Jacob

I've been Jake's mom since August 1998. He spent the first three days with me named Samson, but I couldn't get the hang of calling him Sam. Then he became Jacoby, and that lasted a day. I settled on Jacob shortly thereafter. (I've got a thing for Biblical names. Go figure.)

Jake moved in very soon after I got my first apartment. I was never allowed to have pets when I was a kid (let alone a cat, since my mom doesn't like them), so adopting a cat was my first real "adult" decision after moving out. I remember feeling the same way the first night I ate cookies for dinner.

Jake has always made himself comfortable wherever it is that I want to sit. This is him on the papasan. Looks comfy, doesn't he? Yeah, he's good for taking over the comfortable spots.

Wherever he can find those comfy spots... But hey, that's what being a cat is all about, right? Fitting yourself into the smallest possible enclosure and napping for 6 hours... breaking only to eat and use the litter box. Not a bad life, if you asked me.

This is my old cat, Wiley. She's named after the ThunderCats character, WilyKit.

I adopted Wiley in 2005 by chance. I was in the market for another cat, and a friend was giving her cat away because it didn't get along well with her mother. I was visiting my family out of state, and as I was literally getting into the car on my way back home, I was asked if I wanted some company for the ride up. Wiley was only a year old at the time, and was very sweet (despite what was said about Wiley's relationship with my friend's mother), so I took her on. She's got her issues, don't get me wrong, and most of them have to do with territory, but she's so adorable I just can't help loving her.

Wiley's birthday is sometime around Memorial Day, 2004. Jake's birthday is sometime around July 14, 1998. The age difference used to rear its ugly head on a regular basis around here. 

Troy and Jake spend a lot of time together on the couch. Jake loves to sit in laps, especially when you're Troy, and you're on the computer. Jake lived with me for seven years before I met Troy, but I still have to beg and plead to get him to sit next to me. Ungrateful cat...

 

Back in October 2008, we found a new home for Wiley.  The short story is that it didn't work out here in the Big Red House.  Neither cat was happy.  Neither adult was happy.  Anyway, her new home is on a farm in Western Mass, where she lives with 8 or 9 other cats in a horse barn and gets to hunt and wander around outside as much as she wants.  I know she's doing well, because I hear about her from time to time, but I do miss her.

In the meantime, Jake's become another cat.  He's clingy, he's cuddly, and he's much more vocal and playful.  And for an old man, that's really saying something.