Summer Rerun

We all know it's summer, but summer has hit us with a blast from hell and so I am posting, for lack of a better name, a rerun. It was entitled "Crazy Cat Lady" and seemed fitting to repost it after the Hound article. It will bind me forever with quite a few other "crazy cat ladies" that I often read. So hope you'll like tonight's rendition of

Crazy Cat Lady

Here goes.
I am not sure when I became a Crazy Cat Lady. It was apparently a slow process that took over my life (and my porch, ) . I allowed myself to be talked into bringing one abandoned little stray from hell inside by my son. "I'll take care of him, feed him change his litter box..." Famous last words that any mother in America or elsewhere has heard. He was named Bela Lugosi, Bela for short. Bela spent the next year terrifying my parakeets. It got so bad that I did something really stupid. Instead of finding a home for the cat that I never really wanted, I found a home for the birds which I did (want). I think that is when the malady first took root.So it started with Bela. One day I went out on the porch and there sat a pretty little fuzzy grey cat. I am not sure where she came from, but she stayed. I warn you, feed them and they never leave. This fuzzy little grey bundle became known as Crazy Kitty. You could be petting her and she would be enjoying the comfort of affection when suddenly she would nip at your fingers or slap you while you were in mid-pet. Hence the Crazy Kitty label. She had other names, but none fit for public publication. Crazy Kitty bestowed a couple of litters of kittens on us. The porch was becoming a second home to every stray in the county. Some I found homes for, but most I just fed.Crazy Kitty disappeared one day, we never knew where. Then Jane Wayne took her place as resident queen. She walked like John Wayne and bossed the other two that hung around like John Wayne. Jane was there for a couple of years, never producing any progeny and we were down to two cats. One day I watched as Jane walked across the roof of the house bringing with her a kitten. We were never quite sure where she had kidnapped the, what turned out to be two, youngsters from, but they definitely were not hers. She raised them, tho. One we named Tommy, the other Pyewackit. Tommy was sooty black and Pye was a beautiful Siamese. Inside, we had Bela and Ariel. Ariel had been rescued from the County Camp after my husband had watched helplessly one day and two of her siblings were run over. Bela ruled the roost inside and appeared to have gone slightly mad after the death of our beloved Old English Sheepdog, Digby. While no relation to Crazy Kitty that I know of, he was definitely unhinged. I was quite happy to pack his little bag and send him off to live with his true owner, my son, at college. When Bela left for College, Pyewackit ,the Siamese, became an inside cat. Tommy ruled the outside, Pye was ruled by Ariel. We were all ruled by Ariel.Now here we are in Jefferson and the porch is once again a haven to cats. We have Wonky and CeeCee who apparently lived here before we did. We have the three kittens whose mother Midge was killed by dogs. There is Baby the big grey and white cat. Bat Girl and Peanut Butter are mostly outdoor cats who sleep inside at night. After bestowing us with two litters of kittens, they have had their little operations and just run roughshod over all of them , now. One day we noticed a big black cat with a white bib standing back waiting to eat. He is since known as Big Purty. The grey tiger cat that showed up we call Stranger. Suffice it to say there are no shortage of cats here. Of course they help to keep the population of snakes and rats down, too. I guess you would say they earn their keep. The other night we noticed two opossums on the porch eating cat food while the cats stood by and let them. I hope this doesn't become a trend. I don't want to be known as the crazy opossum lady.