The stupid cat

With all the posts I've written about my dog, it may come as a suprise to some of my seven readers that I also have a cat.

It's not that I don't like my cat -- I despise him -- it's just that my dog is an 18-month-old puppy who lives to get into mischief. My cat, on the other hand, lives to sit around and annoy me.

I've always been a dog guy. I grew up with dogs. So how did I wind up with a cat?

It's Paula's fault!

Paula is a mysterious figure in my life. I never see her or speak to her. We communicate only by e-mail and then, only rarely. But we share a love of animals. But while Paula is one of those crazy PETA animal rights nuts, I'm more of a generalist -- I love animals, but also enjoy eating them.

Anyway, about six years ago, I got an e-mail from Paula asking me if I wanted to adopt a cat in need of a home. My dog Buck was still alive, but was getting old and didn't get around much. But he liked kitties and I figured that a new cat in the house would provide him some amusement.

A few days later, there was a guy standing at my front door with a cat. His name was Riff (Riff is the cat's name; I don't remember the guy's name). He's a very handsome guy with white paws and a map of Idaho on his chin (the cat, not the man)

Here's a picture of the map.

Riff and Buck got along really well. The night Buck died, Riff howled and howled. It freaked me out.

Riff also enjoys climbing on top of my head in the middle of the night.

Riff is mostly annoyed by Rocket. But he's a fearless pussy cat who won't run away from a dog, no matter how much he wants to play. Rocket enjoys putting his nose under the Riff and flinging him into the air.

Riff doesn't enjoy this at all, but is too lazy to put a stop to it.

 The dog also enjoys chasing Riff around the house. But at night, like that cartoon with the wolf and sheep leaving work after a day of fighting, they sleep together at night.