When we finally moved to an apartment of decent size, we got a cat.  We had been wanting one for a while, and had a surrogate cat when we lived in SF: Bosley was the guy downstairs', but he spent most of the day in our apartment, coming up the fire escape and in the window.  We both cried when he moved away, Bos was so cool.

So, we moved to Santa Clara and went to the shelter.  We saw a few kittIes that just needed our home, but decided on a grey and white one.  She hadn't been fixed, so we couldn't pick her up until the following Tuesday.  There had been this really pretty white cat that was older, and we both felt bad for it, thinking that no one would adopt it.  Unbeknownst to me, Liz had decided that we should adopt that one too.  When she went on Tuesday to pick up our cat Bitty, the white one had already been adopted!  So, in perfect Liz fashion, since she had already decided on getting a second cat, she just got a different one!  She brought home our third choice, a polydactyl calico we call "Thumbs" (thanks to John Tuuri for the name).

Not too long after, a friend of Liz's at work had to give up a cat because of a strict landlord, and we volunteered to give it a home.  This cat is an amazing cat.  On the way home from picking it up, Liz had car trouble, and had to wait for a tow truck.  Ophelia, the cat, sat in this tiny little cardboard carrying box, totally quiet for about 50 minutes!  I thought the box was empty, it was so quiet!  And it wasn't because she was scared -- she still likes to get in the cat carrier and get carried around!  Ophelia, Ophers as we call her, had apparently had four previous homes, and she was only a year old.  She had originally been a farm cat, and is one tough cat.  When she was fixed, her stitches came out, but when the doctor saw her, he was amazed, because she had just been holding it all together with her muscles!  She has an amazing personality, different from any other cat I've had.  Recently, when Liz was at the vet, she looked up at this poster on the wall of different types of cats, and said, "There's Ophers!"  The picture of one of the cats looked just like our Ophers.  So back home, Liz looked up the characteristics of the breed, and it matches to a T.  Ophers is a Somali.

So we were fine with three cats, although our little apartment was a little small for them.  We keep them indoors, cruel as it may sound, on the advice of most all vets.  It keeps the cats healthier and safer.  And no fleas.

In the meantime, Liz's friend Jennifer, who had given us Ophers, had befriended a feral cat in her apartment parking lot.  The cat used Jennifer's patio/garden to have a litter, and the giving away of kittens began.  Eventually only one was left.  I had been telling Liz that we were not going to get another one, and she was very good.  But one eve we were over at Jennifer's, and she picked up the last kitten, who she called "Squirt," and washed it.  I dried it, and it was shivering in the little towel, and I held it on my chest in the towel, and that was that.  "I guess we can have four." I mumbled.  We named him Zener.  He's a big kitty, and the only male of the bunch.

Zener has passed away.  If you want to read the story, it's here.  It's sad, I'm warning you now.

And now, we have two dogs too.  The first is named is Adeline, and her story and photos are here.  Our newest addition is Argos, The Amazing Bumble Dog, but our friends have more appropriately named him Argos, The Destroyer of Worlds.  I'll put up photos sometime.

Photos of the cats can be found here.