Just in case you were really interested, here are some pictures of our cat!!
One of Katie's favorite things (in addition to looking out the window, pulling out fur, and sleeping) is catnip. She loves smelling it, rolling in it, and rubbing all over it! After 15 minutes or so, she's pretty dazed and usually takes a nap.
When we moved from the East Coast to California, we stopped for a while at the Bonneville Salt Flats just west of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Since Katie had been cooped up in a car for a while, it was an excellent opportunity to let her explore the strange white world. We put her on her leash (she always hates that) and brought her about 1/4 mile out into the middle of the salt. With no worries about losing a black cat in a sea of white, we let her run free! Katie tended to follow us -- as soon as we got too far away from her she would run up to us to stay close. I'd like to believe that she enjoyed the experience, but knowing her, she probably would have enjoyed staying in the car much more!
We think Katie loves having a back yard to roam around in. She had been an indoor house cat most of her life, with brief trips out on a balcony when we were on the East Coast. Now we're in California, Katie has the run of the backyard. One photo shows her waiting patiently in front of a sea of wildflowers, waiting for anything to move -- she's got quite the opportunity to exercise her natural hunting instincts in our backyard. The other photo shows a typical pose -- laying on the ground, watching everything that's happening in the area. For Katie, the world ends at the fence of our yard, although just recently a neighborhood cat taught her to jump to the top of the fence. Right now we're hoping that Katie will forget that there's anything on the other side of the fence...
Here's a recent close-up of Katie, along with some photos of her new scratching post! We assembled the post with 100' of rope, a 2' section of our old fence, some spare plywood, and a bracket for the porch swing. So far, Katie loves it: when she's feeling frisky she'll run at top speed towards it and nearly tip it over when she lands after a big bounding leap! Then she'll just lounge on it.
Summer 1989 Katie, as a kitten, was found by Roxanne W. outside a Hop-N-Sack in Frederick, Oklahoma. To quote Roxanne: "Right in front of the door was the most pathetic kitten I had ever seen. She was laying on the hot pavement and meowing. However, when she opened her mouth no sound came out. Keep in mind the temperature was way over 100. ... I knew the kitten was in very bad shape and wouldn't last much longer ... Once we got her into the house, we realized there was something wrong with one of its back legs and it looked like it had mange. I had my husband take her to the vet, convinced that she would she would probably have to be put to sleep. He came home with three bottles of medicine and one very pathetic kitten. She had ringworm, worms, ear mites, and an eye infection. She also had a partially healed broken leg. Because we already had a cat and I was expecting soon, I called my mother and somehow talked her into letting my younger sister Mandie have a pet ... That's how Katy ended up in Fairview".
Katie then spent several happy years in Fairview, Oklahoma.
Summer 1993 Katie's family moved from Fairview to Ponca City but didn't have room for the cat right away, so Dave took care of Katie in Stillwater. Dave and Katie soon got used to living with each other. Weeks turned to months, and months turned to years, and somewhere along the way the situation changed from Dave taking care of Mandie's cat, to Katie being part of Dave's family . Spring 1996 Katie moves with Dave and Melanie to North Carolina. Katie handled the move well. She even got a second-floor balcony to play on! Spring 1998 Katie moves with Dave and Melanie to New York state. Again, Katie moved easily. No more balcony, but plenty of windows to look out of and birds to cluck at. August 1998 Katie moves with Dave and Melanie to California. Katie hit the jackpot with this move. Not only did she get a larger living space, she even got a (to her) spacious backyard to roam and explore in!
Photography (c) 2000 Dave and Melanie Productions
Last revised: June 25, 2000..
