CAT TALES

 Over the years I've been writing this blog . . .

       (. . . 14 now! Will he never shut up?)

. . . I have from time to time thought I should explain how I picked the name of my avatar - Catalyst.

It's pretty simple.

An on-line dictionary defines that word as "a person or thing that precipitates an event" and uses as an example "the governor's speech acted as a catalyst for debate".

I don't pretend to be a governor or any other politician.

I just wanted to act as a precipitator of thought, of discussion, and - more and more these days - of humor.

But various and sundry of my commenters have referred to me from time to time as Cat, shortening the word.

And I can appreciate that for my love of a certain species.

So I thought I'd take you through the years with some of my friends.

Way back in 1972, as we were proceeding merrily from Indiana to Arizona, camping along the route, we had our first two members of this tribe with us.

They are Pax and Primo, shown here leashed to keep them from escaping into the wilds around Shamrock, Texas.

It was not St. Patrick's Day but closer to the Fourth of July and those cautious glances may have been prompted by some fireworks.

A few years later, Pax had grown and they were much more relaxed.

Primo was the first of our black cats.

But as anyone who has ever had a pet knows there always comes a time of parting.

Years later, we were living in Guadalajara, Mexico, and had succumbed to an urge to once again have a cat in our family and we found a tiny Siamese kitten in a pet shop.

Chulapay (Spanglish for "Cutie Pie") loved to enjoy the warmth under my desk lamp as I worked on a very ancient and rudimentary computer.

We brought her back to El Norte when we returned and she grew into a beautiful and well-loved adult.

She was joined by a feisty rascal we named Jazz.

But Jazz wasn't nearly as nasty as that smear of color on one side of his face made him look.

Somewhere along in here we got this curious sweetie.

Prompted by the M on her forehead, I named her Muggles.

That was before I knew that all tabbies have an M on their forehead.

She, too, calmed down over the years and I think became Judy's favorite, though it's hard to pick a favorite cat.

Through the years a number of cats have adopted us.

There was one sunny fellow I called simply the Gold Cat, because he wasn't around for long.

And there was the beautiful big gray acrobat we named Smoke.

(Pretty imaginative, huh?)

He started out just napping in an outdoor chair but soon moved into our home.

And our last cat member of our family was the beloved Blackwell.

He showed up bleeding from a fight with some other denizen of the neighborhood and wouldn't leave so he became My Special Cat.

He apparently had a sense of humor too.

He was our last feline family member.

Well, sort of.

This guy showed up one day and has taken to paying us nearly daily visits for kitty treats, a drink or two of water, some catnip, lots of petting and frequently a good long nap.

He is Matty and he lives with our neighbors across the street.

That is, when he's not paying his visits to us and others in the neighborhood.

His "dad" told me one day that Matty has been in every house on the block!

Having reached a ripe old age we have vowed that our "visiting cat" will be our last cat.

Of course, we'll still have The Blue Cat, who doesn't seem to mind the weather.