kitty nest

Autumn. The time of year when kitties build their winter nests and spiky desert plants have blankets of cool bright leaves.

Well, at least MY cat builds winter nests. Good kitty.

We like to tell Ruby that Lola is a striped cat. Black with black stripes.

We also like to tell her that if she doesn't eat her breakfast she will grow a beard. She doesn't quite believe us, but when we declare we see a hair or two sprouting from her chin she definitely yowls and scarfs a few extra bits of apple.

I looking forward to using the 'pool shark' threat. You know, if you don't wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming- the pool shark can smell the pepperoni on your breath and will gobble you up like a sweet, screaming bon bon.

Did your parents utilize mythological tactics to get you to behave? I'd love to add more to my arsenal.

Yard Style

Some people are blessed with yard style. Some aren't. Ruby has it in spades. Get it? SPADES? Sorry.

Lola-la-la

Meet Lola, slim, pliable, black. My tiny panther, my sidekick for ten years, she accepts Jungleman's rough love with a saintly scowl and turns her nose up at anything but her 'meat cereal' or the ever popular canned tuna juice. Unlike her silent step sis Flashdance, she trills kitty questions like a lilting soprano "perrrrlou? pleeaow?" Where is my fresh filtered water? Why is your lap real estate taken up with fat bald children?

We sometimes call her "None more Black!" because if she closes her eyes, her face disappears. Her feline beauty is marred not by her slight under bite or dash of silver hairs, and she still holds her own against evil "bizarro Lola" from across the street and various roof climbing contests. Obsessed with water, she steals furtive mouthfuls from the fish tank, knocks over unattended glasses, and completely sabotaged my kitties using the toilet scheme when at the last stage of schooling she drank from the toilet bowl instead of relieving herself.

As a kitten she camped with me for months at a time (another story) and would sleep on a branch above my head, following me down hiking trails and riding around on my shoulder, or visiting all night coffee shops wearing her kitty harness.

Lola, may you live ten more years and prosper, and may your whiskers grow long and stately.