Merry is my middle name...

Scooter: Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrraaaaaaaaaaghhhhhh!!

Me: Sit still!!

Scooter: My ears, my ears!!

Me: Sit still.

Scooter: This is cruel.

Me: It's once a year and if you'd just sit still it would be over.

Scooter: This isn't fair.

Me: What isn't fair is the fact that you lounge on the sofa like a beached walrus.

Scooter: Was that necessary??

Me: Yes.

Scooter: Make this snowman go away.

Me: Why can't you be festive like other cats I've seen??

Scooter: Me?? I love Christmas...the turkey, the lights (they're tasty too), the turkey, the tree (the needles are like tiny little toothpicks), the turkey...

Me: Yeah, ok, ok, I got the idea.

Scooter: It seems to me that you're making too much of this photo op.

Me: Well, hold on tinsel boy, I haven't gotten out the Santa hat or the reindeer antlers yet.

Scooter: Can't we just go straight to the turkey??

Me: A few more shots and we'll talk.

Scooter: Well, don't you just know that MERRY is my middle name!!

The Green Eyed Monster...

The Green Eyed Monster

Me: What are you staring at??
Scooter: Her.
Me: Her, meaning Cricket??
Scooter: Yes...I'm plotting her demise.
Me: Uh...why??
Scooter: Woe and general nonhappiness.
Me: Woe?? ...and I don't think "nonhappiness" is a word
Scooter: I'm suffering grave mental anguish and you're worried about grammar.
Me: Oh not this again. I love you equally and in different ways.
Scooter: She's trying to be cute and steal your affection.
Me: She IS cute...but Scooter you'll always be my baby...my "little man".
Scooter: She's staring at me.
Me: Uh, could be because you're staring at HER.
Scooter: It's a little disconserting.
Me: The two of you are hopeless.
Scooter: Maybe I could just strong arm her. You know, show her my general strength and natural prowess.
Me: Ah...be the man sort of thing??
Scooter: Yeah...like run at full tilt...show her how fast I am.
Me: Like "the chair incident" the other day??
Scooter: Well, that was uncalled for. I don't feel comfortable talking about it.
Me: We'll leave that for another day then??
Scooter: Another day...another millenia
Me: You scared the giblets out of me...not to mention Rebecca.
Scooter: I was trying to keep you on your toes.
Me: It scared YOU.
Scooter: That's below the belt.
Me: You don't wear a belt.
Scooter: Details.
Me: Don't you have something to shred??
Scooter: No, but I'm thinking about tossing a hairball on the rug.
Me: I can't wait.
Scooter: You DO care.


There are times that I wonder what goes through the mind of a cat. No, scratch that (pun intended) there are times I wonder if ANYTHING goes through the mind of a cat.
Cricket...the new girl on the block is quite enjoying her life of leisure. She has staked out little places that are her exlusive domain and there she's quite content to snooze and snore.
Scooter, on the other hand feels it necessary to impress the fire out of Cricket. I thought at first that he'd get this out of his system but oh no...EVERY day is "I'm the man...look at me day". On Wednesday, Rebecca was with me...home sick from school. She snoozed on the sofa and had the occasional sip of apple juice. I was doing my best to keep the house quiet so that she would rest. Little did I know...

Out of the blue Scooter bounded like a Banshee on steroids!! His shoulders and head down he ran like a bull moose in the rut. Instead of downing trees Scooter headed straight for the glider rocker.

Rebecca turned to watch...

I was by the stereo...

Scooter went in for the kill...

What happend next is a little blurry...

There was a crash. Rebecca bolted up. I very nearly brought the stereo down on top of me.

And.............................Cricket??

She didn't even open her snoozing eyes.

Poor Scooter. He got the worst of it. Not only was he embarassed...his eyes were huge and he had a look of terror that is only seen in really bad Sci-Fi movies from the 50's. He retreated to the girls' room.

Rebecca was impressed with the rocker lying prone on the floor. My heart rate reached an all-time high. Scooter's ego was bruised. Cricket slept.

Life goes on.

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...

IT'S ANOTHER CAT!!

a>

Scooter: Oh wooooooe is me.
Scooter: Oh wooooooe is me.
Scooter: Oh wooooooe is me.

Me: Uh, Scooter...
Scooter: Oh the pain, the suffering, the heartbreak of psoriasis.
Me: You don't have psoriasis.
Scooter: It's worse. You brought home a cat. A girl cat. A FEEEEmale.
Me: Isn't she great Scooter??
**(And this is where it got interesting!!)
Scooter: "Mmrmrrrrroooooorwrooooweroooowerooooweroooowerooower"
CRICKET: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Erik: What was that??
Scooter: **See above.
CRICKET: YAAAAAAAAAAAAWN.
Me: Are we sensing jealousy here??
Scooter: No. Angst. Anger. Plotting.
Me: Scooter...just look at her!! She's adorable.
Scooter: She's "here". How long is she staying?? A couple of days?? A week?? I guess a week would be ok. I could hang out under the couch and shred the wall.
Me: Well big fella...it's like this...
Scooter: WHAT????? No no no no no no no. Look, I'm a stand up guy (He is...he begs like a dog.) but what's with the girly girl?? We don't need her. Look at her...she's a girl. She's going to sit around all day and primp.
Me: Uh, YOU primp all day.
Scooter: Ok, bad example. Stop wounding me like this. I won't blap for a week!! I'll come when you call me!! I won't turn my nose up at my food (except that icky stuff I don't like). Me: You're ok with this?

Scooter: I'm hungry.
Me: This is getting off topic.

Scooter: I'll be under the sofa shredding the wall.

/a>

And thus...we got Cricket.

I love cats. I can't help it and make no apologies for it. When it comes to cats as pets they are obnoxious, rude, standoff-ish and downright cuddly.

It's been almost three weeks now and Cricket the Cat is settling in nicely. Although his poor nose is slightly out of joint, Scooter is coming to terms with the fact that there is now another mouth to feed and we really do still love him.

Cricket could care less about the fact that there is another cat in the house, and given the chance she would become the "Alpha Dog". Scooter is when all is said and done, a big marshmallow.

Cricket is 3 years old to Scooter's 9. She was adopted from a shelter run out of a local pet supply company. She had been in a home with her brother and a dog. Sadly, the children in the home developed allergies and the animals needed new "forever homes".

Kittens...those delicious little fluff balls are irresistible but there is something so endearing about an adult cat who really needs a home. They look at you with eyes that say, "I didn't get here by choice."

Scooter's reaction was important to us too however. He is after all good enough to let us live with him. We kept Cricket in a room by herself for a couple of days. This gave her time to settle in and get used to new smells and new surroundings. It gave Scooter a chance to get over his migraine.

Once the initial shock was over we slowly moved Cricket out into the living room. Over the week, we moved her food bowl ever closer to Scooter's. ("A plot...a plot", he cries!!)

Despite a few gnarly hissy fits...we're blending as a family. We've officially become 2 cats, no waiting.

There's a moral in here somewhere, but I can't think of it.

Shelley