How the universe created around Evil Squirrel got to be so infested with felines is a mystery for the ages, but since the internet loves their cats as apparently does ES, bear with me for one more feline companion that has her own distinct place in the world of my blog’s signature rodent.  Odyssey is the blue-haired flower child of the bunch.  A child of nature, she is right at home in her garden, or plucking roses from her rosebush.

Now we know who broke up with Bret Michaels back in the 80's.

While Odyssey isn’t one of the main galpals of the amorous ES, she is his go-to girl when the rest of the harem is ignoring him or busy filing restraining orders against him.  But while Odyssey generally likes ES’s company, there is one small issue that makes her a last resort for Evil when he needs a scritching.  Odyssey isn’t a wild tart like most of the rest of the girls.  No, she is quite refined in her ways and tries to impose the same standards on ES!

It's all fine and well until ES whips out the plastic spork...

Not exactly being one who wants to become a refined gentlesquirrel, ES constantly has to thwart Odyssey’s efforts to make him into a decent member of society.  The above scene was drawn a couple years ago as a compromise between the fine dining loving Odyssey and the fast food craving ES when they couldn’t agree on where to have a romantic dinner.  Not only was it the signature drawing of the interactions between ES and Odyssey, but it made a lasting impression in the real world as well….

Meet my cat, Ody:

What? This is going out over the internet!?!?

When I got him and his brother Spilly (RIP) back in September 2009, I didn’t have ready names for them.  The little guy above (He’s no longer little, trust me!) liked to roll over on his back with his paws extended upward showing off his pink paw pads… between that and him having identical markings to my Odyssey character, there was no way I could give him any other name.  Odyssey was too much of a mouthful, however, so I shortened his name to Ody… which of course most people read as Odie, like Garfield’s dog, instead of (AH-dee) as it should be.  Poor kitty… at least there is no shortage of people who call him handsome, which I have to admit he is.  ES could only wish to hear that from one of his squirrel girls even once….