Crazy Cat Lady

When I was young, I dreamed of having cats live inside my house (growing up, all my cats were outside pets).  I would have lots of cats - at least a dozen.  Maybe twenty.  I loved kitties and I wanted to give as many as possible a good home.  It wasn't until much later that I realized that people who do that kind of thing are considered mentally unstable by their neighbors - that I would officially be a "crazy cat lady".

I did grow up to have inside kitties, despite marrying a man who is allergic (our first cat was his call, not mine... and his allergies are almost non-existent now) and years of renting (hint: get your pet declared a service animal).  But, I found that I HATE the smell of litter boxes and I HATE the fear that my house smells like I own cats.  So, I had good incentive to keep the kitty population of the house/apartment down.  Yet, despite all this, I seem to find myself gravitating toward CRAZY CAT LADY.  Here's the photographic evidence (all taken in the last 15 minutes):

Here's Padme, who's been with us from the beginning, surveying her kingdom from the front window.  She was an only child, then had a little sister (Sache) who Beorn rescued as a tiny, wild kitten, then she was an only child again when Sache left us (temporarily) when we left college.  But that separation became permanent when Sache decided (despite an earlier, expensive, run-in with a car) that car wheels are good places to hang out.  :(

Several years passed with Padme as an only child and then one day I fell in love with Arwen in Petsmart (currently hiding in my closet among my accommodating snoopy collection).  She's a Turkish Angora - the kind of cat I've always dreamed of owning.  So, we were back to a two cat family.

Several years later, Lucy showed up at a neighbors house (shown here in her own hidey-hole in the dress-up cupboard).  They didn't want her, she didn't have a collar and didn't belong to anyone nearby, so she ended up coming home with us.  Adding number three was good, since Padme doesn't like other cats around and poor Arwen needed a playmate.

More years passed.  I was pretty happy with three kitties.  Then a friend was moving and couldn't take her cat... so add number four, Dunkin, the world's biggest scaredy cat (getting this pic of him is truly a miracle).

And now..... (drum roll, please)..... as you all knew would happen..... here's kitty number FIVE, He who must not be named, better known as Voldemort, and now known as Tom Riddle  (or Thomas, for short). 

Yup, this kitty has adopted us.  No collar, no chip.  I figure he really must not have anywhere better to go to since he puts up with the other cats and the dog and Nini carrying him around, stays in the yard when he goes out and even comes when you call his name.


Yes.  Five kitties. 


Beorn says I'm one short of "crazy cat lady" but I'm not so sure...





(And, for those of my family who are wondering... yes, Thomas does look a lot like Jazz:

for the rest of you - this is Jazz, my kitty from growing up.  He lived to be like 14!)