The rest of the menagerie

BC-table
Originally uploaded by KGav.

Meet BadCat.
• She was an alley cat from back when we lived in a multifamily house surrounded by concrete and crammed 3 feet from the houses on either side.
• One night she was sitting on our step purring so I brought her up.
• She knows a sucker when she sees one.
• She’s loud.
• Really loud.
• Our daily routine goes something like this: Sunrise. Let BadCat out. 15 minutes pass. See BadCat sitting on windowsill meowing to be let in. Move to different room. Cat moves to different windowsill. Let cat in. 5 minutes pass. Cat begins meowing to get out. Repeat until sunset.
• But she’s an awesome cuddler. She likes to curl up next to you and put her head on you like you are her pillow.
• And she has really soft, shiny fur that feels like black velvet.
• I chose this photo, because she generally does not photograph well. Her eyes tend to look pupil-less in pictures. This is one of the few where she does not look demonic.




Meet Cottons
• She is a manx, but she has a tail.
• She is old.
• Really old.
• I got her when I was a sophomore in high school. Let’s just say, perms and shoulder pads were “in” and Michael Jackson was still dark skinned when she was born.
• She was born in a farmhouse outside of Albany, NY. My mom brought her home as a surprise for me after another cat died. She was in a box, and because all I could see was white fur, I thought she was a rabbit.
• She sleeps 22 hours a day.
• The other two hours are spent yowling for food and water.
• She’s my first love. That cat’s been there for me through puberty, college, my first job, my crappy first apartment, my wedding and the birth of both my kids.
• She has the most beautiful blue eyes and a double coat of fur so she’s incredibly soft.
• I will be devastated when she dies.
• I chose this photo because I think she looks beautiful here. It was taken only two years ago, but she has so much more youth and energy in this picture than she does currently.




Meet George
• George is a Rhodesian Ridgeback that we adopted from the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue Organization.
• He was five when we got him and is 10 now.
• He is not the brightest animal, and he’s stubborn as all hell, but he’s generally a good dog.
• His worst qualities include constantly grubbing for food, scratching at the door, passing really stinky gas and not listening.
• His best qualities include being fairly mellow (he’s really just like a big sofa that moves room to room), being loyal and being a pretty good guard dog.
• George had bloat and had to have emergency surgery to save his life. The surgery cost more than my first car.
• He also knows two suckers when he sees them.
• I chose this photo because that dog loves to sit in the truck. Sometimes, we open the back of the truck and he’ll hop in and sit there all day long.