One of the better ideas floating around out there is Tell Me Thursday -- a dandy little blog that was built on the notion that people might like to hear the stories behind items posted in the weekly Wordless Wednesday event.

If you happen to be a Wordless Wednesday participant, then I'd encourage you to take a look at the aforementioned Tell Me Thursday. That project should be getting a lot more participation than it is, so please give the site a look, huh? All you've got to do is blog about your Wordless Wednesday post and submit a link to Tell Me Thursday. I'm lazy by nature, so I love that -- I can come up with a post without a lot of effort. Dandy!

At any rate, my most recent Wordless Wednesday post is called Cobb and the The Kitten. I snapped that photo because it really says a lot about The Kitten. We've got far too many animals around here -- four cats (two of whom mostly live outside and one of whom mostly sulks in the closet in the bedroom my wife and I share) and three dogs (again, animals who spend most of their time outside).

Of the four cats, The Kitten is the only one who gets along with all the other animals, my wife and me and our two children. Two of the cats are downright skittish and the closet sulker hates everyone -- children and animals alike -- except my wife and me. For some reason, The Kitten seems to pal most easily with Cobb, our beloved rat terrier.

Why is The Kitten so friendly? I have no idea. I should point out a couple of things, however. First of all, we've had The Kitten since she was born to her mother, The Cheat, back in July. Her name isn't really The Kitten -- it's Gizmo, but her nickname seems to have stuck (you can yell "Gizmo!" all day long at her, in fact, and she won't respond).

The fact we have The Kitten at all takes a bit of explaining. A couple of summers ago, I got a call from my wife. She and my daughter were out at some store or the other and found a family giving away free kittens.

"Your daughter wants a kitten," my wife said.

"Well, tell her she can't have one. We've got two cats already and that's more than enough..."

"You tell her," my wife responded.

"No, that's a bad idea, honey..."

"Hello, daddy," my daughter said after my smart alec my wife passed her the phone. "Can I have a kitten?"

"No!"

"Please..."

"No!"

"Please..."

"No!"

"But, daddy..."

"OK. But only if I get to name it whatever I want."

That's how The Cheat arrived at our home. Also, we were supposed to have her spade, but made the appointment too late. That's how we got The Kitten. Did we plan on keeping any of The Cheat's kittens? No, but we did keep one.

Why? Because she was the friendliest of the lot and looked the coolest (it's obvious her father was a gray-and-black tabby and her mother is an orange tabby). She's been a fantastic cat, too. I do wonder what we'll call her when she's fully grown, however.

So, there you have it...