They call the Maine Coon the “gentle giant” of cat breeds and anyone that is familiar with this beautiful and sweet cat knows that statement to be true. Our “little” Zee is the epitome of the Maine Coon breed and perhaps the kindest cat I have ever known. He is sensitive, sweet, caring, intelligent, and has a vocabulary a mile long. Most endearingly however, he is a clumsy, delightful goofball!

In hindsight, maybe we should have put up a “wet paint” sign for the cats, but then again, cats typically can’t read. Personally, I think they can, they just choose to pretend they can’t so that we don’t burden them with activities such as reading a book or paying the bills.

Guilty As Charged – Intentional Vertical Space Jumping

Over the past weekend Dan and I had been doing some home renovation projects. We are redesigning a guest bedroom we have and are down to all the fun little details like decorating and accessorizing. Dan was in the process of painting a very tall, VERTICAL column that stores books and cds. Well, any of you that watches My Cat from Hell with Jackson Galaxy, knows that cats instinctively LOVE “vertical space.” So, when I heard Dan yelling, first at Mia, then a half hour later at Peanut, then minutes later at Zoey, and minutes after that, Rolz, I knew Jackson would be very proud of my cats. Dan, not so much. No matter how many times he yelled, they did not understand that he was yelling at them to NOT jump up to a tall, VERTICAL space while he was swishing a paint brush up and down like a playful invitation to a game of bat and swat. What is wrong with these cats? Don’t they know they are jumping up to wet paint???

Needless to say, each one of them branded the tile floors with the stencil of little white paint-dipped paw prints and I had to dunk each of their paws into some water to clean the paint off! The only ones who did not bother with the activity, were our resident elder cats in this order, Jazz, Harley, and Zee. They were doing another instinctive “cat thing” that Jackson would be proud of – they were very contentedly napping on the new bedspread we purchased for the guest room and christening it with their hair!

The cats helping me as I type my final words of the manuscript

It was exactly one year ago today, that I finished writing the draft of my literary masterpiece, The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey – A Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary.  The first thing I did after I typed the last word of the book was cry. I cried with relief, exhilaration, pride, and sheer over-exhaustion. The next thing I did, was give it to Dan to read for the first time. I had holed myself in our office as a relative recluse for a whole year prior as I diligently poured my heart and soul into this story. I really hoped he would like the story – after all, much of it centered on him, since he is an integral part of my life with Zee and Zoey. I was definately a bit shy, hesitant, nervous, but proud to hand it to him for his approval. Not to mention, I had never written a book before, so I had no idea if it was even good! When I heard him in the background laughing out loud, I just thought I would burst with joy! Read more

Zeuss completely worn out from his exhausting life of local fame and adoration

Okay… first it was the West Roxbury Patch back in December of 2010 when Zeuss Catt  made his local debut as the infamous cat “who  didn’t mind getting his paws wet while checking out the first snowfall.” He was interviewed by the local newspaper a few days before Christmas and got a nice write up as well as a video post about his adventures walking in the snow in his yard and joyfully greeting local passersby with his unique cat charm and curious doglike ways.  

Now, here it is a mere 5 months later, and he is in the online edition of the Boston Globe, boston.com, showing off his “fetching a toy and bringing it back to his human skills.” Geez Zeuss, can you get any more famous? All we’ve done is have our human Mom write a book about us, and yet we can’t even get a mention in our local newspaper, says the somewhat bewildered and exasperated sisters, Mia and Peanut, and brother, Rolz. Man, what’s a cat got to do to be noticed and famous around here? Move to Boston? Well, congratulations anyhow Zeuss and thanks for the “shout out” about us! We love you!!!!