I like being in on the ground floor, even the story telling kind and Cleo #1 looks like the start of some great tales or tails. My wife likes the cats also, so we got a little kitten right after we got married, he was a purebred barn cat as well. Jet black in color with big blue eyes and not one speck of white or any other color in his fur, naturally since I have always been a poker player he was given the name "Ace" , as in the Ace of Spades.
He ended up being one great guard cat, in fact people refused to come over unless we locked the cat up because he would attack strangers who even thought of going and looking at our babies when we started having kids. The first time my mother in law went to pick up our oldest boy when he was a baby from his bassinet the Acer jumped up and bit her on the arm before she lift him from the bassinet.
His reputation spread quickly with the wife's family and so he remains famous even until today for his protective instincts for the kids. He did pass when he was 18 years old and he is surely missed. Hard to find good guard cats, guard dogs are a dime a dozen, but a good guard cat has the element of surprise.