Cat-A-Blog #3

Cat Grand-mom:

Now that I have your attention...
That's Nichole Hiltz again.
And here she is when she was in Off Hollywood (Bottom row, first on the left):

Nichole was the cat-mom from whom I received a pair of kittens; a tabby and black.  I presented them as a present to my boyfriend who had just moved in with me.  It was an apartment on Franklin Ave. in Hollywood...that didn't allow pets.  I knew it was a matter of time before we were found out; because we had one of those kind of neighbors on the first floor.  We were on the second.
Anyways...here's one of the first photos of Paco and Frances:

Everybody poops!

So, the pair were at Franklin long enough to grow up.  And, as cats are prone to do, sit and look out windows.  We also had a small balcony which Frances particularly enjoyed.  She fell off of it a couple times (it wasn't that far to the ground).  And of course, our nosey neighbor happened to have a parking space right below our balcony.  So, it wasn't long before he took notice of the cats and even less time to rat us out.

But FATE intervened.  Because we were found out about the cats and told it was "us or them" by the manager of the building, I ended up in my first house in Los Angeles.  My boyfriend (now husband) is a Man of Action.  When my roommate at the Franklin Ave. Apartment left and left me high and dry; my boyfriend said: "Why don't I just move in?"  So, he did.  Then when the cat ultimatum was laid down, he said: "Why don't we buy a house?"  I looked at him.  "You mean, you buy a house..."  So, he did.  And we all moved in together.  When I think about it, those cats and Ms. Hiltz influenced my life, Big Time.  And it's a wonder we had Paco for his entire natural lifespan.  He was always getting out of the house and exploring our North Hollywood neighborhood.  It's really not a good idea to let your cat out when you live in a big city.  There's so much that can go wrong.  But that's true of anywhere.  One night, here in the Southwest, Virginia woods, Paco didn't come home.  I put out a notification on the neighborhood watch email chain and got a response almost immediately.  He was up in a tree, a block away.  He was safely retrieved.  I often wonder how he got up in that tree.  He must've been chased by some apex predator.  

The above is Paco when he was much older.  His eyesight was starting to go, thus the hugely dilated pupils.


To be continued...