millions of cats

How many cats can you find in this photo? (Answer: 28) But seriously, there's an extra cat! After 14 years of two cats, suddenly there's a new fuzzy somebody running around, squeaking, hissing, and being generally silly. She's actually a very good cat: very clean, uses her scratching post and litter box diligently (which is more than some of us can say!). We never really got along when she lived with Mom, but I feel like we're turning a corner in our relationship. She's a million times sweeter and more interactive with me than ever before! Maybe because she has to be, given the circumstances, but she's smart and adaptable enough to know that, which make me happy. Right now, for the first time in the almost 2 weeks she's lived here, all 4 of us are resting in our own little corners of the living room.

I'm very proud of Xander, who has totally stepped up to make sure that Marzipan knows who's boss, and what the rules are, but without ever raising a paw in anger. He's just "there" when she's snooping around, keeping an eye on her, twitching his tail and growling very lowly if he disagrees with something she's doing. And she respects him for it. And I'm very pleased with Mr. G. and the way he's taken little Marzi under his wing. I hear him talking to her in the back room. I think he really loves her, and is coming to love X&Z more as a result. They're all good cats. Zoe just gets a little jealous, and is an aging stink-cat these days, but otherwise they're all shiny little gems. :)

Have you ever read this book? It's a classic from my childhood. It's about a man who sets out to find a pet for himself and his wife, but he can't decide because each cat he sees is prettier than the last one, so he ends up accumulating "hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats." It gets out of control really quickly, and in the end the cats themselves have to duke it out to decide which one is the prettiest. It's very violent, but it does have a happy ending.