IT'S A HARD LIFE!

Buddy and Rusty displaying their high stress levels! By the way, I rarely use that couch and it's a comfortable one! It is known as the kids' territory at my house!

JUST A PASSING BIT OF INFORMATION

Rusty the cat has now demonstrated a fondness for chamber music! I was playing it yesterday while reading a book. He was riveted! What a peculiar little character he is! Buddy adores that his brother has these new hobbies. Increases his opportunities for uninterrupted lap time with me!

CATS AND HOLIDAY WEEKENDS

My dear boss, Jeremiah, who has perfect pitch when it comes to gift giving, gave me a 12-disc set of Rogers & Hammerstein musicals as a birthday gift last Friday. As a result, I spent considerable happy time over this past weekend revisiting some of the utterly delightful Broadway shows created by these two brilliant and creative collaborators.

Of all the shows, my favorite is "Oklahoma" for a lot of reasons. What I enjoyed most was watching Rusty the cat, my little predator (and he truly IS a little predator - don't let his fluffy beauty fool you) was enthralled whenever Gordon MacRae was singing! He'd just plant his little self right in front of the TV and GAZE at the screen. He tended to enjoy Oklahoma more than Carousel - maybe because his hero dies in Carousel! Who knows what happens in the mind of CAT?

WHAT IS IT WITH CATS?

Buddy and Rusty have come up with some new ways to entertain me; I must admit that some of them are less attractive than others.

For example: Rusty was out on the deck (accidentally I might add) and found a tiny, tiny little field mouse out there. Unknown to me, he brought the poor little critter into the house and proceeded to chase it all around the house until it probably died of exhaustion or terror. Who knew that the sweet critter who falls down in ecstasy when I pet him could be so aggressive? He also has an ongoing fascination with my bedroom closet doors. They are mirrored and at first, that was the attraction - he would sit and admire his lovely self for hours! Now he wants to open them and he's getting way too skillful at this. I love my cats but not in my closet!

Then there is Buddy - Mr. Adventure! He routinely goes to places which are forbidden him - such as the shelves of the china closet, etc. The kitchen counter, sparse as it is, is a special favorite of his and this past Monday he even managed to flip open the dishwasher door which made a loud sound when it came to rest and scared the stuffing out of me and Rusty - we were both sound asleep!

They are both very sociable these days - Buddy more so than Rusty but the Rustafarian kitty is coming along! Rusty has lots of neighborhood friends who come and say hello from the outside of the living room window. If they come into the house, he runs and hides, but he'll hold court from the back of the couch for hours!

They both love being read to and we have spent many happy times while I read a book out loud. I don't think they give a rip WHAT I'm reading - it's a question of being quietly secure on my lap with my voice droning on quietly!

All in all, I am head-over-heels in love with these two characters and am filled with joy that they share my life!

THUNDERSTORMS AND PUSSY CATS

Yesterday afternoon we had a series of absolutely hellacious thunderstorms. During those noisy storms, I learned two things:

1. Buddy and Rusty don't like thunderstorms.
2. They both are capable of climbing me like a tree!

It's a darned good thing I was wearing SWEATS at the time! Seriously, these two boys are absolutely adamant about their dislike of loud thunderstorms and pounding rain! I can only await with dread the advent of the 4th of July celebrations in my neighborhood! We have a lot of 10-12 year olds (some chronological youngsters, some immature adults) and they all like their firecrackers way too much!

BUDDY AND RUSTY - SETTLING IN NICELY

My two new loves are settling happily into their home and developing some entertaining personality traits.

When they first came to live with me, Rusty hid a lot and was very shy and reluctant to socialize with anyone, not even me, except when food was being offered. Now he has discovered the pleasures of sleeping at the foot of my bed and receiving enormous amounts of affection whenever he happens to be close to me - and he makes it a point to be close to me as much as possible.

Mischief-maker Buddy is no longer the true alpha cat who first came to live with me. As Rusty has gained in confidence and comfort in our home, he has begun to assert himself to the point that the relationship is much more balanced than in the beginning. Sunday, they sat on the sofa, having a stare down. Rusty had provided himself with a slightly higher ground by sitting on a small cushion. They'd stare at each other for as much as 5-10 minutes, with one paw half raised and then one or the other would smack his brother in the face. Rusty was doing most of the smacking. To Buddy's astonishment. This went on for nearly an hour, by the end of which time I was laughing so hard I had trouble breathing and tears were running down my face!

Now that Buddy can no longer boss his brother around as in the past, he has taken to other pursuits - such as trying to hide my car keys. He has apparently made the connection that when I have those keys in my hand, I'm leaving him and he doesn't care for that at all! Lucky for me, the keys make a LOT of noise when they're being dragged across the living room floor by an industrious feline and besides that, Rusty loves to rat his brother out!

To say that I am besotted is gross understatement! They are a pair of beautiful, funny, delightful companions.

BOO BOO, ROCKY AND MY FATHER'S FUNERAL!

Boo and Rocky were born on 3/17/84 (they would be extremely elderly cats now, had they lived) and came to live with me when they were very tiny - only 3 weeks old - since their mother had died (we think she got cabin fever, escaped from the house where she lived and ran out into the street where she met her end under the wheels of a semi).

