I have always had cats in my life.  They are my joy and at times the bane of my existence.  When Ken and I married 13 years ago, he gave to me as a wedding gift 2 purebred brown and white tabby Maine Coon kittens.  A brother (Thumper) and his sister (Ballou).  We would take them with us when we traveled on the road to trips to Minnesota.  We would have to dope them during the day so they would stay calm in our mini-van.  The night we would stay in a motel (usually in Indiana on the way to Minnesota and Ohio on the way back home to New Jersey) were always a wild ride.  The kids were awake!  I remember one night in a Comfort Inn they were running rampant and the next morning as we were leaving there was a police officer sitting on a chair outside the room across the hall from us.  Turns out a couple had a major fight and all hell broke loose.  No one killed, but a lot of damage in the room.  We didn't hear a thing thanks to our kittens.  Another time we couldn't get a room in the Super 8 we usually stayed in on the way back in Wauseon, Ohio due to a Thresher Convention.  A Thresher Convention for Pete's sake!  So we ended up at a Knight's Inn close to Toledo.  The room was called a "Suite" because it had a jacuzzi next to the bed with mirrors on the wall and ceiling.  The cats went ape shit.  Sliding into the Jacuzzi and meowing at their reflections the whole night.  Another time and another Knight's Inn in South Bend, Indiana.  God help us that night.  Notre Dame sporting event was going on and there were these old men (in there 80's at least) trying to scalp tickets.  Cats were stressed and tired and so were we.  The Knight's Inn we stayed at we kept our clothes on because the floor was spongy and the bed didn't look great.  Party going on all night long.  During that visit we had Identity Theft occur.  Got a call when we got home from our credit card company wanting to know if I had ordered clothes from JC Penney to be shipped to Hungary.  WTF?!? Fortunately we got things resolved fairly quickly.  But, Hungary?  Really?

Ballou who is pictured on top and Thumper below have been a joy.  Sadly we lost Ballou to a mass that infiltrated her organs.  It is believed to have been caused by her shots.  Our vet wanted to remove the mass and do radiation therapy. We were told though that the chances of her living beyond 6 months after the surgery were rare since these type of masses almost always grow back immediately.  The surgery and radiation would have cost us 6,000.00 to 7,000 dollars.  We couldn't justify putting her through such pain only to lose her in several months.  As it turned out she was very needy of me and wanted to be by me all the time.  She didn't seem ill otherwise, but you knew something was going on.  Plus the mass was growing larger.  In April I didn't see her the whole day and when my husband came home I asked him to look for her.  He found her in the basement in the corner.  I went downstairs and she looked at me with those amazing eyes and mewed.  I lost it.  I told Ken to immediately call the vet just down the road from us.  While we waited to get her in, Ken brought her upstairs and I tried to hold her, but she was so uncomfortable.  So I put her on the floor and stroked her softly and told her what a wonderful, beautiful, loving baby she was and that she was the most amazing kitty I have ever had.  It was true. I said goodbye, because I could see it in her eyes that she was no longer really with us.  Ken took her to the vet (I couldn't go.  I just couldn't) and Ken came home and he was very distraught.  The cancer had spread and the vet was amazed that she did so well until the end.  Ken had to go outside after it was over at the vet's office.  He was heartbroken.  Thumper became very upset with her gone.

We talked and decided that for Thumper and for ourselves that we should get another kitten.  So on my 50th birthday in May we went over to a Pennsylvania cat rescue shelter and we pick out a black and white Tuxedo female we named Tula (who btw is in heat at the moment and it is a love/hate relationship going on.  She is yowling, piddling everywhere and torturing poor Thumper who is sexually frustrated since he can't do anything about it.  She is the Whore Of Babylon of cats right now.  She is going in to be fixed this Friday.  Thank goodness!).  And, just before July 4th we got a baby purebred silver Maine Coon girl we named Willow who is a doll.  Tula is an equal opportunity cat.  She loves up Ken and I both.  Thumper is definitely Ken's cat and Willow is mine (like Ballou was my baby).  It is a zoo in the household.  Thumper is mostly much happier now.  At first he was a little un-nerved by these new kitties in his world, but they all play and sleep together.  And there is running in the house.  Lots and lots and lots of running.   Amazing how these little creatures can create so much noise. It is nice to hear.