Jasper

"People with pets are generally happier."

Have you heard that one before?

I have. And I think it's true.

John and I had a cat for a few short months in 2010. He was a re-homed adult ragdoll for whom we had great affection. Unfortunately barely 3 months into our new lives with him he developed an untreatable and incurable lung disease. That was the end of our kitty Sterling (RIP).

You can imagine the trauma of loving a pet and picturing years ahead with him only to have him up and die. (Not to mention the grumbling at his veterinary bills!)

It took us a while to gather up the courage to try again, but a few months ago I started searching petfinder.com for another Ragdoll.

I'll tell you what: adopting a cat is serious business these days. I filled out a bunch of pet applications, answered essay questions, and provided references (no joke!) and got many "sorry so-and-so the cat has already been adopted."

But this past Wednesday I opened my inbox to a great surprise: one of the kittens for whom I had applied never got picked up by his adopters! He was ours if we wanted him. And how we did!

One three hour long round trip with my mother-in-law later, I brought this little guy home:



He came with the name "Desi Arnaz" who, apparently, is a guy from I Love Lucy.
















But that was way before our time (who's Lucy and why do you love her, btw?), so we renamed him Jasper. If you watched Road to Avonlea growing up you might remember the taunting tune, "Jasper Dale, Jasper Dale, like to hid in a garbage pail!" Despite the bad rap poor ol' lispy Jasper got in Avonlea, I've always been partial to the name. So Jasper it is.

We think he's pretty cute.



Well, most of the time anyway. ;)