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Ororo Munroe's avatar

Awww... I am a total cat lurver. Tabby cats, to be exact. Not sure why, but I've had three so far. Animals always seem to know who their "people" are and who they can trust.

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Heather Brebaugh's avatar

That is one crafty cat...and your hubby is such a sweet softy.

Winston, the puppy papillon, came to live with our next door neighbors in Phoenix years ago. He was a gift from Jaz, an outspoken Aussie to her husband, Tom, a retired minister. Tom said, "I don't want a dog. I don't like dogs. And I won't like Winston." And we all know how that story ended. 🐾💜

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Aww. So sweet. Thx for sharing. 🙏

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Bill Southern's avatar

I was never a cat-person either, until we acquired “Jeffrey” - an outdoors cat, who also liked to nestle on my ample belly - go figure.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

They love the belly. 🥰

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Dr Nia D Thomas's avatar

“Gus is the Cat at the theatre door

His name, as I ought to have told you before

Is really Asparagus, but that's such a fuss

to pronounce

That we usually call him just Gus”

I can’t ever say that without singing it!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

🥰🎶🎶🎤

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Sue Ferrera's avatar

CK, this is the cutest darn story! I loved it. Thanks for sharing. Big cat lovers here. 💚

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

🙏🥰

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Chris Stanton's avatar

I mean, Jeffrey wasn’t entirely wrong—some cats ARE demons. But clearly not Gus! I’m glad those two found each other. Loved this piece and “They weren’t even allergic, just appalled” had me cracking up.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Hehe. True. Some cats aren’t cool. Thx, Chris.

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Kim Druker Stockwell's avatar

I love cats. I have a similar situation with a covid kitty from the lower east side that my NYU freshman adopted despite our saying to our three kids NO ADOPTING PETS IN COLLEGE!! So, she promptly did. We get kitty whose name is 7 (yup) for many months at a stretch and my husband is BESOTTED with her as is our dog, Gidget. I am too, but that was expected. Cat stories. Love them. Thank you! PS I am in Boston! love to meet up for a coffee!!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Great story!! LOL at the college rule that the kids did not adhere to. My neice adopted 2 cats during college!

We were in Boston for 12 years. Our kids are there now, working, living. We are hoping to return. Would love to meet. 🥰🙏

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Kim Druker Stockwell's avatar

Are you still in New England? Love to connect. I am always open to sharing a moment with a cat person and a sense of humor.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

We are south of Seattle! I miss New England!!

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Kim Druker Stockwell's avatar

I guess that's not around the corner!

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Beth T (BethOfAus)'s avatar

I am not a cat person, having had severe allergies to them when younger, but I was housesitting recently, looking after an old dog, and was told ‘There’s an old cat here but you’ll never see her. She’s very skittish.’ On my second night there she came into the house, stood in front of me, surveyed my surroundings then jumped onto the lounge then onto my lap. And there she stayed. I sat there with my hands in the air, too scared to touch her. I took a photo and sent it to the owners who were amazed. Thankfully I didn’t start sneezing so the next night when it happened again, I gently patted her and she purred and purred and purred. Cats definitely choose people. Lovely story by the way. Definitely time to finally subscribe to you. 🤗🤗😘 🐈

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

What a heartwarming story. Thx for sharing. So glad you subscribed. 🥰🙏

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Meg Oolders's avatar

I think Gus fell for Jeffrey because he played hard to get. 😊

We had mice in all of our apartments and our first house. But we had a pet bird, so he wasn't much help. After our daughter (kid number 2) was born, we realized we couldn't pay our feathered friend the attention he needed anymore so we let my bird loving mother adopt him. We weren't in our mouse frequented second home long before we decided to get our first cat. Her name is Primrose and she has effectively terrified all the rodents out of our walls. She also drools AND purrs. She chitters, too, when she watches birds outside. Does Gus ever chitter? 😸

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Great story. Is chittering audible?

Jeff either wears a crappy shirt or puts a towel under Gus because of the drooling. Hehe.

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Meg Oolders's avatar

Chittering - YES! I think actual term for it is trilling or chirping. I tried to find you a decent YouTube clip but none of them are as funny as when my cat does it. 😊

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Sounds adorable. No chittering by Gus.

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Anna Maria's avatar

I ❤️💓❤️ the photos! What a GREAT Gus story! 😍 🐈! The mice would have sold me too!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Thx, Anna Maria. 🙏🥰

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Wonderful, Carissa - I loved every word, but particularly these ones: "They weren’t even allergic, just appalled." 🤣

Heartwarming and hilarious - you've got it all!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Thx, Rebecca. 🥰🙏

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Lisa Beth Wright's avatar

I enjoyed this. I had to read because I have my own orange Gus!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

No way! Do you know the poem? I should have mentioned that hubby actually knows the poem by heart. Haha.

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Lisa Beth Wright's avatar

I didn't, but I do now!

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Brian Lennon's avatar

My wife and I allowed our 13-year-old daughter to take in a feral cat this past summer. My wife is from a NO CATS family. The cat doesn't really care her or my 8-year-old son, who gets hissed at when just walking into the room.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Oh boy. Keep us posted.

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

P.S. you are beautiful! That is a gorgeous picture of you.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Aw thx. 🙏

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Kim Van Bruggen's avatar

What a fantastic story Carissa. I used to love cats, but now I’m purely in the dog camp. Nothing against them, just haven’t met as cool a cat as Gus in a while. My daughter found an almost dead kitten in the forest when she was 8. She nursed him back to life and he had personality plus. Boots was more like a dog in his affection and loyalty. He was the best and lived a good long time. After him I vowed no more cats. Because he was simply the best and irreplaceable. That’s my cat story!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Boots sounds awesome. 🥰🥰

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Mark Dolan's avatar

This was great -- no cat experience but nice they are useful with the mice.

1. Discovery of background radiation does it for me.

2. Never had one. Haven't met them all so I guess I'm a soft no

3. Yes when it gets -20F they find their way in -- one day commuting on a very cold day saw one in the rearview mirror on top of the backseat

4. Makes me miss Mom's chicken soup with homemade drop noodles...

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

1. Haha. Background radiation. A pure scientific heart.

3. What happened? Did you pull over and swat him out like a fly? Take him home and give him a name?

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Mark Dolan's avatar

1. The discovery of background radiation is a very cool story. Seeking why is a blast.

3. Stopped at a four-way stop. I drive with my coat off regardless of weather. It was colder than hell. Coaxed him out with a long snowbrush. He/She was comfortable inside. When I got home I thoroughly cleaned the car.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

1. Do tell.

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Mark Dolan's avatar

To me the coolest thing is sometimes we just stumble upon how the universe works at its fundamental and we weren't even looking. These dudes were just designing an antenna and try as they might couldn't eliminate the signal noise no matter what they tried. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_cosmic_microwave_background_radiation

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Fascinating. Thx for this education. This would be me explaining the Big Bang Theory— … and then G-d said, Bam!

I believe in the Cosmic Combo. I just coined that term. Hehe.

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Mark Dolan's avatar

Haha -- I LOVE THIS COMMENT -- many years ago we did a family reunion. A couple of my cousins are evangelicals and can't help but share their point of view. One of them asked me about creation. I suppose they just wanted to argue. I said do you really want my opinion? I thing the background cosmic radiation is a wonderful bit of fact. I said we all love our phones and our televisions and radios. They all work because of antennas. The cool thing is you get to choose whether you believe in creation and a young Earth OR antennas. You just don't get to say both :) I love my cellphone. Love the cosmic combo

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