Ahoy! It be Meow like a Pirate Day!

Tabby writes:

Ahoy there, Mateys!  It be Meow like a Pirate Day for all this fine day!  We be sailin' for calm seas, as it be too rainy here for the likes of me and the rest of the crew.  Cap'n Rori threw Carbon in the brig this mornin' for tussling with Starla in the bedroom doorway while switchin' rooms.  I barreled in to try an' stop the fight, but became part of it, so I got myself outta there an' remained on the edge offerin' comments.  Cap'n Rori stood alongside me an' bopped Carbon on the head each time she saw him.  Mommy clapped, an' Daddy barged in an' grabbed Carbon by his scruff.  Mommy got Starla from under the dresser and then the switching of the rooms was completed without further nonsense from any of the crew.  Starla is now in the crow's nest on the kitchen counter, while Carbon will be confined to the brig in the bedroom until sunup.

Missy keeping a watchful eye belowdecks.

Hemming update: I'm back home!

Hemming writes:

I'm back at my foster home, with my aunties and uncles!  I'm so happy to be back here!  I've been running around for the last half hour, getting reacquainted with everything and getting lots of loves from my foster family, humans and other kitties.

Foster Daddy and Foster Mommy came over this morning to get me out of the wall behind the basement stairs, but I wasn't hiding there!  I found an even better hiding place!  It was still in the same area, under the stairs, but I was hiding behind and under a shelf in the pantry area under the stairs.  I'm very proud of my hiding skills that my momcat and my dadcat taught me!

Foster Daddy and someone from the house took a mini fridge out, then moved the shelf.  The man from the house called to me, and I came running out.  I ran around the living space, up on the fireplace hearth, then ran around the living space again.  Foster Mommy stood by the stairs to catch me if I ran that way, but I ran mostly around the open space.  Foster Daddy followed me, and finally pinned me down as I ran by the couch.  He called to Foster Mommy, who brought the carrier over and they put me in it.  Foster Mommy took me into the bathroom and petted me through the carrier while Foster Daddy and the man put the pantry area back in order.

I cried the whole way home, wanting to be let out of the carrier.  I hate cars!  I did lick Foster Mommy's finger and put my paws against Foster Daddy's hand, headbutting his hand, but mostly I cried and tried to dig my way out.  When we got very close to home, though, I smelled my marsh!  I calmed down right away, started purring, and kneaded away at the carrier with a big smile on my face.

I'm going to be here for a couple weeks, then Foster Daddy and Foster Mommy are going to talk with the other people interested in adopting me.  They are going to e-mail the other people sometime this week and tell them what happened, then see if the people who wanted to adopt me are still interested and if they would work with me if I hid again.

Hemming's too smart for his own good!

The PDX pride Mommy writes:


I just talked with the lady who has Hemming, and it turns out he's gone in the trap a few times, but hasn't triggered the trip plate because he hops over it, eats the food, then hops over it again and goes back behind the stairs!  He's soooo smart!  So, she's going to line the bottom of the trap with newspaper and put a towel or blanket over the top of it, per our advice, so that it doesn't quite look the same, and re-bait it.  Hopefully that works, but if not, then we'll go over there at 10 am tomorrow and dismantle the fake wall (plywood barrier) to get to where he is and get him out of there.  They've already removed the mini-fridge that was there, so it'll be easier to get to the partition wall.

In the trap and out again. :(

The PDX pride Mommy writes:


Well, these people just don't know how a semi-feral acts, apparently.  :(  Hemming went upstairs last night, tried to get some dry food out of the closed food box, and used the potted plant as a litter box.  All good things!  However, he did get trapped but they couldn't bear to see him so sad so they took him into the bathroom for some cuddling.  Of course, the second they went to leave the bathroom, he was out the door and back down into his hiding place.  The lady felt so bad that she had let that happen again!

The trap is once again baited, and she will call me the second he's back in it.  I'll go get him right away this time, rather than waiting until morning.  She had thought it was too late in the evening to call me last night, so I reminded her that we're night people and she can call at anytime during the day or night when he gets in that trap.  So, keep your fingers and paws crossed!

We will never forget

We will never forget the events of 9/11.

May the lessons live on.

Lessons of courage,

sincerity, brotherhood,

community.

