My Crazy Life

Yeah, that’s right, four of the fur balls.  Way back in 1984 I got a cat from my mother.  He was a little gold persian and I named him Gizmo.  Not after the Gizmo from the movies either.  I named him after a real friend that we all called Gizmo or Giz.  Short hairy fella, a lot like my kitty.

Gizmo moved to Alabama with me the night I got him.  We lived there for 4 years.  He learned to hunt down there.  He brought me mice, chipmunks (live the 1st time and after that beating he killed them to bring home), and even a snake one time. It was alive too.  Not for long though.  I hate snakes.  Thing didn’t work out for us in Alabama so I moved back to Ohio with Giz and another cat I had found somewhere named Mick.  They stayed with my sister, Shirley, until I could find a place to live.  By the time I did, Mick had ran away.    So Giz and I lived in an apartment.  I had to pay extra $10 a month for him but he was worth it.  Couple years later I bought a mobile home and we moved there and he could go outside then.  Giz lived until 1998. He started having seizures and ended up catatonic.  So we had him put to sleep.  Rest in peace Giz. 

Giz was replaced by a blue persian the same year.  He was beautiful.  My brother had a dog name Shotgun (yorkie) and Shotty was scared of my kitty so my brother called him Buckshot.  The name stuck.  Buck was probably the most laid back cat I ever had.  He was just so sweet and didn’t give me any trouble at all.  He liked to visit the neighbors to get extra food but other than that he was very well behaved.   I think he had one neighbor convinced he lived with her.  She named him Mercedes.  I don’t know about that but he ate it up I’m sure.   Buckshot passed away in January 2009. 

I decided I didn’t want any more cats.  So in April a woman I work with told me their cat was going to have kittens.  They thought she was a male!  Guess again.  She had 4 kittens.  I said I would only take one if it was black and white.  They had 2 that fit the bill.  I said I only wanted a female.   They had 1 that fit the bill.  And of all 4 of those kitties, only 1 survived.  Guess which one!  I called her Myra.  At 4 months, I got her fixed.  Two weeks later, someone stole her.  I looked everywhere for the body.  Nowhere.  I put ad in the paper, I informed the cops, I called animal shelters.  No Myra. 

Myra, my happy smiling kitty

Simon had grown quite fond of Myra.  She was his companion.  He really missed her.  Molly couldn’t have cared less.  So I thought maybe, just maybe, I would get Simon a new kitty for Christmas.  I saw an ad on the board at work.  Two kitties for free!!  They looked to be about 6 months old.  So I called the lady and she said it was a brother and sister. I said I only want one.  Find a home for the other and I take what’s left.  I won’t pick one out.  She said what if she can’t find a home for one of them?  I said I don’t know.  So she said if she couldn’t find a home would I consider taking both of them?  They are rescue cats and she hates to separate them.  They’ve been through so much already.  Well, I told her to TRY to find a home for one of them.  She asked when do I want them!  So yeah, now we have 2 cats instead of 1.  Named them Mick and KC.  KC stands for Kitty Cat cause I couldn’t think of a name for her, she looked just like Myra except the spot on her nose wasn’t as big.  Myra’s nose was toally black.  KC has just a spot like a marker would make.  Mick is Mickey cause I love Mickey Mouse.  So Simon got his kitties as an early Christmas  present.  They didn’t like him like Myra had but they did warm up to him eventually.

Killer KC and Murdering Mick

Next time I will explain how the 3rd and 4th cats got in.  She used the sympathy card on us!

First I want to get this clear.  I really thought it would help Molly get back in the swing of things.  I mean, she was so miserable.   What brought me out of my funk when Curly died?  A new puppy!! 

I looked on the Internet, I looked in the papers, I asked friends.  I decided against another shih tzu.  Not ready for that yet.  There could never be another Mo so why try?  I wanted something little though.  Cause the pet door is little.  Molly weighs in at 19 pounds and she’s a pretty good fit.  Not a lot of extra room.  My sister found a spaniel on craig’s list.  It was already gone.  I found a small dog on Kijiji or whatever it was.  He was close to home too, only 15 miles from me.  He was a mix of chihuahua and papillon.  I talked to the lady and told her I didn’t want a dog that shivers, like a chihuahua.  She said these won’t be like that.  They will stay small though, about 6 to 8 pounds.  I said I was looking for a dog with long hair.  She said 2 of them had long hair and 2 didn’t.  I said I was looking for a male.  She said she had 1 with long hair that is a male.  I decided to give him a try.  What to name him?  I couldn’t think of a thing.  I just knew it would not be another MJ.  So I showed his pic to a woman at work and she said he looked like a Simon.  So that’s what I called him.  This was before I realized it was going to be a Simple Simon.

