| "You
should never purchase a cat, as this can lead to the mistaken impression
that you own the cat.
"No one has ever owned a cat. A cat will consent to stay with you, but only on a day-to-day basis." Dr. Fritz, Renown cat expert |
Mooch's early lifeMooch was apparently born on April 1, 1998. Some three months later, he staggered out of the underbrush in a suburban neighborhood, covered with stickers, dirty, and scrawny. He was also cute as the dickens, and he managed to stagger into a group of young teenage girls. Needless to say, he landed on his feet. We happened to be having lunch with the parent of one of these girls. As we were leaving, the girl said, "Um, you wouldn't want a cat, would you?" Seems that the girls had run out of parents willing to put up with a cat and had to do something with him. Mooch was so cool, he would have made a beatnik jealous. He would just sit in the arms of whoever was holding him, not particularly upset or scared. On the drive home in the car, he would sit on the floor and wash himself. Every once in a while, he'd pop up and look around to see if we were there, yet, and then head back to the floor. Robert wanted to call him "Prince Valium" or "Thorazine." Laura finally decided on "Mooch," based on the cat in the comic strip Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. We had him checked out by a vet, spayed, licensed and he decided that maybe it wouldn't be too much trouble for him to stay with us. Just for a while, of course. |
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Mooch as plumberMooch is also well versed in the mysteries of plumbing, and supervises any plumbing related activity in our household.
"Clearly, you have a problem here in your float valve." (Oct 98) |
"Cats
view humans as simply an elaborate evolutionary adaption to provide them
with food and shelter. In the same way that a flower will evolve to
attract a certain species of bee, cats believe that all human activity
is designed to either feed, amuse, or shelter them.
"They are not far wrong." Dr. Fritz |
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Mooch and waterMaybe as a result of his early life, but Mooch has a strange relationship with water (well, strange for a cat, anyway).
Mooch insists on fresh water in a clean glass (Oct 98)
Although in a pinch, direct from the faucet will do (Oct 98)
Mooch thinks it's great that we provide these nice little sleeping hollows for him. He doesn't mind that they're sometimes a little damp. If we turn on the water while he's in the sink, he can't quite figure out how come he's getting wet, but he doesn't budge. (Oct 98) |
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Master of disguiseMooch has a chameleon-like ability to blend into his surroundings...
Mooch disguises himself as a CD-ROM (July 98)
And as a bush (Oct 98) |
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Computer ExpertMooch likes to chase the cursor around on computer screens (he works on both PC's and Mac's). He knows there's a mouse in there somewhere. And, of course, he often provides criticism about programming styles.
"No, no! Right-click to display the Properties dialog!"
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