My new familiar

July 18th 2006 my beautiful cat Miss Pitty Pat died of kidney failure. From that day until Wednesday of this week (1/23/08) I hadn't been ready for another cat. Okay so maybe in the last couple months I had started making noises about getting another kitty and had been sort of looking on Craig's List and at the Dumb Friends League. I knew I wanted a Siamese or Siamese mix cat this time around instead of another Tabby because I was afraid I'd be comparing the new kitty to Miss Pitty Pat and that wouldn't be fair. I also knew I didn't have a lot of money to spend on rescuing a cat.

Wednesday night Jonathan discovered we did indeed have a mouse in the house as I had been telling him and encouraged me to step up the search for a new cat. His cat, Smoke, is 18 years old and spends all his time in the basement, so he wasn't going to help with the mouse situation. Anyway I digress, just before I went to bed on Wednesday night I checked Craigs list again and found what was listed as a Flame point Siamese in need of a new home for free! Even though it was 9:30 and I hesitate to call anyone that late, I did call about this cat whose name was Jade. I learned he was 6 months old, intact and in need of shots. His owner was giving him and his brother away because she was pregnant and due to deliver next month. We made arrangements for the cat to be delivered the next night. The owner wanted to check out the new home for her cat.

The next morning I told Jonathan about the newest member of our family and what his name was. We both agreed that Jade was not a good name for a male cat. Jonathan had always wanted to name a male "Chairman Meow" and we thought okay why not. When our new baby arrived we realized that it didn't feel right to call him Chairman Meow and that it wasn't his name. I suggested "Sinatra" since he has pretty blue eyes, but Jonathan nixed that saying it wasn't his name either. Jonathan suggested "Jack" which I nixed immediately since the neighbors dog's name is Jack. I had been toying with the name "Simon" previously to the "Chairman Meow" idea and suggested that. Jonathan and I both agreed that was the perfect name for him. In fact, Jonathan went so far as to say "Simon Says" so that's his name although we call him Simon and it fits so well.

As you can see, Simon is not a Flame point but a Tabby point. He has so much personality too!! I've been sleeping with him at night in the spare bedroom so he's not totally alone while he and the dogs make the adjustment. What a snuggle kitty he is. This little boy LOVES to be petted and stroked and loves to knead my hair.

And speaking of the dogs..........what a challenge this is going to be. They are curious and want to sniff him but he's terrified having never been around dogs before. I've ensconced him in the spare bedroom with toys, food, water and a litter box. During the day while I'm not home the door stays shut. When I am here the door is open and the baby gate is up so the boys can see him and vice versa and become familiar with each other. Only problem is when the boys see Simon they start barking and want to get in where he is, to sniff I hope. I've had to resort to their electronic collars to re-enforce that this is not acceptable. Today I'm going to bring him down and put him in Murphy's crate so they can all actually see each other without Simon hiding under the bed. Should be interesting.

New Year's Promise for 2008

Wow, already 6 days into the new year 2008! That's so hard to beleive. 30-35 years ago I couldn't begin to fathom ever reaching this year. It was hard enough to think about the year 2000 and the change of a century and now look. We are 8 years into that new century and it really isn't to bad at all.
I learned long ago not to make New Year's Resolutions because I wasn't going to keep them. This year instead of making any resolutions, or even thinking about making them, I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would take the boys, Murphy and Bugs, out for a walk every day weather permitted. So far so good. I figured that if I made a promise I was more inclined to keep it. This promise will benefit both the dogs and me. I'd like to lose 20-30# before I go home to VA for O'livia's graduation and going for walks will help with this. The walks should also strenghten my hip and lower back and the boys get the exercise they need, especially Murphy.
I made the idea of taking the dogs for a walk easier by buying a dual leash coupler. Trying to walk them on two seperate leashes was difficult to say the least. Murphy would walk by my side as he should but Bugs, being the inquisitive boy that he is, was attempting to pull me all over the place so he could explore. I couldn't take one dog without the other so I didn't take either of them. With the coupler and a shorter leash, the dogs seem less inclined to pulling me and it seems to be helping Bugs to be teethered next to Murphy. We've gone every day of this new year and the boys are looking forward to it as a new treat when I come home from work.
So again I am making this promise. I PROMISE TO TAKE THE DOGS FOR A WALK EVERY DAY THAT WEATHER PERMITS!!!!