Many cats.
I won't bore you with the exact number, but if you really must know, it's less than 8 and more than 6.
Don't judge.
The majority of our cats are barn cats.
Meaning they go outside and hunt mice in the barn and in the pastures.
And they catch birds.
And drink the water on the pool cover.
And for some reason all of our cats look alike.
There are subtle differences.
Popcorn has an all-white underbelly.
Cali is a tortie.
She's a beautiful mix of browns and blacks and golden reds.
But everyone is a tabby.
Meaning brown and tanish/gray with stripes.
Everyone except one fella.
A fella named Don Diego.
He sticks out like a peacock amongst poodles.
He's part Siamese.
Siamese cats have large ears, a pointy head, a long body and a 20 foot long tail.
And they yell.
Very.
Loudly.
I walk into the room where Don is and fall over backwards from the volume that comes from within his body.
He's just saying "hello", but it comes out as "HEEEEELLLLLOOOOO!!!!"
He yells because the water bowl is empty.
He yells at the back door because he wants to go into the basement (which is his version of outside.)
He yells at 4 AM when I get up to pee.
As if he's saying "HEY, YOU'RE UP!! ME, TOO!!!!
We got Don in 2007.
We had only been on the farm a few months and only had one cat.
See what farm life does...makes you get cats.
Tiger was that cat and Zoe was 2.
Tiger did NOT want Zoe or anyone messing with him.
All a 2 year old wants to do is mess with a cat.
So, one afternoon Zoe and I wandered over to the humane society.
I may have told Chad.
Or I may not have.
Anywho, we saw this 4 month old kitten with his brother hanging in the kitten room at the shelter.
I had had a black and white cat as a child and always had a fondness for them.
What really got me was his "freckle".
The big black beauty mark to the left of his nose.
Alrighty, we'll take that one!
We were told he was born at the shelter and his mother was black and white short hair.
Nothing about the dad.
But he must have been the Siamese.
Don can stretch out on our queen size bed and he touches both sides.
No lie.
He follows me around and really only likes to sit with me.
Chad calls him my puppy.
He likes to sleep on Zoe's bed.
He will only eat his cat food on the table in our laundry room.
There are food bowls on the floor, but he won't have any part of them.
He has many names.
He's officially Don Diego de la Vega (Zorro's real name!)
But we call him...
Don
Donny
Donald
Puppy
Be Quiet!
Shut Up!
Hold It Down Will Ya!
Want to wake the kids at a certain time?
Get a Don Diego and have him stand in their room when he's hungry.
He'll wake them up in no time!!
Part 2 in a series titled "Pets" I'll be doing.
Love the 20 foot long tail! My father in law has a farm and we joke that although he gave up any livestock years ago, it is also a ranch...a cat ranch. He refuses to leave for any amount of time (even put off going to have part of his lung removed because of cancer!) unless he can find someone he thinks isn't too stupid to care for his cats...and oh yeah, his farm. I think it is just part of having a farm! :)
ReplyDeleteI am a "cat person" and loved this post.
My first cat was named Choppy Bacon. I was 5 and my parents let me name him. He was also a lot like a dog.
Currently our cat is Sparkle Marbles. She looks exactly like our last cat, who died in my arms after being attacked by coyotes in our backyard! I think we should have just named Sparkle Marbles the same name as the last cat so I look and sound like less of an idiot for calling her the name of a cat that has been dead for 6+ years.
I bet your father-in-law and I would get along famously!
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