Ebby & Tweety

We have two black cats!

Ebby came with her litter mate Idgy who disappeared when the two were a year old. Idgy was always the more playful and fun kitty while Ebby was aloof and full of claw. She is a pleasant companion if you take her on her own terms: scared and unfriendly. She does, however, always acknowledge a greeting with a purr, and when Cindy comes home in the evening she faithfully meets her in the driveway and drops and rolls for a good scratch. Her only other consistent human contact is her unfathomable desire to sit in Cindy's lap when we watch TV or a video which is infrequent. However, whenever she spots Cindy in the recliner watching TV, she runs as fast as her pudgy frame will allow and leaps into her lap where she purrs so loudly we usually have to turn up the volume on the TV. What I enjoy most about Ebby is her adorable little hip sway when she walks. In the picture, she's the one with squinted eyes and laid back ears.

Tweety is another story altogether. I found her in a give away cage at the feed store-- the last of the litter to find a home. She's a tiny little thing and a superb hunter which is surprising because we think she also has vision problems. The vet can't confirm this, but she does the weirdest things that suggest she might be near-sighted. That doesn't stop her from catching moles, gophers (almost as big as her), field mice, lizards, and all manner of birds. We finally have her trained to keep these prizes outside but not always. She likes to get on the roof every night, but the problem is that she can't remember which side of the house the trellis is on so she can get down. Every night, Cindy has to go out when she hears Tweety madly running back and forth on the roof (her signal that she's ready to come down) and turn on the porch light and call her to the trellis. I didn't believe this assistance was absolutely necessary until one night when Cindy was away and the unending noise of her bounding across the roof forced me out of bed to perform the ritual. One reason she appears to like the roof is bat hunting. She has successfully caught at least one bat mid-air which she brought down for applause.

The cats are an amusing distraction, and if I weren't allergic to cat dander, I'd pet them more and they'd like me a much as they do Cindy.