 Faith is not a weapon.

Faith in your neighbor,

your brother,

your sister,

your friend.

Faith in your community,

shared values,

the belief that there is something worth living for.

Those are the lessons of 9/11.

May they live on.

Hemming will be coming back here

The PDX pride Mommy writes:


Baby Hemming will be coming back here as soon as he's in the trap again.  :(  He did go in the trap last night, and they brought him into a smaller room.  He was all lovey, rubbing his head on their chins and wanting as many pets as they could give him, so at least they saw his sweet side!  The second he saw the door open, though, he was out and ran to his hiding spot again.  He's just not happy there, so they baited the trap again and will let us know when he's trapped.  We'll go get him probably tomorrow and bring him back here.

I'm just so discouraged, because we really thought he'd do ok with another family!  Even though he was born feral, he's just so social that we really want him to have a family of his very own.  :(  I guess he just needs more time.  I think we'll ask the next people on the list if they want to come over here and meet him after another week or so, to give him time to get used to them in an environment where he feels secure.

Foster Friday: Hemming and the Stairs

Hemming writes:

The people in this strange house saw me!  When I was let out of the carrier after my people brought me to this strange house, I ran all around the first floor, then ran downstairs and into the basement.  I found a very good hiding place!  I'm under the basement stairs, where no one can get to me, but I can listen to everything that's going on.  At night, I went back upstairs and found what I think is the kitty food box, and tried to get into it.  That's when the person saw me.  She said I was at the right box for the food, but I just couldn't get into it by myself.  When she saw me, I ran downstairs again and hid in my hiding spot.  She followed me to see where I went, then got a plate of something yummy called tuna and put it down by me, along with a bowl of water.  I waited until she left, then I came out to eat and drink.

Yesterday, the lady at this house called my people and told them where I'd hidden.  My people came with a trap and called for me, but I was sleeping and barely heard them.  They put tuna in the trap, put it near me, and then left.  I don't know whether to eat the tuna or try to get in the food box upstairs again.  If I eat the tuna, it means going in that trap, and the last time I went in there I took a nap and went to the vet!  I don't know if I want to do that again, but the tuna smells really yummy!  I heard something about being put in a smaller room if I go in the trap, and that sounds like a good idea.  I also heard something about maybe staying here and these new people being MY new people?

Note from the PDX pride Mommy:

The new family does want to keep him, so once he goes in the trap he'll be put into a smaller room with a door.  They'll get him accustomed to being in there, being visited by his new family, then slowly introduce him to the rest of the house, then to the puppy.  I'm so glad they still want to keep him, even though he's scared in his new surroundings.  They totally understand that it's because he was born feral and doesn't really know houses yet!

Hemming's at his potential adopter's

The PDX pride Mommy writes:


We brought Hemming to his potential adopter's house this afternoon.  As soon as we let him out of the carrier, he scooted around the house and then hid somewhere.  He hides well!  We couldn't find him, even after an hour of searching!  The family has had many, many cats and now has two cats and a 10-week-old German Shepherd puppy.  Their cats mainly live upstairs, so they wanted Hemming as a playmate for the puppy.  The pup is adorable, well-mannered, calm, and happy, so when Hemming emerges and starts figuring out the house and its inhabitants, he's going to love playing with the pup.

We talked for a while with the family, told them Hemming's life up to this point, and gave them his paperwork from the clinic.  They're going to call us when he emerges from his hiding place, and we're going to talk with them in a week to see how it's going and how he's adjusting.  If he isn't doing well, then we'll take him back.  If he's doing well, then the adoption will be official.

*blush* Forgotten Gotcha Day!

Rori writes:

*blushes*  Everyone forgot my Gotcha Day!  Including me!  We're celebrating today instead, so I'll get my Gotcha Day anniversary treats today.  That's ok with me, because I'm glad for the reason we all forgot.  The reason is that we've had Baby Hemming inside and are all getting him ready to go to his forever home.  He's come in the bedroom to visit with me at least twice every day, and he behaves himself so I give him some licks on the top of his head and sniff his butt to make sure he's cleaning it well (which he is).  He loves saying hi to me, then pouncing on the big bed for a while.  Then, after about 5 minutes, Mommy comes in and takes him back out to the rest of the house.

