Keep Your Shirt On

Day 224

I have a small female cat. She's so small that when I first met her I thought she was about 6 months old. So I called her Baby Cat. Turns out, she was full grown.

She just showed up one day as I was feeding my other cats. As you might guess she was plenty skinny. Every time I tried to get close to her she would run off a ways, turn to face me and sit down. So I left her some food and water outside, then watching from the kitchen window, I saw her eat every bit of the food and drink some water.

Some days later, my other cats were coming inside and she followed them into the house. For several years she wouldn't let me pet her. When I tried she would give me a warning bite and move off to hide under an end table or behind the couch by the wall.

That was ten years ago. She has gotten older, mellower and very affectionate. She get's in the way when I'm working at my computer because she wants to be petted and brushed. When I'm sitting back in my Lazy Boy she'll stretch up my side and rub her face on my cheek and lay there while I stroke her fur. I call this a "kitty hug". Quite a change from her younger days.

We have been having a heat wave here in Houghton Lake. Near ninety degrees the past few days. Of course, my air conditioner broke down last year at the end of summer so I let it go and didn't replace it. Now I'm roasting wearing nothing but my shorts.

Baby Cat came over to me today and started to crawl up on me. This was the first time she ever tried to hug me without my shirt on, with a shirt on the claws hurt less. She put one paw on me and pulled it back, then she tried the other and pulled that back. She jumped down and walked away.

Just another female telling me to keep my shirt on. How depressing.