Today's entry catches up with the cat formerly known as The Instigator. He was the most precocious one from Lucy's litter, the first to walk, talk, and annoy the humans. It was pretty amazing how quickly he picked up on pretty much everything … except the litter box. That skill eluded him for a while, until we put some potting soil in the box, then some primordial instinct kicked in. Aside from that, he was very smart, getting into stuff, climbing up the bed, and teaching the other kittens how to wreak havoc. He's grown into a carbon copy of his mother (at least before she got big and fat), sharing her angular features and 'saddle' of color on his back. He also has dots on his nose like Lucy, which didn't develop until later on.

Francis, as he known now, had this move he used to always employ: "The King Kong." He would approach a toy or littermate, rear back on his hind legs, and raise his arms wide over his head, to give maximum damage to his opponent. It was over-dramatic and he usually paused so long in the air that by the time he hit, his target had moved. Anyway, it was one of several moves he did that we'd never seen a cat do before. Since then, however, we have noted The King Kong in Lucy, plus several others. So I guess he really does take after her. But at least he seems a bit more "in the moment" than Lucy, who still seems a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

I finally got around to compiling some of the photos sent to us by people who have adopted our cats. I don't have pictures for all of them yet, but I'll be posting these from time to time. It's so interesting to see what some of these cats end up looking like. Obviously, the younger they were when adopted, the greater the difference in the later photos. Today we feature two cats from Lucy's Famous Litter, the kittens Lucy had over the summer that launched us into the bizarre life we now lead.

These two fellas used to be known simply as "Big Giant Head" and "Little Face," the two ginger toms of the bunch. When they were little they looked very different (as evidenced by their names), but as they grew it looks like they got to resemble each other a lot more (honestly I have trouble telling who's who in most of the new photos, except for maybe the one at the bottom.)

Now they're Santino (Sonny) and Fredo. Oddly, I do feel that Big Head does look a little like Sonny from The Godfather. But I feel Littleface more closesly resembles Johnny Ola. So they seem to be doing pretty well, huh? Stay tuned for more before & after cats!