Kona, Koni, Kones

“A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It’s a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys.”

An officer's dream....doesn't even attempt to leave the scene of the crime, literally pointing to the evidence.

   As I write this my cat is obnoxiously lying half on my laptop and the other half on my arms. She is purring so loud it's making my headache throb. As much as she drives me crazy I am really happy we got her on July 4th this year. I will like her even better after I pick her up from the vet on Thursday as she will be fixed and declawed. How a person could ever own a cat with claws I could never understand. My beautiful daughters face is always cover with scratches. 

Koni induced scratches.

 I like having a cat because it doesn't let my mind wander every time I hear a weird noise, she is a companion to my 2 year old and I feel like we don't have to worry about mice...or any other intruders since she's so mean and has drawn blood on every visitor we've had. She does sweeten up every night at ten o'clock so it's hard to stay mad at her for too long. It's as if she thinks it's her job to be on the attack from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and then she clocks out, curls up into a ball on my lap and purrs away.

I love waking up to this first thing in the morning.

It's funny to watch Z and Koni interact. The first thing every morning after she wakes me up she wants Koni in her room....and she wants Koni to read. My daughter picks up Koni, hauls her onto her bed in front of a Cat in the Hat book and says "Koni read books." What I appreciate is her will to push Koni to be a better, smarter cat.

Before my daughter was born we had 2 cats that I loved dearly. I thought I would have these cats until the day they died. Once while I was pregnant my husband asked me what we would do if the baby was allergic. Without hesitation, I said "we'll get the baby shots". Now, I cannot believe I ever had that mentality. OF COURSE I would NEVER do that to my child just to keep a pet around. But soon after she was born, it was not going well, which made me realize that pets and babies do not mix. I didn't want to get rid of them forever, just for a few months until our baby was a little bigger and not so precisely delicate. Unfortunately we could not find anyone who would temporarily house them. We LUCKILY found them a home together with a nice young couple who happened to be looking for 2 adult cats. Bear and Diesel, my little babies-and my did they have personalities!! As sad as it was hard to see them go but it also was a massive relief. I won't bore you with the issues but it was to the point where it was too dangerous to have them around our infant and they were not getting the attention they were used to...in fact they were getting none, which wasn't fair to them. For years they were my babies then along came my baby and their little lives were flipped upside down.

My Bear and Diesel, I miss you.

I really enjoyed the first two pet free years and thought I would never have another animal. They are a total pain in the butt, and expense, a constant mess and extra work. However, when we moved to our new house, the house just seemed too big. I needed something more to fill it and bring it to life. I also wanted something to blame all my new 'house sounds' on. On top of that we had mice in the house and I wanted an insurance policy.

On the the third day of July I broached my husband with my simple request. He was not interested to say the least in having another cat, but I assured him this would not be something that would be happening in the very near future, in fact I said to him "it's not like we're getting one this afternoon, we'll just keep an eye out and if we happen to see a free box of kitties then we can think about it." He said fine, but IF we get one I want a female. ( This was because our last kitty Bear was a male was sure that he and I were married, so Joel thought by getting a female it would become more attached to him). That night I prayed for a kitty. First thing in the morning the very next day we walked to our main street to see our towns annual fourth of July parade...the second we reached the large group of people I see Joel in front of me point to the left....a box of free kittens, 5 boys and 1 girl. We named her Kona after Kona Hawaii but Z quickly changed that to Koni which has stuck and suits her quite nicely.