From the picture above, it is evident that I have had an affinity for cats (as well as all animals) from a very early age. I can’t imagine life without being surrounded by animals, especially CATS and HORSES! I have really wanted for sometime to get a dog (Golden Retriever), but I’m afraid all the house cats will run away! My small animal vet suggested getting a puppy, then the cats will get used to something about their same size (Until it grows up). I am getting very close to doing this! I suppose I am a rarity among men who not only like cats, but also freely admit it! The three housecats here are always sitting either around or on me at all times. Usually, 1 or 2 of them will follow me to the barn every day.  Some say that it’s because they’re spoiled and want a handout. My blacksmith says all the horses are spoiled. Well to that I freely admitted and said I’d rather be accused of that than “the other extreme”!  However, I prefer to think all my animals genuinely like me because I genuinely like them! My ultimate desire is to have all three of the cats in bed with me at the same time rather than always one and occasionally two, but NEVER all three. This is due to petty jealousy between them as they vie for attention. The ultimate solution is to get three littermates, and then the vision will certainly be fulfilled. I will probably do this some day when the present three cats go to that “Big Litter Box in the Sky”. One of my stable cats, “Pads”, had kittens last week in my hay box. My stable cats ALWAYS have kittens in my hay box. Before I finally got around to taking pictures of the five new kittens, “Pads” moved them SOMEWHERE! I’ll find them as I suspect they are relocated in my hayloft as they ALWAYS are. When I find them within the labyrinth of hay bales in my loft I will get pictures of them and post them.  Yeah, yeah, I can just quote what all the guys reading this are thinking, “Oh boy, just what I’ve always waited for, pictures of cats!!!” Am I right??? I know you “closet cat lovers” out there will want to see them. To see a pic of “Pads” the new mother, click here. When Tim and I were kids, the ubiquitous command we always heard by our parents as soon as we picked up a cat was, “Don’t maul the cat”!  I have covered some of our experiences with cats while growing up in earlier accounts. One experience stands out, however, that I simply must relate. Tim and I have laughed about this for years. One morning we were waiting for the school bus and were milling around the porch watching one of the cats playing and skulking along a high limb in one of the large maple trees that used to inhabit our yard. As with all cats, its balance and agility were magnificent indeed, and captivated us the more we observed it. All of a sudden, as it got to the thin end of the limb, it lost its balance and was hanging on by both its front feet some 12 – 15 feet above the ground! In the course of about a minute, we watched as its claws slowly lost their grip.  One foot came lose, then as in a cartoon, each claw on the remaining foot seemingly started to come loose then the cat tumbled down to the ground! Since cats are rather egotistical, vain creatures, it just acted like nothing unusual had happened as it strutted away uninjured. That, without a doubt, was the funniest “cat caper” we have ever seen! I’ll never forget Tim and I rolling on the ground howling with manic laughter! Talk about something “making your day”, and even a “school day” to boot!!! Speaking of cats, I usually have them in sets of threes (except when they have kittens, of course). This explains in part the title of this missive. Notice I wrote “in part”. Now I will let “the cat out of the bag”, which will surely result in both humor and intrigue. I not only have cats “in threes”, but as most anyone who knows me well, I also say certain things 3 times i.e.  “It’s the cats cats cats”, “I’m tired tired tired”, “Rain Rain Rain”. Well, all right, you get the idea I’m sure. I have been doing this as long as I can remember. The “Shrinks” all said it is a result of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (which all the different medications the last 15 years have totally failed to completely control). Well, be that as it may, one of my biggest goals in life was to see a “Triple Dump”! That is, 3 cats “eliminating” at the same time! In earlier years I witnessed a “double dump”, but upped the ante to a “triple dump”! (Hey, I DO have a life, this is just a life’s goal).  Now it was highly unlikely I’d ever see this from the house cats while they were inside since 3 cats couldn’t fit into a litter box. However, the “The Great Dump Day” came about 10 years ago when all 3 house cats followed me out to the freshly fitted field just east of the barn and it was then I witnessed the coveted “Triple Dump”. Even Tim witnessed it and thus heard my loud “Allll Rights”!!! Yes indeed, that was certainly a day to remember. Hmmm, now if only I can someday see a “quadruple dump”… Hey, it does give me something to REALLY strive for the rest of my retirement days. Rest assured I will immediately spread the word if and when that happens!