Doppelganger Pets

Posted on Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 2:05 AM

I have two pets-my cat Pistol Pete and dog Geordie. Peter is a female calico nine years old so she's starting to get on a bit. She is a typical cat, coming around only when she wants to and on her terms. When she comes around it is to attach herself to you using her claws. No joke. When she comes in to sleep with us ( she prefers staying out at night during warm weather), she either curls up next to my husband or lies along my hip and uses her claws to anchor herself. Needless to say I am grateful if she spends the night outdoors. She also prefers to show her affection by giving love bites when you pat her. Typically she ambushes either the dog or I when we walk by. This really confuses Geordie, because she will either rub up against him or smack 'im smartly unprovoked. Sometimes I think she needs to be exorcized.

The dog Geordie is a different story. He came to us as a pretrained eighteen month old from my son. My son had gotten him from the pound as a six week old but realized that a puppy cooped up in an apartment for up to twelve hours at a time would not be happy.   My husband had just moved here from the UK and was spending quite a bit of time alone here at the house. Since he doesn't drive and didn't have his work permit it was a pretty lonely time for him. I was working my fulltime job and a parttime job as well so it was kind of hit and miss when I'd be home. Geordie seemed the answer. So anyway, when my son asked if we could take Geordie, we said yes. Now we have a "child" and a mighty spoiled one at that. Since he is a dog, human contact is important to him, but something was missing. He has recently found a four legged  friend in the neighborhood. The friend is a mini me of Geordie, a little Jack Russell. Geordie is a Border Collie mix so he is the larger of the two. This is important for his psyche because all the other dogs around are bigger than he is except for the Jack Russell. Also Geordie is a bit of a wuss.  They race around outside and have a high old time. I leave the side door open here in the computer room when we're home, so that Geordie can come and go as he pleases. Well due to that the dynamic duo have taken to coming in the house and racing around which thrills Peter no end. She has no sense of humor. She liked it much better when the baby possum came in the house and took up residence in the computer room. The possum ignored her, preferring to munch down Geordie's dry dog food. I also had a squirrel that came in the house also, but by the chimney. It created havoc and knocked things over. However, it hid when I was home, so I was blaming Peter for the damage it had done. The squirrel's exit from our lives was on Christmas Eve with a dramatic chase sequence with Peter, through the house into the bedroom, under the bed and then back up the chimney. Kind of like Santa Claus.

So far no armadillos have wandered in. That's shame because I like them and you so rarely see live ones.

 Still I live in hope.