A funny cat photo from the artist

I took this shot last night. I was taking the tag off the bag, so I could reuse the cute little zip lock baggie, and there was my Smokey kitty. He's a bit slow in some ways....

Delilah - our feisty little calico girl

The boys were just three and fourteen when we got Delilah and Samson.  Our family was in turmoil once again (another husband gone) and our beloved parakeet Ornin had just lost his battle with extreme old age.  The thought of two kittens romping around the house was just what this family of ours needed.

But it turned out to be a tough time to find kittens.  Go figure.  I guess we were on the wrong cycle or something.  I always thought cats were almost as prolific bunny rabbits!  But we finally found a local pet shop that had a large pen full of kittens, right near the front door.  And they were all blissfully sound asleep except for one very cute lone calico girl who was trying to climb out to me, and calling, "Take me! Take me!"  She was soooooo cute!  We were in love....

I could write a novel with all of our Delilah stories over the last 13 years.  She was a pissy little calico girl, bulimic at that, for many years.  A bit on the pudgy side too.  She swallowed a large amount of thread as a teenager and almost died, which surely did not help her longevity any.  But it did slowly improve her attitude toward the human race.  She came to like, love, and even need people, in her own way,  and we came to love all of her quirky little habits.  And she really was a gorgeous girl, and she looked great in Godiva!  She also loved snuggling into my youngest son's bed when he still had a mountain of stuffed animals, and washing us as if we were her children, and eating these very special Swedish ginger cookies (It took my mom a long time to wangle this authentic recipe out of a Swedish friend) in a most unladylike fashion.....

She was a wonderful girl!

My Cat Eats Oatmeal

So there I was about 8 a.m. this morning, in my spot on the couch, with my heating pad and blankie, eye drops in, and of course, my coffee. And there was my husband, eating his daily oatmeal with dried blueberries and cranberries. The dogs were looking on eagerly, waiting for the last little bit, which they knew would come their way. And recently, our fuzzy, gray, part Persian cat, Smokey, has been showing signs of interest in that oatmeal. Now, you can't really take a cat's interest in oatmeal too seriously if you ask me. Can you? But what do I know? My husband offered him the 'sauce' in the bottom of his bowl and Smokey lapped it up with gusto! Then my husband offered him the spoon, which still had a few bits of oats on it, and he ate that too! Go figure............ Now, Smokey is not our only cat with bizarre food tastes. Delilah, my younger son's calico cat, won't eat anything except her regular old dry Purina Cat Chow. We've tried all kinds of other foods, those meant for animal consumption and those meant for human consumption. And until recently, the only other food she had eaten except for her regular stuff, was pumpkin bread. And she truly porked out on the pumpkin bread that Thanksgiving; this was no one-time occurrence! And then last week I offered her one of my homemade Snickerdoodle cookies. She sniffed the cookie, and then proceeded to take the largest, most unladylike bites off of my cookie that I have ever seen! As she was literally gulping it down as fast as possible, it occurred to me that perhaps her little cat tummy might have had enough. And I yanked it away from her while there was still some cookie left! And then there is our third beastie kitty, Delilah's brother Samson. Samson is really 'into' the meat in Taco Bell tacos. And he expects his fair share when the humans are done eating, and it's time for the dog to get their treats. (OK, he thinks he thinks he's a dog....) And if you forget to save him some, then you get his ultimate display of dissatisfaction. He sits on top of the refrigerator and glares at you with the most obvious F_ _ _ YOU look I've ever seen on a cat's face! And if you understand that one, clue me in too!