Thoughts

I grew up in a "dog family," one where dogs make the only sensible pets. Feel free to argue, as I am sure my sister-in-law will, that it is only because I like to be different, but somehow, over my short tenure on our little planet I have developed an incredible affinity for cats. One of my favorite animals - if not my single favorite - is the tiger. For my money, a more majestic creature does not exist. I believe my preference for cats over dogs stems from this. I consider them to be little miniature, domestic (hopefully litter-trained) versions of their wild bretheren.

I have lived alone for the last three years and not until recently have I had a voice in my head (sounding strangely like one of my sisters...) suggesting how nice it would be to have a little furball around. It was nearly a capital crime to suggest we get a cat while I lived with my parents, but now I had the freedom to do as I pleased.

For the last few months I have had a few discussions with Alison (the sister alluded to above) wherein she has provided me with links to adoption pages for various cats. I cannot speak to her motivation, but from my perspective this was done entirely in fun. "Look at this one!" "CUTE!" And so on; you get the idea. I never really considered anything she sent me.

What I want, and have wanted was a Bengal Cat. They are only a few generations removed from the wild and have many lingering instincts other cats do not. None of the cats she sent me were bengals, so I never thought much about them.

Out of curiousity one Sunday night not two weeks past I decided to try a search on www.petfinder.com for bengals in my area. I was just curious to see if any were available and if I were serious, which I wasn't, it would be better to get a cat that had been rescued. There are many noble reasons for getting a rescued cat, but in case you're curious, bengal cats from a breeder are EXPENSIVE.

Playing around, I came across many cats, but one stuck out. Over the next few days it became increasingly apparent that I did NOT want a cat. I wanted THAT cat. He was skinny and would need to be fattened up, but he was adorable. I tried to tell myself how good I would be for him, to give him a permanent home, but the excitement came when I thought of how good he would be for me.

If you know me well, you know that I a) don't get excited about anything and b) have relatively low motivation. For the cat I found, I became very excited and somehow found the motivation to actually contact the mission which had rescued my cat. BIG STEP FOR ME.

I had it all planned out. Don't tell anyone. Contact the mission. Get the cat. Have people over. Show off my new furry little friend. SURPRISE!

However, it went more like this. E-mail them inquiring about the availability of the cat (Wednesday). Don't hear back. Call them (Thursday). Don't hear back. Call them again (Friday). Don't hear back. E-mail again (Tuesday). Find out he had been adopted by someone else via the internet (Thursday). E-mail them as a meager attempt to mitigate how crushed I was (Thursday). Don't hear back.

So I am sorry to all of you who didn't know I was going to get a cat. The surprise that was to-be has become the surprise that never-was. I'm less crushed now; I move on. But I am certainly disappointed. I would have liked to get this cat. I am also sorry to those of you who did find out I was taking steps to adopt this guy, and I appreciate your excitement on my behalf and your kind words of consolation.

I want to say that if I decide to look for a different cat - since the plan wasn't to get a cat but rather I fell for one unexpectedly - I would not deal with these people, but I cannot. (If you really need the name of this Southeast Michigan rescue shelter, e-mail me. Otherwise I really see no point in dragging their name into it.) I am doing my best to not blame the cats in the mission for how I was ignored by the people who run it. The cats just need permanent homes. I had hoped to provide that for one of them, but it didn't work out this time. Maybe I'll try again one day.

Anyway, that is the story of the cat I didn't get.

I have posted just a few pictures from my last two weekends.

Two weeks ago I went back up north for a relaxing golf weekend. As I like to do, I took a few pictures of the sunset from the back porch.

http://www.privatjokr.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=45

Last week was the Motor Musters car show at Greenfield Village. I hadn't been there since whatever grade kids in Michigan go there for a field trip. Some pictures were of cars, others were from the village; one might expect a few more pictures of cars from a car show, but...I just didn't feel like taking pictures of cars. Sorry.

http://www.privatjokr.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=46