Photo Friday: The Girls

These are our kitties, all girls:

Tamu is our oldest kitty. She was our first purchase together when I called M., told her I wanted to get a kitty, convinced her to skip class and then actually borrowed the money from her to get Tamu. Tamu is the world's most easy going kitty, although she does pull the occasional Queen Bee smackdown on the other girls. For a very long time it was just Tamu and her little sissy, Mischa.

This is Mischa. She was kitty number two, a tiny little runt we bought in April when it was hard to find kittens. She spent her first weeks in our house hiding under the desk because our oldest, Tamu, was so mean to her. Eventually they discovered they like each other, or at least Misch discovered that Tamu gives good bath. Mischa also loves food and has never lost that deep inner feeling that maybe there won't be enough food that she surely developed as a runt. Now Mischa is old and not happy that she's not the baby anymore. She has a basket she sleeps in and loves to drink water from the sink.

This is Sophia Maria, aka Sophie. Sophie is cat number three. She's a giant dilute calico pound kitty who we thought was the most cuddly cat in the world when we got her. Turns out she had a cold. She actually hates being picked up. It took her years to even get onto our lap. Sometimes I think Sophie lucked out in finding us because she's such a strange personality she probably would face a life of being abandoned over and over because she's simply not loveable. The Raymond Shaw of our cat family.

We have fallen in love with her despite her personality. She's actually a very sweet little girl, just wants to live by her own terms, not ours.

Lastly, Zoe, aka Bug, Buggle, Bugs, Bugs Bunny. Zoe came to us two days after 9/11/2001. A boy stopped by the house and asked if we wanted a kitten. Out of his backpack he pulled the most adoreable little van tabby kitten with a heart on her left side. I was just home from the hospital after a week of being on a heparin drip. The word 'yes' was out of my mouth faster than the speed of light, much to M.'s chagrin. And that's how we ended up with four furbabies.

Zoe is truly the baby, which pisses Mischa off to no end. She is happy and really loves her mommies. When we come home she follows us from room to room, flopping on her back so we can scatch her belly. And she only loves US. When strangers come to the house, or even friends and family, Zoe disappears under the bed, only to come out when they leave, blinking and yawning like she's had a nice, long nap. It's caused people to question if we really do have a fourth cat. She's gotten much better lately and will come out ever so hesitantly for a few specific people.

That's our cat family.