Well, it's quite a winter wonderland out there today...a good day for getting back in the groove of blogging! Today I'd like to introduce you to a member of my family who I'm not sure I've mentioned before: Shamgar the cat. Hi, Shamgar!
I'm still not sure why he received this name, as Shamgar was a judge of Israel who killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad (Judges 3:31), but that doesn't matter much as we rarely call him by his given name. In fact, I polled my siblings a couple days ago and we came up with six separate titles for Shamgar, not including variations!
He came to us as a very cute little Fuzz from the animal shelter. He was growing up into a nice young kitty, but alas, some visiting young children terrorized him and now he tends to be rather...uh, moody at times. In a slightly Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde sort of way. But in general, he's still very cute. See the cuteness? :)
So anyway, his titles...
1. "Hey, You!" (or "Hey, Cat!") This is mostly applied by my dad when the cat is doing something he shouldn't, as in, "Hey, You - get off the table!"
2. "The Jungle Kitty." A designation for when our housecat transforms into a wild, feral beast determined to kill the string (or fingers) that ventures too near. "Look out - the Jungle Kitty is lurking behind the chair!"
3. "Goofball" or "Silly Kitty." As in, "Silly Kitty, do you belong on the windowsill?" And here I must interject an anecdote: We hadn't had little Shamgar for very long when he decided to see if kitties can fly - or climb ceilings, anyway. We have an indoor, second-story window overlooking the kitchen (see picture below) and our Silly Kitty leapt out, clinging to one of the overhead beams. Sadly, he did not stick to it for very long and fell two stories to the kitchen floor - and did NOT land on his feet. Thankfully his only woes were a bloody nose and some bruises, but we've never trusted him around the windowsill since then.
4. "Kitty." A general designation, which can be spoken in any number of tones, from a friendly, "Hi, Kitty" to a stern warning, "Kitty..."
5. "His Royal Highness/Fuzziness." For example, when meowing is heard outside our door, one of us girls might say, "His Royal Highness would like to come in."
6. Finally, "Fuzz," as in, "You have a Fuzz on your bed!" or "Hi, Fuzz! How's it going?" or "The Fuzz thinks it's his supper time." This designation has settled in as our top choice, perhaps because it allows for a multiplicity of applications. For example, below we have a "Draped Fuzz."
This is an example of a "Fuzz Pretending to be a Gift."
We also regularly encounter a "Hungry Fuzz," a "Sleepy Fuzz," a "Silly Fuzz," a "Grouchy Fuzz" and a "Wild Fuzz." Perhaps most memorable is the "Lonely Fuzz." This Fuzz yowls down in the far corner of the kitchen until someone sticks their head out the window and calls to him. Then he charges through the kitchen and living room and up the stairs to the girls' room in about 2.2 seconds.
In conclusion, he's a Slightly Weird Fuzz, but we like him. :)
