Married, two cats

You know, I use that picture of my cat all over (you know, that picture, that one over to the right), but at this point I don't explain anymore that he's my cat, and so forth.

His name is Squeaky, and he was born in probably November 2000. (The place we got him from had named him Chad. Yes, Nov. 2000, Chad.) But he talks, and it's almost always a squeak. He does occasionally meow nowadays, but it's unusual. He was a Christmas present, in that my husband gave me one of what I am discovering to be not an uncommon thing for him - a "gift certificate" for some item that he knows I want but which will work out better if I pick it out, or if we go get it after the fact.

I wanted a white cat, preferably with green eyes, but we didn't find one, and it was January when we were looking, so it wasn't exactly prime kitten season. At the time we already had Teddy, a (probably Himalayan/Maine Coon) tuxedo cat who was the best mannered cat I've ever known. He was not so happy when we brought Squeaky home. Eventually they resolved their differences (mostly) and became snuggle-buddies, the way cats will when they're cold.

Teddy died in May 2004 (the same day as Reagan), just shy of 14; he had cancer, and had had a stroke, and we had to have him put to sleep. About a week later my husband had moved on enough to get a new cat, and we got Choochoo(bear), whose birthday is 4/4/4. Yes, he's named after that Choochoobear. Choochoo is a 20 pound mass of grey fur (also yellow eyes, like Squeaky) who could probably pass as a Russian Blue if I didn't know that his mother was a calico-tabby colored cat. And Choochoo is even more talkative than Squeaky. He, however, has had an adult-cat meow since he was palm-top sized. (He has also been making Squeaky bleed since we got him. He's not very good with claw control.)

Squee is a very friendly cat, and he is especially attracted to people who are allergic. He will spend much of the time we have company over casing legs and shoes and, if they are left unattended, climbing into coats or bags. Choochoo, on the other hand, is the quintessential scaredy-cat, and most of our visitors never see him.

They take turns sitting in my lap when I'm at the computer; they occasionally will try to take it at the same time, but they don't like sharing it, and given that Squeaky is a normal-sized cat (about 9 lbs.) and Choochoo is about two normal-sized cats (generally about 20 lbs.), they don't really both fit.

So, yeah: married, two cats.