TheBanyanTree: Not Bored

[Laura]

I have been whining to friends about being bored.  That 
whole arm-in-a-cast thing I talked about yesterday, ya' 
know.  The bored thing has been solved. 

Back in April I think it was, I had to take our old kitty 
Derby in to be euthanized.  He was 13 or 14, and his 
kidneys failed.  Since then, our 4 year old cat has been 
wandering around the house meowling for his buddy.

I mentioned to my spouse that Cheddar (the meowling kitty) 
really needed a new buddy.  Someone to beat up, someone to 
groom, someone to fight over the food bowl with.  After a 
day or so of paying attention to Cheddar's behavoir, the 
spouse agreed with me.

Today, we spent about an hour and a half at the local 
PetSmart, where all the local and nearby humane societies 
and shelters set up Saturday adoption centers.  As it 
turns out, July is Adopt-A-Cat month, and there were 
kittens and cats GALORE.  That makes sense when you think 
about it, most cats have their first litters of the year 
in the mid spring, late April or early May.  That makes 
the kittens of adoptable age in July.

When we walked into the place, the first thing that caught 
our eyes was the long line of black cages, as far as the 
eye could see, all the way to the back of the store.  
Well, that was the impression, but they really only went 
halfway back.  The spouse, for some reason, headed 
directly to a cage about halfway down the line, and 
immediately got down to eye level with a plain little 
brownish-tan kitty.  I stopped to look at the cats and 
kittens in each cage, and eventually worked my way back to 
where the spouse was now holding this plain little kitten.  
I could tell he wa already in love, but I made him go all 
the way around the store, looking at every cat and kitten 
in the place.

I suppose I should explain that.  See, everytime we make a 
purchase of any importance, a house, a car, furniture, a 
cat, or a dog, he makes me go all over town looking at 
every available whatever it is, even if I KNOW that the 
first one we saw is the one we'll end up getting.  So this 
was just a little payback. ;)  Yes, I'm evil.  :D

ANYway, we did end up back at that same cage, holding that 
first kitten the spouse had made eye contact with.  I 
filled out the paperwork (even one-handed, my handwriting 
is better than his), and Voila! we were the proud owners 
of a plain brown kitten.

It's funny - the more I look at him, the less plain he is.  
His face is beautiful.  He has the big ears, long muzzle 
and long tail of an oriental, with the large body and long 
legs of a domestic shorthair (moggie to you ferign types).  
His baby fur is indeen plain brownish-tan, but if you look 
closely enough, his adult guard hairs, which are just 
coming in, are a beautiful butterscotch.  His eyes are 
still a mixture of the baby blue and what will be his 
adult color, green.  He is going to be a gorgeous cat.  
Even if he's really ugly, we'll think he's wonderful!

Oh, his name?  Cheshire.  No, not *that* Cheshire cat.  
Think about it.  We have a cat named Cheddar.  Like 
cheddar cheese.  Now we have a cat named Cheshire.  Like 
Cheshire cheese!  See, Cheddar's fur is the color of 
cheddar cheese, and Cheshire (probably will be called 
Chess) is the color of Cheshire cheese.  Brilliant, no?

-- 
Wolfie
wolfljshus at insightbb.com