I grew up on a farm, so there were always at least a dozen barn cats and some pseudo-house kitties around - the entire community of them would rally round the milk pail when my dad would milk the cow. He used to squirt milk into an aluminum pie tin, most of which would be licked off fur because it was more a play event than a feeding.

My childhood companion was a muscular orange tabby tom who lived at least 13 years, then mysteriously disappeared. My mom used him as a fuzzy alarm clock, letting him into the house in the morning so he would run upstairs and wake me.

As an adult, I've had a few cats, but did a lot of traveling, which did not make for the best pet ownership scenario. About a year ago, my spouse decided it was time for an "indoor only" kitty. One of my coworkers had a cat with kittens, and I said I only wanted one if they had a black and white, preferably with tux marks....thinking this was a shot in a million, I figured--what are the chances....then they sent me this picture. The rest, as they say, is history





[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: tuxluvr ]