Sassy watched all of the Star Wars movies with me when TNT ran the series (up to but not including The Force Awakens and Rogue One). Her favorite scenes include war/fighting, space ships flying at top speed, the robots, or the aliens. I think her most favorite character is Jar Jar Binks. Sassy even recognizes some of the Star Wars music themes and will come running from another room to plant herself in front of the television.

Katie Cat and Sassy are getting along well these days. They will even nap in the same area, although not touching each other.

They chase each other around the house sometimes, but I haven’t been able to catch the action on camera. All goes well as they take turns chasing, unless Katie gets cornered. That panics her and kitty turns into fierce tiger to make Sassy back off.

When my husband and I were younger and in school or working, we never had a chance to get to know our pets this well. We are in awe of their intelligence and their ability to learn. They bring us more joy than we ever imagined they would.

And also a few complications: Katie Cat will not let me read during my early morning coffee. Instead, I must have her on my shoulder or in my lap, constantly petting and scratching and tummy rubbing. Not until I go to my computer will she leave me alone.

Sassy, on the other hand, expects Facebook or You Tube time each morning to search for videos of dogs, cats, and/or babies and little kids. I try to limit her to 15 minutes of scrolling down the Facebook updates where we usually find enough to make her happy. She gets a little impatient when I’m writing or checking email because it’s so boring.

One thing I don’t have a photo of yet is Sassy sitting in my lap to read the newspaper. She’s been doing that for a couple of weeks now and it’s pretty silly to see her checking out all the photos and big ads, sometimes poking a picture with her nose. I’m not sure she’s telling me she likes the picture or wants me to turn the page.  I’d love to know what these critters are thinking sometimes.

Life is so much better at our house with pets. Katie Cat was adopted from the Larimer Humane Society when she was about four months old. She turned six last October. And Sassy was my brother’s dog, so we adopted her after my brother died. Sassy will be five years old in April.