But Call Me Betsy

My friend Jason and his wife have a new kitty cat named Percy. He only has three legs. They got him from the SPCA two or so weeks ago, right after his leg was amputated b/c of an infection in his paw. He's a Port Richmond/Fishtown cat and so quite tough. Evidence below:

As you may have guessed from previous posts, one of the hardest things about South Philly is the plethora of stray cats; some feral, some abandoned by owners, some that still get fed but are never taken to the vet. Such as the cat below. The first three pictures are her as a little kitten. But then the little girl who had her couldn't keep her because her cousin was allergic. The people behind me took her in. She recently had kittens, so now there are two more males in the neighborhood. I knew they wouldn't take her in to get fixed because it's just not a priority for them. So, I stole her away last Sunday night (I asked first--they said they didn't want her anymore, but were going to keep the kittens). Took her to the cat place yesterday, where they fixed her, gave her shots, clipped her nails, and gave her a flea dip. She's brand new! But I can't have her. I don't want to just let her go again, because even though I know they will probably keep feeding her...

Just received a blog comment from Lisa Marie pointing out that I have 38 entries labelled "cats" and only a few labelled "Lisa Marie." That reminded me that I took photos of my two charges from this weekend, Paul Skoles and Piper. See if you can discern them from this passel of kittens in the photo below. Paul Skoles was always the biggest kittie, and Piper, the most skittish. And look, thanks to Carrie and Padhraig, they are real life cats now.Paul is the more assertive/obnoxious of the two. He needs to be in your lap, on your face, kneading your hair at every second. Piper is a little more demure, but still very friendly. I sort of prefer Piper because he's less aggressive, but the truth is that he's more of a behind-the-scenes bad boy. He misbehaves, but isn't as obvious about it as Paul is. Plus, they are best buddies. And Paul meows more often than Piper--this sort of low, mannish meow that makes you think that maybe he has been stabbed and is s...

Somehow, I have become the most popular blanco mujer on my block. It happened gradually. First, I made friends with Aivlis (pronounced "Avis"), the seven year old Mexican girl who lives next door to me. We bonded over her cat Diego, who has since disappeared (died?). Then, I met her cousins: Stephanie, Melanie, Christian, Memo and others. One day, I invited Avis into my house to meet Ernesto and Emma. Then Melanie (who is about 3) wanted to pet Emma, though she's a little scared of cats, so I found myself sitting on the front steps with Emma, surrounded by children. Melanie is very cute. I said to her, Beso el gato, and she kissed Emma on the tail. When I say I have to go in, she frequently says, No! Please...(it's one word of English that she seems to know. She typically talks to me in Spanish and I pretend to understand or ask Avis what she has said). After Diego the gato disappeared, Avis' family bought a little boy fuzzy black dog named Moxe. They keep him tie...