Royal Ranch Royalty

Harry & Gary
Gary and Lucy
(I don't like that look, Gary!)

Aaaah!

Good Sunday Morning All! It's a good thing I have a lot of animals around here, because I really can't believe how quickly these Sunday posts roll around! Today, I am proud to introduce Harry and Gary. Although they are brothers, and look very similar in many ways, their behavior (and weight) are very different. It's probably been a few years that we have been calling him "Fat Gary", and I swear he swaggers away, belly flopping side to side, proudly when we say this. It reminds me of the old show "Fat Albert", Hey, Hey Hey! (Oops, am I aging myself there?)

Tom and I have always had a thing for Orange Tabby cats; they are very intelligent, seem to have good genes, are good "talkers", and match my redheads-ha! Anywho, many years ago our renter (turned out to be not a very nice guy) took in a pregnant cat (actually it was his girlfriend at the time, but...), well, of course when we heard there were some orange kittens we had to have a look. A couple of hours later Harry and Gary were ensconced in their loving, if not chaotic, new home!

Harry tends to really raise a ruckus around the neighborhood. We have done something with this cat that we have never had to do before, put a collar with a bell on it on him! I mean this cat hides in culverts to sneak up on the neighbors bird feeders, he has even gotten a Magpie. Now, I don't know if Magpies are a familiar bird or not, but they are just a little smaller than a crow. Remember, I am a huge bird lover, so this is very upsetting to me, as I know it is to the neighbors, because they have even complained (rightly so) about him; we've seen them chasing him away from their beloved feeders. If you know much about taking in wild cats, even generations down, there is no way to keep them indoors, so poor Harry jingles when he walks!

Gary, on the other hand, would just prefer to spend his days napping. If you happen to be the unlucky soul that walks by and interrupts his nap, you get a very loud "mreow", yes, I swear he adds his own "r" to it, as if he's almost growling at you. And, god forbid you walk by him when the cat bowl is empty. The cat food of course has to be up off the ground, away from the dogs, so they have their own little feeding cart. Well, Gary will sit there and grab your elbow as you walk by, if there's not enough food in his bowl.

All in all, they fit in perfectly here at the zoo, I even have one of those metal signs above my front door that says "Welcome to Our Zoo!", I'm wondering if that should be a warning sign instead of a welcome sign?!?