Something happened over the last months and we went from three inside dogs and one inside cat to three inside dogs and four inside cats. I’m not sure how this transition took place, it didn’t happen overnight and yet it seems as if overnight here I am with two cat boxes to clean and four more male personalities to contend with. How on earth did this ever happen to me? I say that with tongue in cheek because my life is richer and more full than I ever imagined and we have more fun, all of us (even Girlie Sue is getting into the spirit of things, something I never thought I would see in a 13 year old warrior princess) but we still have some issues to work on because not everyone is quite sure about these furry little critters that swat at you as you walk past the chair from some place inside the cushion. The last cat to move inside is Thomason, Tommy, our ultimate barn cat. All of our boys are neutered, but Tommy is still a tomcat. For any of you that watched the movie “A Christmas Story” over the holidays to remind yourselves of your youth in the late 40’s and early 50’s, if you can picture the bully in the movie named Skut Farkus you can visualize Tommy. I swear they could be twins in both looks and personality. Tommy regularly beats up Booger, even though Booger is twice his size. Booger was the original king of the house and Tommy was the king of the barnyard, and any time Booger dared step into Tommy’s kingdom he got the short end of the stick. Well, now that everyone is in the house Tommy still holds the upper hand and hangs out 24 hours a day in the dining room, the very room where the food bowl is kept, so now I have to walk Booger into the dining room so he can eat. I’m not sure how I became the referee of the cats but I know have a new hat to wear and I just can’t say no when Booger comes and sits by my chair and stares at me with those big eyes, drilling his thoughts into my head until I have no choice but to get up. I don’t know how he does it because no one else has ever figured out how to get me up out of my chair that fast. You can ask my husband. He asks me to do something and my response is “just a minute and I’ll get it.” Booger stares at me and it’s like feet don’t fail me now because I have to move! DonCato started out as the second cat inside and he was a kitten non grata because every time you picked him up he insisted on licking you incessantly, and those little kitty tongues aren’t made for licking people skin. It was like he was obsessed. After a while you wanted to run from him but he wanted to be inside so bad that we played this game where he tried to sneak in every time we let the dogs out, and we’d turn around and there he was. Finally when he learned to control his licking he was able to stay in the house longer and longer, and I suppose that was the beginning of the end for my outside cats. And last but not least was Bartholomeow, black Bart, in line with DonCato for the sweetest and most loving cat of the bunch. However, since he’s black from head to toe with just a white hair here and there he didn’t know not to be in the walking lanes on the path to the door and I can’t tell you how many times he went flying in the middle of the night as I was walking in the dark to let the dogs out. You’d be surprised how far a kitty can fly when he’s drop kicked in the dark through no intention of mine, but it was kind of like a football kicker going for the point after. I’m half asleep after Girlie Sue poked me with her cold nose six or seven times to tell me that she needs to go out and there is poor Bart, in the dark, about to sail through the air with the greatest of ease. He has learned to stay out of the traffic lanes, much to his credit, but he did sail six or seven times before he got the hint. You can’t see a black cat in the dark, and he didn’t suffer any consequences from his midnight flying routines, so no harm, no foul. Zoeybean, our latest adoptee, still isn’t sure why she isn’t supposed to chase the cats and I’m not sure who starts it (it could be either of them) but all will be quiet and the next thing I know cats are taking the high road across me in my chair while Zoeybean is giving chase below, trying her best to catch one. When I scold her and tell her cats aren’t for playing she gives me that look like “Pleeeeez Mom, just let me have one, we have so many!!!!!!!!” And Action Jackson, he’s the great protector of all living things. If Zoeybean goes after the cats Jack gets in between Zoey and the cat with a curt growl to let her know those cats are his friends and she is NOT to mess with them. He is the largest, most powerful, loving animal I have ever known and he protects his friends at any cost, even though Zoeybean is his very best friend, his love for all animals comes before even his own personal satisfaction. And no matter how rowdy the games get during the day, at night we all come together as a family in our bedroom and sleep as one big family. Lately we’ve had two dogs and two cats in bed with us every morning when we wake up. Thank goodness they invented king size beds or we’d be sleeping on the floor and the animals would take over the pillows. And in the morning when it’s time to go out I walk to the door with three large dogs and four cats in tow, trying to find a place for my feet amongst all those paws, reaching around them to open the door a crack until they all manage their way out to do their business and come back in to start another day of making me the luckiest person on this earth. Who has time to sit around and feel sorry for themselves because I am in pain and my legs don’t work like I want them to when I have all this love surrounding me. When I see Girlie Sue, Warrior Princess, sleeping on the couch with Booger, sleeping right above her with his paw hanging down, touching her, and I know this would never have happened one short year ago, or Action Jackson protecting his friends, the cats, and Zoeybean, learning that cats are our friends to play with and love, to treat gently and have fun with, well, it’s just a good feeling. When I hold DonCato and Bart in my lap as I write Tail Talk and feel the softness of their fur against my skin, knowing the love and appreciation they have for me for taking them in and giving them a home when so many are euthanized because there is no one to love them I just don’t understand this world. I don’t understand how I can be the one to be so lucky. But am I lucky, or have I just come to a place in my life where I stopped being so rigid that I stopped saying no to everything that might bring joy to me. Hmmm. Bring joy to me. Interesting concept. Why is it that we have so much difficulty with that. Is it because we’re afraid our house will be messy when someone stops by? Who stops by? Do they live in your skin? Do they fight your battles? Do they feel the emptiness and longing of wanting something or someone to love you unconditionally? No they don’t. We need to stop worrying about what is unimportant in this world and begin to fill our lives with the love that can be yours if you open your home and your heart to shelter animals. My gray days are filled with laughter and joy, brought to me by my friends, my three big dogs and my four inside cats. You too can have this. It’s waiting for you right now at the Randolph County Humane Society. And never forget, it is only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives, one by one.
How I came to live in a cathouse.
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