Being on the road this year meant postponing a few things in our family. I have had dogs all of my life until I married Susan and was introduced to cats. With all of the animals in my lab, my students are always amazed that I don't have a zoo at home. In fact we have only had two rescued cats for many years. Penner showed up at our door one day and decided that he would adopt us. We named him in honor of the wonderful children's songwriter, Fred Penner. He became the constant companion of our devoted baseball cat, Sox. Unfortunately Sox was an old cat and last summer (right before the Teacher of the Year thing started) he passed on. So poor Penner has been alone and moping and my mother in law, Gert (who lives with us and is 95 years old) was also lonely. As summer approached and we knew there would be a more normal life ahead we began to search for a cat or dog to join the family.
I was very close to getting a dog when we found out about a litter of very young kittens that had been abandoned in a dumpster. One of the ladies at our veterinarian office was hand feeding them and desperately looking for homes for them. So we agreed to take both of the boys! Say hello to our newest family members: Radar (the little black cat named in honor of Radar O'Reilly from MASH); and Chairman Meow Meow (the Siamese who lives up to his name). Penner and Gertie are very pleased!