About as big as a kleenex box

I picked him up after work at 11:30 and took him home.  He shivered all the way there.  But it was cold out too.  I didn’t want Molly to see me bring him in so I took him around back and put him inside the pet door and went around front.  Honey, I’m home!  The little bastard never made a sound.  I figured he’d start bawling or something.  So I went to the back room and couldn’t find him.  I called Molly to come back with me.  She caught site of him in a corner, just sitting there.  Idiot.  I told her to get him.  Once he moved it was game on.  She started barking at him.  He was scared.  She didn’t like him!  I got him to come out and introduced him to John and Molly properly.  John just looked at me.  I told him I did it for Molly.   She needs to get her mind off Mo.  He wished me luck.

It took a couple weeks before she quit giving him hell everytime he came near her.  Another week and the weather was getting warmer and he was using the pet door.  She was keeping an eye on him.  He irritated her till she couldn’t stand it.  When she would snap and go after him, he’d back off until she cooled down. 

When the weather got really good I started riding my bike.  He wanted to go too.  I put him in the basket and walked the bike around the backyard.  He sat and enjoyed it.  So I figured I might as well give it a try.  Out on the road we went.  He loved it.   Then one day I had Simon in the basket and John was leaving too.  He backed his car out as I pulled off with my bike.  He yelled “Bye Simon”, and next thing I knew Simon was swinging from his leash toward the front tire. I dropped off the seat and came to a sudden stop, Simon got ran over with the tire and the bike fell over.  John never saw a thing.  I got him up and drug the bike home and took him in the house to check him over.  He got away from me and ran under the bed.  I figured if he made it that far he must be ok.  He was.  Later that night I asked if he wanted to ride again. He jumped on the arm of the couch.  Yup, he was ready.  He has NEVER jumped out of the basket again.  We ride everyday we can if it isn’t raining.

He’s a pretty cute little fella actually.  And he weighs a hell of a lot more than 6-8 pounds.  He got tall too.  He just isn’t friendly.  He barks, and barks and barks.  He can’t hold still if you try to pet him, he lays down and starts kicking his feet like Stuart on Saturday Night Live.   He pisses on stuff when he’s mad.  Even Molly.  I’ve caught him pissing on her, her food bowel, and her water bowl.  They each have a bowl but he pisses on hers.  He’s disgusting.  

Molly is getting old and cranky and tired and I don’t know how much longer she will live but I hope a long time cause I’m afraid what I’ll do when I lose her.  Somebody kick my ass if I decide I need a matched set of these yapping dogs. 

Get thee behind me Satan

Perhaps we can start on the cats soon! 

Mogus the little man

Mogus Joseph, he was the little man.  I did not want him.  I did not want any dog ever again.  You see, I had lost my little shih tzu/pekingese mix to a traffic accident.  His name was Curly, he was white and brown.  He was mean and I loved him with all my heart.  So when he was killed, it broke my heart and my spirit.  I couldn’t even go out to his grave for 2 weeks.  I thought I would die.  I was lonely.  I needed my dog to hold. 

So it was about 3 weeks after Curly died that I was in Bryan driving down the street past a pet shop.  I happened to glance in and saw something black bouncing around inside. I was curious.  Just wanted to look.  So I went back and went in the store.  There were fish tanks everywhere and in the back they had 2 pens of puppies.  They were big puppies.  Like boxers or rots. There were 2 different kinds.   And then there was this black puppy running wild in the store.  He was everywhere.  I told him to get away from me.  He had the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen on a puppy.  They looked kind of sad too but he seemed happy enough.  Maybe hopeful was the look. 

Well, I decided to check the fish out since I was there.   They were stacked about 3 high.  All kinds of fish.  Puppy still checking me out.  I told him to scram.  I had to stoop down to see the fish in the lowest tanks and of course the puppy had to check them out too.  So I’m squatted down trying to ignore him when he stands up on his hind feet and uses my leg to prop himself up.  I looked at him, he looked at me.  I asked him what he wanted.  I figured he wanted to see the fish on the top of the racks too.  So I did it.  I picked him up.  He tucked his head on my shoulder and settled in.  I loved him from that moment on.  I did not put him back down on the floor.    I took him to the register and paid.  I took him home and he became one of my best friends.   He is the guy that I bought Molly for.  Mogus Joseph and Molly Josephine,  My MJs.

I still to this day miss Mogus.  He was with me through a lot.  We knew he had a heart murmur.  He had ears that were always getting infections.  He had a skin condition that could get smelly if not kept clean. He itched from it too and they put him on steroids for that.  Steroids are not good for little guys with heart murmurs I found out later.   He started having occasional seizures which the vet said not to be too concerned about unless he started having them frequently.  Well, when that happened, he didn’t last long.  The seizures turned to fainting spells and he just couldn’t go anymore.  I took him to the vet and was informed that he was dying.  I got medicine anyway and took him home.  That’s as far as it got.  I got him in the door and put him down and he started convulsing and was gone.  Molly grieved so long that I thought she would die also.  She didn’t know what to do with herself anymore.  She missed him just as much as I did if not more. 

Maybe next time I will tell you what I did to help her get out of her grieving.  I don’t think she will ever forgive me for it!