I apologize before hand for the cat picture and story. It seems like a lot of weblogs have at least one entry about their pets. Here’s mine.
We have an 17-year old, grey cat named Malcolm. He seems pretty healthy for his age. Sometimes when we he walks across the floor, you can tell that his hips are hurting a little bit. He has lost a lot of weight in recent years. He had topped out about 18 pounds in his heyday, but now hovers around 12 or 13 pounds. He has managed to stay frisky for all these years by attacking/playing with the other cat, and harassing the dog.
Malcolm, like most cats, has developed a few habits only their humans can appreciate. He will come running when he hears the scraping of the bottom of an ice cream bowl, and stare you down until you let him lick it. He will also wait patiently until you finish a bag of Doritos, Cheetos or any other type of junk food so that he can lick your fingers. And of course, he has to have his share of anything made from chicken or turkey.
But since we moved into our new house, this cat has developed a new habit. (The other cat has picked it up too.) When any one takes a shower, Malcolm sits patiently waiting for the person to finish. When the occupant exits the shower, Malcolm saunters in and starts licking up the water. Why? What is so appealing about shower water? Does it taste better than the water in the old plastic bowl? Is it some lost genetic memory of his cousins in the wild drinking from a watering hole? Or could it be the warm, soothing feeling of the tile on the pads of his old, tired paws? One never knows why a cat does what it does.