My life with Cats what i learned and how it changed me

"Wild DOG LOVES CATS"

I was never really a cat man until Barnaby. Allergic to the one kittren i had as a child it was almost a bad prank i loved that kitty for the 3 days i had it but she made me miserable i was also allergic to grass ( i found better ways to make my eyes red later,,,,)

It was 1985 and Angela and i had just gotten mrried and were managing this apartment building we used to joke about living in to make the drive to work at a notrth portland gas staion shorter (I've since learned that i shold never joke about the things i dont want to relaly do it seems to attract them. so Kristy Angies friend brought over this little fuzzy black cat for Angie as a wedding present but this guy came running to me as soon as she put him on the ground and that was it ! that cat never left my side for his entire life ive never felt siuch love from anyone before or since or during hois 19 years as my shadow .,

we named him Barnaby after the tv show we started watching to be quirky but Quinn Martin never fails to entertain and so the obvious choice was Barnaby Jones! The apartment was filled with roaches and he would make the sound that became his language, in the middle of the night .....maaaa! so i'd get up and see the food was moving in the bowl except it wasn't cat food it was roaches having a tasty treat, so many roaches inhabited the oven we just let them have it ( never using the oven once in the 10 months we were there, -( it sure seemed longer) it was quite roomy and at one time back in 1920 somehting when it opened it must have been a swanky place for the railroaders who worked a block away and had a pad here and in chicago where the line ran. they were outfitted with a murphy bed (ya know those beds on a metal swing arm that went into the huge closet) the bed had been removed in most of the units and it made a nice little room i would play my guitar through headphones* something my mother wished for my entire life after electric guitars invaded her ear space at age 11) i didnt want anyone to know i had any gear so it never left the closet and either did Barnaby, he would curl up on the dresser and snooze,I had this little GK lunchbox amp and he would hangout while i was writing the Dr mastermind record. after that job went up in flames and i stole our paycheck out of the rents* the owner this weird old racist shithead ! the cool fella who hired me sold the building to this guy who looked like a rat and bore a strange resemblance to the actor who played Paul Mcartney's grandfather in the movie "HARD DAYS NIGHT" the place had 7 tenants before this new guy who put up rent posters at the parole office and thats who we were applying i said man where did you put the posters up and he told me - grrreat ... Barnaby didnt care he was always glad to see me whenever i walked in the door i was 25 at the time.

So we left the place in a midnight escape taking our 500 bucks That experience, a real eye opener to the real world for me i didn't think animals lived like that let alone humans. and we took another job as managers of a surburban apartment complex (after i got busted for theft! they will hire anyone i guess) where i built a walkway out of 2x4 and carpeted the door frames so Barnaby could climb up and walk the board to a little place i built in the corner of the room where the maintenance tools were. When we moved in we couldnt find Barnaby !we looked for hours and then this square table door opened and out comes a stretching yawning cat. we left him un neutered for a long time until he was waiing so much at night Angie couldnt stand it.that procedure was the only time he ever went to the vet his entire life! He bit Angie once at the villa when she gave Him a bath and bit the vet asst,when we picked him up there was a sign that said "nasty cat!" how dare they treat my son this way!" We then moved to a small place in Beaverton after i got the firing from the country pines for having the wild dogs rehearse in the tool room at high volume hahaha oh well it was too much work for the pay anyway.the place was called country pines for a reason, the place had pine trees all around it and the needles had to be blown off the parking lot everyday at least once (i still hate pine needles .) at the beaverton pad i kept my side hustle going which was the normal sideline in the 80's slinging party favors in green and white, with lots of droppers by - the reason i hate anyone dropping over is because of that. It was a cool place, indoor pool outdoor pool big field behind it and game room and we were both on unemployment, perfect for the other job...

