Let Us Sing a Song of Ernest

Today, you get to meet Ernest--the baby. He's not quite a year and a half old and he's a holy terror. He's the ca-razy kitten. And the biggest dork around. Ernest's nicknames are Ernesto (the footballer who is too fat to play for Brazil; actually, that's Ronaldo but whatever), Fatboy, and Dorkwad.

He is completely and totally adorable, as you can see, but awkward and silly and everyone else just looks at him and walks away.

We got Ernest from our neighborhood pet food store. The owner also takes in strays. I'm no longer allowed to go in to buy food. The other cats begged Nigel to keep me out of there.

He's named Ernest because he has a very serious looking face. Our vet laughed and laughed when he met Ernest for the first time, commenting that it was one of the most fitting names he'd seen. He sort of looks like the stuffed Hobbes in Calvin & Hobbes

His head is tinier than the rest of his body. This cat has a very healthy appetite. He coos like a pidgeon when he purrs, and when he gets excited, he makes a peacock noise. And when you scold him (which is frequently), he has a "little girl" cry that he uses to try to garner sympathy. When he first started doing that, it was alarming, but now we know we're being played. He keeps us in stitches.

He's also very smart, in his own peculiar way. During the hottest part of summer, he figured out the best spot to catch the AC. And then rolled off the table....



His favorite game is Run Outside. See, our house is so hellish and these cats lead such a hellish life, that any time the back door is open, they run. Ernest excels at this game. And his new latest trick is to steal everyone's favorite sleeping spots. He's our only true lapcat and the others seem to get really jealous over the attention Ernest gets but no one seems to have worked out that Ernest is smarter than they are and he knows good living.

And because he's a kitten and wears himself out so much, he is also very good at resting.



The End.