Which one are you?

There are those in this world who are dog people and then there are those in this world who are cat people. I am definitely one of the cat people. In fact, my whole family is made up of cat people. Binghams have had cats since the beginning of time- it's pretty much a requirement. I'm pretty sure that it all started with my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Erastus Bingham who had a tabby named Parley P. Catt that went west with him on the Mormon trail. As a kid, my dad had a cat named Linus that they would dress in a Santa suit at Christmastime. As a young girl my mom had a cat named Calico that slept on her television every night and licked her neck in the morning to wake her up. Then as newlyweds my parents had two cats, Paco and Bones, who met an unfortunate end with a semi-truck and were buried near their basement apartment... And every single year to this very day my mom has received a cat calendar for Christmas from my dad. (Yet another reason why my parents were made for each other.) Furthermore, when we moved to Lakeland in 1987, we brought our cat, Slippers, with us from Miami. And then Slippers begat Baby White Feet and Baby White Feet begat Abbey and Abbey begat Zoraster and- okay, there was no Zoraster. But we always had cats and they were always having kittens. It's just who we are. And why are we cat people, you may ask? Because cats are awesome. And by "awesome" I mean "aloof, independent and condescending." No offense against dogs, but come on, do I really want a pet that I have to walk, play with, clean up after and feed? Seriously, who wants to make that kind of committment?

Case in point: My cat, Yoshi, is the perfect non-pet. She spends 80% of the day in someone else's yard, she vanishes for days on end, only to come home and squint at me like I'm the world's greatest disappointment of an owner and best of all she pretty much feeds herself. It's not that I don't try to feed her, but honestly, I have given up on feeding this animal. Every single day she comes to the garage door, does a dance on my feet- waiting for some sort of food- she then anxiously follows me to the food bowl, waits for the cracking open of the can, allows me to put the wet food in the bowl, and then sniffs it once and gives me the "So when are you gonna give me something edible?" face. Always a critic! Honestly, does she work for the paper?

Therefore, I have pretty much just stopped feeding her and left her to use those primal hunting skills she was born with. And they must be working because there is a constant parade of vermin remains around our yard. Dead lizards, frogs, snakes, baby squirrel, birds- I have seen it all. However, my spider senses are telling me that her giant cat gut is not really from hunting her prey but rather hanging out in the yard on the corner where some little kids confessed to me that they "feed her ham and have named her Blackie." You see?! Only a cat would be moonlighting on you! Dogs? Much too loyal for that charade. But as a cat owner I have learned that loyalty is overrated anyway...

And now just a few cat pictures from our past:
Cindy holding our brand new kitten, Yoshi

Cindy holding one of Yoshi's kittens

Yoshi and litter number 2

Cindy holding the last of the kittens from litter number 2. This kitten later ran away and we have now confirmed that it lives at the house kitty-corner to us and has had a litter of its own. Do'h!