We celebrated the solstice by rescuing two shelter strays, preventing them from being lost to the fury of the storms (or, worse, from the ovens). They are impossibly sweet, social and lovey cats -- so strange that one (all jet black) had been returned to the same shelter where he had previously been adopted and the other was languishing despite being a gorgeous flame-point siamese.

At the shelter they said that they have a lot of problems finding homes for black cats -- and while we were there, a family came and took 2 of 3 cats from a litter, leaving only the teeny, sweet little black one. How sad.

We had a wonderful all black cat, missing his left eye, that we rescued. He was 10 when we adopted him and lived another 13 1/2 years! I miss him still.

Didn't know that the black ones were hard to place. Will have to remember that the next time we're in the market -- but let's hope that won't be for many, many years.

There's a lot more white over here in outer SW PDX. There is no grass showing at all in my yard. As far as not driving, I need to be somewhere in a couple of hours and as long as my street and the next one are not icy, I am going. Hopefully, this melts real soon before the TV broadcasting craziness begins in earnest.

Gosh, I can't wait to see h'shonor Sammy on tv telling us to be careful and shovel our own snow.

We were at the pound three years ago and adopted two kittens, a black long-hair and a calico. They spent some time in a holding area, and as we were going to their cages for a visit, I stopped for a moment for some reason. I felt something on my arm- the oversized outstretched paw of a 4 month old short-haired black cat reaching as far as possible out of his cage to make contact with me.

My husband was rather surprised when we returned with three cats.

BTW, the calico was christened Lola. Will the cat nursing homes be full of Lolas in a decade or so?

A decade ago, I was at the pound, looking for a companion to my big orange tabby. None of the cats really caught my attention and I figured I'd come back another day. As I was walking out, I noticed a portly black cat amusing himself by batting at the tail of a kitty who was busy at the food bowl. I stopped to watch; he kept it up, playful but not malicious. We went to the test area and the rest is history. He's a wonderful, if somewhat needy, companion. And about that neediness:

Before adopting him, I read his chart. "Jasper is two years old, very playful and loving, healthy, box-trained, well-behaved, gets along with other animals, just a great cat..." Reason for surrendering: "Did not want".

Did not want.

So cruelly casual.

Our newly adopted kitty Quizz is certainly living up to his namesake Jaquizz Rogers. He dashes everywhere, sleeps on my shoulder, purrs like crazy, loves anyone, fearless, and eats like crazy. He was abandoned along a street in NoPo and wandered for several days. Luckily someone called the Cat Adoption Team. And what's so astonishing is that I'm a Duck and a big fan, but there's something special about the Rogers..... and this kitty.

We have 5 cats, and all are rescues...Ripley, Crash, Coco, Tiger, and Brownie Mae. They've brought us great joy. They're all in by the fire.

Jack, which of your two cats is that?

That's Lola.

Here's the story behind our Bengali tabby cat we nicknamed "Bin Laden": When she disappeared from our yard one day and neighborhood posters failed to turn up her whereabouts, we finally surmised that she had been taken from us. Fast forward two years - animal control called and said they had a Bengali in the shelter that matched her description (amazing they kept our poster for two years). Sure enough, we went there to check, and it was her. The staff said that she was dropped there with no names and no comments left, other than "they can't take any more of this cat".

She lived up to her name, as we knew she would.

Hilarious post!

Give me a Jack Russell Terriorist any day!

That cat doesn't look frightened or confused. It looks pissed and impatient.