Uuhhh so I google imaged "railway cat" because I didn't get the Skimbleshanks reference right away and is this reference supposed to be intentional? I've never heard of this book.
The next time they do something Yugioh related, they should do Pegasus impressions towards Jacob. "You seem tense Yogi-boy~ You need to Relinquish this beef you have with DeepBlueInk."
You can get a solid starter tablet for quite a bit less than $300, so I’d recommend you spend a little coin on some good drawing software. Sketchbook Pro is very reasonably priced and has a good learning curve for a beginner - you can hop in immediately and start drawing without much set up, but once you’re comfortable with it you can start fiddling with some of the deeper tools like the paintbrush maker and color palettes.