#blogaday

Gizmo -- he is my daughter's cat, primarily, though I love and adore this cat to pieces.  He is a good cat. He's big, cuddly and intimidating to the point of comedy.  He tries to be intimidating.  He's a sweetheart for real and very terrified of Thunderstorms. He got his name because as a kitten he looked like a Mogwai.

Miss Kitty-  She's a year older than Giz, and they ended up mating as I was too slow to get her spayed and didn't think a kitten under 10 months old could or would nail her.  Gizmo proved me wrong.  Miss Kitty is temperamental at best. She will look at me and knock my crystal stems off the shelf and casually lick her paw like "Was that a problem for you?"  She tends not to be very friendly to strangers, but she is very affectionate with my grandkids, my daughter and myself.  She actually has to kiss my cheek goodnight every night before she goes to bed at my side.  She is also quirky in that she loves baths and will get in the tub with any unsuspecting person who allows her in the bathroom during a bath. She got her name because we couldn't decide on a name and kept calling her Kitty.. then it became Miss Kitty.

She also has a thing for sitting on tops of open doors... 

Boo-  (technically Boo Bear)  She's a very tiny calico, the offspring of Miss Kitty and Gizmo.  Boo is SUPER affectionate, but only to her person (my daughter) which is apparently typical for Calicos. She can be skittish with strangers though and she is pretty finicky towards other cats. She avoids children at all costs and generally avoids most people other than my daughter, though she tends to sleep on my bed.  

She has been bullied by the other cats which has changed her personality some, and she’s become less friendly and more skittish. I can’t seem to get the others to quit bullying her. She too loves water, like her momma.   This photo does not do her justice but she’s hard to get pics of.

Brutus -- He is my old man. Born 14 years ago, I've had him since Pre-Katrina New Orleans.   He is now nearly blind, mostly deaf and walks with a limp from a past injury when he fell down some stairs he wasn't supposed to be climbing in the first place and broke his leg.   He's the 'alpha' of our pack.. setting the other two straight as needed.  He does on occasion surprise us and do a run through the yard and play like a puppy, but then immediately crashes hard.  He mostly sleeps these days.

He’s extremely loyal, loves my grandkids and kids.  He will be missed when he crosses the Rainbow Bridge. 

Recently he made our local news in the police report by running off... blind deaf dog at large.  :)

Carlos-  He's my little chihuahua. Nickname is Chachi.  He was a rescue from some people who lived down the street. They would allow their children to beat on him, kick him, their other dogs to attack him. He has scars on his face, is missing teeth, and when my ex wife implored them to let her have him, they gave him up without a care.  When I first tried to introduce myself to him, he bit me. It took some time to make up to him, but once he did, he became my dog.  When she moved out, she took him with her, but he kept running away to my house so she finally just gave him to me. He is generally shy, and takes a long time to make up to someone, but once he makes up to someone he loves them forever.  He is also our little mediator.  When the cats fight he gets in between them and breaks them up.  

I think he’s confused. Sometimes he thinks he’s a cat, and I’ve caught him using the litter box.  He’s full of character for sure.

And last but certainly not least is Jules.  Jules is 10 months old now.  She's a lab/ boxer/ mastiff mix.  Her mother was a golden lab, her father was a mix of Boxer and Mastiff.  She has the colouring of her father, but no brindle like he had.  She had a wide face and stocky stance. She is hyper like a boxer, bouncing off furniture, walls, etc,... doing a wild ass run from one end of the house to the next without warning. She's always smiling.   She's got the lab nose.. and is often nose to the ground sniffing out something. She also got the lab jumping.. can't keep her in a fence. She jumps over it. And the mastiff in her comes out when she's being protective.  She gets this stance... squares up, and head up, ears up and her neck bristles.  She has a menacing deep throaty bark, and when she's warning you she huffs.

She's affectionate and all wiggles though and I've never seen her get agressive except over food.  She's the pup, the young one, and the one that one day will accompany me on road trips across the country.