ZACK and JACK

Annabelle, my older long-haired calico cat, was getting old, so I decided to get a couple of younger kittens. One summer day, when I was at the vet, I saw a large cage filled with kittens that were free. I chose two male kittens, and since I had to name them on the spot, I decided on Zack and Jack.  The darker one: Zack, and the lighter one: Jack. These two tiny kittens were eight weeks old and only the size of my outstretched hand.

I made a cozy bed for them, but guess what? The next morning, I found them sleeping in the basket that I use to gather the eggs with that is partially filled with feathers. 

Talk about a catty feather mattress!

Sometimes during the day, I would discover them taking a cat nap on an empty box that I was going to throw out. They could get comfortable in the oddest places. In other words, Zack and Jack quickly made their furry little bodies at home.

Whenever I was in the kitchen working, Jack and Zack would scamper up the rocking chair and sit on the top of the cushion with their legs poked through the spindles of the back and place their arms over the top of the chair, intently watching everything I did. They, at times, would fall asleep with heads and paws hanging over the top. Here is Jack looking around to see what I was doing.

I always love decorating for Christmas. Their first Christmas was full of excitement for Zack and Jack, racing through the house with so many things to sniff, check out, and paw. Zack thought the Christmas tree was put up as a large cat tree just for him to play with. He couldn't understand why he got into trouble every time he tried to climb the tree or knock a decoration down.

In case you haven't guessed it yet, Zack was full of energy jumping and running around until exhausted, while Jack was the purry lap cat who loved to cuddle. Zack tried to climb the walls and if he could have, he would have walked on the ceiling. He wasn't that old when he discovered a new challenge: jumping from the kitchen counter to the top of the fridge. Once Zack mastered that, the next step was to jump a good four feet from the top of the fridge to the bar. The first time he tried it; he felt splat on the floor. Zack sat up, shook his furry head, climbed back up, and tried it again.  He didn't give up until he could jump from the fridge to the bar.

No matter what I did, I always had two curious cats watching me. When I washed my long hair in the sink, two noses would be trying to investigate what I was doing. If I took a bath, two sets of eyes would sit with furry heads sideways trying to figure out what their human mama was doing. Folding laundry was a perfect time in their catty minds to play with the clothes I was trying to fold or hide under. And when the laundry basket was empty, it became their own private spot.

I knew Zack and Jack were rapidly growing and after they were a year old were adult cats. They took longer naps during the daytime and when they plopped their furry bodies on my lap together, they could barely fit. I noticed how much they had grown the day I found Jack barely squeezing his fat body in the egg basket that once comfortably fit both of them. Zack darker cat's fur became a unique marbled pattern on each side while Jack's fur became spotted like a leopard. Zack still is the skinnier one who keeps his weight off from all his wild activities. Jack, (nicknamed fat boy) on the other hand, is content to sit/lay and watch his brother's antics.