Manx cats by nature are a playful lot. Rocky and Rose are no exception. This brother and sister tag team spend some part of every day, chasing each other all over the house. Then when it’s time to “play who’s dominant now” … it’s a trade. Sometimes Rocky … the big orange boy cat. Or Most times his little sister Rose. I never saw a cat that small be the alpha cat in a household. And poor Angel, the oldest cat out of them all … is certainly at the bottom of the pecking order. It’s really sad when both Rocky and Rose gang up on the old girl.

But don’t fret yet. Angel can get her licks in too, and also be the instigator of calamity and much mayhem. She and the Rock boy are best buds. They are forever playing with each other. Especially in the mornings. But Angel tends to steer clear of alpha Rose. Except when it comes time to nap. Then you might find both girls cuddled up in a ball

The kids are alright. They just celebrated their 3rd birthday. Okay. Shoot me. It’s a fluff piece about our cats. No pun intended.

Now we can never be sure when exactly they were born, it’s just an approximation using higher math functions. Or just counting backwards. Though for some … that is is higher math … these days. But I digress. We got them when they were approximately six weeks old … give or take.

Rocky and Rose were rescued cats born in a manger barn somewhere in the farmlands of Washington state. Their Manx mother was a barn cat, but I guess her owner thought more than one was a crowd. Luckily they were rescued. We, or I should say Chris found them on PetFinder.com.

The sunny days of the previous week had dissolved into gray that day, and the skies wept because of it. The creek was running high from accumulated downpours. The air was cool and damp as I opened the sliding door. I needed that little brisk slap to fully awaken. But then again … did I really need to be fully awake?

I sat at my computer like most other mornings watching the cats rustle, stretch and yawn, starting their lazy day. Started my morning reads. MacWorld.com. OS X Hints.com. MacNN. Seattle Times … ad infinitum. A morning like many others. One by one the cats filed past as they time shared my lap or my arms. (I once read somewhere that in multiple cat households, cats tend to ‘time share’ their owner(s). I was intrigued by the concept alone!) It’s kind of tough to read or type when you have an arm full of the Rock man. But it’s a trade off I’d make. Any day. Then again … every day. It’s part of my pre- breakfast morning ritual. There are times I even have to put my feet up on the desk to create a larger landing pad for said time-sharers. It’s easier to multi-task that way. You know. Petting, rubbing and reading. What could be better! Okay … coffee, petting, rubbing and reading.

One day we say “good-bye” and the next we say “hello!” And so it goes. Today is another anniversary. It’s the one year anniversary we brought home two new additions to our household.

During the time we were preparing ourselves for Mr Mason to head off to ‘the big bunny hop in the sky,’ Chris & I also talked about the possibility of getting another cat. Not that we could ever replace the ‘furry potato’ … but we knew we wanted the joy of raising a new ‘kid.’ We had also talked about how we’d know when it was ‘the right time.’ Or how much time was ‘appropriate’ before getting another cat. I said when the opportunity presented itself … we’d know.

On the very night we put Mr Mason down, Chris was ‘researching’ on PetFinder.com and found a brother and sister duo named ‘Will & Grace.’ They fit all of our prerequisites, they had to be Manx, because of how loving a breed they are, and there had to be a male in the group. Originally we thought we’d only get one cat. But I also thought that my cat Angel was also getting older & if she ‘went’ it would be nice for the second cat to still have a companion. It’s funny … we both decided it would be nice to get two cats. But had thought the thought separately. When we saw the Will & Grace … we both looked at each other and said … “you know … I was thinking about getting two.” Right then we knew we had to go look at them.