Terry and I share the Aerie with three cats.
Julie is approaching 7 years of age and was adopted by my daughter while she was in an apartment her last year at UMass. She’s with us now because Jessica is living with Grandma who said, “No cats!” So she got Annie the ferret instead.
While we were constructing the Aerie, Adam had a bit of an overpopulation problem at his house over the mountain. One of his female cats who was allowed to wander outside did so to the delight of a local lothario who also, apparently had a liaison with a stray female who set up housekeeping under Adam’s shed. The result was two litters of four kittens each, born a day apart. Two did not survive and not long after the stray mom abandoned those that remained. Luckily, the domesticated mother was able to manage with the help of Adam’s own brood of human kidlings. When I heard that among the throng there was a sleek, near totally black kitten I asked if I could take her off their hands. It was an offer readily accepted by Adam and his wife, Braun, if not the kidlings. When I went to pick up the little black kitty I was told in no uncertain terms by Braun that this was a two-for-one deal. She dragged out the black one’s brother who I found to be irresistible gray with black tiger He looked nothing like his sister who was just as equally adorable. That’s how Shadow and Chester came into the house. (At least they told me they were from the same mother. We are pretty sure they have the same dad.)
Julie is a turquoise-eyed, tortoise-shell, light weight at seven pounds. She measures approximately 9 inches at the shoulder and 15-16 inches from nose to rump (tails do not count!).
Shadow sleekily black with just a tiny white chest bib and tummy area. Her eyes are a bright golden-yellow that really stand out and can stare right through you. She is almost identical in size to Julie but has a little more paunch to her and probably weighs a pound or two more.
Chester is gray with black stripes and a wide, black streak down his spine that seems to be made of another critter’s fur, its consistency is just that different—much like an Australian ridge runner. His eyes are interesting in that they are ringed with white fur so it looks like he’s wearing some exotic makeup to accentuate them. The irises are a dull yellow. He is a good two inches taller at the shoulder and two inches longer than the others and he weighs in at 15+ pounds.
My cats talk. Oh yes, they are quite vocal.
Ask them a question and they usually respond.
Sleep in a little past 7 and Chester will be at the door asking if we intend to get up and feed them. Chester is a lot like those cat wall clocks. In fact he’s shaped something like them too. When he sits up he’s perfectly pear shaped. With a clock in his tummy.
When I’m done surfing the net, go to sign off, and the voice on AOL says, "Good-bye" he'll come running from where ever he might be snoozing to sit on the carpet and demand (Yes--DEMAND) playtime. We have one of those toys resembling a fishing fly on a stick. I’ll swish that fly around and he’ll chase after it. He’s much quicker than the tub-of-lard appearance would lead you to believe and he can snatch that “fly” out of the air better than many major league outfielders. (His paws, however, are as out-sized as catchers' mitts.) That is, until he simply drops to the carpet and rolls on his back, all four paws in the air. He’s not playing dead, he’s just quit trying to jump and expects me to lower the fly down to where he can bat at it or grasp it between two paws.
Julie and Shadow have their little quirks and put in their two-cents worth but Chester is the feline equivalent of a dog.
Julie will start howling as soon as we go to bed and turn out the lights. That’s when she will gather one of her catnip-stuffed toys and demand we open the bedroom door and play. Of course, she only wants the door opened so she can scoot under the bed to emerge later and sleep on our pillows. She has no intention of playing fetch as she used to do when she was an only kitty. Now, when she brings us the toy during the day and then goes off to hide around the corner, she will not chase it when we toss it passed her nose. Oh no, we have to go get it and try to lure her into kittenish behavior. Not easy for a cat that’s approaching 7 years of age. Yet, every once in a while, she’ll toss here toy in the air and dash after it herself or she’ll suddenly chase after her own tail as though se were 7 weeks old again.
Shadow is normally the least visible of the three. As befits her name, you would be hard pressed to say there were three cats in the house most of the time. While Chester and Julie will demand human contact on a regular basis—climbing into your lap or draping themselves over your arm as you sit—Shadow goes off in the corner to a favorite cardboard box, or under the dining room table, or on the blanket atop the dryer in the laundry room. You wouldn’t know she was around until you go near the kitchen sink. Suddenly she’ll dart from her box or from under the table or you’ll hear a thud as she jumps down from her perch in the laundry room and she’ll be at your feet in seconds. You’ve come perilously close to the stash of kitty snacks and she wants some—NOW! And after that, maybe she’ll ask you to scratch behind her ear as she coquettishly tilts her head one way or another and gently meows her request. While the other two sleep during the day, she will follow me as I go down stairs and check out everything I'm doing. Usually standing atop a box or a pile of boards to demand some attention. Oh, you can pick her up and scratch her and she’ll purr enough to vibrate her entire being and you in the bargain, but sit on your lap? Surely you jest!
Yet Shadow can also be the most kittenish of the three. She'll play with a toy mouse for hours. She carries it around the house meowing all the while. She'll carry it to the water dish and drop it in as though she were a raccoon ant needs to wash her mouse before devouring it. She'll bat it around the floor taking special care to get it near the chair legs so she'll have to reach around to get at it. She'll take it to the corner at the bottom of the stairs and literally bounce it (and herself) off the two walls as though she were playing handball. When we first moved in, something in that corner cast shadows on the wall late in the afternoon and she would go nuts! Gymnasts never did so many twists, twirls, flips and dives as she did in that little corner. And she did that for two weeks. I thought she had totally lost it.
Julie is a lap cat. Chester will attach himself to your hip with his head on your arm or your lap. You may not even know when they arrived. Shadow…she may allow you to pet her if she so desires. And if she desires a petting or a scratching, she will let you know.
