I'm a cat lover, have been since I was a little girl. Oh, I like dogs, too, but cats are just kewl. Since I got my first kitty when I was oh, I dunno, maybe 10 or 11, I've always had at least A cat, for the most part more than one. My first cat's name was Hutch. You got that right, I was also a big Starsky & Hutch fan. You know you remember them! When Hutch died, right before my big junior year band concert mind you, I was crushed. But with cats there's always another one right around the corner.

Then there was our cat Leonard (from Lenny & Squiggy), sensing a theme yet? My brother Chris felt so bad that Hutch had died that he brought him home one day for me from a friend's house. He was the runt of his litter, but he turned out to be the best mouser and mole killer on Follett Run.

After Leyna and I were settled in Pittsburgh, there was our first cat Tony (who I had to put to sleep, horrible for any of you who have had to do that) and Ashe, we moved those two with us to Clearfield and acquired a stray kitten, Tiger. We had to find homes for those two when we moved to Indiana, but once there we got Lacy and Sassy who were sisters from the Humane Society (back then not the nazi organization it has turned out to be today. It is almost as hard to adopt an animal from them as it is a child). Lacy later got hit by a car, :(, but not before she had two litters, Lacey liked to run around at night, bad girl. She got hit by the way a week after I had her spayed. From the first litter (April of 1994) my mom took Betty and she's still alive and kickin.

From the second litter (August of 1994) we got Cinnamon and Tipsy and they're still alive and kickin (pictured left). Cats always look so impressed when you take their pictures; huh?

Then in 1996 we took in a stray, Teeny, (pictured left) she's still with us, and acquired another kitten that same year who we just called Little Kitty, nasty little thing. She was never supposed to stay, but the owners never came to get her back, lol. She got out one night after we moved to the farm and died mysteriously up in the woods.

We were given another kitten in 2000, Moe. There was waaayyy too much estrogen in our house for Roger so I got him a friend, lol. Moe unfortunately didn't last long, he died this past summer from what, we dunno. Roger on the other hand is going to last a lifetime I'm sorry to tell him.

Leyna went to college and took Moe and Teeny with her and low and behold a stray kitten who she named Ernie found his way to her apartment, too! I think both Leyna and I have "Sucker" written on our backs. Ernie was a very cool cat, but he too suffered the same fate as Little Kitty. He got out one night and died mysteriously up in the woods.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this; right? Because I'm guessing that the majority of you are not cat lovers; right? Right. Well, I said all this to say this!

WE ARE GETTING A DOG!

(so stay tuned)