Archive - Jul 16, 2010

I was a little surprised to learn that my cat's name, "Lucy," was among some of the trendiest for dogs OR cats. A feature article I saw a while back pointed out that we pet owners definitely consider our pets as parts of our families, and that there are fewer pets named "Fido" of "Spot" anymore. Many of us name them after celebrities, authors, or other people with names we just like. My choice of Lucy came with celebrity roots, sort of. She came from a Tecumseh cat colony as a rescue kitten with a colony mate, a male. I thought on it awhile before renaming them from their kitty-care names (Tecumseh Cat Coalition rescued mine as part of their Trap Neuter Release program, but these needed more care than to return them) of Mr. Mittens (he had big feet) and Winky (one eye had to be surgically removed, it was so diseased.) They soon became Charlie Brown and Lucy, from the Charles Schultz cartoons. Charlie passed early from FIP, but Lucy, the formerly sicklier one, seems pretty hale and healthy. She also knows her other names: "Sissy," as in "Charlie's sister," when I am using the lovey-talk to her. "Trouble" as in "Here comes Trouble" when she climbs down from the high perch over the refrigerator when my husband comes home. Pets seem to pick up on all these. Among the most popular names for dogs are Lucy, Jack, Bella, and Charlie. Cat names include Lucy, Molly, with a few of the old ones like Tiger in the mix. Whatever we call them, pets bring sunshine into a cloudy day. They're almost always entertaining. So what are some of your stories of how you came to name your pet? Just thought it would be interesting to hear some.

Just yesterday I was riding home from work hoping to catch a swim with my kids before the thunder and lightning rolled in. By the time we got to the public pool the sky was dark and threatening and a roll of thunder in the distance kept us from catching a swim for sure.

We went home, somewhat defeated until my dear daughter mentioned we hadn't done our girly painting our nails fun night that we'd been planning for a while. So, we gathered the 12 or so bottles of nailpolish she's collected from who knows where and she, my mom and I all painted each other's fingernails and toenails. One bottle just happened to be a glow in the dark color. We oohed and ahed and just had to use it to see if it would really work. It did. All three of us crammed in my tiny bathroom, closed the light, and giggled with glee when a bunch of nail-shaped glowing orbs appeared.

As we were having our night of girl fun, it dawned on me that I heard this Youtube video on the NPR as I was driving home. I called it up, and we couldn't stop laughing. This is a group called Improve Everywhere, and they stage crazy improvisational things in public places. They have filmed about 75 of these. 

I know this isn't hyper local, but I couldn't resist sharing.