C is for Cats and Coughing

I like cats!

From left to right is Boo Kitty, Lucy, and Ricky.

We had a couple of cats throughout my childhood and I adopted a couple cats when I became a "real" adult.

My first cat was Bootsy.

This is me when I was probably about 7 years old with Bootsy.
When I was 11, Bootsy secretly jumped into a truck when we were moving
 and jumped out when the truck got to our new house and ran away.
We never saw him again...

Then we got Boo Kitty.

We got Boo Kitty in October of 1993 (get it, Boo Kitty, black cat, October?)
Boo was a big, fat cat who got really cranky in her old age.  She always loved the guys in the house, but never so much us girls.  Boo died 2 summers ago.  No one's ever admitted it, but I know we all miss her.

When I was setting up my classroom for my first year of teaching, I kept passing this cute little house that had a sign out front that said "Free Kittens".  So, after many days of passing this house, I decided to stop and get a kitten.  I found Ricky!  Ricky (named after Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy, of course!) was very sick when I got him, so during his first week with me, I spent a considerably large sum of money (especially for someone who was only in her first weeks of her first job out of college) and got him all healthy.  He has a few odd quirks that we attribute to his early "failure to thrive" conditions.

But isn't he just a handsome lil Ricky?

Ricky was a "curious" kitten, and got into EVERYTHING.  Especially things he wasn't supposed to be in.  I thought that maybe a second cat in the house would keep him company and maybe help him not get into so much trouble.  Enter Lucy (named after Lucy Ricardo from I Love Lucy, of course).  Cute and adorable, but certainly did not help Ricky to stay out of trouble (let's just say I now had double trouble).

Have you ever seen a cuter kitten face that this little ball of Lucy-ness?

After a short introduction period, they became best friends.  When my brother, Jon, moved into his first house a couple of years ago, I let him take Lucy with him (she absolutely adored him, so I had to let her move with her favorite person).  Jon brought Lucy over to visit Ricky this past Christmas.  It was the first time they had seen each other since she moved out.  They don't remember each other at all, and Lucy hissed and spat at Ricky every time he came near her.  It was sad, really.

Ricky and Lucy cuddled for a nap shortly after we moved to Georgia.

I don't like coughing!

Luckily with all the colds and other sicknesses I've had in the last year, I haven't ended up with a long-lasting cough.  As an asthmatic, coughs can be horrible (and painful!).  I hate the elephant-on-my-chest feeling and the I-can't-get-any-air-in breathing.  It's not fun.  And that's all I have to say about that!