Frankie’s Belated Gotcha Day


I forgot Frankie’s Gotcha Day again. We found Frankie at a Petsmart Adoption Center in Clearwater, Florida on February 8, 2014. He was put there by Pinellas County Animal Control and had no name, just a number. We don’t know when to celebrate his birthday. His paperwork said he was three years old. I don’t know what method they used to determine his age but if they were right, he would have been born the same month they took him in, which was probably January.

That means we have a fifteen-year-old cat that runs around the house like he is still a kitten. He had the zoomies yesterday evening which made me remember how we thought he was a sickly cat after we adopted him. He sneezed all the time and we thought there was something wrong with him. He still sneezes all the time. Every few days Rose sends me around the house to clean up after all Frankie’s sneezes. She calls it a “booger patrol.”

Here is Frankie at the adoption center.

This is Frankie the day we brought him home. He still does that with his blanket.

Our new cat Frankie

This is the last photo I have of Frankie alone.

I took this picture yesterday during our walk when Frankie decided it was a good time to take a nap in the sun. As I write this, he is on my lap purring, with his nose in my stomach. I don’t know how he breathes that way.

Frankie and Frankie, Attorneys at Paw


I was originally going to title this, “Frankie and Frankie ” but then I thought it sounded like a law firm. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in the Tampa Bay area lawyers love to hear their last name, so they include it twice in the name of their law firm. We have Morgan & Morgan, Farah & Farah, Catana & Catana and I’m just getting started but that is not the topic of this story.

During our walk yesterday, my Frankie encountered our neighbor’s Frankie under the bushes. She hissed and backed away. What did my Frankie do? He rolled over on his back, of course.

You can’t see the other Frankie, but she is there in the shadows

Earlier that day I saw the girl Frankie and called her name. She actually came to me, which was a shocker. She let me pet her head a couple of times then walked away.

Later that afternoon, after Frankie’s walk, I saw her again when I took the trash out. She didn’t come to me that time, but she did let me go to her. She almost let me pet her but backed away at the last second.

I think she’s warming up to me.

New Gifts for Our Cats


We got a box last week from my wife’s son and his fiancée. It contained cat treats and a couple of toys for our boys. The first wasn’t really a toy, but a cat scratcher.

It needed to be assembled but it was relatively easy to put together.

Both Frankie and Floki have been scratching on this new scratcher, although never when I was ready with a camera. I will say that so far they’ve only scratched on the flat part near the floor. Perhaps I should turn it over, so the long end is on the floor, or flip it, so the long end is at a 45-degree angle. It’s nice that I have options.

The other gift was a 4-way cat tunnel.

I have seen both cats playing in it, but Floki especially likes it.

Both items have been out for about a week with only a very slight decrease in interest.