Cat In The Hat

How's this for an overdose of cuteness?  I'm so glad I adopted both of these two.  Each has a separate personality, but they love and seem to need each other.  When I walked back into the bedroom yesterday, it was hard to tell which head went with which body.  Ralph and Celeste usually sleep together like spoons.

Over the span of time, I've had many cats, usually one at a time.  When the Kids were young, there was Smoky, then Tag-Along Toolu.  Sarah then Annie followed later, and then came Victor.  Victor liked being an only child and ruled the house for a long time, but Larry was moving and his new apartment would not accept his cat Patty.  Could she room with me until he found a better place?  Well, what're ya gonna do?  Patty was an indoor-outdoor cat, Victor was strictly indoors.  She and Victor tolerated each other and Patty tolerated me.  She never quit reminding me that she was Larry's cat and was only with me temporarily.  "Temporarily" lasted the rest of her life.  Victor made the move up here and lived a full nineteen years.  It wasn't long before a friend called and asked if I could take one of a couple of stray kittens that showed up at her house.  One...hmmm.  That's how Frank and Pearl came to live here, and the plan was that they would be barn cats.  (Tell God your plans and hear him laugh.)  Watching those two together made me realize there was no substitute for feline togetherness.  Not long after Frank disappeared, Pearl died, I'm guessing of loneliness.  There were several months without a cat in the house, and then Larry sent me a photo of the cat who turned out to be Ralph.  Again, I couldn't break up a brother-sister act and took Celeste, too.

I don't keep a cat in a hat (apologies to Dr. Seuss), but I can't imagine a house without a cat...or two.