Name that Cat

I would be remiss if I did not introduce the fourth member of our family. Ain't she cute? Not really. Like most cats, she is mostly biotchy! We adopted her when she was 1 and her name was Disco. Yeah, we thought the same thing, and since we were going through a jazz period, we decided to call her Cool Cat or CC for short. She actually seemed to like this and came running when we called.

Because we always had outdoor cats and dogs when I was growing up and CC had been an outdoor cat, we left it that way. UNTIL we found her and a stray cat on our roof eating a big piece of ham from who knows where.

After CC was forced into being agreed to be an indoor cat, she started looking lonely and about that time a dark gray cat started hanging around. A LOT. CC was fixed so it wasn't that, although that didn't stop him from trying. (sheesh, men) He had a flea collar on but hung around our house so much, we decided finally to steal him make him an indoor cat too. We loved Gray Cat! He was so muscle-y and could jump from the floor to the top of the fridge or cabinets in a single leap. He was awesome and so lovable. UNTIL the punks that lived behind us asked me if I had seen a gray cat hanging around. Seems they had lost him. I told them no, but that I would keep an eye out for him. Turmoil sets in because I know he must belong to them but we wanted him. Even though the punks behind us acted like hooligans, I just couldn't keep something that wasn't mine, so I set Gray Cat out on the front porch and decided if he didn't leave, I would bring him back in. He stayed most of the afternoon and then he left and we never saw Gray Cat again. We were all sad to see him go and we always wondered his fate.

Shortly after Gray Cat left us, a girl at work was giving away kittens. I immediately asked for one and she gladly agreed to have her boyfriend meet us after work with a girl kitten. She was so cute and the color of a perfect little pearl so I named her Pearl on the way home. (and she will be my pearl and I will call her pearl and she will be my pearl) CC was not happy but she mostly just avoided Pearl until Pearl was about 6 months old and became very playful and unavoidable. As Pearl got older and changed from pearl colored to tabby, we noticed something peculiar about her nether regions. Either this girl had a big puddin' or something was wrong. So at her next vet check-up, the vet confirmed that Pearl was a boy! BN was working on his black belt in Aikido at the time and had to learn a lot of Japanese so Pearl became Kubi, which is Japanese for neck. BN thought Kubi was so clever that he started calling him Little Kubi and started calling CC, Big Kubi. Poor CC now had yet another name. But since Kubi ends in that eee sounds, she came running just like before when we called her.

Unfortunately, Big Kubi never really did take a real liking to Little Kubi and because his hair was so fine, even at 3 years old, we decided to give him to a friend who had just lost her own cat. We hated giving him away, but that fine hair really irritated BN's allergies and we never could break him from spraying the house so we felt that was best. I visited Little Kubi and he really prospered in his new home. When Little Kubi left, Big Kubi didn't show the same sadness she did when Gray Cat left. So again, I felt better about letting him go to a loving friend.

Big Kubi or just Kubi (since there is no need for distinction now) will be 10 years old this November. Old girl has been through a lot with us including 3 moves and 2 rambunctious boys. She lets them dress her up and she sneaks up and sleeps on the foot of Pete's bed, and she endures their crazy kind of love. She loves her treats and those little mice with fake fur. She growls and grunts and hisses at BN when he rough houses with her, but you can tell he is her favorite because she always walks up and PLOPS down next to him to get more. She also plays hide and seek with him. Weird.

And at night, like right now, she waits for me to pull out the throw blanket and settle on the sofa so she can snuggle up beside me in her nighttime nest. I love whats-her-name.