Monday, November 17, 2008

So cute it makes my teeth ache

I tell you, the amount of cute in the house is absolutely staggering.

Not just Thing 4, who, bless MY heart, while cute, never, ever ever ever stops talking. Yes, I should count my blessings, yes, they are healthy and happy and creative and active, ye gods are they active, but really, all I want to do now is put my head under a pillow for about a week.

But when I put my head under my pillow (sleeping with an elaborate System of Pillows is a holdover from my very first days at college), I'm not getting lots of sleep. Not because of talking children, but because of this:


He looks pretty quiet there, doesn't he? But a five month old cat is still enough kitten that tearing around in the night after the other two, temptingly adult, cats, is more than he can resist. Fortunately he has orange eyelashes (orange eyelashes!) and I find him endearing.

How did I end up with three cats? Am I really trying to go the Crazy Lady route? My hair is increasingly gray and curly; I'm still skinny enough that my clothes are falling off, so yes, the evidence is pretty strong that I'm just a few shopping bags shy of muttering to myself.

We got the Elusive Gray Cat, named Grebo, from the pound after our black kitten/cat ran off and was eventually presumed dead. We loved the gray cat -- big, bowling ball head and very affectionate. But when we got him home, it became quickly apparent that 1) the resident, lovely Burmese hated him and 2) he was going to pretty much stay under Thing 1's bed. He's a cat we more or less just support, rather than engaging with. It's been about four months, and he's still extremely shy.

Eventually, I discovered that another Russian Blue was at the shelter, and I thought, "We'll get another gray cat and there will be at least one where I can see it." So we went, and looked, and she was, well, boring. But. . .

There was a little orange cat, and we let him out just to say hi, and he rocketed around, batting at things, and then climbed the cages to a cubbyhole over our heads and by the time we pulled a bench over there and hauled him down and finally stopped laughing, we thought, "Well, why not?"

And that is how I moved from a relatively sane Two Cat Household to a Really Pushing It Three Cat one, but I'm not scooping, so I'm free to love the new one as much as I want to.

There's enough angst, real horrible sorrow, hurt feelings, bad job situations, financial crises, political misfortune, and pain to go around. For tonight, I'm going to celebrate Fred Weasley, our small clown cat.

10 comments:

Katherine said...

Awwww, Fred Weasley...

Getting another gray cat just so you have one that's visible puts you close to the muttering, methinks. But then you probably couldn't get a mutter in edgewise. (O never ever stops talking either.)

Spider said...

Cleo, Greebo and Fred.

Jodi said...

Fred Weasley's cute as can be. 3 is still a reasonable number of cats. :-) BTW, my 13-year old cat still is very active at night. So much so that the cats get to spend the night in their own bedroom.

Kristen said...

Your cat looks just like mine. If you wanted a matching pair, round out the number to four, I'd be happy to ship him out to you!

allisonmariecat said...

Oh, he looks so much like early photos of our Geronimo! (Who, I might add, once climbed a screen door and had to be rescued. And never met a water glass he didn't tip over. Oy, he was a tough kitten, and he was supposedly adult when we adopted him!) What a cutie. And I LOVE his name. Perfect.

Three cats isn't so bad. Seems reasonable to me, especially if you're not on litterbox patrol.

Lilah's not even two, but I can tell she'll be at the "no word in edgewise" stage before too long. She tells us something, then repeats it over and over, louder and louder, until we stop what we're doing and give her the proper, full attention she deserves.

Robin said...

FRED WEASLEY!! I love him! He's so cute and I love the orange eyelashes. What a perfect name.

Helen said...

He's adorable!
But be careful... George may be lurking somewhere. They're rarely apart....
I'm struggling against the lure of more cats. We have two. Two is enough. But soon, I'm going to have to take child 2 to the humane society for the pet she's now earned the "right" to have. And there will be kittens...
and I will want one.

And it will be hard. Perhaps I'll just take the last well cat vet bill in with me to remind me why we don't want another one.

patricia said...

I'm fairly certain I've heard you muttering to yourself.

If I hear it again, I'll be sure to point it out. "You're muttering again, dear. Here, let me help you button your sweater..."

suzee said...

I hope none of that bad stuff is specific to your household, and that you mean, "in general."

Cute kitty...as cats go. I like them best at other people's houses, as you know. :-)

amanda j said...

Oh, you know I feel your cat pain at the moment! Are you telling me your first cat still hates the second cat? Aaargh!

Can you go and sleep somewhere else for a night? Luxury hotel with room service perhaps?

PS my word verification is 'abless'. Do you think it's a sign?