…and, as of this past July, Telly, the cute little white Bichon who has always been seen in the scrolling slide show of dogs on the right side of this blog. Telly was originally my dog, but for years I let my mother keep him down in South Florida so she’d have company. When we moved my (now late) mom up here with us over the summer, Telly came along and he has adjusted fabulously, to wit:

Yes…he actually has on an Ohio State University t-shirt in the above pic, that’s how much he’s been assimilated into the environment. Here he is again, doing something he really loves…chillin’ on a comfy pillow.

So anyway, next thing you know, we suddenly have a kitten. Okay, so maybe it’s not, like, out of nowhere. Two Fridays ago, a woman in a car next to us in a parking lot had a box of kittens she was going to take to the ASPCA. It was the third litter of kittens her family cat had given birth to, and although she kept the other litters, her husband had finally drawn a line in the sand on the number of cats per capita in their home. At first, we said “no thank you.” Then, as we were driving away, I remembered that my guy had always been a cat person before he was with me. He has owned many cats throughout his life, and when I came along, he suddenly inherited a shitload of dogs. (By the way, a man owning cats can be just as manly as a man who owns dogs; I know several men who own cats who are testosterone-y to the extreme.) As for my guy, he is superb with dogs. Animals, and people, just naturally love him. He has, however, expressed from time-to-time that he’d someday like to own a cat again. Just as we were about to pull out of the parking lot, I looked at him and said, “Here’s your chance to finally own a cat. If we bring it in while it’s very young, the dogs will adjust to it better and it will consider the dogs as family.” He paused. Looked at me. Then put the car in reverse. Dammit…we were getting a cat.

The woman had gone inside a sandwich shop to get some lunch. We waited outside for her. We told her we’d changed our minds. She showed us the box of kittens. They were all so adorable, but my guy and I were in complete agreement when we picked out our girl. And here she is. Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce…

So yeah, now we’re the proud owners of a helluva lotta pets, but you’d never know it from the very, very clean and pet odor free house we keep. I’m a bit of an obsessive-compulsive when it comes to cleanliness and my guy is kind of a germaphobe. We’re not like those people you see on the Oprah show with a hundred animals living all around them, eating out of dishes on countertops, sharing plates, and living in filth. We are neatniks who just happen to have a lot of furry family members. Furry family members with manners. Right, Skitty?