Jenny the teenager

This is Jenny.

We have had her for fourteen years now. I don't remember exactly when we got her, but it was sometime during September or October of 2002.

Fourteen itself isn't that significant an anniversary--except that I was fourteen when we got her. I turn twenty-eight this week, meaning we have had her for half of my life now! Of course, two of those fourteen years I was on a mission, and I had 4-5 years in college when I only saw her on occasion. But it's still been half of my life. And since I don't remember much when I was a tiny child, we have had her for more than half of my memory.

We like her, but I'm not really sure why. It's not like she's a particularly great cat. The only useful thing she does is kill mice. And furthermore, I don't really know why we as humans like cats. What's so great about a small mammal inhabiting our house, and why is that more desirable than innocuous, tiny six- or eight-legged animals? We exterminate one but seek out the other.

Regardless, I'm a cat person. I understand why other people prefer dogs, so don't come at me with your "Dogs are better than cats" arguments. I get it. But me, personally, I prefer cats. Probably because I have the personality of a cat--introverted and cynical.

We got her in the fall of 2002 after our previous cat mysteriously disappeared after we had her a year. We went to the animal shelter in Fruit Heights, and I picked the gray kitten, which we soon named Jenny, because she seemed like the most playful kitten they had. 

A few weeks after we had her, my dad's parents came to visit. My grandma was wearing soft white leather shoes, and Jenny began rubbing herself against them. I'm not sure that was the first time, but ever since then, she loves feet. She doesn't like being petted by your hands. She usually tolerates me rubbing her neck for a minute, but then she leaves. However, if you put your foot out and start wiggling it around, she will come up to it and rub against it. Often she does this when she wants something, but sometimes she just likes being petted by a foot. She could do it for a long time. 

When she was younger, she would often follow a petting session with a biting session, but she rarely does that anymore. And she also used to sometimes chase after my feet and hug my ankles to attack them, but she almost never does that anymore--although I think she did earlier this year.

When I was on my mission (so when she was between five and seven), my dad decided he was sick of her throwing up in the house (she seems to have a sensitive stomach), so he decided that she needed to be fed in our sun room, just off of my parents' bedroom. So now that's where we feed her. But my dad goes to bed early, and she wants to go into the room to be fed, so she figured out that if she presses her face into the door jamb just right, she can open the door! Then she goes and wakes my dad up--so we try to open it for her when we can.

She also dislikes children. She doesn't really hurt them, but she hisses at them and runs away--or sometimes she swats them, but she only has back claws, so no harm done. My niece lived with us or practically lived with us her whole life, and yet I think she was eleven before Jenny quit hissing at her. This past summer, Jenny kind of let my eleven-year-old nephew foot pet her, but only when my younger nephews weren't around, and she didn't like his style of foot petting. (She prefers to rub than to be rubbed.)

Despite her lack of front claws, she is adept at killing mice. She leaves them on the back porch. Last Halloween she brought us a large rat, and thrice this year I've found small rabbits--but I'm not sure those were her, because two of them weren't in the usual spot. It's gross to dispose of the rodents, but it's better than having them in the house. We haven't had mice problems, but I don't know if that's because of her, or if we wouldn't have them anyway and she just brings us mice we wouldn't otherwise see.

She is kind of picky about her water. She likes me to fill her bowl up--and then she plays in it, splashing it on the floor, putting her paw in while she drinks, and sometimes she'll just lick her wet paw instead of actually drinking.

She also purrs all the time. And she doesn't like most strangers; she usually hides, so most people haven't seen her. But on March 18 this year, we had some old neighbors come visit, and she was meowing to be let outside. Our neighbor began meowing, so Jenny came up to her foot! (The neighbor didn't like that.)

Last Halloween I first noticed that she was limping, and in March she was diagnosed with arthritis. We got special joint care food for her, but she still limps around. It's sad. When she jumps down from places, now her landing is a little clumsy. She's definitely slower than she was and doesn't dart down the hall like she used to. Other than that, she seems to be in decent health for her age.

We like this purring, mouse-killing, foot-loving, child-hating, door-opening, teenage creature. Even if we don't know why.

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup!

 I go to Kneaders a lot this time of year, and I got the Kneaders spice cupcake. I reviewed it last year, and I feel the same way. The cake is tasty, and I like the filling on the inside. But there is way, way, way too much frosting. For one thing, the purpose of a cupcake is to be easy to eat, but that much frosting makes it difficult. You basically have to eat the frosting separate from the cake, and what's the point in that? But even worse, that much frosting takes it from being indulgent to being sickening. And yet I still eat it all because I hate wasting food. I feel the same way about their red velvet cupcakes (Valentine's Day) and mint chocolate cupcakes (St. Patrick's Day). I give it 3/5. It would get 4/5, or maybe even 5/5, with less frosting.

On a separate Kneaders trip, I also had Kneaders pumpkin pie, which is typical pumpkin pie. I forgot to take a picture because a friendly stranger was chatting with me. (He told me I have a healthy lifestyle, since I read books for a living and like trail running.) But it looks like typical pumpkin pie, except there are cute leaf cutouts on top. 4/5.

 I went to Farr's Fresh downtown and got their Farr's pumpkin pie soft-serve ice cream. I put some granola on it. It was tasty, but not exactly bursting with flavor. 4/5.

 I went to Target and got these Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice Glazed Pepitas. (They're in a teaspoon because I was running out of calories for the day.) Pepitas are unshelled pumpkin seeds. I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. These are really good. The glaze is made with pumpkin powder, butter, and spices, and it goes well with the crunch of the seeds. 4/5.

 I'm not really a yogurt person, especially Greek yogurt, but I got this Chobani pumpkin spice blended Greek yogurt. There's a little bit of a spice flavor in there, but mostly it has the bitterness of Greek yogurt. 3/5.

 Chobani caramel apple blended Greek yogurt is better. It has real apple pieces, and the sweetness cuts the tang of the yogurt. I definitely recommend it over the pumpkin spice one. 3.5/5.

My parents got this Krusteaz pumpkin spice quick bread mix. It can be used in a variety of recipes, this time pancakes. It comes with pecans to put in the mix, but not a whole lot of them. Definitely better than plain pancakes. I didn't put any syrup on them. But not spectacular either. I appreciate that they actually have pumpkin in them (pumpkin flakes). 3.5/5.