Murphy, the Special Cat

In early March of 2008, this hairy bag of bones of a kitten ran in the house as Tim was leaving for work.

The kitten looked to be about 3 months old, and just about every bone in his body was visible.

Of course, me being me, I had to feed him and give him a name. Murphy was fitting. I wanted a cat and was told I could have one if it was a outside cat. I didn't want an outside cat, so as Murphy's Law would have it, one showed up. It took the kitten about a day to learn his name was Murphy.

It's a good thing he's cute, because he isn't overly bright. About a month after he showed up, I heard this crying in the distance. Since it was dark, I couldn't see anything. I got a flashlight and saw Murphy in the neighbors tree. He was afraid to come down. The next day and 4 days after that, Amy and I tried to get him down. No such luck. It even rained, snowed and hailed with strong winds, and he still wouldn't come down.

Finally, we got him to jump onto the roof of the house and figured he'd come down. Nope. Up there for another 2 days. The neighbor said he'd come down when he was hungry.

He did get down, but I think the neighbor helped him down. And he was hungry and so happy to be home.

A couple of days later, guess who was back up the same tree and then stuck on the same roof? Yup. Murphy. He still gets stuck in trees, but doesn't climb as high, and he avoids that particular tree. He disappears for a few days and shows up extremely dirty and very hungry. We think he finds holes to go into and has a getting out problem.

Murphy expects to be carried up and down the driveway. I finally, for the most part, have him only wanting carried one way now. Usually, it's when I have my hands full of mail.

He's in the house more than he's out and he has his very own oak rocking chair, but, he has to share with my mother-in-law when she visits. We bought the chair at an estate sale and you could tell it was an orange cats chair.

Tim says Murphy is spoiled. I say Murphy is special. Spoiled or special, Murphy came to the right house that day. I guess he knew a sucker for animals lives here.