How We Acquired a Cat!

Okay, I have to admit, I was never crazy about cats! Not really!

When I was a child we had a dog. A little beagle/collie mix. She was sweet, cute and fun to play with.

We brought our dog home with us when I was about 5 years old. She was MINE! Everyone always called Tippy, "Laurie's dog!" She slept on my bed at night (shhh, my mother didn't know that). In fact, I used to put her head right up there on the pillow next to my own head.

Tippy lived a long life of 18 years, before we had opted to have her put to sleep. She had lost control of most of her bodily functions, and she was probably in a lot of pain from just being so old.

Dad said when he was digging her grave out in the back yard (behind the shed), Tippy kept sneaking out of the garage. She kept sniffin' around the hole he was digging and he'd shoo her back into the garage. Then she'd sneak back out again! He said he cried the whole time he was digging her last resting place.

I can remember after my college classes one particular day, while working at the local grocery store, I looked up at the clock. Knowing it was about the time that my dad was taking Tippy to the vet to put her down, I bawled like a baby! She was a part of my life for 18 years after all!

Sniff! Sniff!


Oh, yeah, where was I? That's right, the cat.

Well, the boy wanted a dog so bad when he was growing up. Now, you know my experience was so enjoyable growing up with a dog, you'd think I'd readily agree. No! Not so!

See, we live in town. There's a leash law. We have a small unfenced yard. The dog would have to be walked every single day. I knew my son and well, to be honest, I knew I would end up walking the dog. I was not going to give in to my son about having a dog. I mean, come on, he had a goldfish! Wasn't that enough? (I know I'm bad!)

But one day when the boy was about 13 years old, he had gone hunting down in the southern tier of the state with my hubby. They hunted on property that belonged to my hubby's high school buddy. They had a big, old farm. They had cats running hither and yon. They had barns and the cats loved being in the barns. The owners were happy to have them, because they kept the mouse population to a minimum.

Now the owner of the farm was married to a veterinarian. She usually caught most of the kitty cats at some point and spayed them, but there were a few that escaped her notice. Those are the cats that bred and populated their farm. The mighty mousers, they were!

When my son and hubby went hunting down on the farm, the boy noticed that they had this cute little liter of kitties! Yup! They were beautiful, most especially this one little runt of the liter. She was a beautiful, little calico cat.

The boy came home all excited and asked me if he could bring that pretty, little calico cat home next time they went to the farm. I told him that I'd rather he didn't. I knew it would become my cat to feed, clean the liter box, etc.

Long story short, the next time they went to the farm, hubby came into the house and said, "Please don't be mad at us! She's just too cute! We had to have her!"

Ugh! A kitten! They brought home that kitten!

They opened the box that they had put her in for the trip home.

Two beautiful, clear, green eyes peeped out between two pure white paws and were peering at me over the edge of the box as if to say, "Ain't I cute?"

I fell in love with her! She instantly became MINE! (although I do share her with my son, because he's crazy about her).

Her name is Calico and to me, she's beautiful!