I laughed so hard this morning that I almost choked on my tea and chocolate chip cookie. In a pet bed, intended for my six pound cat, was also my fourteen pound cat. they were so smushed together that they looked like one twenty pound creature. And the big guy was hanging a bit over the sides.

The little cat, Sweetie, is a calico, so she is gold, white and black. The big one, Cinnamon, is gold and white. They are color coordinated and blend as one.

Sweetie was a tiny thing when she was heard mewing outside our kitchen door. When we opened it to see what was going on, she rushed in and hasn’t left since. We couldn’t find an owner. The pads on her paws are about the size of a dime. She is very sweet but she rules over Cinnamon.

We’ve had two fifteen pound cats before Cinnamon. The first cat we ever had came with the house we rented. His name was Brau. He was not “fixed” and so he ruled the neighborhood and had a lot of fights. The couple who owned him before us said they would give him to us if we would not neuter him. We finally had to beg them to let us do it because he was at the vet a lot. He didn’t win every fight.

Our second fifteen pounder, Armstrong, looked nearly identical to Brau. they were both almost all grey with white markings. In photos we can’t tell them apart.

Armstrong was the funniest cat we have ever had. He was Mr. Personality. Our entryway was dark grey slate, about the same color as Armstrong. He was suppose to be a house cat but he would sneak out all the time. When we had the door open and talking with someone, out he’d go and we wouldn’t even see him. However he never went farther than the house next door. And, he would come back if we clanked the tin top of a Vaseline jar on the jar because he loved Vaseline.

Our house had the old-fashioned louver glass windows that were in so many California homes. Armstrong could pull the lever that opened the glass plates and wiggle his big body through the small slots. But, there were screens outside and he ended up between the screen and glass, unable to figure out how to reverse the procedure. I could tell a jillion other stories about him and may do so one day.

We had two other cats at the same time Armstrong allowed us to live in his house. One cat was his girlfriend. Her name was Lovey and she was the classic scaredy cat. The other cat was Luna. (This was the time of the moon landing, hence Armstrong for Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, and Luna, another word for the moon.)

Luna was a little looney. For one thing, she never made a sound for a year or so until we went off on a three week vacation and left her behind. When we got back, she couldn’t stop fussing at us. She was strictly my cat until I took her to be “fixed,” and after I picked her up, she became my husband’s cat. She wouldn’t have anything to do with me for several years. She picked fights with Armstrong who was twice her size but he was always so shocked at her behavior that he didn’t fight back.

One of the musings in my “Ticked Off And Tickled About It” book is about our three cats who lived together. It’s called “Meow and Yeow.”

Do you have pets who run your life? Love to hear about them.

COMING NEXT: Don’t Let Your Cookie Crumble

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