Kitty Withdrawl

Every day, I end up parking my car half a block from my house. Our street is one way, with parking only on one side, so I appreciate having to do a little walking every day. Plus, where I park my car is free. Always a big plus as far as I'm concerned.

The biggest perk every day on my brief walk home is The House with the Cat. The cat is a big, fat, fluffy black kitty who is occasionally seated on the carpeted cat tree in front of the window. Other times I see him lumped happily on the back of the sofa, usually right next to his owner's head. I always look in the window to see if I can see the cat. Maybe this makes me some kind of Cat-o-phile. Maybe someone will make me go door-to-door in our neighborhood:

"Um, excuse me, ma'am, but if you see me within 50 feet of your cat, please feel free to tell me to get a life. Don't alert the authorities. I just want to pet him."

I miss having Sadako around. Sure, sometimes she was a bad kitty who peed on stuff, or kept us up half the night with her yowling when she was in heat, but she was a cute, sweet little cat. I miss having a cat. Of course, our present lease is what keeps us from having a cat. So I take every chance I can get to see kitties or pet them or whatever.

At least at holidays, I get to see this feline face:Porcupine, moments before she decides to bite you. While purring. And biting some more. My father-in-law tries to get her to go outside sometimes, but now that she's old and chubby, she's not so keen on that anymore. She likes to silently judge you from her position under the houseplant. Good kitty.