Greetings my dear friends. 

I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted, you know I'm getting pretty old and my body isn't as good as it used to be. My eyes aren't real good, so if there are typo's I'm really sorry.  

I had to announce my mom and dad have done it again. They brought another CAT in the house. I was really furious, but what can I do??  

The story that I hear my mom telling people is that the apartment where Katie and Erik live in Virginia, they have a lower level apartment.  It included a patio that goes right out to the grass.  Mom has been getting pictures from Katie of all the cats she is feeding that have found there way to her "Catio" as she calls it.  

Here are a few of the pictures I found on mom's phone.  Mom got Katie those white box things for the cats for winter to help them keep warm.  Mom got them at the cat clinic she volunteers at sometimes. That's a whole other story in itself. Anyway, these are the cats that found their way onto Erik and Katie's "CATIO".  Katie loves all the cats and has them all named.  She really fell in love with the one little guy that is on the top of the white thing that is in this picture. (The white and gray one)   Katie named him Barnaby. She talked to mom a long time about how sweet he was and how she can pet him. She wanted to take him inside but she has met the limit of cats she can have in their apartment.  

So she kept mentioning Barnaby and how loving he was and finally broke mom down.  I wish I had known, I would have whispered in mom's ear while she was sleeping and told her not to listen to Katie.  But I had no clue what was happening. I'm the last to know these things. 

From these pictures you can see they have some really weird looking cats in Virginia. At least the one that dad came home with is a normal looking cat. Thank goodness.  

You can see Katie has all shapes and sizes of cats that come to her "Catio", but she loves them and would take them all in, if she could.  

Dad made a quick trip to Virginia after classes on Friday, February 3rd and brought home the new cat, on Saturday, February 4th.  Katie had captured the cat the Sunday before and had kept him in the extra bathroom in their apartment.  She named the cat, Barnaby and she would sit in the bathroom with him every night and she would talk to him and pet him.  She said he was a really good boy.  

So, when dad came home, mom did what she does with every new cat. She kept him in a big dog crate for a few days to let everyone smell each other and check each other out but no one can hurt anyone.  After a few day, we all went to bed and

mom went back downstairs and opened his crate.  So in the morning he was somewhere, we didn't know where.  He's been hiding in the one room since then, at least during the day. We aren't sure what happens at night, it seems sometimes it's like that movie "Night in the Museum".   Mom put a gate at the doorway, the cats can jump over, but us dogs can't. We stand at the gate and look at him.  Mom said she didn't want to call him Barnaby, what Katie had named him, so she tried a few names and I think "Oliver" is the one that stuck. She keeps calling him Oliver now.  

 

He is a very pretty cat. But mom and I had a talk and I said, "That is it mom!! I'm putting my paw down, no more animals"  She did agree with me!  Thanks goodness!  

Well, I'm really tired, it's nap time. This was really tiring, writing this long blog to you my friends.  I need to remind you, do not tell my parents if you have an extra cat or dog or cow or whatever.  Our house is full!  DO YOU HEAR ME??

Thank you.  

Your friend, 

Leonard