Some unusually bad weather over Thanksgiving led us to Murphy.  We returned home early from a camping trip because of the cold and rain; otherwise, we would never have been in Petsmart on that weekend after Thanksgiving when the Central Texas SPCA was holding an adoption day.

Murphy was about 4 months old at the time. His birthday is July 1,1992.  His beautiful coat caught our eye, even though he was very reserved in his adoption cage.  He lived in a foster home, and his foster mom had written a note for his cage saying that he was actually a playful and outgoing kitty, but he hated going to adoption days.  So we decided to make this the last adoption day he would ever have to attend, and brought him home with us!

Murphy was indeed a playful and outgoing cat - and could also be a terror when he wanted to be.  His foster mom didn't mention this aspect...or maybe we just brought out his potential!  Anyway, it turned out the name Murphy was more than appropriate than we'd ever imagined - just like the famous Murphy's law, if there's anything Murphy can do wrong, he probably will!

Murphy enjoys his time on the cat porch. All our kids stay indoors for their health and welfare, but we felt bad that they couldn't enjoy real sunshine and a good breeze. So, the cat porch was born. It's an extension of a double window. It's about 6 feet wide by 3 feet deep and has hardware cloth on the inside and insect screen on the outside. This keeps the bugs out when the window is open and the hardware cloth prevents cat claws from shredding the insect screen when lizards, anoles, and geckos crawl on the outside. The top is totally clear Lexan so they can soak up the sun. There are steps up to the window so they can come and go as they want to. When the weather is nice the window just stays open. When the Texas heat hits, we have a removable cat door that slips into the open window to keep the heat out, but letting the kids go out in the sun.

Looks uncomfortable doesn't it? But this is one of Murphy's favorite poses.....