Being Ernest

So I decided on Thursday that a new kitten would cheer me out of this week-long funk I've been in. It wasn't a monumental decision because we have three cats and are always on the verge of getting a new one. Oh, it didn't hurt that I went to Adoption Basics class this week and had a lot of time to think about babies and the absence of my babies and the absence of anything sweet and tiny to cuddle.

Also, there was the whole mess of Solaris the Cat being dead and then undead last week. That got me started even thinking about a new cat for real.

Nick and I meant to meet at the Humane Society after work yesterday, but then I had a brain storm. We had just been to this bookstore we love called Nine Lives Books. It is a used bookstore (plus) and cat sanctuary (double plus plus). I called them to inquire about kitties. I know there are scores of perfectly lovable grown cats out there and I wish we could have them all, but I worry too much about them disrupting our purr-to-hiss ratio at home.

So they told me they had two orange baby boys at the sanctuary and I told Nick our after work plans had changed!

Later at the bookstore, I found little Ernest napping with his brother. When I picked him up to cuddle, he automatically started purring. SOLD! Plus he laid all limp in my arms, which is exactly how I like my cats: malleable.

We dropped him off at home to be sniffed by his new brothers while we went out for dinner and to buy Nick pants (unrelated). Meanwhile, I was trying to come up with a name. I wanted something literary. So far our cats all have rock and roll names: Ziggy Stardust, Major Tom, Siddhartha Vicious. For the new kitten I was considering Chuck Bukowski or Ernest Hemingway. And Nick suggested (Raoul) Duke. I just couldn't settle on one. While we were waiting for our table at Logan's Roadhouse, I thought, "Maybe our waiter will have a cool name and that will cinch it."

And then the hostess said, "Ernest will show you to your table." Ha! That's it.

Ernest had a bath earlier and has been trying to nurse on Nick's elbow.

Is it weird for that picture above to show him nestled in Nick's chest hair? I didn't know how weird that would be for other people, you know?