Cats, meet dog. Dog, don't eat cats.

With the realization that squeaky toys have a half-life of 20 minutes, we continued to be a little apprehensive about Lulu's introduction to the cats. The cats were too, to say the least. E installed a six-inch long hook on the basement door to give the cats free access to the basement, but keep the fat-headed dog from chasing them downstairs. The cats took full advantage of this and sat at the top of the basement steps, watching the dog from relative safety. I can only imagine their enthusiasm watching Lulu toss around her squeaky toy like an orca playing with a seal.
At some point, however, the inability to annoy us became overwhelming for Pete, and she ventured out. (I think it took 6 days after we brought Lulu home, and only two days after letting the cats come and go from the basement freely.) Lulu was, of course, extremely interested. After lots of magazine flapping (recommended by a dog trainer - I guess the noise is a distraction) and at least one well-timed swipe on Pete's part, Lulu is a bit bloodier and (hopefully) a little wiser and Pete is hanging out in Garden Cat's spot on the dining room table. So far, the Garden Cat is taking her sweet time.
Obedience lessons start tomorrow! While they probably won't help too much with the cat introductions, we are hopeful that they will eventually help Lulu learn that a pitbull (mix?) jumping on random people is not always welcome, and pulling on the leash like some kind of draft animal is not going to hurry us up. Still, best dog ever. (And no heartworms! So best not-wormy dog ever!) Sorry, Paw: I guess I should clarify best non-Orc dog ever.

Worst cat ever

Garden cat, affectionately called "the worst cat ever", is a jerk. She bites, she picks on the other cats, she scratches the furniture, and she races around like a total lunatic. We, however, remain convinced that she likes us because she follows us around the house and occasionally sits near us. There is a competing hypothesis that she is just watching us, making sure we don't move in on her food. Recently, she has become more matted and well, stinky, than an animal should be if it's able to touch you, and so we've fixed that problem. Take that garden cat! You bite us, we make you look like an idiot.

Where to begin?

Well, I guess we have about two and a half years to quickly summarize here so we can start moving forward. I suppose we should start with how we came to be here in the first place. Eric bought this house in December of 2005 and was living with John. I was living with Lex at the time in a house in Southeast Baltimore (mercifully only briefly chronicled at Nightmare on Drew Street). Eric and I got engaged in February 2007, and Lex was heading to law school in Boston in the fall, so it became suddenly very important to get my house together so we could sell it as quickly as possible. I moved in with Eric and John about two weeks before our wedding (probably September 2007) as my bathroom was under construction and I had nowhere to pee. So, we got hitched, John moved out, Lex and I eventually sold the house, and I finished moving in.

To finish the background, I should probably mention the cats. I brought along Purryface when I moved in. Pete, Fat Pete as she's more often called, belongs to Alexa, but was living with Deb since Lex went to law school. Then, after about a year we snatched little Pete up from Deb's (apparently she's not a dog-loving cat) and she and Purryface fell deeply in love. Or lust. Or something. Anyhow, they're very happy together. Or they were until we got Garden Cat about two months ago. We found Garden Cat at the community garden up the street (further explanation some other time). Although she was skinny and matted, we weren't convinced she was a stray until we one day found her eating a bird. That night around midnight we were walking home from dinner and offered her some cat food that she scarfed down so quickly I was a little worried she would get sick. We then ran home, grabbed the cat carrier and the car, and went back to pick her up. After a visit to the vet, she was introduced to Purryface and Fat Pete and they are all mostly happy these days. Below: Pface and Fat Pete on the left (here, Pete has just been treated to her stylish lion cut), and the bitey Garden Cat on the right.


Oh, right, and the house: