CATS & DOGS

We had one cat, Kouzia, when we bought the house. The calico cat, Katya, was left for us by agreement with the previous owners. All the cats have learned to respect the poultry - who are armed with sharp beaks and claws.

Cinders & Smokey were adopted by the renter who came with the house, and through a series of events came back to live here permanently. We share custody with the neighbors across the street, and they prefer to be outdoor cats.

Kouzia (top), Tuck (center) and Nip (bottom) all look a lot alike, grey tabbies with little to no white. Tuck and Nip were my bottle babies. I found them at a fruit stand as day-old (?) kittens. They had been lying on cold concrete long enough to be cold to the touch. I didn't expect them to make it, but a short stint in a warm oven while I went out to buy kitten formula revived them. We lost Nip to a sudden illness this spring at the age of 5.

Many feral cats come and go in our neighborhood, but Hissyfit has been here for 5 years. He got his name when I surprised him in our garage as an older kitten. I've known cats for decades and I've never heard a cat use language like that before.

Our collie, Jessie, was very good with Dannic. She was extremely patient with an unpredictable toddler. Unfortunately, she escaped from our yard last year and was killed by a car. Chip, our Irish Wolfhound/German Shorthair Pointer, is a real sweetheart, but rather unsure about toddlers.

Chip is slowing down now at age 7 - old for an Irish Wolfhound, middle-aged for a German Shorthair Pointer. Let's hope he takes after the GSP for this. He still loves chasing tennis balls and frisbees. Scooter, our new dog, is a bit over a year old. He is more interested in chasing his own tail (catches it, too, and isn't quite sure what to do with it) and Chip. They're still coming to terms with each other.

They're not really pets, but we are rather fond of watching the barn swallows raise their young on our front porch every year.