Battling in the Dust

Zippy and the late, great Jello, they used to have epic battles. They wrestled each other to sleep on nearly a daily basis. Which is why, when Jello shuffled off this mortal coil to join the bleeding choir invisible, I went to the Humane Society looking for a playmate for Zippy.

Bringing home two cats seemed a lock, but that's the thing with cats, you just can't tell what you're going to get. Gonzo, the handsome black devil, he was super friendly to me at the pound, seemed like a good lap kitty.

Gonzo, instead, adopted the smaller of our dogs, Foster. He's so in love with that dog, he followers her around, sleeps with her, makes kitty biscuits on her. It's pretty cute. And he's a solid mouser. See also birds, moles, we haven't seen any squirrels yet (Jello was an ace squirrel killer), but Gonzo is a mighty hunter, a total dog lover, and not a lap kitty at all. That little bastard has never once sat on my lap, and if I try to pet him, it's a four stroke limit before he leaves.

Bulldog, he is a lap kitty. But he prefers Corinna's lap. Or Molly's. Or Emily's. He'll settle for me in a pinch, but only if I'm the only one home and I beg for it. And I'm the only one in the family that gave enough of a shit about having cats to go get some from the pound. Bulldog will sleep on the bed with me, but only at the foot, and I have to watch out he doesn't pick a fight with Zippy (who does, faithfully, snuggle up to me of a night). Sometimes they get along, sometimes they try to kill each other (and no, it's not play like these pictures).

Gonzo and Zippy are hit and miss on the playing, they mostly ignore each other, but today in the dust where the dogs have destroyed the lawn under the peach tree, they were going at it good. Gonzo would take Zippy down, then after they kicked each other's heads a bit, they'd sit and pretend not to know the other one was there until Zippy would sneak up and pounce on Gonzo. Then he'd break from the scrum and slowly walk away until Gonzo tackled him. It did my heart good, though after I'd clicked a few frames with the camera and they realized they were being watched they both slinked away.