AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

We had to have Jazz put down a few weeks ago.  She had become incontinent and nothing we tried seemed to help.  If you've ever had an incontinent pet, you know the agony of having to clean up after her once or more every day.  So, after 8 years we tearfully said goodbye.

Jazz was our box-cat.  Any empty box on the floor became a home for her.

Even ones she couldn't get all of herself into.



She liked to jump up and stretch out on the back of my chair and if I invited her, she'd come down to my lap.



I don't know what she was thinking when she curled up in a bathroom sink one day but I know if we had turned the water on that scowl would have gotten fiercer and she would have fled.

She was a good little cat.  And she stayed little all her life.  As Blackwell evolved from a scarred up tiny kitten into a big, brawny male cat . . she seemed to grow more and more terrified of him.  But that's over now and we will remember our sweet Jazz.

So now it's time for the crocodile tears to end.  After all we still have two cats.



Big old Blackwell.

And his playmate, the lovable Muggles.

OHHHH, SHE'S HOME!

SWMBO has been away for a few days.  The BRD has been gone for a few days so SWMBO has been house- and cat-sitting for her.  Which left me at home with our three cats.  We got along all right but Muggles is definitely SWMBO's cat and she let me know it the last two days.  She would come into my den and cry and cry.  I would tell her that her mistress would be home in a day, and then I'd tell her she'd be home tonight.

So tonight when she came home, she was suddenly surrounded by all three cats . . . all of whom seemed to be saying "YOU CAME BACK . . . YOU REALLY CAME BACK!"

But Muggles was the most happy and she lay as close as possible, draped over the end of the couch, happy again.

Meantime, the big black boy cat, Blackwell, has finally discovered a way to get out of the back yard.  He found he can leap up to the top of the wall up by the gate and mince along the top of the fence and achieve freedom.

So after two evenings of that, I refused to let him out of the house.  Does this picture (through a screen door) appear to show a cat trying to shame me into letting him out?

Well, he can just wait.  SWMBO says I have to get him a harness and one of those 20 foot leashes with a button that pulls him back.

He'll just LOVE that.