She's not on a hot tin roof

Miss Mittens is anything but a cat on a hot tin roof. Cool, calm, unruffled, unflustered, she struts about her new Bellingham 'palace' with aplomb. At nearly 17 years old, she is the oldest member of our family, yet remains as agile and lithe as she was in her kitten days when she wandered into our lives and decided to stay.

Miss Mittens has always been a strong and fearless cat, and has probably used at least six or seven of her nine lives. Falling off high decks, leaping off moving trailers at 50 mph, attacked by neighboring psycho Rottweilers, trapped in a lazy susan, you name it, she's faced it, and yawned in complete boredom.

My fondest memories are when she accidentally (at least from my perspective) had a litter of 7 kittens when she was only one and a half years old herself. (Funny to realize her children are 16 year old cats!) Mittens is a beautiful dark, steel gray color, but none of her kittens resembled her in the least. Several were calico, some orange tabby, and a few black and white 'tuxedo' cats. She was a wonderful mother, keeping both the kittens and our home, spotless. Our big shepherd mix dog Beau (who passed away in 2011) was Uncle Beau to her kittens, allowing them to climb and scamper all over him while under the watchful eyes of their mom.

I have yet to meet a cat more fearless than our Miss Mittens. She reigned supreme over the construction site when our former home was being built. The harsh sounds of drills and hammering had no effect on her. She could often be seen blithely sitting on a long board as it traveled through a table saw, the sharp steel blade spinning dangerously, just inches from her face! We would be so focused on the cutting, that we wouldn't notice she'd hopped onboard until the last moment, and by then, would have to hold our breath and focus on the saw until the cut was safely completed. Rest assured, no animals - or humans - were ever injured during the project.

Now that we live "in town", Miss Mittens, along with our other cat, Mr. Dibbs Doolittle (and myself!) are indoors most of the time, whereas when we lived on acreage, they were outdoors more than half of the time. This new lifestyle will no doubt result in fatter cats, and people!