When Pets Get Political

Lori, the Smoky Mountain Family Historian, has a great opening for her pet story:

My first cat was E.R.M. I was quite small and my older brothers were teaching me to spell at the time I named him. The story goes that I was asked by my paternal grandfather how to spell cat, and I proudly declared "E.R.M."

The best story I can think of concerns two kittens owned by my great-grandfather back in 1940. He named one "Franklin Delano Roosevelt," and the other "Wendell Willkie." Wendell drowned in a bowl of milk, thus predicting the outcome of the election.

Cat Phobia Rampant in Scotland

Scotsman.com has an article today on Scottish clan mottoes, the best of which is given in a caption:

The motto of the Clan MacPherson with its modern-day translation urging its clanspeople to "Touch not the cat without a glove". [Link]

The MacBeans are even warier of felines, urging us to "Touch not the cat without a shield."

More animal insights may be found here, such as "The eagle does not catch flies," "Flying, I despise reptiles," and "Dinna waken sleeping dogs"—surely a variant of the perennially popular "Never wake a sleeping baby."

What About the Heritage of Her Cats?

Seen on craigslist:

Yank Seeks Christian SWF - 43

[snip]

American Christian Single, White, Male, age 43, slender, attractive, professional, financially secure seeks a Christian Mail-Order Bride of Anglo-Saxon heritage.

Hobbies include: genealogy, drumming in church Christian rock band, and cats.

[snip]

[Read the whole ad]

Oddly enough, this ad was not posted by David Duke, for whom genealogy is also very, very important.