Many Shades of Cats

I blink sleepily, reaching to shut off my phone alarm. I try to roll over, but I'm pinned; one of my cats is laying on top of me. The other cat is laying at the back of my neck, and with my movement they both start purring loudly as they realize I'm awake. Usually not on the best of terms, Little Captain (a 5-year-old female dark tabby mix) and Gremlin (a 5-month-old male orange tabby kitten) form an uneasy truce during the morning hours when they're both vying for my attention and a choice spot on top of me.

A typical morning.

I untangle myself from the cats and blankets. Little Captain runs eagerly to the food bowl, ready for breakfast. Gremlin, ever the attention lover, is reluctant to move from his comfy hollow. As I get up and start the day, I put on a dirty pair of jeans and a hole-pocked top. My day is going to be spent on a project, the biggest "cat" in my life: my 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator.

Whether by councidence or fate's design to turn me into a crazy cat lady, this old Cougar is my dream car. My dad has had a 1970 Cougar my whole life, a beautiful black car with a deep guttural growler of an engine. I grew up working on it with him on the weekends and dreaming of the day I'd own my own. That day came on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2012 when I won this 1970 Eliminator in an essay/voting contest from West Coast Classic Cougars out in Oregon.

1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator.

Now, I won't try to kid you. This car's a mess. It's basically a shell in need of a full restoration. Before we shipped it here, the body shop in Oregon replaced the rusted out floorpans and replaced the rusted quarter panels. Then it was loaded onto a truck and made the long journey across the country to be here with me. And so, the project began.

My dad is helping me out through the process and making sure I do everything correctly. When it's finished, probably a year or two from now, I will be proud to be driving a classic American muscle car that I built myself from the ground up! How many other girls my age can say that?

This blog is to follow my life with cats through all the coming days, as the Cougar transforms into a beautiful muscle car, Gremlin grows into a cat, and Little Captain perhaps simply grows wider and more obstinate.