Well, it happened. I got a second cat.

Meet Lucy:

(Potential nickname change pending.)

She was my neighbor’s cat. Six or seven years ago, she was found as a kitten, curled up in the backseat of my neighbor’s friend’s car, having crawled through an open window. The friend had to give her up when she moved, so she gave her to my neighbor. But now my neighbor can’t take her to her new place, so we decided that moving her next door would be the least traumatic option for this transient kitty. Also, since I’m gone almost every weekend and during most of the day, it seemed like a good idea for Micki to have some company.

Not that Micki was really asking for that…

We’re currently in the slow introduction phase, where Lucy stays cloistered in the living room, so that she and Micki can hiss at each other through the door. In a week, Micki will stay in the living room while Lucy puts her scent all over the rest of the cottage. Then they switch again, and then we open the door and let them play like the best buddies they better be.

Meanwhile, I vacuum like hell because Lucy is a long-haired cat and I’m now twice as allergic to my house as I was yesterday. But look at that face!

I’ll keep you updated while struggling to not 1) make this a completely kitty-centric blog and 2) not becoming the crazy cat lady.

UPDATE: I thought I should give my original flavor cat some face-time, too.  Literally: