It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything in this space.

A year actually. A. Hard. Year.

And then August rolled around, and WordPress emailed me to let me know my site had been renewed for another year.

So I either spent a hundred bucks for nothing, or I’d better write something.

So for those of you who are tired of the media pretending that this upcoming election is normal and covering the republican candidate just as if he is a normal candidate, I present you with a Cute Cat Post, filled with funny cat pictures of our new stray cat, who has warmed our hearts and made us laugh when we really needed to laugh.

Introducing…

He showed up back in February as a streak of lightning dashing off the back porch and leaving the porch swing wildly crashing against the wall. I turned to Mr. H.C. and said, “I think there was just a cat sleeping on our porch swing.” About a week later we saw him again, curled up in a pile of leaves as close as he could get to the foundation.

A few weeks later, he discovered how comfortable the porch furniture is. He would still run off when we opened the sliding glass doors. Until one day, he didn’t.

After he was letting us pet him on a regular basis, we decided we should probably take him to the vet to get all the cat shots necessary for a pet cat. His first appointment was cancelled because no one could get him into the cat carrier. We ended up with scratched hands and arms and a cat who had vanished into the woods. He came back though. And the next time we were prepared. We had gotten him his own brand new cat carrier that didn’t smell like THE OTHER CAT, and we moved his feeding bowl inside the carrier where he happily ate his food for several weeks. This is why humans are generally considered smarter than cats.

But he needed a name before he went to the vet. Mr. H.C’s mom, Clara, used to have a cat she called Little Orange. We tried that on him, but, well, he is not Little. I was reading the novel There There by native author, Tommy Orange. I looked at the book on my nightstand and said Tommy Orange! So his official name for the veterinarian is Tommy Orange. (I hope the real Tommy Orange is not offended.)

He has since been to the vet twice–once for his shots, and once for his gender reassignment surgery. And now? He is definitely ours. He follows Mr. H.C. around the yard. He comes when he’s whistled for. He leaves us dead mice on the porch almost every morning. He takes naps on our feet. He makes us laugh every day.

But there is a problem.

THE OTHER CAT hates him.

She has been the Queen for four years now, and she is not accepting applications for any other household occupants.

She hisses. She arches her back. She chases him from window to window. And if she gets outside, she chases him around the garage, and out of the yard. He has never tried to beat her up, though he certainly could. He seems to know that, yes, she IS the QUEEN.

We have occasionally closed the doors to our bedroom and let him inside. He has made himself quite at home.

So now we are arguing, discussing, brainstorming what we can do to keep THE QUEEN happy and Tommy Orange warm this winter. So far the plan is a Cat Door in the new window in the laundry room. But that’s another post…

In the meantime, he’s still very comfortable on the porch furniture.