kirktastic

It is kitty anniversary weekend. Peanut and Doodlebug came to live with me 4th of July weekend in 2001. At first they weren’t too keen on my and their new surroundings. They really did not dig the car ride to my place. It must have been gee, 10 miles. It took a few weeks for them to finally warm up to me and realize as far as humans go, their new human didn’t suck that bad. There were few ground rules: don’t puke on the carpet or furniture, don’t scratch the sofa. They think of these rules as mere guidlines. They are demanding. If their food is not in the bowl, the water dish not full of cold clean water, and their litter box is not tidy, they will let me know. If you’ve every had a 18 pound cat jump on you at 2am while you are asleep, it only takes once or twice to always remember to make sure the bowl has food in it before going to bed. Although sometimes she does it to fuck with me. Even sweet kitties like Pea and Doodlebug have a little evil in them.

They can be a pain in the ass, but most of the time they are a pleasure to have around. Peanut always likes to hang out with me. If I’m on the sofa watching TV, she’ll be on the sofa with me. If I go into the kitchen, she follows me or at least moves to a position to nap to make sure I’m not doing something that she should be a part of — like eating turkey. She sleeps in my bed and when I turn out the lights and get ready for bed, she’ll go into the bedroom and stake our her place on the guest pillow. The Doodlebug is a little more aloof and doesn’t want to come across as some sort of lacky so she’ll do whatever she wants. But she will make a point of coming to get her head and ears itched after I get home from work. She has a few favorite spots. The chest of drawers in my bedroom is at the perfect height for her to stand on and get a commanding view of the room, and when I walk by she can demand to be petted. It is also too high for Peanut to jump so she doesn’t have to worry about fighting for the territory. Her other favorite place is a cabinet in my bathroom — again too high for Peanut to jump to. She can’t open the door herself since it is so high from the ground like she can the floor level doors, but she’ll let me know if I accidentally shut it. Rather than the clean linens I kept on that shelf, I now put an old beach towel for her to sit on.

The cats were 3 years old (Doodlebug was born in August 1997, Peanut in September 1997) and now they are 10. They won’t be around forever and I couldn’t imagine not having them around. Because of Peanut’s weight issues and refusal to diet she will probably pass on to her next life before the Doodlebug. They’re like good friends that can cheer me up when I’m feeling down and entertain me with their silliness.