"Bobby Tail" Brown, so named because he was born with a tail only an inch or two long, was from a litter of four, all with either tiny tails or six toes per foot. We had rescued his mother, Blossom, from a farm that we had planned to move to in 1997. At the last minute the owners decided to sell it to a gun club, and had threatened to shoot her so we took her home, pregnant and hungry, and Bobby became a part of our family. He and his three siblings all had interesting "mutations" I think they would be called. He's sweet and quiet for the most part and always wants attention. Bobby is definitely my baby and he never lets anyone forget it.
   Tigger is the second oldest but only by a few weeks. He was a shelter kitten. He was a little sick but when I first saw him, he had his paws in the door of the cage and was determined to escape and live a better life. I instantly fell in love with him. The first few weeks home, he would sleep on my pillow and everytime I turned my head he'd walk to the side I was facing and lick my face. Now that he's older he's still in need of attention but content to lay in sunny patches and sleep as well. He's also the fat one. He can usually be found lying around the house doing nothing, or sleeping. He was very spunky when he came home from in 2001, but somehow managed to turn into a very large version of Tigger, his namesake.

   Cinni-mini is the smartest cat I've ever met. He and Tigger were living at a shelter when we came to visit in 2001. The shelter was divided into two parts, the animal shelter and the animal-catcher section. They were in the back. We took them home the day they were to be put to sleep. Tigger was alone, crying, sick, and jittery. Cinni was a tiny baby I fit literally in the palm of my hand. He was there with his mother and five sisters and brothers. The cost to take them home was $75 each and I spent my last paycheck on both of them. They went home just an hour after Cinni lost his family. At first he was quiet and sulky. He didn't do much and just walked slowly around, sleeping a lot. Now, he is the most hyper, and absolutely loves to play fetch. He has toys that he will bring to you and cry until you throw them. He runs to get it and brings it back over and over. He's very sneaky and mischevious, but still very sweet. He is also the Alpha Male of the house!
   Behind our house resides droves of cats that come and go with the seasons. Sometimes we can catch them and get them fixed and find homes for them. Slipper (we call her Girlie) is one of those, a kitten who came up to eat by herself quite often. Noone knows for sure where she came from or where her mother was, but she finally decided it was nicer to live here than outside starving. She's very quiet and very shy, but she likes to play with the other cats. We think she and Tigger are a couple, because they spend so much time together and she follows him around and loves when he licks her and nuzzles against her. She has finally come out of hiding and loves to be pet, but only with one hand and only when she is in certain "safe" areas of the house. Hopefully one day she'll feel safe enough to relax around people completely.

   Jamie was also a stray. He came into the kitchen from the porch now and then to eat and hang out. Finally my mom had him friendly enough to keep inside, and now he is fixed and fat, enjoying laying around the house and playing with the other cats. He loves the other cats, but they are mostly older them him and don't want to play all the time, so sometimes he is ignored. He's also a people person. If you leave him alone to long he gets upset and follows you around until you give him the attention he missed. He also recently acquired a Urinary Tract problem so he takes a pill every night and eats special food. He will most likely always have to, so he stays in his own room to make sure he doesn't eat the wrong food and get sick.
   That leaves Princess. I was driving to Hinesville one day near the local army base. The road is long and swampy and having worked through those woods, I know it's pretty much water, swamp, and no houses for miles. Going there I saw a white streak, and coming back four hours later was that same streak in the same place. I could have sworn I saw a red face, and a very long tail. I turned around and pulled off to find a pure-bred Persian pulling apart a turtle that had been hit on the road. She was crying and slinking towards the water. After sitting for about two minutes, I called and she came up, still crying, and let me pick her up and take her home. She wasn't even scared of the noise or other cars. She was a tiny little skeleton covered with ticks and a few large wounds on her leg. She isn't much for the other cats, though she runs with them at night, but she seems to pay no miind to dogs, even my sister's huge Husky. And she reminds me exactly of Baby, the Persian cat we had for about 12 years when I was younger.

   In 2003 a family that happen to live outside the door. Last year, one of our strays started looking a little large, disappeared for awhile, and came back skinnier. She was an extremely friendly cat, left behind by previous neighbors (Supposedly the same owners who left Slipper). A few neighbors saw her now and then and heard the babies every so often but noone could find them. One neighbor offered to find them and "put them out of their misery". The next time she came around I was outside, cleaning my truck, and I brought her inside, fed her, and followed her to a basement window where spits and hisses emerged followed by five tiny black and white faces. They were miniature cows. They were adorable. Now they're safe and happy. They occupied the entire kitchen and ate like the bowl had no bottom.
   There's two discernable: the black one and the almost all white one (with the little beautymark). They're actually the friendliest, and the black one loves to curl up in my lap and sleep. He's also the one who likes to chew, especially on fingers.

   The three others are mostly black. One has a stripe all the way up his forehead, one stops halfway down, and one is almost nearly bare. These three are hard to tell apart because they tend to be huddled in a mass either sleeping or fighting and chewing on each in a black and white ball.

   
   
   *Update* Princess went home to a nice young couple. The white baby and Dimple each found a home the same weekend. A nice man and his daughter took mom and one of the babies, and the two remaining from the litter were adopted by a group of girls sharing an apartment in Savannah. Yay for new families! But still kinda sad they're gone.