Last time, I mentioned that during the process of moving, the Mild Wife and I almost ended up with a new cat. The whole thing was a bit surprising, but it all turned out well. We just picked up a few laughs in the process. As it turns out, though, this would not be the last time that this particular cat led to lots of laughter in our lives.
As we were moving in, we met a few of our neighbors, and we chatted with them for a little bit. The Mild Wife was actually much better about being social than I was, but we exchanged pleasantries with our new neighbors nevertheless. Usually, that also involved a telling of the cat tale from the previous blog post. I mean, it's a pretty funny story when you can proclaim that you are literally a cat herder.
Moreover, we suspected that the cat may have belonged to the previous tenants. There was something suspicious about the fact that the cat kept trying to get into our apartment, and that it did so on at least two occasions. So, we asked the people who had been around before us. They had first-hand experience in the matter, so we figured they might shed some light on the matter.
As it turns out, though, the previous owners did not own cats. This cat was just that curious and that adventurous. In fact, the cat has managed to sneak into one of the other units in the complex, and the occupants of that unit ended up having a similar story to mine. We have a serial offender on our hands.
We also discovered one other interesting tidbit: the neighbors all called this cat, "Walter." I have no idea how they came upon this name, but they did. Walter is one of three cats that more or less roam the neighborhood, and they just sort of hang around. They don't really cause problems other than the occasional unexpected house-sitting, so most of the neighbors just leave them be (one of them even leaves water out for them).
As we saw the cat roaming around more often, however, the Mild Wife noted that she did not see the usual male parts that you'd expect a cat named "Walter" to possess. It's not like we were staring intently, but the Mild Wife just noted that she thought Walter might actually be a girl. This led to a resolution that we would pay more attention the next time we saw Walter. We can't simply let the mystery go unsolved.
This, however, leads to an amusing question: what do we call this cat now? If everyone else says, "Walter," but this animal is female, is that still the right name to use? The Mild Wife, for her part, has suggested that we have a "Wilhemina" on our hands (for some reason, that was the first female name we could think of that started with a "W"). So, we call it "Wilhemina" whenever we're discussing this cat. Other people can continue using "Walter" if they prefer, but we're going to stick with what we think is the correct gender until we're proven otherwise.
Incidentally, is it quite giggle-worthy to think about the fact that we have to identify a cat's gender from afar now. Don't worry, though, we'll make sure we get an answer. This may take giggling like mad for a few weeks, but we're willing to make the sacrifice, for science.
As we were moving in, we met a few of our neighbors, and we chatted with them for a little bit. The Mild Wife was actually much better about being social than I was, but we exchanged pleasantries with our new neighbors nevertheless. Usually, that also involved a telling of the cat tale from the previous blog post. I mean, it's a pretty funny story when you can proclaim that you are literally a cat herder.
Moreover, we suspected that the cat may have belonged to the previous tenants. There was something suspicious about the fact that the cat kept trying to get into our apartment, and that it did so on at least two occasions. So, we asked the people who had been around before us. They had first-hand experience in the matter, so we figured they might shed some light on the matter.
As it turns out, though, the previous owners did not own cats. This cat was just that curious and that adventurous. In fact, the cat has managed to sneak into one of the other units in the complex, and the occupants of that unit ended up having a similar story to mine. We have a serial offender on our hands.
We also discovered one other interesting tidbit: the neighbors all called this cat, "Walter." I have no idea how they came upon this name, but they did. Walter is one of three cats that more or less roam the neighborhood, and they just sort of hang around. They don't really cause problems other than the occasional unexpected house-sitting, so most of the neighbors just leave them be (one of them even leaves water out for them).
As we saw the cat roaming around more often, however, the Mild Wife noted that she did not see the usual male parts that you'd expect a cat named "Walter" to possess. It's not like we were staring intently, but the Mild Wife just noted that she thought Walter might actually be a girl. This led to a resolution that we would pay more attention the next time we saw Walter. We can't simply let the mystery go unsolved.
This, however, leads to an amusing question: what do we call this cat now? If everyone else says, "Walter," but this animal is female, is that still the right name to use? The Mild Wife, for her part, has suggested that we have a "Wilhemina" on our hands (for some reason, that was the first female name we could think of that started with a "W"). So, we call it "Wilhemina" whenever we're discussing this cat. Other people can continue using "Walter" if they prefer, but we're going to stick with what we think is the correct gender until we're proven otherwise.
Incidentally, is it quite giggle-worthy to think about the fact that we have to identify a cat's gender from afar now. Don't worry, though, we'll make sure we get an answer. This may take giggling like mad for a few weeks, but we're willing to make the sacrifice, for science.
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