Cool (and cats) Still Rules

“It was Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo…”

Yeah, nobody remembers Hoyt Axton these days. I just keep wondering how his parents settled on the name “Hoyt”. Pretty cool name, actually.

You really have to go to a used LP shop to find such names. That, and to laugh at what you heard on the radio that you thought was so cool when you were a kid. “Mmm-Bop!” by The Hanson Brothers 13 years ago comes to mind… Drove me nuts in Phoenix when we launched DSL there and 12 year old girls went bonkers searching for Hanson Brothers with Netscape (remember that program?). Last year it was the current Jonas Brothers track I heard constantly in the mall. A few months ago, Justin Bieber trying to set a record for how many times he could say "baby" in a song. Ugh.

I remember the Hanson Brothers as a trio of players from a Paul Newman hockey film titled “Slapshot”.

I love vinyl shops. I mine these LP’s like nuggets. Every now and then you find the one rare jewel. Like my original Procol Harum self-titled album with “Whiter Shade of Pale” on it. Classic.

Now about the cat part of the subject.

Should I ever concede to having another cat in this house, it will be named “Kalamazoo”. Kal, for short, of course. It is a mystery to me to this day. After having cats in our home since 1989 – why do we let a semi-domesticated animal run freely in our house? One that requires us to change a litter box weekly, feed and water it daily (our plants don’t get that kind of attention and they’re doing fine!) and requires snuggles and petting on HER schedule.

She’s the one who has figured out that when the alarm goes off at 5:45 AM, it’s automatically all about her. She’s the one who does “moustache bumps” – comes up to my face while I’m still mostly asleep, purrs, and bumps her nose against mine. Whiskers involved, of course. Cold wetness at 5:46 AM is not so much appreciated.

Next pet will be a dog. Trainable, loyal, patient… everything a cat isn’t. Probably one of Chuck’s fine Border Collies.

It’d probably be easier to get rid of her if she wasn’t such a “Daddy’s Girl”…
Sadie Toot, you’re intractable. Ya stupid goof - a dog would understand this.

“But the cat was cool and never said a mumblin’ word.”