Our Forgotten Children

I spend so much time working on the house, working at my job, or working chasing Avery running around, that sometimes I forget that we have three furry kids, too!  Joey, Harley, and Dash have been long-time members of our family, so I thought I'd give them their own day on the blog.

Harley!

Harley is Jon's cat, or at least, that's how she started.  Jon picked her up as a little teeny kitten in Texas (mom was a feral cat on base at Goodfellow Air Force Base) and his girlfriend at the time and Jon stole all the cat's kittens.  Cat burglars, indeed.  The cat family was living in a transformer on base, and Jon, worried that the animal control guys in Texas would capture and kill them, snuck out one night while the kittens were playing, stuffed a towel in the of the transformer that they were staying in so they couldn't escape, and grabbed all the kittens.  Jon and the girlfriend gave them all away except for Harley, who has been with him ever since.  She's moved with him from Texas to South Korea to Germany to Boston and now to DC, so she's quite the world traveler.  When I met Jon in Germany, she wasn't a lap cat, but she at least wanted to be in the same room with you.  Jon used to put a harness on her and tie her to a stake in the yard to let her roam around in the grass (he even tried to walk her once.  Once.)  Now, she is 10 years old, but still plays around like a kitten sometimes.  She likes to sleep with me on my side of the bed and likes to swat at Dash a lot.  As you can see, she's adorable and speckly and has a great two-face.

Joey!

 Joey is my cat, and started off as my friend Lisa's cat.  I had a cat in college that I left behind when I moved to Germany and Lisa was always trying to get me to take Joey off of her hands because he didn't get a long with her other cat, Chili.  I kept saying no again and again until I had recently ended a short relationship.  I wasn't destroyed by the breakup, but I felt a little lonely, and in swooped Lisa with that adorable little snuggly cat, Joey.  So I took him.  He hid under the bed for three days, but when he came out, he was super super snuggly (and still is, but just to me).  His favorite thing to do has always been to bury his nose in my hair and drool (gross, I know) and purr really really loud.  Sadly, he feels displaced by the other animals and by Avery, so he sticks to himself a lot, but every once in a while, he'll beat Harley to the bedroom and snuggle up with me.  He only likes me and no one else.  His favorite thing is to be brushed, and on the rare chance that he's snuck out of the backyard in Germany, walking around the neighborhood running my fingers along the brush bring him out of hiding.  I can't say how old he is because the Army veterinarian in Germany lost his records as I was leaving, and I can't remember when he was born.  He's at least 11, because I know he was at least a year older than Harley.  He used to be a nice lean cat, but when Jon and I both deployed, the girl who was watching the cat overfed him to the extreme, so he's a big fatty now (hard to tell from the photo, but he is).

Dash!

 Dash  is our dog that we love and hate all at the same time.  In Boston, Jon started talking about how much he wanted a dog, and I finally relented for his birthday and told him that he could start looking.  We went to the animal shelter in Salem, Massachusetts and looked all around their puppy and dog rooms.  We had it narrowed down to two: Dash (who was then named Knockwurst) and Tavin, a puppy.  Tavin, it turns out, had mange, so we decided Dash would be easier to take care of in case the mange popped up again and again.  Dash originally came from South Carolina and was trucked up to Boston, so he was pretty afraid of trucks.  In fact, another family picked him before we did, but when they tried to get him in the car, he "dashed" and ran around Salem for a few days before showing back up at the shelter.  The other family passed on him which was our gain.  He's all about riding in the car now, and over the last few years has really stopped being so skittish.  He loves loves loves me, but can be a bit nervous around Jon.  He does love walking and hiking with Jon, but Jon can't roll around and wrestle with him like I can.  He goes crazy whenever anyone says "walk" or "outside" and loves chasing the cats around.  He's gotten pretty used to Avery being around all the time, so that's good.  We try to spend extra time with him so he doesn't feel left out, which is hard to do with a toddler, but we get lots of indoor snuggle time while we watch TV, so I think he's ok.

And that's our furry family!