Thanks for all the welcomes. My kitties are all female, and in the
order of coming to my house a

Cherry. Black and White American Shorthair (in other words she has a
long tail). She and four sibs had been abandoned in a park, from which
a friend rescued her. They liked her, but the husband discovered he
had a terrible skin allergy. Not wanting to get rid of her, they kept
her, and the day I told them I had bought a house they said, "And would
you like a cat with that house?" I had been catless for 18 years and
really wanted one, so in came Cherry.

Jona. Orange tabby, Japanese bobtail and something else-- her tail,
like many Japanese mixes, is about 4 inches long and the bones curl
around at the end so it looks like a hook. A neighbor's daughter found
her and her twin sister, 3 days old, in a box on her school grounds. I
took this one and they took the other, Lili. I bottle-fed her and
carried her around under my shirt to keep her warm. She is the MOST
affectionate cat! Her name was Jonah because Jonah was "in the belly
of the whale" for 3 days and then rescued. When we learned that he was
a she, we dropped the last H and since -na is a feminine ending in
Japanese names, called her Jona. She is "the button-pusher." She
actually managed to record a CD onto an MD one time in the middle of
the night.

Emma. Purebred Abbyssinian. Her registered name is Chiffin. I
"rescued" her from a pet shop after seeing her in there for almost a
year-- imagine a hyper Abby in a tiny cage and you will know why I
bought her. Her price went down and down and down, and I finally
decided it was time to step in. She is "jungle cat" or "dive-bomber"
because she dive-bombs us from on top of the dish cabinet when we're at
the table, and shows a predilection for walking around on top of the
curtain rods.

Chibi (means Little). Japanese Bobtail, grayish tabby with white
front. She really belongs to my cousin, who is also in Japan. I took
her for a year when they went back to the States for a year, and when
they came back they moved into an apartment that doesn't allow cats.
However, this gives me an advantage: I get free cat care any time I
need it. She is "noodle-cat" because of the way she wriggles her head
down to get her chin scratched. She will noodle her way all the way
down the staircase just to get her head under your fingers.

And my MIA Anthony (we miss him)-- grey, looks like a cross between a
Bengal or Egyptian Mau and a Japanese Bobtail. He was "Chicken Man"
because when I picked him up as a starving cat he stole one of the
chicken nuggets off the table with his little paddy-paw, and ran all
over the house with it.

Purrs to yourrrs,
Cantate