The Animals of Thanksgiving.

Let's face it, one of the reasons I was excited for Thanksgiving is that I got to hang out with the various animals of the family. We are an animal-free household here, which is great from the scooping, fur everywhere perspective, but it isn't much fun otherwise. Here are all the animals I got to hang out with.

Ez is my mother's cat, short for Ezmeralda. I call her "little kitty" (to distinguish her from "bratty kitty" which was my Aunt's cat, Boots. Boots died this May, which was sad. He also should have been named Bulldog, but that is another story altogether.) I spend most of my time at my Mom's house trying to get Ez to sit on my lap. I'm about 100% unsuccessful in these efforts, but that doesn't stop me. Ez is a grumpy old lady of a cat, and likes things her way. She jumped up on this chair and started meowing around, so I knew she wanted me to take my backpack off of the chair where I had left it and stretch the blanket across the chair so she could crawl under it and be warm. I pulled up the corner to take this picture which is dark because I know she would be very unhappy with a flash.
This is Atlas, my brother's Newfoundland dog. He's kind of big. He's also very stubborn and only somewhat listens to commands. He's a very fun dog and likes me because I scratch him a lot when I come over. He really loves to go over to my Aunt Pat's because she has an acre of property and there is much chasing of squirrels and checking out the other dogs that walk by with their owners. He sheds a lot, though and isn't allowed upstairs in the house. When we gather for a dinner of some sort, he sits outside the dining room. When my brother goes down in the basement Atlas hangs out with him there.

This is Squeak, the newest addition. Squeak found my Aunt Carol and adopted her about two weeks ago. He was hiding in her front yard and used his good looks and very cute kitten allure to charm his way indoors. Boots did a similar thing with my Aunt Pat, though it took longer. He is the best cat. He has short hair, is all black with very big eyes and he squeaks instead of meows. He'll also let you pick him up and hold him for awhile and when he sleeps, he stretches out next to you on the couch. He was much fun during Thanksgiving, though a bit overwhelmed at the space and the number of people who wanted to play with him.
Aunt Carol said he slept the next day, we so overtired him. How can you not, though?