaurant - by a very talented musician - just before Thanksgiving.  I love that song.  I know every word.  And it brings me joy every time I hear it.  It was especially fun to listen to it performed live.  The artist made it his own without compromising the integrity of Arlo Guthrie's original.  That takes skill!

** And of course, there's Booker T. Jet Black Alley Cat.  I can't neglect to mention him.  He's brought joy and fuzz and snuggles and silliness to our house and I just adore him.  The kids love him, too, so that's awesome.  His "Gotcha" day was Friday, May 13 and he's a black kitty.  He has crossed my path each morning - on the way to the food bowl - and hasn't tripped me up yet.

** Two visits from my father.  The first one, back in March, was after a solid ten year lapse.  It's been an amazing thing to reconnect with him, and to have him get to know his grand kids.  They're totally in love with Grandpa, too, so it's a mutual thing.

** Being part of the Puppet Ministry at church.  It is a fantastic outlet for my Inner Weird Person and so much fun!  Oh, who am I kidding?  I'm just a Weird Person.  No "inner" about it!  But it gives me a chance to use these stupid voices I've made up for a better purpose than just being obnoxious or having fun with my kiddos.

And...I'm done now.  I guess it's kind of a short list, isn't it?  And there have been other things I'm sure I've forgotten about.  Apparently, I have trouble in that regard; allowing the negative (there I go again) to overshadow the positive.  I'm trying.  I really am.  Of course, there are my daily joys of getting to see my kiddos after work and hear about their respective days.  And the joy of looking at my physical surroundings - of East Tennessee - and remembering what a beautiful place this is.

TTFN
JMS

Catching up with Tangent

Wait!  What?  I haven't posted anything since MAY?  You're kidding, right?

Um...apparently not.

There's just been SO MUCH happening and I haven't felt like writing.  I still don't feel like writing.  And, quite frankly, you won't really want to hear anything I have to say anyway.

Booker T. Jet Black Alley Cat (affectionately "Boo" for short) is awesome and has become a real member of the family.  His Glorious Fuzziness is such a wonderful addition and so much fun.  He is friends to adults and kids alike.  But he is my special buddy.

Recently, we added (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently) Gammy's cat, Wendy.  Without going into detail about the whys and wherefores, we are still in the Kitty Integration Phase.  There are twice-daily supervised visits between them and we're still dealing with the hissy-pissy, grumble and groan phase of things.  Once all the vocal whining stops - and they stop taking half-hearted swipes at each other - we'll let her out of quarantine.  She's a little instigator.  Boo is kind of chill about the whole thing and, truth be told, probably kinda likes her.  He's at least interested.  Unless he's pretending to be disinterested.  It's been a journey.

There's so much other stuff, but I have decided to keep this light.  Once I have the emotional capacity to delve deeper, I'll share.  But not right now.

Stay tuned?

TTFN
JMS

PS: Sorry for the hiatus.  I've missed you guys!

So...this happened.

I've already posted this on Facebook, so I'm sure that most of you already know about our new furry family member.  Introducing Booker T. Alley Cat.  Jet Black Alley Cat, that is. 

Fun Facts:

1) We adopted him on Friday the 13th.  What better time (in my opinion) to adopt a black cat?

2) He's 15.5 pounds.  The shelter folks said he was probably about 17 pounds, but then I weighed him.  Well, I weighed myself and then hefted the cat and did the math.  He's 15.5 pounds.

3) He's solid black.  Ok, so he's got a few white hairs on his belly (like 7 of them) and has a few white strays salted (ha ha) throughout his pepper.  But he's definitely a black cat.

4) He loves head bumps.  I love his head bumps.  This is how he says, "I love you!"

5) Did I mention he's huge?  We got a window seat thingy for him really, it's probably too small for him.  If he stretches while he's on it, he extends significantly on both sides.

6) He's great with the kiddos and the kiddos are great with him.  I'll see a kid walk by the bedroom door and a second later I'll see the cat following the kid, close on his or her heels.

7) He no longer has to live in a too-small cage eating next to his litter box and getting no love at all.

8) Part of his name (Jet Black Alley Cat) is for our nephew Zach's band of the same name.  They're awesome!  (Go to YouTube and search Jet Black Alley Cat - then listen carefully and share extensively!)

We're all very excited!

That is all.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled...uh...whatever-it-is-you-were-doing-before-you-found-this-post.

TTFN
JMS