Cat Joy

As the lousy weather continues to make everyone grumpy I have to search hard to look for the joy in the day. Luckily I have cats. Autumn is our 17 year old cat, who has always been a hardnosed little bundle of tuffness. But it has come to our attention that she has retired from that position. She now spends every waking moment purring. Now the only way to know what makes her happier is to listen to the decibel level of the purring. From the first minute I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder in the shelter 9 years ago she has had a sqeaky purr. The joke for years have been that we really got to take her in for a tune-up. But now the squeaky purr has a variety of levels. There is the slightly asthmatic purr, the fast-paced-I-think-she's-gonna-pass-out snorty purr, and even the she will eventually implode gaspy purr that racks her whole body. This is her new hobby during her retirement and she's gotten quite good at it. I think she could go pro if she wanted to. I'm just glad she shares all that purring with us.