Happy Birthday Belle!

Well, today is the big day -- Belle's birthday! For those who don't know, Belle is our cat. She came into our lives in 1993, so today she is 16 years old. One evening my sister knocked on our door and said she had a surprise for me. She handed me this little ball of fluff and said, "Here." A cat in her neighborhood had kittens and Sharon thought one of them looked so much like my other cat, CJ, so she had to give her to me. Every time she calls me, I offer her back to Sharon, but she never takes me up on it. Belle's a good cat, but she has her moments. When Nichelle was little she loved the movie "Beauty and the Beast", so she named the cat Belle. She was always Nichelle's cat back then. However, Belle would have freakish moments with the girls, like suddenly lashing out at them for no reason. When we got another cat things got hairy and we were living in Cat Hell. We had to get our house back and sadly, Belle was on the list to go first. Fortunately for her, the other cats acted up worse, so they they left first. Belle won that battle. Surprisingly, she got nicer when they left, so it worked out.

Belle is now my cat, or so she thinks. If I lie down, it's less than a minute before she climbs on me to get comfortable. She's far from a lap cat -- it has to be her decision. We have another cat named Kitty and she hangs out between Nichelle and Nicole's room. Belle tolerates Kitty, and vice versa, but I wouldn't say there's much love between them. Anyway, today is Belle's 16th birthday. At our house, we have to make our own fun, so anything is a reason to celebrate! Rick called me last night as he was on his way home from his fly fishing class. He said, "Is there anything you need at the store?" Well, duh! Of course, I needed chocolate covered raisins, because, well, it was a holiday, you know. Then I reminded him we needed some frosting. He asks what we needed it for, so I say, "Belle's cupcakes." Well, duh! He wasn't happy, but he pulled it off. He even came home with a little present for her. I can't say what it is because she's sitting here next to me and I don't want to spoil the surprise. ;) We'll have her party tonight when Rick gets home from work. As I said, sometimes you just have to make your own fun! On the top is one of Belle's baby pictures. You can see how prominent that orange streak running up her nose was even when she was little. It's amazing to think she's 16 years old. She still looks like a kitten to me. She's a good kitty -- even if she's a mean, old, ornery one.