Nimbus has the distinction of having been Cat of the Day on January 17, 1999. Much of his story is in the text there. Nimbus was born in 1996, although we don't know his exact birthdate.
Nimbus is still definitely the "lead cat", although Cumulus and Gunner try to give him a hard time occasionally. The name Nimbus means "storm cloud", at least close enough for our purposes.
Gunner, along with his sister, Belle, were adopted from some friends of ours. They had taken in a stray cat and it had a litter of kittens that same night.
Gunner used to possess the "spaz" gene, as I call it. However, we decided that the root of the problem was Belle. She was quite destructive and always pushing Gunner into trouble. So, Belle was found a new home, where she is now quite content.
Our hunch was correct and Gunner became a new cat. He settled down and is now fairly calm. The names "Gunner" and "Belle" came from WWII B-17 bombers.
Triger was brought into the clinic when he was just a little kitten. Someone had found him hanging by his hind leg in the crook of a tree branch. He had apparently been stuck there for a couple of days. The leg was unable to be saved, so had to be amputated.
The lack of four legs does not slow Triger down at all. I maintain that it's the only thing that keeps him from breaking the sound barrier. The name "Triger" is sort of a contraction of tri or "three", as in 3-legged and "Tiger".
Triger is understandably a little spooky after surviving such an ordeal. However, he used to be alot spookier than he is now. For several years, he would not allow hardly any human contact. He would only occasionally come up to be petted briefly, if he knew you well and if you sat calmly.
When it came time to move to our new home in 2001, we had to trap and sedate him, which was quite an ordeal for everybody involved.
However, for reasons we cannot explain, his personality completely changed after we moved to the new house. After a brief period of hiding by himself in the bathroom, Triger emerged, explored his new home and decided that everything was okay. He now regularly seeks attention and is not nearly so spooky.
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Charlie is the only pedigreed cat of the herd. She's also the only female. She was purchased from a breeder in New York and rode home on an airliner with Gretchen. She is what is called a "La Perm", which means that she has curly hair.
Charlie was the runt of her litter and she's still very small. Gretchen refers to her as her "perpetual kitten." Charlie takes being petted very seriously and will tap on one's arm politely, but persistently until she recieves some attention.
Cumulus is the youngest of the bunch, but nowhere near the smallest. He is quite "plump". He's very fluffy, too. In the picture above, he was fairly young. His coat is much fuller now. The name "Cumulus" is the counterpart to "Nimbus", another cloud.
"Q" is quite outgoing and is usually the only one of the cats to greet visitors. He likes to pester, but doesn't like it when the tables are turned.
Update: Cumulus is no longer the youngest, with the addition of Spam. See below.
On October 1, 2003, Gretchen rescued Spam, literally from the middle of highway 288. She was huddled on the stripe between the lanes, scared to death. With the traffic on that highway, she had to have been only seconds away from being killed. We have no idea how she got there. She was only about eight weeks old at the time. The picture was taken the day Gretchen brought her home. Other than a skinned face and a little soreness and swelling, she was ok.
She was named afer both the legendary mystery meat "Spam" and those nasty e-mails everyone hates. I thought that her mixture of colors resembled spam and also she had more or less come to our home without an invitation, like the e-mail variety. She made herself at home quickly and is not intimidated by much of anything. She now joins Cumulus in greeting visitors.
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