Penny Raile: O'Keefe

Unimportant Things About Me

•As a child, I did not like gathering eggs on the farm because the hens were mean.
• I played the Doris Day part in “Pillow Talk” in a high school play.
• I played defensive line woman on my girl’s football team in high school - real football, not powder puff.
• I ate dinner at a restaurant next to Vice President Bush’s table in Fort Smith, Arkansas surrounded by secret service agents.
• I played the French horn and the cymbals in my high school band – horribly.
• I was the Sports Editor of my high school paper.
• When I moved to California, I lived in Malibu. I now live near Skid Row.
• I did not finish kindergarten.

101 Things in 1001 Days

THE START OF MY LIST 1 Go to Paris and shop flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales 2 Go on a holiday trip with my entire family 3 Do stretching exercises five days a week for one month 4 Write the second edition of the Raile Family History 5 Finish the Harry Potter series 6 Create “gorilla art” 7 Make a map of every place I have been 8 Elaborately decorate my loft for Halloween 9 Invite at least four guests for dinner at the same time and everyone wears red 10 Go to Yosemite Park 11 Host a pajama party 12 Go on at least one date 13 Turn the big room into something whimsical 14 Change jobs 15 Keep a better diary 16 Set-up a trust fund 17 Write my life story 18 Create a web site to sell things 19 Make things that I am willing to sell 20 Send an admiration letter to RK 21 Visit New York 22 Attend Artfest in Seattle, Washington 23 Visit Watts Tower 24 Send out secret friend packages 25 Create a margarita bar and a coffee bar in loft 26 Read five books that I should have read in high school 27 Create five photo studies

March 2015

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

This is O'Keefe. He lives across the hall from me. He should be eternally grateful to me, but he isn't. He is a cat and cats aren't grateful. O'Keefe feels more entitled than anything else. He is also demanding and somewhat of a bully. Despite all of these traits, I love O'Keefe.

Many years ago, I came across O'Keefe at my vet's office. He was a stray and needed a home. Like all cats do when they need something, he turned on the charm. It worked. I called my good friend Bob and said, "I have found the perfect cat for you."

Once O'Keefe was in his new home, he displayed many more traits including opening cabinets and closets, tight rope walking, crawling to high places, and my favorite of all his tricks, begging. This cat sits back on his hind legs and puts his front paws together and moves them up and down and meows in the most pitiful way. At that point, he gets just about anything he wants, and he knows it.

I care for O'Keefe when Bob is gone. I usually take photos of him and send them to Bob. Here are a few of them. The quality isn't the best because I took them with my iPhone, but you can still tell that this little fellow is full of personality.