In June we’d lost our old boy, Beta.

He almost made it to 16.
He was extremely handsome and poised.
And quite the accomplished horticulturalist.

We thought we were done with cats because we had already had the best one ever.

Finally, last Saturday the boy and I stopped by Morris Animal Refuge to inquire about donating pet beds.

On a whim we also asked if we could look at their cats.

That’s when we met “Eeyore” (back) & “Pooh Bear” (front)
We pet “Pooh Bear” while “Eeyore” pretended he wasn’t looking.

We eventually left and immediately started talking about how we couldn’t possibly… right now… and… what would we even name them?!

I also started worrying that there were likely cats in our area who were sitting at “kill shelters” that might be more urgently in need of a home.

I ended up cruising the ACCT (Animal Care & Control Team) Philly‘s website, and, there he was. (He even looks a little like Beta.)

“Merlie”, a depressed boy who was on the chopping block due to his withdrawn behavior & refusal to take meds for an upper respiratory infection.

He’d been time stamped & sentenced to die this Monday the 13th. It was already late Saturday when I found him so we raced down to the shelter on Sunday. ((If you’re in the area & looking to adopt, they are open 7 days a week.) Good news, we were too late only in that he’d already gone with a rescue group.

Which left us… still thinking about “Eeyore” & “Pooh Bear”. We ran right back to Morris but they weren’t allowing visitors. (They accept walk-ins Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.) So we filled out the application online, geared up first thing on Monday and were waiting outside their doors minutes before open.

Once we got them home the boys went straight for under the guest bed. Classic cat maneuver. Here is “Pooh Bear”, now (Joseph) Heller.
“Eeyore”, (David Foster) Wallace still hiding behind his slightly more courageous brother.
Soon Heller became quite the explorer.
Wallace preferred just the cat bed, thank you.
Last night Heller decided it was time to get close.
And this morning Wallace thought I wasn’t too bad, either.
Not to be outdone, Heller then shows me his best cuddle roll.
They do everything together.
And this house has been made more wonderful with them two in it.

So that’s a thing that happened in the house the other day. Turns out, there’s really no replacement for the best cat ever, so you just gotta get two.

A Thing That Happened at Home the Other Day
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