lil' Red, and The Kitties

Today has been a good day. It’s always a good day when I wake up and this little girl is laying by me, looking out the window and watching her birdies.

She is one of my four babies. Her name is CCP, which is short for Cherry-Chicken Pock. I didn’t choose it, but I respect it and that’s her name. I have kind of unofficially changed it to Cici P, so it’s more like an artistic name. she came to me about this time last year, by way of the young lady I was dating at the time. She and I had some good times, and my little family gained a new member.

Wilbur, my eldest, is 6 this year. I rescued him one night late, at an impound yard when I was a tow-truck driver. I was also a drug addict, which is a frightening thought on an amazing number of levels.


Yet the man I am now was the man I was then at some levels, and I understood that this little scared guy needed help, so I brought Wilbur home with me. Wilbur is gentle and kind, and very much a scaredy-cat. I love that little boy.

Chloe is about a year younger than Wilbur… maybe a year and a half. She was one of two Tortie kittens wandering the neighborhood, one of which my then-girlfriend rescued. The other went to a neighbor. Anyway, there was Chloe, and we had a new little girl to call our own.

Today, since that ex-girlfriend is no longer in my life and I was the responsible one of the two of us, I am proud to call Chloe mine. Chloe is a little insecure and therefore pretty pushy sometimes, but we do okay together overall. She's a sweetheart.

At the time she entered my world, Chloe was actually the third cat in my household.

Cassie was the original of this group I'm describing. Cassie was a beautiful solid black cat with a bit of a temper toward the others, due pretty much to over-crowding. She found a new home a couple of years ago, with an older woman who wanted the companionship of a loving pet. I assume they’re doing fine.

Louie, Louie, Louie. He’s my big Siamese boy. He’s a big oaf, and has so much love to give. Sometimes he forgets his own strength and gets a little rough, mostly with Chloe. Louie and Cici P are the best of friends.

One little guy I must mention as I talk about the kitties I called my 'kids' is Buddy.

Just after the aforementioned irresponsible girl left my home (and took all the cats with her) I met Buddy. At the time I was a smoker. I was sitting outside having a cigarette one night and he just walked right up to me like he’d known me forever. I petted him some, and he walked away. Later that evening I was outside again and he came back, so I opened the door and offered him the chance to see what inside looked like.

Buddy stayed with me a while. When I first moved to the apartment I have now, it was just Buddy and me. Then the irresponsible ex showed up one day needing me to take the others, and I suddenly had five kids to raise… Cici P wasn’t with me yet.

There was a lot of tension, mostly Buddy getting picked on. I knew that mess wasn’t going to work for long, so I had to find Buddy a new home. He went to live with a man and his dog. They had had just lost their cat a few months back. The guy said his dog was lonely, and knew one of each type of pet had been a good balance for him in the past.

This guy had pictures of his pets on the wall, and urns with the ashes of a past dog plus the cat he’d recently lost. I know Buddy ended up in a very happy home. That gives me comfort.

I didn’t end up taking my Crate amp and guitars to work last night as I said I would, but that’s okay. I’ve still accomplished a lot today, and the wheels are in motion. Electra and lil’ Red (my Ibanez) plus my gearbox have moved into my primary closet and are in my way, and they’re not going back into hiding.


Today I plugged lil’ Red into my 10-watt amp and tuned her, then strummed some. A little E-A-B blues shuffle, then I picked through the entire fret board to find a little solo-like phrasing that held that tune to the strumming. I played decently enough for someone who hasn’t really played in years and who really has never played a solo. I know with the support of a patient rhythm section I could definitely improve, and maybe even develop some soloing skills. Or, I could continue to develop my rhythm strumming skills and learn to incorporate singing. I enjoy singing.

For now what I might do is record myself strumming rhythm to whatever shuffle feels good, and expand from there.

Today I watched a free MLB.tv broadcast of my baseball team on my flat-screen TV through an HDMI cable coming out of my laptop. However, I find it very disappointing that by Wifi-capable Internet-ready Sony blu-ray player does not have MLB.tv built in and that I cannot install Flash player to the blu-ray player’s built-in browser.

I have such First-World problems.

And yet some would insinuate that I should complain, call myself part of the 99% and go “Occupy Wall Street.”

Bullcrap. Suck it up. Be grateful for what you have, work hard if you want more, and stop expecting the world to come to you so easily. It ain’t like that. Life’s a bitch is a saying for a reason.

The Diamondbacks have a very impressive group of young players. This team has the potential to be a contender for years to come, and that’s awesome if you’re a baseball fan, especially one living in Arizona.

I am. A baseball fan, that is. And I live in Arizona. I love it here.

I’m also enjoying seeing that my Tribe is playing well this year. I do miss the Cleveland area in the summer. The riverbeds are such fun areas to explore when it is warmer outside, but I can’t take the cold.

Every day I find reason to be grateful, and for every living day I give myself a hand.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for your time.


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