Peek-a-Boo!
Want A Cat
Posted by: Herb
* Edit/Add: Fixed the problem with viewing the results, at least for now and added "Steve" as one of the names to choose from. *
Well, Old Mister Herb had troubles all his own
He found a little yella kitten that wouldn't leave home;
He tried everything he knew to get the cat to stay away
He even took him up to Canada and told him for to stay
But the cat came back the very next day
Thought he was a goner
But the cat came back
‘Cause he wouldn't stay away.
"If a man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve the man but deteriorate the cat." -- Mark Twain
This puny little orange Tom kitten has been coming around and talking to our cats at the windows. He might be 6 months old at the most. Ours are all fixed, but they find his conversation interesting. He is all bones and if he belongs to someone they haven't seen him in a long time or they don't care. He is really scrawny and pathetic. Carter says I'm a sucker (Although he and I both know someone who fed a stray cat in an alley behind a Laundromat in a small town in Montana because he felt so sorry for it). I'm thinking, only thinking, mind you, it's just a sort of an idea, kind of, that's just a thought really, but I've been thinking, when we get the check, that I should probably take him to the vet and have him checked to make sure he doesn't have any diseases that he could give to our cats (even though they have all talked to him through the screen door) and er, well, um...you know...We don't have all the critters we used to have and this one is quite small...
I started talking like that and Margaret said we needed to make the sign you see above and post it around the neighborhood. "What if some little child is missing their kitty and here you are, big mean man, keeping the kid's cat?" To which I replied that the kid couldn't have cared too much because he didn't make any signs himself and post them around the neighborhood and besides, his parents couldn't be teaching him to care for the cat very well since it's so scrawny. To which she said that not everybody had access to a computer to print a poster. Anyway, there is the sample of it sans phone number. I tried like crazy to get a decent picture of him, but you can see by clicking here that that didn't work too well.
My quasi-hero in the literary/writing world is, as many know, Edgar Allen Poe, who is said to have done his writing with a cat perched on his shoulder and known to have a cat named "Catarina" and nicknamed "Catters." Catters was said to snuggle with his wife to keep her warm when she suffered with Tuberculosis. "Catters" might work, but this is a male. The name of the cat in his famous story, "The Black Cat," was Pluto. Hemingway (not a particular literary hero of mine) had 30 cats, one, also yellow-eyed, named Mr. Feather Puss, was so trusted that the Hemingways would allow him to babysit their infant. Winston Churchill had several cats including Nelson, who went to cabinet meetings with him.
As I was thinking about Poe I wondered if any of the muses had a name that was manly enough, but the one muse that I would like and would be appropriate for me is Calliope but that hardly seems right for a male cat, although "Cal" might be okay. Of course there are names like Tuffy or Tom but I don't know. When he comes to the door begging for food I say "Alright Mister Big Yellow Kitty" but that's a little long.
He has a mark on his ear that looks like he may have been in a fight, like someone bit his ear and held on. Oh! Wait. You know who he does kind of remind me of? When I put down food for him he scarfs it down in a mouthful or two and acts a bit paranoid or schizo so maybe I should call him "Bill" after "Bill the Cat" of Bloom County fame. My brother's name is Bill, too. He (the cat) is way too skinny to be called Garfield. In keeping with Tabitha's "Cinnamon Bear" program (all 26 episodes are available for download here http://cinnamonbear.co.uk/ if you want a sweet little Christmas story. A 30's radio serial for children.) Theme we could call him Cinnamon Bear or Paddy O'Cinnamon.
Not that it matters. I mean, we are NOT getting another cat. We are NOT. Not getting another one. But, okay, well, I decided to create two new polls. Just to test the software, you understand, but please take the time to answer anyway and please feel free to comment. If you have a suggestion that isn't in either of the lists you can add it in the comments.
