I never had a girl cat… all my kitties have always been boys until Buttercup.  When I went to the adoption center to find a kitty and chose Oscar, as I was doing the paperwork, I learned he had a sister, but was told I didn’t need to adopt her, that they could be separated.  “Excuse me?” was my reply. “You don’t separate cats that are six years old and have been together all there lives – siblings or not.”  One look at her and I said “I’ll take her too.”

Now my tiny condo is pretty small for two cats and one human.  But we manage quite well considering that I work from home, so we’re together a lot.  They never tire of me, nor I of them.  However, Ms. Buttercup wants all the attention, and is pretty jealous of Oscar.  She’s a tiny little thing and a real girly girl.  And ALL FUR!  She is a long haired calico and believe me, her hair is long.  She loves to be brushed and my pet sitter lavishes attention on her.  I’m not sure of her past life prior to my home, but Buttercup does not like to be picked up.  She actually will scream bloody murder if you attempt to pick her up.  Well, that is if you try to pick her up with your arms around  her chest or belly. She has no problem when I pick her up by the scruff, which isn’t very often.  Though when we had the numerous tornado warnings during Hurricane Irma, she willingly allowed me to grab her by the scruff with one hand and hold her close to me with the other as we headed for our interior room for safety.  After the first couple of siren warnings, she went on her own into the bathroom and jumped into the sink.  She really understood we were having a storm.

Buttercup is fascinated by the storms we have in Florida.  With Hurricane Irma, once we lost electricity, she sat by the sliding glass doors looking out at the trees blowing sideways.  It was 2 a.m. and she very much wanted to go out on the patio to enjoy the wind and I would not hear of it.  Recently, our building was struck by lightning and just prior to that lightning strike, she had been in the window, just starring out at the storm.  Meanwhile, Oscar was hiding under the dining room table trying to shield himself with the crashing sounds of thunder just overhead.

I guess you’re wondering why I have her listed as Buttercup aka Queen Zora and Harriett … When I adopted Oscar and Buttercup, I wanted a cat with a “Z” name.  After all, I had Ziggy and Zack, why not keep the “Z” names going?  The name Buttercup is not a name I would have ever chosen for her.  Her markings are like a peanut butter cup, but a buttercup?  To me that’s more like a yellow dandelion flower.  Well a yellow flower she’s not.  I chose Zora and thought I would call her Queen Zora – it seemed fitting.  She didn’t like it and became stubborn with that look she’s quite known for … the look of “call me by my right name or don’t call me at all.”  So, as she waited at the entrance of the kitchen one day, and I said, “come on Zora, and have dinner”  … she gave me a weak sounding meow.  I stopped and looked at her and said gently, “you don’t like that name do you.”  She looked up at me and gave me the most precious meow that I felt our souls spoke to one another in that moment.  I could hear her say “my name is Buttercup and my former owner named me Buttercup and that’s what I want to be called please.”  I said, “OK, Buttercup it is!”  Now the name Harriett comes from me calling Oscar Ozzie and I thought it cute to call them Ozzie and Harriett.  That didn’t last very long.  Secretly, however, I do call her Queen Zora and sometimes refer to both of them as Ozzie and Harriett, but privately and not within ear shot. LOL

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