Callie is the second youngest of the group and the only one that did not have a difficult beginning in this world.  Believe me this shows in her personality.  She is much more daring, confident, and stubborn than any of the other cats.  Everything in her world exists for her benefit and personal use.  She is a one cat destruction crew.

This past spring, my next door neighbor (also a cat person) told me that she had found a pregnant stray orange tabby in their yard and she did not seem to be leaving.  She was wondering if I would be interested in taking her.  Already having six cats, I was less than enthusiastic about another one, let alone one that was soon to have kittens.  I told her if she kept her, I did not have a true calico and might be interested if one of the kittens were such.  Now, I really did not think there would be a calico.  The resident top feral tom at that time was an orange tabby himself.  He had eluded my attempts at trapping for neutering over the last year  and I was pretty sure he would be the father.  That would mean only variations of orange tabbies for kittens.

To my surprise there were two calicos.  A precious little dilute calico and of course my Callie.  I fell for her the first time I saw her.  Now I had to tell Kathy about her.  Kathy was more understanding than I anticipated.  Her reply was that we already had six cats and seven couldn't be much more work. So Callie came home to stay.

I was determined to blend her in with Patch and Jade and keep her inside only.  Many people told me I would have such a hard time bringing them together.  They blended so easy, I could not believe it.  I kept her in an adjoining room with a large space under the door so that they could see and play with each other.  I also brushed them with the same brush every day and swapped toys.  After four days, they were playing under the door.  I gradually introduced her for short periods and after a week, she was part of the group and Jade's adopted daughter.

Callie has the longest tail I have ever seen.  It is demonstrated in one of the pictures.  It seems to have its own brain.  She will be sleeping quitely in my lap and that tail wil be making all kinds of motions.

UPDATED JUNE, 2005

Callie is now just over a year old.  She remains my wild child and VERY vocal.  She clearly lets me know whatever is on her mind and expects to be allowed to do whatever she wants whenever she wants to do it.  She is so tall and thin.  She is as tall as Patch if not a bit taller, but weighs under six pounds.  She eats fine, but is just a very thin cat.  I think she will fill out as she matures, but her mother and brother (owned by my next door neighbor) have exactly the same build.  Callie actually enjoys traveling with me.  She eagerly walks into her carrier for our trips.  She likes being in the front and will often just chatter to me along the way.

UPDATED OCTOBER, 2006

Callie remains my wild child.  She is built like a greyhound and loves to run like one.  She enjoys just tearing through her quarters and jumping or climbing an everything.  She remains the one hold out for Mocha's complete integration.  Hopefully she will melt, but Mocha is more than twice her size and frightens her.  She remains my most vocal cat and will just chatter and chatter to me.