The Amazing Acro-Cats

Home is an apartment in Chicago with a big screened-in yard, where, Martin says, she and the cats pretty much do the same things as what they do on stage, in front of an audience.



The jumps and tightropes are spread out across the living room, and the Rock Cats' instruments are set up in the kitchen, where they like to play while Martin cooks.



"This is what I would do at home," she says, wearing a cat ear headband, and gesturing toward one Acro-Cat who's climbing up a tower, and another seated at a set of drums, while several more sit on scraps of purple carpet -- their "marks" -- and other perches, waiting to be rewarded for their efforts. (Cluck Norris is napping in her carrier, and Garfield the groundhog is running laps around the room, pausing only occasionally to be petted.)



But as fun as it is being home -- and it is fun, for those couple of months a year -- getting back on the road is also a good time, for Martin and the rest of the gang.



"I love to travel. I love to see the countryside," she says. "And I get to be with my pets 24/7."