Yes, we adopted her from a woman who said Bella used to be a “barn cat” - that is where her sense of independence and adventure come from, living in a barn and fending for herself. Bella and Jasper hate each other. Bella stays upstairs and Jasper downstairs. There is a 6 or 7 meter hallway Bella must negotiate to make it outdoors to safety - this hallway is the danger zone - this is called “running the gauntlet”.
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Ha ha ha …Some day Bella will be the hero of the story " Bella’s adventures". You are lucky, Sir Luschen.
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You are quite the poet, T.J., but why do you refer to Jasper as ‘she’?
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Well, we adopted her from an animal shelter, and that was the name she had so we didn’t change it. I don’t know why, because I don’t think she even knows her name. It’s not like she responds, but she doesn’t really respond to anything but the sound of food in her bowl. You are right, Jasper is a male name - maybe Jasper is a liberated cat, not tied down to traditional gender norms.
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No problem. Jasper is an attractive cat. I like both, Bella and Jasper. I like all cats especially stray cats and also rats either white or black and Norwegian rats which are very big, too. Although they eat our crops. cats and rats are all intelligent.
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Well, since I’m German I dare say that I immediately have identified Miss Sophie as a poodle 
lady. How does Miss Sophie get along with Jasper and Bella?
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Are Miss Sophie and Jasper best friends?) 
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Ha ha ha…Miss Sophie, Miss Bella, and Miss Jasper…Ha ha ha…I could not guess the breed of Miss Sophie. Sir Torsten knew her breed. So you have a German dog, and a Russian cat and a third cat Miss Jasper of other nationality. Sir Luschen, you have a zoo. Wonderful. What about foxes, lions, bears, wolfs, snakes…and so on?
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I would definitely not say that! Jasper and Sophie have sort of come to a truce. They are sort of like a couple in a very bad marriage. They sleep in the same bed, but there is no interaction at all. Sophie is fascinated by other cats in the neighborhood but just ignores Jasper now. Still, Jasper sometimes seems scared of Sophie, especially if Jasper does not see Sophie coming and she suddenly appears. By the way, Jasper has the same reaction to me!
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Sir Torsten. Thank you for correction. I forgot the question mark.
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Very nice. Again, you are lucky sir Luschen.
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Yes, you are correct Torsten, Sophie is a standard poodle. Here are some better photos so you can see what she actually looks like in those few moments each day when she is not sleeping in a ball 
Miss Sophie would love to be best friends with our cats, but Jasper ignores her and Bella steers clear of her.
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Yes Mona, we have a real menagerie here in the Luschen household. Besides our two cats and one dog we also have a snake and a lizard! We used to have two snakes and several fish as well, but those companions have passed on …
I liked your comment about the rats. I often look at the rats at the pet store and would love to get one, but we may have our hands full at the moment! 
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Ha ha ha…Miss sophie is very beautiful. She is very innocent. Your animals are very interesting. Animals are real friends. They decrease stress. What about your snakes? Are they free or in a cage or box? Are they poisonous or not? Actually, I do not like snakes. My brother has snakes and scorpions. Why do you keep them? Are they attractive to you? Why?
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Our snake is in a glass terrarium. If we let her loose, she would surely go into some vent or cranny and we would never find her again. It is sometimes even hard to figure out where she is hiding in her relatively small glass cage. Our snake is not poisounous and she has never bitten us. She is a California king snake. We had another snake, an orange corn snake. Unfortunately, she died. We are not sure why. Snakes can live 20 to 25 years, but she was only about 7 when she died. Our neighbors’ daughter owned this king snake. They knew we had this other snake, so when their daughter left for college, they asked if we could adopt her snake. Our corn snake was very calm and friendly, but this snake is very scared and skittish and does not really liked to be picked up. So maybe it is not the best pet to have. Still, snakes are very easy to keep. You only have to feed them once a week, and they can actually go 4 or 5 weeks without eating, so if you go on a vacation, even an extended vacation, it is no problem at all. So here is a better picture of Jasper - my middle son is her favorite! Plus a picture of Sophie - she actually has hair, not fur, so it grows longer all the time and eventually we need to give her a haircut. Then a picture of our king snake - Knosis is its name I think. And finally a photo of our dear departed Sally, the corn snake.
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Hello sir Luschen.
What about Miss Sophie hair clipping. You clip her hair in winter or in summer?
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I clip her hair both in the winter and in the summer. I do tend to cut it more often in the summer though - usually short all over. Then I let the hair on her chest grow longer in the winter. Our winters are not too bad here in Nashville - it usually gets up to 5C or 10C even in the winter during the afternoons.
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