Here Lives a Very Fine Cat, Indeed

     A little plaque, made out of terra cotta clay and engraved by hand, hangs outside my front door. It is about 5" square. On it reads "Here lives a very fine cat indeed". It has a picture of a cat sculpted from the clay and other imbellishments also carved into the clay before firing. I believe it was handmade by someone who took great pride in their cat or at least loved him/her very much. I found it at an estate sale; no cats were around, and paid $2 for it.
     I thought it was a fitting sentiment to put on the outside of my front door to let the world know that yes, we do have a very fine cat, indeed. His name is Jerome. We didn't get Jerome as a kitten. He came to us 5 or 6 years ago relocating himself from the young woman who lived in the condos behind us. He had issues with her and her boyfriend and made it known that he wanted to be the alpha male in her life, which did not sit well with her. She always told us he was "stand-offish." to make a long story short, he eventually came to live with us.
     We could never understand why his old owner thought him so unfriendly. He has liked and paid attention to everybody, save one salesperson we were trying to get an estimate on a sun room from (we didn't use him because of it). And usually one can't get him off their lap or bed or quilt. Arms have gone numb, legs have gotten cramps but he is so loving that no one wants to disturb him. Hardly stand-offish. He's also handy for making sure fabric is laid upon and papers don't fly around. Boxes are to be sat upon so they don't roam and if empty must be slept in at least for a time.
     He does "cat" well. Better than any cat we have had in the past (and we've had more than our share but that's for another blog some day when I have much more time.) He works hard at being the cat in the household. And his naps. At any given time you can find him napping making up for all the time he spends taking care of us and the house. A very fine cat, indeed.