Cat-A-Combs

With so much time on my hands the past few months I sometimes wonder if I did the right thing moving an hour north of the city.  It gets a little lonely at times but I do have my cats to keep me company and it's all getting pretty weird.  Infact as I'm writing this I have one cat laying on my right arm and another laying on my left arm so I only have movement from my wrists down.

When I started taking in strays I figured I'd have to build something for them to live in.  Because I live in an old farm house I don't have a basement per se so I converted a 2 car garage into cat rooms or as I call them the "cat-a-combs".  I dressed up part of it as a rec room. The cats have free reign and they have those cat flaps so they can get outside.

These days I spend virtually all of my time with them.  I play with them, I brush them and (I hate to admit this) I talk with them.  During the evening when I'm watching sports Maynard usually sits beside me.  Goalie makes the save and I say to Maynard, did you see that?  That was robbery.  It obviously didn't impress Maynard.  He continues cleaning himself.

Kramer (who I call the Red Rocket) is a little slow.  Put a cat toy down and the other cats immediately start batting it around.  Put one in front of Kramer and he stares at it.  He thinks it's going to move by itself. I don't think Kramer understands Newton's Laws of Motion. I have to give the toy a little kick before the game is on.  I'm looking for remedial cat claasses to send him to.

Simon is the class clown, a free spirit and a delinquent.  If he was a person he'd be doing time.  Now the food and the water are communal.  About a year ago Simon would go to one of the several water dishes, take a drink, climb on board and pee in it.  Yes, I immediately wash it out and freshen it up but what pees me off is that the little bugger does it right in front of me. No Fear and no shame. 

Simon also has an interesting habit of waking me up.  He licks my nose.  Could be midnight, could be 2 am.  He can't tell time.  Which is interesting.  Every night, just before I have my dinner I give all the cats some treats.  I've never figured this out but it's like clockwork.  The treats are in the laundry room and at about 5 o'clock every afternoon they start to gather around the laundry room door.  By 10 after, if they haven't been given them yet, they start  meowing.  It's like the Vienna Boys Choir at a keg party. How the hell do they know what time it is?

Tell you about one more of the guys.  Bad Boy - Bad Boy.  He got the name because when he first showed up he was a bad boy.  Every time I saw him I'd start singing that song from the tv show "Cops"...."bad boy, bad boy what you gonna do, what you gonna do when they come for you".  Thing is when you say his name you have to sing it like they do on the show.  The folks at the vetrinary clinic thought I had lost my mind but after a while they sang his name every time I brought him in.

Oh and one last thing about cats.  If you have cats DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get a herding dog.  I did.  Herding dogs are bred to herd and that's what they do.  Cats can't be herded and that's that they don't do.  It's not a good a combination.  Fun to watch some times but really. not a good combination.