Cat

I am NOT a cat person. But I could be accurately called an “animal” person. Cats have, to me, always been a bit mysterious; a bit too independent for my blood. It seemed that they really could care less about whether we are around or not.

Well this cat, the one that, basically, owns us; owns our house; owns much of our time and attention, has made me rethink my entire premise.

This little gal is rather a find. Actually she found us.

I was driving along the road one day and saw a van stopped by the side of the road. This lady was, basically, dumping cats. We are out in the country and she was turning these cat folks loose into the world. I slowed down and she noticed me. “You want one?” I said “no”.

What I meant to say was, “Hell no – no way in hell. Never! and get out of my face”.

I thought not too much about it beyond that. It was one of those tragedies of life, I mused. One of those “over there” moment when we see something happening that is clearly wrong, but do nothing about it. It was not right but it is what I did – or didn’t do

Kim and I were building our home in Love’s Landing – an airport fly-in community. We were living in a 25’ camper on the property. The home was at framing stage.

About 3 weeks after the above event this little kitten appeared in our, or would be eventually, master bathroom. She walked in through the Jacuzzi access which was wide open at the time. We watched her with relative disinterest as we went about the details of this project.

Later she discovered our camper and began display of intention and tenacity which completely caught our attention.

Mimicking words I’d heard in the past I told Kim, “Don’t feed her – she’ll stick around.”

So, of course, Kim fed her. You know, just a little bit.

Umm – let me just say that I am still trying to train this woman.

Well, as I predicted, this little gal (the cat I mean) hung around.

If she  wanted something, well, let’s just say, she did not give up till it was hers. I mean, total tenacity.

And she wanted us.

She got us. And we named her Tenatious. There was no other name.

Kim and had moved from Tampa to start a new life in a new place. We had a new home. We had each other. And now we had this little gal, who came with the house, who has pretty much taken over our lives.

No, I am not a cat person at all.

But I can honestly say I am a Tenatious person.

Oh, and by the way, what they say about cats being independent and not really caring about us. That is totally not true. This gal follows us around like a magnet. She can not remain in a room, if we are not there. She plays ball by retrieving it and returning it to you just like a dog.

On second thought – I AM a cat person.

Ken