Never say never.

No. I do not have another cat. However, my cousin F does. Almost. It's inevitable, at this point.  The stray cat (approx. 9-month-old kitten, to be exact) has now gotten to the point that she runs to F when she goes outside with the cat food dish, meowing for all she's worth.  Both F and I think that someone dumped the cat there because it's new to the neighborhood, and my cousin already knows all the 'regulars.'

At first, we thought it was another feral cat, content to be outside running wild, with a stop or two along the way outside by the tree where F leaves cat food so they don't starve out there. But this little kitty made friendly gestures right away, followed F to her door, and even walked inside her apartment for a look-see.  F already has a cat--- Mousey...... who was a stray that she adopted a year ago. Or has it been two years already now? I forget...... but Mousey happened along the same way..... this tiny black kitten with a sweet disposition, who clearly wasn't meant to be an outside cat.

And as we all say..... all of us cat-people....... we don't want any more cats.  But somehow that just never works.  We don't go out looking for cats... they come out looking for us.  So now, it looks like the stray kitten up there by F's apartment will soon have a nice comfy home, out of the heat and the cold, away from cars, and the only glitch in the cat-ointment will be making friends with F's established cat Mousey.

F has decided to call the new cat Gypsy.  She asked me to come up with a middle name--- only because down here in the south, middle names are expected, and (in my opinion) a must for dogs and cats.  When you put your hands on your hips and look your dog or cat in the eye and say "Did you do this?!"--- those words sound more powerful when you can attach a first and middle name at the end of that question.

My suggestions to F were Gypsy Girl or Gypsy Rose.  We used to call our dog Gracie Girl...... and sometimes my husband called her Gracie Boo.  In effect, Gracie had two distinct middle names.  But let's not get started talking about dogs here.  Now that the chicken coop is being used as a screened-in porch for Mickey and Sweet Pea, my husband has already said "Now we have a porch for a puppy."  Let's not get started. We don't want another dog. We don't want another cat.

But that's the same thing that my cousin F has been saying...... and look at what we're doing now--- trying to come up with a middle name for Gypsy.  Give me a blessed break.