Hi All,
 I lurk here occasionally and enjoy reading about all of your friends. I'd like to
share a story about me and some of my my friends.
 I was raised to despise cats. Not for any particular reason, you were just supposed
to not like cats. As I grew up I turned into a closet cat liker, then closet cat
lover, then just a cat lover. I've had at least one cat since I was 23, I'm now almost
43. Most of my friends have been indoor\outdoor cats, depending on where I lived and
most were strays who adopted me. Here are some of the most memorable.

 Not long before I left home, my sister was given a kitten, Sugar. Sug was a sort of
tiger, sort of tabby. She stayed tiny for a long time and eventually grew into a
rather small cat. When inside Sug was Ms.lap kitty, when outside she was a killer. No
mouse, mole, or rabbit was safe. She had 2 litters of kittens, all except one of which
we found homes for. In her prime, she ruled the house, domineering over numerous cats,
3 dogs and 2 raccoons over time.(It's pretty cool when a 17 YO cat can cow down a
young Pit Bull mix dog and a female raccoon at the same time!) We sent her to rest at
~19 years old, not long after her long time friend\nemesis Spook the dog (at ~17
years)in 2002.

 Sugars remaining kitten went by a number of names, Garfield, Garfette, Garf, Fette.
There was some confusion as to his gender at first.(Those days we couldn't afford a
Vet bill).He was an orange Tiger. He lived for about 5 years, I don't recall how he
passed. He was clipped by a car at about 3 years and lost the use of his left hind leg
(the Vet repaired it as well as possible but there was nerve damage). I cared for him
at my house during his recuperation in ~1986. He would drag his left foot so Mom would
make booties for him to protect it. Fette was a lover\hunter like his mom. After
getting used to his "disability" I saw him do acrobatics that no 4 legged cat could do.

 My first cat, and the one that brought me "out of the closet" was Buddy,a Black and
Grey Tiger, in 1986. I worked a late shift and stopped at a restaurant after work one
morning at ~3:30AM. There was an older kitten trying to con the bread delivery man by
circling around his feet as he wheeled his cart in the door. There were 2 steelworkers
next to me at the counter talking about this cat. One was going to "take him into the
mill and drop him off". I thought "The hell you will", as my father had been a
steelworker. I've heard the stories about stray cats around the US Steel plant!. I
scooped the little guy up and took him home. I turned into a guest in his house. Buddy
was King of the FY look but was a real lap cat when he wasn't playing Barney Badass.
He left one day and never returned in 1988.

 I met my first wife in 1988 and got a package deal, Her and a solid black male
kitten. Pibber (his real name was Splib, which I found out later was a racial slur)is
my all time favorite. He lived 15 years and I had him put to rest in 2003. He had
Leukemia. When wife 1 left in 1995 she took Pibber and eventually left him in the care
of some friends who had dogs. Pibber was terrified of dogs and He hid in the basement
for 2 years until she rescued him. He weighed 25lbs and was unhealthy. She kept him
for some time and nursed him back to physical health,then asked me if I would take him
because he was "unhealthy and his fur is falling out.... I don't have time...". Of
course I said yes. This was about 2001. He was healthy but depressed. He had quit
grooming himself and the loose hair had matted. I brushed 3 plastic grocery bags of
hair from him. He bounced back to his old loveable Mr. Fat Happy Tomcat self. My old
Bud and I spent his remaining time together. I spoiled him terribly. When he actually
got ill he was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia. He responded well to steroids for about
9 months, but then it was time.

 One other important feline was Beemer (for the BMW motorcycle), a black and white
male shorthair. He was about 2-3 years old when he and his owner stayed with us for a
while in 1989. Owner left, cat stayed. Beemer and Pibber were best friends, playmates,
and mischief makers. Pibber and Beemer were the first cats I ever had neutered, and
the ONLY cats I ever got declawed. I will NEVER have another cat declawed, I didn't
knew exactly what the proceedure consisted of until much later. When wife #1 was
pregnant Beemer would lay on her belly and knead. After our daughter Samantha was born
in 1990 Beemer was her guardian. Where she was, he was. Sam was his kid and he let us
know it! Beemer passed in 1992 after being, we later figured out, poisoned. I held him
and comforted him as he passed. Samantha is now 14 and still carries a picture of
him.(She was 2 when he died. Do you think there was a bond there?)

 There are many others who have passed through my life, like Leggs, Snowball,
Critter,  Popcorn, Bondo, Angel (a stray who eventually died of FIV. We thought he was
a she until the end), Shadow and Fuzzball,Spazo (died of urinary blockage), Gizmo (a
longhaired Grey male plagued by urinary blockage, he eventually became a "female"),
and assorted stray\feral cats who I put food out for as long as they were around. The
later ones got proper Vet care and spay\neuter, as I became a responsible cat owner
and could afford it. I found a local vet who does spay\neuter for a very low cost and
had a number of strays done (he specializes in feral cat spay and neuter and caring
for abandoned kittens). I could go on for hours about the love I gave and received
from all of them.
 It breaks my heart that so many cats are euthanised or killed outright due to
natural dangers every day. I wish I could do more, but I do what I can.

 Our current cat is a Grey (with ghost stripes) Polydactyl (22 toes, 6-6-5-5) named
Hobo. The kids and I belong to a local group that is rehabilitating an abandoned
railroad for tourist use. Every Halloween we put on "The Haunted Hobo Path". A 2 mile
train trip, then a haunted path, then a return train trip. (Ghoulish child disposal
available for a small tax deductable donation....Whoooooo ). In 2003 on the last day
after the last train trip (it had poured rain all day) we were breaking down the path
and loading things into the storage car when I heard a cat squalling, it was coming
from one of the truck (wheel) assemblies of the storage car!! I thought there was an
injured cat in the assembly and sent all of the kids away thinking I was going to find
an mutilated cat. I was shining my light into the wheels and calling "here kitty
kitty" when a young (6-7 month old) cat walked out from between the wheels. She was
soaked to the skin,thin as a rail, her eyes were as big as saucers, and she was
squalling like she was in a wringer. I picked her up and she was fine but scared. She
didn't know if she wanted to be cuddled or to run.I saw the big paws and knew she was
coming home (as she would have even if it weren't for the paws). We figured later that
she had boarded the train car at the station to get out of the rain and had ridden
down to the path on the undercarriage (hence the name Hobo). She has a wonderful
personality and uses her "thumbs" for things I have never seen a cat do. She must have
been feral as she still raids the trash can even with food in her bowl. We have to
hang food scraps like campers. Hobo is turning into a good mouser (along with rabbits,
birds, etc,ala Sugar). She had a litter of 4 kittens before we could have her spayed,
they were huge kittys!!. 1 died shortly after birth(I think it would have been a
Polydactyl male). Of the 3 , One was a Poly female who now lives with my brother. The
other two were given to an adoption agengy and have since found a good home together.
Hobo is just being her loving and grateful self, when she's not tearing up the garbage.

If you have read this far, thank you. All of these cats have had an influence on my
life and I wanted to pass their memory on to people who may appreciate them.
            Regards, Tom