I. How I ended up here, and how Boogers became Boogers.
I now have 9 cats.
I was happy with 5. The number 5 appeals to me, along with 23 (which has been a pain in the ass since my father's death on October 23, 2006, his birthday would have been November 23) because they are significant numbers to the Discordian society, a group I have not been a member of (I say that because we Discordians must stick apart!) for fifteen years. Anyway, like my Discordian illegitimate forefather, Omar Khayam Ravenhurst, I seem fated to be patron to an ever increasing number of cats. And, like Omar, and like the ancient Egyptians, cats are sacred and precious to me, and I will turn none away cold or hungry. I try to be the same way with people, but we humans are high maintenance. A cat has very simple needs. Actually, we humans have the exact same basic needs as a cat (short of hairball medicine), food, shelter, love, sex, etc, but we humans have to make a big deal out of everything, especially love and sex.
My cat story began in 2006. After a long and difficult journey of crummy, low-paying jobs (or better paying corporate type positions where everyone was corrupt as hell and the company's business practices were so frigidly inhumane and unethical that my entire soul began to rebel in revulsion by having anxiety attacks in the office, not to mention claustrophobia in elevators where I felt my tie had become a noose and was choking me!), live in girlfriends, one girlfriend's suicide, my mother's death, Omar(Kerry)'s death ( I spoke to Kerry one week before he died. He had found homes for all 15 of his cats, even his favourite-"Molly Magillicutty". He was very sick and I knew, though I didn't want to admit it at the time, that my good friend was not long for the world), a 4 and a half month miscarriage and breakup with the one woman I have loved that I actually would have married, the birth, death and rebirth of my band, Gnarlybird, and...painting.
Painting is how I ended up moving into Derek's garage and renovating it into and art/ music studio and burgeoning cat farm. After renting from friends (shortly after my arrival back in Jackson from N. Georgia, early 2006) I had decided to live alone if I could do it cheaply.At the same time, I was making money creating 3 D miniatures called "pocket paintings" with refrigerator magnets (from everybody's phone books!) and that turned into a local gallery wanting me to do full size pieces, which I did and my openings at the gallery were a big success, bringing sales and commissions. The main commissions were the "Dawg Heads", 3d pet portraits.
I was making money and the demand and workload was increasing, so I fixed up Derek's garage and dove into heavy production and sleepless, manic, coffee, tobacco, and grass nights. This is when I first met Boogers.
I didn't know her name at first. She told me. Kerry always used to say that a cat will tell you its name, if you say several different names, the cat will respond when it hears its name.
Derek has a cat named Powder. She is a champagne colored Siamese with blue crossed eyes and she is the neighborhood slut. When I moved into my residence in June 2006, Powder had 3 young kittens, just starting to wean. The kittens began hanging out at my place and I started feeding them. They were two female gray tabbies and a solid black male. I named him Spooky and he responded to it immediately, so naming him was easy. Spooky would sleep on the porch rail and stretch like a Halloween cat when he woke.
One of the females I named Skeeters because I was trying names on her and she was staring impatiently at me, waiting for me to get it right. Suddenly, she got this fed up look and swatted a mosquito out of mid air. I said "Skeeter?" and she
paused and looked at me. I said "Skeeters?" and she started purring and coiling around my ankles like cats do.
Then there was the third kitten, the runt. She was one of the funniest looking kittens I've ever seen, Her head was the same size as her body and her green eyes and big ears took up her whole head. She kinda looked like the little Martian guy from the Bugs Bunny cartoons. She was my favorite. She was the genius cat who appeared to have a human living inside her.
One day, I was trying out names on her. She was special and not just any name would suit her. But, I forgot, cats name themselves. So, I was tossing out all these fancy names and she was just ignoring me. I said, " Medea?... no... Persephone?...Simone de Beauvoir?" She gave me a look like "You gotta be kidding!"
She and Spooky started playing with my shoelace. I said," You little boogers better stop that!", and she freaked out and started meowing and tapping me on the leg with her paw, like we were playing charades. I said," Booger?" She looked insulted.
"Boogers?"
She went wild, meowing and prancing around my feet. I said it again, "Boogers?" She totally responded to that name. So that's how Boogers became Boogers.
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read more blogs!
Blogs by BionicCouple:
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| Runamuck Diaries [Formerly Zen and the Art of Cat Wrangling] |
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EternalFlame
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Jun 4 @ 6:25PM
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I had a cat that gave birth to 4 kittens under my daughter's bed. The three boys were orange tabbies but the one girl was a beautiful black/orange/white tortie. I took one look and said, "Well, there's the Oddball of the litter!" And that's how Oddball became Oddball.
I brought home a kitten once and set her down on the floor. She immediately set off, exploring every nook and cranny she could find. "Snoopy little thing, aren't ya?" I asked her. And that's how Snoopy got her name.
Naming animals is half the fun of sharing your life with them.
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