What's in a name?

Nathan sent me an email earlier today asking about the story behind Orphelia's name. He sent it privately because since he is such a nice guy, he was concerned that I might have misspelled my own cat's name. Not only is that proof of Nathan's stand up ways, but his keen insight.

I sent him back a really long email (I was/am catching up from being in Denver the last 3 days), and he suggested it was worthy of a blog post. Apparently I am not capable of getting my days aligned with Cat Blogging Friday. I'll do better in the future.

How Orphy Got Her Name

This is Orphelia aka Orphy. Brain the size of a walnut, but the most dog-like cat I've ever lived with. Comes when you call, plays fetch, goes for walks with you. Weird stuff.




With a name like mine, I try REALLY HARD to get things right. Every time I swap the i and e in Janiece I wither a little inside.

Why yes, there is a story...
A friend (the woman I married) was a foster house for the local cat rescue group (these days she's also a licensed Vet Tech, but not back then). She took in a pregnant teenage mom, and raised the kittens, and placed them in homes. So, I've known our cats since they were in utero.

My friend lived in a little cabin, up on pilings with a crawl space underneath. The short haired black kitten crawled under the cabin and wouldn't come out. Momma Cat would go down there and nurse it, but it took almost a week to finally catch the kitten and get it back up to the living area. Sooo...at this point we still thought the short haired black kitten was a boy and we named it Orpheus, because it had a journey to the underworld, and returned. About a month later, it was determined that Orphy was a girl cat, NOT a boy cat. I didn't want to call her Eurydice, so I morphed it into Ophelia/Orphelia. She's the cat that is fascinated by running water and John has to avoid peeing on. She tries to join you in the shower too.

She's good cat, though a little stupid. She's the X-sports cat. If an odd spot can be climbed to, jumped to, wiggled into, she's there. Hence the picture of John geared up climbing the tree on my sidebar. There is a series where he's getting her out of the tree because she chased a squirrel up it and then wasn't sure about coming down. Stupid cat. But a sweet cat. She's next to me right now as I update and edit the original email I sent to Nathan. She's 14 this year, and still a mighty slayer of voles and bunnies. Go Orphy!

And yes, that picture is of her in a camp chair in the driveway, lounging on her catnip mat.

Why my laptop is full of cathair

This is my vicious hunter cat. He is 14. He kills snowshoe hares, voles, and shrews. He likes to cuddle. He really likes to cuddle. He gets insistent when he has determined that we need to go to bed. And this is why my laptop is full of cat hair.

To comply with the Cute Critter Pictures Requirement

Here's her highness, princess O, Lady Beard, Destructo-Cat, lounging on her catnip mat in a camp chair in the front yard.


Here we find Mr. Lowe and his cat enjoying one of their favorite activities - napping together.