My Wife Has a Pet; Me

Daily writing prompt
What is good about having a pet?

Living pets are famous for adding comfort into a life. My pet is a boarder in my house. She doesn’t belong to me, but to my step grandson. Her name is Katusha. Jet black with yellow eyes and a tail that never sleeps. It amazes me as to how she can keep that tail in a vertical mode and make it curve at the same time.

Katusha was adopted as a kitten and born under the deck of my step-son Freddie to a feral mother seven years ago. Freddie was killed in an accident shortly after, and his son, Gerry, inherited the cat. To make this story longer, my step-grandson, Gerry, and the cat now live with Lovely and me.

The cat has lived indoors the entire time. The only outdoor action she gets is when she sits at a window staring face to face with a squirrel or gazing at the birds feeding at a feeder. Last month when the night time temperatures began to drop, she surprised us by allowing a mouse to enter our living space. This can’t be I told her. You are supposed to keep our home mouse free. After that incident, I began watching her night time behaviour. Lovely has a habit of opening windows and doors to allow fresh air into the house. One evening I noticed the sliding door opening to our deck was cracked open about two inches. At the base of the door she sat in a crouch with her nose aimed, her ears up, radar-eyes wide open at a teensy-tiny hole in the corner of the door. About an hour later I turned from my computer to look at the front door and noticed Katusha sitting at attention and staring at the floor in front of her. I saw something lying there, but didn’t recognize what is was. Curiosity got me out of my chair to investigate. I had to get down on my knees to see it clearly. My eyes focused and by gosh it was a mouse; One of the smallest I have ever seen. It was dead and clearly delivered by Katusha for me to examine.

I have a habit where, when I get up to stretch or move, I say, “I’m changing chairs.” The final chair is the sofa in front of the TV. Within minutes of my plopping into that chair, Katusha arrives to join me. She jumps up, turns 180 degrees, and points her ass right at my face. She wants a back scratch which I give her and then grab her and pull her into my thigh where I can stroke her cheek and neck. We do this for a few minutes before she gets bored and changes position by moving to the far end of the sofa, away from me and settles into the fuzzy throw blanket I keep there for my warmth. She will be my close friend until Gerry comes home from his job. She hears the garage door open and immediately goes to sit at the door to greet him.

Cat Lovers Beware

While scrolling thru Facebook I came across a piece titled “How to Wash a Cat.” I read it and liked it. In fact I laughed out loud when I did. Lovely’s grandson now lives with us, and part of the deal was to allow his cat to come with him. When I read this piece I immediately copied it for him. I thought he might like it too. Here are a few of the reactions to the piece:

“My cat is clean it never needs to be washed”

“How cruel.”

“Is this a joke?”

I was wrong. This incident has taught me that cat owners take their cats very seriously. I showed the piece to Lovely and got a similar reaction. In both cases they took the post literally, and found no humor in it.

I like the cat whose name is Katusha. Her breed has distinctive yellow eyes with vertically elliptic pupils and jet black fur. Her tail has a distinctive curve when she walks about. Even though I like her I also appreciate a good joke. Here is what I am talking about, maybe you can help me understand the matter.

New Cartoonist Joins GJP

Budding young artist Cub Scout Ben has joined the staff at Grumpa Joe’s Place as a contributing artist. CS Ben has natural talent and wit that comes from living on a farm in Michigan. Ben regularly shovels horse manure as he helps his mom clean stalls  No doubt he will want to join the Wabbit Wars series as an embedded reporter chronicling the escapades of the terror network of Wabbits, cats, and squirrels infiltrating Grumpa Joe’s Monet Vision.

Cat Eyes Fish and Salivates

Another Player in the Wabbit War

The Wabbit War took a new turn this week. Grumpa Joe has a strange and exotic new adversary. Events took place at the bird feeders that are disconcerting. The beautiful birds are leaving. No amount of food put out by the Alliance will keep them coming into the yard.

Surveillance of the front feeder resulted in the sighting of the new enemy, Sheik Nay Boars Khat. Not a hawk, or squirrel, or a wabbit, the Sheik uses stealth to capture and kill unsuspecting gold finches. The adversary was last seen leaving the yard with captured prey between his jaws.

The history of this type of creature reveals that he is a hunter predator. Larger members of his species are known to capture wabbits.  That makes him an ally of Grumpa Joe, except for the bird thing. Grumpa Joe loves his birds, and so far, the new predator has only taken birds, not wabbits. That makes him a new enemy.

Grumpa Joe had an out loud discussion with himself on how to discourage the Sheik from stalking birds. It only resulted in sympathy for the enemy from Grandma Peggy. Even though she is in Alliance with the wabbits, she does not want to see the new enemy harmed.  Her attitude will change once the Sheik takes out a wabbit.

Meanwhile, as the focus in the garden shifted to dealing with Sheik Nay Boars Khat, Osama Bin Wabbit snuck under the barrier and took out a Sedum Autumn Joy which was about to bloom. He chewed off the buds, and left the stems for dead.

Nice Kitty

     CATS! People either hate ’em or love ’em. They are probably the most mis-understood animal on earth. I happen to be a middle of the roader cat person. I love to kid Peggy about what I would do to her cats if she were not looking, but in reality, I wouldn’t hurt a single allergy inciting strand of  fur on their bodies. They are the most popular pet in the country.

     Just for fun, I Googled “cat phrases,” I was shocked. There is a cat phrase for every thing in the book.  Phrases are listed under the following categories: lolcat, funny cat, cat chat, cat quotes, cat sayings, cat idioms, cat poem, and cat proverbs.  I finally found the one I wanted which is “fat cat,”  under idioms. President Obama used that phrase to refer to certain Bankers who he forced to take TARP money. It seems the President is upset with the amount of money these bankers awarded themselves in bonuses.

     There is one bank, however, located in Chicago, that has the President’s favor. Why? It seems the CEO is a big Obama fund raiser. It was my belief that this kind of behaviour would be revised under the guise of “change, and hopium.” Some things never change.