In any event, they became my boon companions from the age of 3 weeks on, were bottle-fed by me and cherished by me. They were my first brother-cats and were radically different in personality and size. Boo was large, outwardly dignified (inside he was Jerry Lewis, pratfalls and all), intelligent and deeply devoted to me. Rocky was dainty, slim and essentially gormless in every respect. Brains weren't Rocky's long suit. Being lovable was!

During Memorial Day weekend of 1984, my beloved father died in Cleveland, Ohio. Since he had been promising for several years to come visit me in California, I determined that he would keep his promise and thus purchased a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Glendale, California in the Hall of Freedom Mausoleum. A friend in Cleveland arranged for my father's remains to be cremated and sent to Forest Lawn directly. They were almost late for my father's funeral! Which was just like my Dad!

Following the funeral, we had a large gathering at our house in Sylmar. Easily 100 people eventually showed up (most of whom we actually knew). Linda and I cooked massive amounts of food and everyone brought their own liquid refreshment. We propped a large painting of my father against the wall of the covered patio and everyone would drink a toast to him from time to time. When they weren't falling in the swimming pool. Very 80s behavior but somehow I think Gilbert would have approved.

What we weren't monitoring during the time that all these people were milling around the house was the behavior of the two felines in residence - until I noticed that both Boo and, to a lesser extent, Rocky were walking in a very odd fashion. And while our living room was enormous, we didn't have enough seating for as many people who were there. So people were putting their drinks on the floor. Boo was ambling around, taking teensy sips of ONLY the gin and tonic WITH lime. Rocky was quaffing only beer! Only I would have picky drinkers on my hands. By the time their activities came to my attention, they were both pretty unsteady on their feet. Linda and I agreed that the alcohol in the drinks would kill any germs - thus protecting the cats - and we scooped up two inebriated kitties and took them to another part of the house where they could be corraled safely away from temptation and further boozing.

The next morning, I was faced with the prospect of two hungover kitties! But for the rest of their lives and despite the price that they paid afterward, these two babies of mine were both faithful to their quaff of choice! Boo lived to be 19 and Rocky lived to be 15 and they are both still missed. I'm sure they're with my Dad now, telling him all about their adventures.

RUSTY AND BUDDY - TWO CHARACTERS!

These two cutie pies continue to enthrall and entertain me with their antics. They are so adorable. They took it upon themselves to disappear themselves yesterday afternoon and for the life of me, I couldn't find them. Then they magically appeared when I filled up their food dish. Apparently they were on strike!

They have now discovered that TWO can fit on my lap. Advantages of having a wide mamma! And they take full advantage.

Note to self: Trim those kitty claws! Lots of little pinpricks in the thighs from happy kitties!

RUSTY AND BUDDY - THE JOY OF MY OLD AGE!

Last night, Rusty finally decided that he had hidden and run away long enough and he was going to venture forth and find out who this new human in his life really was. His new human was thrilled to finally get a chance to pet him and the next chapter involved lots of petting, some treats and a very happy pussycat rolling around on my lap purring! Buddy wasn't exactly happy since he's had exclusive rights to my lap since Sunday but he dealt with it well, eventually earning his fair share of snuggles and praise. Both boys slept with me last night and this morning when I was getting ready to go to work, they were playing happily all over the house - the game is called (I think) "chase with no expectation of catching"! The rules involve a lot of running around and some very easily heard meowing! An occasional vault over the queen sized bed earns extra points!

I am hopelessly in love!

LIFE WITH CATS - NEVER DULL!

Last night Buddy discovered rule no. 1 in our household - make Mom laugh and you get a treat! I got home from work and unpacked their scratching post and sprinkled it with a bit of catnip to attract them to it and lo and behold, Buddy ran right to it and then didn't put his brakes on in time and ran right into the ottoman that was next to it! As soon as I knew he wasn't injured (he jumped up, smacked the ottoman with his paw and went on about his business), I totally lost it! He came running to my lap to see what was so funny and I hugged him and gave him a treat and told him he was a good boy to make me laugh! Rusty sat on the back of the couch observing all these antics as if to say that he was too dignified for such hijinks. But then, Rusty is so gorgeous that he gets treats just for existing!

THE BUDDY AND RUSTY CHRONICLES

Saturday was the big day when Buddy and Rusty came to live at my house. Rusty was altogether certain that there was no way in hell that he was going to be put in a carrier and transported ANYWHERE and ultimately, when three adult women couldn't corral a 12 pound cat and get him situated where he needed to be - the daughter of the lady who was fostering Rusty called to see how we were doing and said she'd come over and deal with it later in the afternoon. So Linda and I trundled home with a very quiet, relaxed and confident Buddy sitting on her lap in a soft-sided carrier.

Buddy immediately scrunched his lovely self under the dresser in my bedroom and meowed loudly to let us know he had no intentions of emerging any time soon! And he didn't! Until Sunday afternoon when I sort of settled down from doing all my chores and stretched out on the bed to watch the Olympics! Suddenly with a meow, a beautiful orange and white kitty jumped onto my lap, started kneading my legs with his front paws, purring and licking my hand and bumping noses. I was overwhelmed with his affectionate behavior. Rusty is roaming around my bedroom as long as I am on my bed and safely unable to grab him quickly - so that's a start.

They are beautiful boys, very sweet and very tidy! They are healing my broken heart quite well.