BIRTHDATE: December 15, 1995. The date he entered our lives: March 6, 1996.

SIBLINGS: Gilligan and Skipper. They have the same Mother (AJ) and the same father (Mr. Howell), but they were a later litter.

DESCRIPTION: Long-haired (silky) Tuxedo, on bridge of nose, between eyes, looks as if he was lightly brushed with white paint. Shadow of white mascara above both eyes. white goes from his chin down his chest, running down the middle of his belly. He has white on 4 paws- 1 boot and 3 just over the paws. He has green eyes and weighs in at 14 pounds.

ALIASES/NICKNAMES: JJ, JA- JA JAY, Sweet Pea, Cuddler, Pretty Boy.

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES: Making paper sculptures for Mom and Dad out of toilet paper, paper towels. Making confetti out of other paper products, chasing Gilligan and Skipper, knocking over stuff, especially if it's filled with liquid, escaping, finding neat places to hide so they think I escaped. Giving Mom "love bites" and cuddling with Mom.

BIRTHORDER: The forth one of the current crew. The 9th one we have adopted.

HEALTH: Excellent.

HANGOUTS: Linen closet, drawers in closet, cuddled up with Skipper on top bunk, cuddling on Moms lap.

FOOD: Dry food, mostly, although will eat canned food. Likes ham and chicken (people food).

HIS STORY : March 6, 1995, a very cold wintry 3:00 a.m., there is a noise at our back door. Being a very light sleeper, I was aroused and alert. There out on our porch was a tiny, black kitten. I opened the door and he just waltzed right on in. Six grown cats in his wake and he didn't bat an eyelash. Chris and I couldn't send this poor little thing back out in the cold, so we spent the night lying on the floor of the bathroom with him. We thought we were protecting him from the other cats -- YEAH RIGHT!

[As it turns out, he belonged next door. The woman who lived there had a cat she never had spayed and had litter after litter of kittens. This one apparently escaped when she had come in late and not in the most sober of conditions. We put notices up but never heard from her. I guess she figured it was at least one she didn't have to worry about placing. It was months later after she had moved and the mom cat, AJ, returned and had a litter outside the apartment that we discovered this. AJ had the litter and then went back to her new home, leaving the kittens. We took them in and cared for them until she was located and came for them.]

Anyway, back to this little guy in our bathroom. We named him JJ - deciding on John Uriah Jacob. He just loved his new home and all the challenges of keeping all these big cats in line. He had no fear of the others and I guess they figured he was here to stay. Their main concern was just staying out of his way -- this little interloper was just a bit more active for them. These senior cats wanted to curl up and play cat, but he wanted to chase and play with whatever was breathing. He really kept them all hopping for awhile there.

BIRTHDATE: April 1, 1996. Date she came into our lives: August 9, 1996.

SIBLINGS: Gilligan is her brother. JJ is her older brother.

DESCRIPTION: Silver gray tiger, small white "O" around her mouth, beautiful emerald eyes, weighs 12 pounds.

ALIASES/NICKNAMES: Skipper Doodle, Sweetie Pie, Precious Princess and The Skipper Too!

FARVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES: Fishing pole, chasing Gilligan and JJ, Meowing at Mom to play more fishing pole, running and making those throw rugs fly!

BIRTHORDER: A litttle younger then brother Gilligan. The 6th one of the current Brood. The 11th one we have adopted to date!

HEALTH: Excellent.

HANGOUTS: Top bunks, drawers in bed room closet and linen closet and under beds.

FOODS: Would rather play "fishing pole" then eat, "Thank you very much!"

THEIR STORY, CONTINUED : Well JJ was delighted! He thought these two little ones were great "wind up toys" for him to play with. [We really believe that they are JJ's younger brother and sister]. The older ones finally got some relief from JJ's displays of activity and these three became "best buds!"

We broke away from the biblical names, when I gave Chris responsiblity for naming them. He came up with Skipper and Gilligan after the characters in Gilligan's Island. Skipper is the female, small in stature and big on curisoity and guts. Gilligan, her brother, is larger and very timid. It took him quite awhile, almost a year, to respond when you would call his name. His meow is so out of character. He is 18 lbs., but he could be standing in front of you meowing and you think he is in the next room. This huge cat has such a tiny meow, almost a whisper.

He is slowly learning to become more social. At first he would approach the other cats to groom his head. Some would, like Zachariah and David. Goliath and Malalchi would bop him, and DJ would move around to sniff his butt. This evolved into the DJ/Gilligan dance. Head, butt, head butt, they would move in a circular dance. It was really funny to watch. Just recently he has started to approach us to be petted. It is really fantastic to watch his growth.

Skipper on the other hand has no fear and goes anywhere and gets into everything. She has such an outgoing and loving personality. During David's illness she would sit with him for hours grooming him and keeping him warm. She has been spending time in their spot that they shared together. Today, however, she was chilling out in one of the drawers we have in the closet. She had trouble getting down so wound up walking across the tops of the "hung clothes" to get to the other side and down. She and JJ are our most playful cats. I believe she is probably even more so than JJ.

BIRTHDATE: Unknown. Benjamin is a male. Franklin is a female. We first started seeing them July of 1997. They moved into igloo we had set up for the winter, bag and baggage. They are approximately 1 1/2-2 years old.

DESCRIPTION: Benjamin is a gray tiger. Franlin is a black cat. FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES: Sunning themselves on the rug right outside our sliding glass door, flying out of the igloo when we open the door to feed them or to go outside, protecting our porch from other cats.

HEALTH: Unknown for certain at this time. We gave up trying to trap them.