Barnaby would stay up with me every night 3 am was the magic hour we always went to bed after Ange around 3 am and that cat saw jimi plays berely and the led zep movie song remains the same so many times he probably wanted to kill the tv.

we moved to a warehouse on se 8th and hawthonre when those 10,000 sq ft places rented for $500 per month! and i had bands rehearsing and performing on the weekends in this "club"

Barnaby would run like the wind in there! everybody knew my cat .he loved the marshall stacks set up on the stage area and climb up and sit atop them when people were jammiing, noise didnt scarer him at all but it was only marshalls he prefferred( maybe the english fake leather was better than fender?)the new owner (its always the damn :"new owner" who ruins it isn't it?) he found ot what was happeneing on the weekend and we got bounced out of there. The gear i said i was "storing" was making to much noise and the fire department was on his side at 2 am when the fog machine these dipshits used against my order rang the silent fire alarm

so we went to an apartment on se Holgate. Angie was working at supercuts and i got a job as a barista at Clackamas Town Center mall. That was kinda fun surrouded by gorgeous department store women all day who would think im funny and give me all kinds of fragrance samplpes in full bottles for a simple cup of coffee .If it werent for the din of the place and the ice rink music where Tonya Harding paracticed up to become the notorius knee basher ( i even learned a few NEW swear words from her screaming at the coach before she would come and woo me into a 70 cent cup of coffee lke a purring kitten until i found her making out in the parking lot with one of our employees and suggested they use the back rom area and not get caught yeah i AM that kinda manager then i guess ) i loved it i had the food court rigged for free lunch anywhere so it was the frst time Barnaby had been alone all day for his life.

Angie thought she wanted another cat(maybe this one would take to her. better .?... the basist for my band east side stranglers ,mike albertson had one kitten left in the recent batch almost exactly like Barnaby black long hair with a priest spot of white on his chest. We took him home and i named him Deeno cuz he made a sound like the flinstones dog and he was super hyper ( like deen the drummer) Barnaby was NOT impressed Deeno would walk by, his and do the Halloween cat arch, he was there about 3 months before this little short hair girl cat came scratching at the door i peeked out and opened the door and she took off but she came back that evening, And i opened the door and the 4 eyes of the other 2 cats were the size of platters! she waltzed in took inventory of the room, found the food, looked back like "yeah ill take it" ate a bunch and sauntered to the exact oppostie side of the room facing the other two, curled herself up and went to sleep Sheeba became cat number 3

within a year maybe 2 ngie had had enough of me and the whole deal and decided she was moving to Beaverton by her supercuts job and I was not ! my mom had a boyfriend who needed moving out, so she asked me if i needed a place to stay and i could live there and davey the ex con would have to move out, and me and the girl i met coming off the van halen tour bus with her tube top sideways were done!.i got the cats all 3 and she took everything else. the furniture all that she bought ,, my music geart and the cats were what was mine and that was good ,, it wasnt long before the guys slept upstairs with me and sheeba took her side of my mother's bed mucnh better in sw portland with a yard to explore for these urban cats. Sheeba was the rebel, Deeno was the guy who always wanted to do the right thing and Barnaby hung out where ever i did he was there for me ( Barn rode in the car with me everywhere on the back of the driver seat Ive been here ever since 1993, SAD days coming 2002, the first day of winter term a the college i work for Baraaby had been goin down for a month and 30 days befrore he taught deeno to wake me up 5 minutes before the alarm went off and we watyched an episod eof CHiPs bfore i left debbi and i watched him show deeno the routine then went to a closet downstairs of the 3 level house barnaby was in bad shape he couldnt stand to pee and so i did how i deal with shit i went and bought 4 40 oz budweisers and my manager at work who lived across the street from the store was there .and saw me and i said my cat is dying( he is a cat man too 15 years younger than me and i had to leave the deli line cuz i was losing it so that night beer was goona be dinner mom she passed out from hearing barnaby scream i thoujht great its not fucking two for monday i had gone to the welfare office to get food stamps and i regret not staying home with him cuz the next day when i came home from work he was in misery so i called debbi's vet sister and they suggested bring him for the grand exit 'twas the worst day of my life so far. these days they have a service in home to save the agony of the drive anywhere and waiting in the waiting rom i said i wont do that again and didnt have to. that experience tore me up bad, i sitill have the kleenex i cried wet thumbtacked to my wall

The other cats lasted another 8 years .Sheeba must have eaten something bad and her kidneys failed and she died within a week and Deeno help ed me wake up til a year after the record breaking heat wave of 2009 that im sure did him in while i was in germany .he died on mother's day the following year, and life has not been the same since ..with no cats .. until,,,,, an amzing DOG entered the movie Debbi took in a resuce dog! a Schipperkie..... the breed i fel in love with at a pet store in 1991 and the reason why i won't go into a pet store!

the story of Bear is on the following page usmetal.com/Bear.html