We are a family of eight. My husband and I are both animal lovers and if he would let me, we would probably be a family of 50 (though I’m sure that’s against our home owners association rules). StormyStormy is the fellow who started our official family. We adopted him in 1999 when he was about 9 months old. He’s the reason we started this website. Stormy was a pretty shy and reserved cat. He wasn’t likely to just jump up on your lap and cuddle. However, if he knew you well, then that was another story. He was a cuddle bug with those that he allowed to get close to him. I was one of the lucky ones 🙂 There is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of him. We miss him so much. He was the very bestest black kitty ever.
On New Year’s Eve 2005, my husband and I headed to the local animal shelter. I was hell bent on getting a kitten. I thought that might be the easiest introduction for Stormy – a little kitten that wouldn’t feel very threatening. The shelter had only one kitten that day. An all black cutie. But we already had the best black kitty there ever was, so I thought we would have to come back another day. My husband on the other hand headed straight for the adult size cats. And became immediately smitten with an overly affectionate grey and white cat. windybigThat day we brought home Windy, who is one big smooch.
The girl can never ever get enough rubs and pats and scritches. She’d also eat us out of house and home if we let her free reign on food all day. She is sweet and gentle and patient. She didn’t hit it off with Stormy right away but that didn’t have anything to do with her. Stormy was hesitant about the new creature roaming about and took some time getting used to her. And once he did, they were the best of friends. They spent the next 3 years together without the craziness of any other siblings.
Then we moved to North Carolina (from NY) where we purchased a big house and had the room to expand our family. And our hearts had the love to give. img_82155 days after the move, I went to pick up our very first dog. I had done a lot of research on breeds and finally settled on the Mini Aussie – a smaller and more compact version of the Australian Shepherd. He was just barely 3 months old and weighed all of 3 pounds when we got him home. Now much older and smarter, he is our little man. He hangs out with us all day long and gets along with everyone else. He’s a little shy and we’re working on some excitability issues, but overall he is a wonderful, loyal and well behaved guy. He loves to play tug and fetch. He’ll do just about anything for a cookie and he can be quite a showoff in front of other people. You would fall in love with him if you ever met him.
IMG_7121Then things were just going along. And then Stormy got sick. We were busy taking care of him and shuffling him off to this vet and that specialist. Then one day out of the blue and during a rain storm, I saw this really tiny thin gray short haired kitty on our patio. I looked at my husband and he immediately said no. And then I pleaded with my husband to just “let me feed her, she looks so thin”. Eventually (15 minutes later) he said yes. She ended up never leaving our backyard and finally on June 13, 2008, a very pregnant Misty moved in. We had agreed to adopt Misty and find loving homes for her kittens.
Misty is a total doll. She is very affectionate to the people who give her food everyday and she is an awesome Mama. She can be shy around new people but she busts out quite the attitude around the dogs. She loves them one minute and the next she is swatting their heads with her paws. I’m sure it is just part of her larger game plan. She’s a smart cookie, that one. IMG_9079
The day after we took Misty in she gave birth to 5 grey kittens. One of them was a stillbirth but the other 4 made it through the first night. Unfortunately over the following two nights we lost 3, leaving one little baby kitten. A week later Stormy passed away and after losing him and 4 kittens, we decided that we could not possibly part with the last baby kitty. We named him Twister. And he is quite the handful. Of course kittenhood was crazy and there was tons of jumping around and acting silly. But now he’s grown into a fine young cat. He still acts crazy and is the cause of a lot of scuffles around the house, but I think that’s just who he is.
Frosty PawsBecause things weren’t insane enough around the house, we decided to welcome a new puppy in the Fall of 2008. We really wanted a friend for Dew because while he tried to be friends with the cats, they just weren’t as into him as he was of them. The baby of the family and the ulitmate cuddle bug is Frosty. He’s a red-tri mini aussie who just turned TWO on July 30, 2010. He is totally intense and never tires; hard to love sometimes, but he’s fiercely loyal and a total mush. We’ve dubbed him “The Ass Man”, for reasons I’ll leave to your imagination. He’s as sweet as pie if you are fortunate enough to hang out with him before 10pm, after which, we make no promises.
For now our home is full and we love having all these little furries running around and making our house truly a home.