Merlin and Houdini are now one year old and

[WhiteTara]

as teenage cat boys, they are hilarious. They love each other so much and lie next to each other, either tail to tail or nose to nose.

Merlin is much more social than Houdini. Poor Houdini got locked in somewhere in our neighborhood when he was about 3 months old, and he has been rather shy ever since. But not Merlin, visitors find him darling, and he is obsessed with Tashi the Kangal dog, and they even sleep together, although Tashi is not a cat lover. Merlin is also obsessed with Picabo (we rescued him from the forest where he was raised by raccoons) who thought he wanted to be an only cat.

They keep me so amused and my stress levels down. My beloved has been in and out of the hospital (mostly in) for 3 years, and I'm devastated by life, so my black, magic cats are my little saviors.

[CrispyQ]

1. Merry Christmas to you & your menagerie of friends.

Positive vibes for a better 2025.

[WhiteTara]

2. Thanks CrispyQ

I think I'll have a little weeping break.

[Polly Hennessey]

3. Cats 🐈‍⬛ will do it every time. They are the perfect stress reducers.

I wish you, your beloved, and your black magic cats all the goodness possible for 2025.

[WhiteTara]

6. Thank you and to you and yours as well

[Karadeniz]

4. Glad you have them to lessen the loneliness...merry christmas !!!!

[WhiteTara]

5. Me too, and you are right about my lonliness

to me, this is just Wednesday.

[Karadeniz]

7. Merry wednesday !!!!!

[WhiteTara]

8. Thank you

He's so angry with me because I can't bring him home today. Of course, I would if I could. But right now it takes two people to help him, and I'm only one.

[Karadeniz]

9. When my dad was in intensive care, he kept at us about taking him home. He

had a letter from some general authorizing it, but
he either misplaced it or we were hiding it !!!!! Dad finally reclaimed his mind....I hope your fella gets similarly attuned to reality !!!!

[WhiteTara]

10. I think if he can get out of institutions with the drab walls

with no mental stimulation, he will recover, but damn, this is killing me.

[Karadeniz]

11. I felt the same about my dads icu room! So, i tacked up a lovely, huge,

colorful poster of 3 Japanese girls in full costume and make up. We used to live in Japan and loved it and its people, so I was confident it would cheer him up. The next day, I asked him how he liked it. He said it made him sad, because all the girls had been raped by Norwegian sailors !!!!! Down went the poster!

[WhiteTara]

13. that must have made you sad too.

Then again, no good deed goes unpunished

[Siwsan]

12. Out of my gathering of kid cats, Gryff and little Merlin are the most outgoing.

A friend once told me that black cats have the sweetest personalities out of any cats she's ever cared for, and now I'm convinced she's right.