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Hello, my generous little chipmunks! I guess it’s about time I let the cat out of the bag and let you all know that I let the cat out of the bag. Well, he didn’t come in a bag so much as a cardboard carrier, but that’s really only a matter of degree.

Short story shorter: I have a cat! :) That’s him pictured above, or to the right, or wherever. I got him last Wednesday, but I had to keep him a secret for a while, because he was meant to be a surprise for Dana and I didn’t want to spoil it by having her get bored and read about it on my website. It’s been known to happen. In fact, I heard her dad Googled me recently, so perhaps he’s a new reader as well. If so, hello again John, and I apologize in advance. :)

I suppose I should supply some vitals on the kitty, no? Well, he is a he, and he is eight months old. He weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces when I took him in to get detasseled* on Friday morning, so I suppose he probably weighs 9 1/2 pounds now. *g* He still has however many claws cats are born with, though that may change sometime in the future.

His name, as of this writing, is Tuck for short, or Friar Tuck if you’re not into brevity. This is one of many names Dana and I have given him in the last week, and I can’t promise it’ll stick. His name was Xavier when I got him from the Ames animal shelter. I looked the name up and discovered it didn’t mean anything great for a cat, and I didn’t really want a primarily religious name anyways, so I started thinking of new ones. I started calling him Ketey at first, because that’s what I call all cats (the ‘t’ is pronounced with a velar flap, like the ‘t’ in “metal”), but Dana was worried people would just think we couldn’t pronounce kitty (I’m not convinced I can). I also wanted to name him Aristotle for his inquisitive nature, and shorten it to “Ari” (which means lion in Hebrew) in conversation, but Alicia goes by Ari so that was shot down also. He was briefly Bob for no reason, nearly became both Trogdor and King Of Town, and was Friar Mendy** for a whole day. Because he looks Egyptian to Dana and me, he was also very nearly Set, Imhotep, Osiris, or Anubis, but none of the descriptions of those gods were perfect for our kitty. On the Greek side of the pantheon, I argued for Pan (too close to Pam), Echo (was a female), and Muse (were also female). We settled on Friar Tuck (of Robin Hood fame) late last night, as the description of Friar Tuck was apt enough. He ended up with a religious name in the end regardless.

So! Tuck it is, for now. He’s a very sweet, friendly kitty, which is part of why I liked him. I wanted a cat that wouldn’t shy away from my friends. He’s also very inquisitive, which is also part of why I originally liked him; however, after the third time of pulling the cat out of the refrigerator or away from the candle, one no longer has to wonder how curiosity killed the cat. He’s completely housebroken and cleans himself regularly, so he’s already got a leg up on me. For my next trick, I hope to train him not to suddenly become lovey and needing of affection at 3am. Still, all in all, I’d say we’ve both made a remarkably smooth transition in the last five days.

* I prefer the term detasseled to neutered, and since it means pretty much the same thing, I say we go with it.

** This is in honor of Dr. Mendelson, who taught the class Dana and I had in common last fall. Towards the end of the semester, he suggested a week was long enough time in which to finish our papers, because after all, a week was long enough to fall in love. Dana and I fell in love that week. :)