Pets
I’m a sucker for animals. What do I mean? You’ll see.

Mao
Mao is the brains of the outfit. She is very smart and equally moody. Mao means “cat” in Cantonese.

When we moved into our house, I decided that we must have a cat. We were completely petless. Just before my boyfriend left for Peru for the summer, we went to the humane society to get a pet to keep me company while he was gone. We chose Mao. She was so tiny and gentle, sticking her paws through the cage door. When we got her home, we discovered that she was the wildest kitten EVER. She was literally jumping off the walls. Her favorite game was “attack the elbow and run away”.

Mao is not so hyper now, but she does enjoy teasing us. I’ll hear scratching coming from the living room. When I go to investigate, all I see is a black streak zooming into the kitchen. Soon, two yellow eyes peek around the corner. She enjoys a chase. When caught, she wraps her paws around her captor’s arm and licks their fingers. She also enjoys a good drink from the bathtub. Anytime you are even remotely in the vicinity of the bathroom she runs in there and starts meowing. Oddly though, she hates people food. She is especially offended by sour cream.

Lucuma
Also known as Luca. Luca is a deep orange cat with a similarly spicy personality. Luca is named after the orange Lucuma fruit that I ate while I was in Peru. The fruit is used for all kinds of things, including my favorite, lucuma ice cream. Mmmm, but I digress...

I was getting into my car in the university parking garage when I heard a tiny mew. Further investigation revealed a tiny Luca hiding in the undercarriage of the truck parked next to me. She was both the cutest and filthiest thing I had ever seen. So naturally, I tucked her inside of my jacket and took her home. When I got home, Curry and Mao were furious. Curry said we should only have one cat. Mao just hissed a lot. But, by the end of the second day, Mao was playing with the irresistibly cute Luca. And by the end of the first week, the boyfriend wanted to keep her.

Luca has two moods, sweet mood and bitey mood. Her moods change frequently. Luckily, she doesn’t bite hard; it seems to be a playful rather than angry bite. She likes to sleep on my neck, like a furry orange scarf. She lives for attention and must be the center of every party. She also enjoys exploring. She can open all of the kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors and drawers. Her favorite sleeping spot is on top of the kitchen cabinets. She drapes her paws over the edge.

Mr. Mister
I’m really not sure where the name Mr.Mister came from. It just seemed to fit him for some reason. He is a very large and easygoing guy. His favorite pastime appears to be laying stretched out upside down with his tummy up in the air.

Mister is just glad to be loved. He was a stray cat that liked to drink out of our bird bath. Needless to say, I started feeding him. He would follow me around outside, and when I was inside, he would look in the window at me. But, he would never let me touch him. Then, I think that he got hit by a car. His jaw was broken and the eye on the same side was damaged pretty badly. I had to trap him to get him to the vet. The vet seemed a little nervous when I brought him in, making no claims about his tameness. Luckily, he turned out to be very laid back. So, about $400 later, he was all fixed up. Sadly though, he is blind in one eye now. His blind eye is affectionately referred to as the “crazy eye” because it is always dialated.

Somehow Mister always knows when you’re having a bad day and he’s right there to purr and make you feel better. Mister is also the protector. He runs between Luca and the neighbor dogs, puffing himself up and swatting them on their noses. He is very brave. Well, except around the chickens. He’s afraid of them.

Frida, Lola, and Sparky
The girls are a heavy breed of chickens called Buff Orpingtons. They have very soft golden colored feathers. They are growing very fast and will be quite big when they are all grown up. We picked them up from the feed store when they were one day old. They were so tiny and cute. They are still cute, but not so tiny.

The girls, and especially Sparky, like to fly up and sit on top of our heads. They are very tame and sweet. Each evening when it gets dark, they go into their chicken house to sleep. They patiently wait for us to shut the door for them, to keep them safe. They are pets, though in a few months they will begin to lay eggs for us as well. We love them very much and would never eat them, especially since I am a vegetarian.