express yourself

To explain a little about the previous post, the "man" in our lives is our new cat, Rumpus, which we adopted from my sister. Jennifer lives in Long Beach, CA, and has several cats of her own, but when she discovered Rumpus alone out on the streets, clearly neglected and likely abused, she couldn't resist "saving" him, with the exuse that he was for us when we got a house. Well, we live in a house now, so now we have our first pet.

I have to say it has been so much fun. I've spent my whole life with at least 2 pets in the house, and at least 1 was a cat, but Chris has never had what I consider a "real" pet - just "city" pets like hamsters and parakeets. They just don't have the personality and demands of a cat, you know? And what demands! Rumpus has been a very good cat, behavior-wise - doesn't do anything anywhere he isn't supposed to, understands and mostly respects the word no, eats and drinks as he should, barely sheds, and the like. But boy does he LOVE love! He greets us at the door every day we come home, with yowls that go on and on until we pick him up and carrying him around like a toddler. Heaven forbid I take my bath before he's had a good petting and scratching - the world has come apart if I dare to even shut him out of the bathroom! He will wander in and out, walk all around and under the tub, even put his paws up on the rim of the tub to see if there is any conceivable way he can get in there with me.

Demanding as though he is, we are nonetheless really enjoying having him around. It has been an interesting new aspect to our relationship, this business of taking care of a living creature together. We seem to have naturally settled into a pattern of who does what, that so far seems to be working rather smoothly. Although I admit I probably say that because Chris does about 90 percent of the work - pretty much because I can't touch the litter of course, and don't usually have the energy to animate the ball of yarn every time the cat decides he needs to play, which is usually at 10 or 11 pm. Chris really loves it, though, and it has been good practice for us to have another body in the house to worry about. Not like caring for a cat is ANYTHING like caring for a child, but it is still better than nothing. So far the cat is still alive, healthy, and kicking, so I guess we are off to a good start!

P.S. Jennifer named him, we didn't. I have no idea where she got the name.