Jim and I had promised Cassie and Quatro that we would center all our love on them for the remainder of their lives and not bring in a new kitty to divert our attention. We just didn't count on finding the smallest, bravest black kitty boy, our Pojoaque a.k.a Pokie. Pojoaque is the first "our" cat that Jim and I have adopted together. We were use to huge Maine Coon fur balls, and now we found ourselves with a sleek, black, velvet cat.

Pojoaque was sitting in my driveway when I came home from work in the beginning of November 2007. He fit in my hand, and when I picked him up, we fell in love instantly. How could we say no to this guy! We weren't sure if sure if he was old enough to adopt. We bottle-fed him for a short time until he started biting of the nipple off of the bottle. He very quickly learned to eat solid food. In fact, he is very quick at learning just about anything, especially learning from Cassie and Quatro.

Jim and I were pleased to see how readily Cassie and Quatro accepted Pokie. Pokie was a burst of life in a household that had been full of elderly cats, some of whom had recently died. Everyone, cats and people alike, "sparked up" with the addition of Pokie, who set out to charm each of us one-by-one. Cassie was easy. She feels the loss of her sister Polly, and found motherly instinct she probably didn't realize she had.

Quatro also showed an amazing amount of patience that we never suspected he had. Pokie followed Quatro around up until Quatro died. Pokie really helped Jim and I through yet another death of our original pride. He has become the focus of all the love we had for our former cats, which makes him one very loved guy. He is very hard not to love anyway since he is amazingly sweet.

We named him Pojoaque in honor of our beloved cat Tesuque. Pojoaque is the sister Northern New Mexico Pueblo of Tesuque. I immediately found myself calling in Pokie as a short name of endearment. Pokie has been called Pokie-Toy, Poquito, Pokie-Toes and other names over the next six months.