Hi There, It's Me, Andy and my new crib
About Andy
Andy became an "indoor cat" after having climbed every wall in the house
and customizing our leather furnature. The image above shows Andy lying in a crib that my father made to put my mothers
baby doll in. The doll was hers when she was a child, about 80 years
old. Andy being the master of all that he surveys (or can reach), decided
to test it out. The doll was probably not as comfy as Andy would have
liked, so he has abandoned the crib for the most comfortable chair in the house
(his chair). That is really not a distinction, as it is "all" his stuff,
he just lets us live there. My co-worker, when he saw this picture
remarked that Andy was just practicing for when there might be an infant in the
house! Andy by the way may look small, but he is a LARGE cat of almost 20 pounds!
In September of the year that I had the first observatory
built at the Astro-Ranch, I was out there imaging, and was preparing to shut
down when I saw a little black blur. I jumped back thinking that I was
coming in contact with a skunk which was passing through. In reality, it
was a kitten. I recalled that about 2 hours earlier, I had heard a car
stop out at the road, and heard a door open and close on the car. I
believe that it was Andy's former owner dropping him off "in the wild".
That was a Thursday evening. I returned to the site on Friday night, and
there was Andy, waiting for me, and during the evening, Andy kept me company in
the observatory, walked across the table, slewing the telescope while I was
taking a picture, climbing on my head with his nice needle-like kitten claws
helping him to steady himself. On Saturday, when I returned again, there
was Andy again. Well, I called my wife, Peg to come out and see
Andy. She fell in love with him, so I took one of my observing boxes
(fairly large), drilled holes in it, and got Andy in the box, and taped it shut
so that Peg could drive him home. I warned her that we could get him in
that box but once. It would not happen a second time. The
Astro-Ranch is about 40 miles from our home. After about 5 miles, Andy
was putting up such a fuss that Peg felt sorry for him, and decided to open the
box, just a little bit, so he could see out. OOPS. He was now out,
and enjoying his ride in her Honda. He settled down on her head for the
drive home. That was 4 years ago, and Andy has been an indispensible part
of the family ever since.