I've decided to make the bedroom my space for a while.  I enjoy just hanging out in here, either on the bed or behind the curtain that hangs down alongside the bed.  My goopy eyes (kitty cold/herpes virus) have been getting better, but they're still an issue, so Mommy is going to take me in to the vet in about a month when she gets paid.  I don't like the eye gel, but it's at least better than having goopy eyes.  Mommy cleans my eyes for me at least twice a day and I tell her when I need it done by pulling the door so it bangs.

I can't believe it's been four years since Mommy Erin saw my brother and me running across the road at our old house and she told Mommy!  They both went to get us, and found us in the neighbor's yard playing in the old tires.  My brother ran away at first, but I was too scared so I hid inside one of the tires.  Mommy and Mommy Erin picked me out of the tire and took me into the house, then caught my brother using tuna fish as the bait.  We were only 4 weeks old, so my mommies and Daddy bottle-fed us and helped us learn to clean ourselves.  Tabby, Carbon, and Skylar all taught us how to be inside kitties, but I mainly watched Lydia and learned from her.  She was already getting sick, although none of us knew it at the time, so she didn't play a lot.  Since she taught me how to be the Big Kitty of the house, that's why I don't really play.  I like to play, but I think I'm not supposed to because I'm Big Kitty.  Mommy and Daddy wish that I would play more, because I need to lose weight, so I sometimes play to oblige them.  I like bouncing around on the bed while Mommy's trying to sleep after it's light outside!

Thanks, everyone, for the Gotcha Day anniversary wishes in the comments on the previous blog post!

Good news from Hemming and Miss Marble!

Miss Marble writes:

Hi!  I'm much happier back outside with my sister and my daddy.  Yes, my sister!  The striped kitten is a girl.  The lady says that those trap things will be back out in a couple weeks to try to catch my sister and my daddy.  I'm going to tell them to stay away from them!  Well, maybe not, because I do feel better now, so maybe those traps were good things after all.  I am glad I'm back outside, even though I see my brother enjoying being inside.  I also am much more interested in those cats on the other side of the window, now that I've had a chance to watch them more closely.  I love my outside life too much to be inside, though.  I'm much more comfortable hunting and sleeping under the deck.  Thanks for letting me be part of the outside family, lady and man!

Hemming writes:

Hi!  I miss my sisters and my daddy.  I go up to the window and watch them, calling to them, when they come eat twice or three times each day.  They say hi to me, but we all understand that I'm an inside kitty now.  I don't even try to escape when the lady puts food out.  Freya and Heimdall play chase, ball, tails, and a lot of other games with me, so I love that!  My favorite games are crazy circle, throwing a ball around, and chase.  I've been out with everyone for two days now, since my tests came back negative.  No diseases, yay!

And the big news...I've got two people who want to adopt me!  We're going to visit one of the homes on Wednesday, and meet the family and the puppy who may be my sister.  Wow!  If all goes well, I'll stay there.  If not, then I will meet with the other person later.  I'm hoping that everything goes well with this first family.  I'm so excited to meet them!  I love meeting new people.  I love people, sitting on laps, and being petted.  I just am not used to being picked up high, so I squirm around and want down.  Once I'm on a lap, I curl up and purr, after giving kisses!

The release part of tnr, and the socialization part

The PDX pride Mommy here:

We sent Miss Marble on her way outside again. :'( I always choke up when we release a feral back into the wild. It's such a bittersweet moment! It's where she belongs, though. She just was freaking out too much inside. She bounded off like a rabbit, straight to a hiding place she and the rest of the family use, under the cedar tree (surrounded by rosebushes). Then, when she saw us wave at her and realized we could still see her, she bounded off to another favorite place, through the back fence into the wilderness of the wetland behind us.

Hemming did very well with his testing today!  We are sooo proud of him!  There were a lot of dogs waiting in line, and one other cat who looked like him, only female and a little older.  This was his first experience being around dogs, and he aced it.  He meowed the whole time we were waiting, while the dogs barked.  I really wish more dog owners would put their dogs through obedience courses, or at least train them properly.  Two barked and lunged at a lady wearing a straw hat, another dog kept nipping at its neighbor in line, and a lady made her dog walk right down the line to the end rather than walking around a different way to get to the end.  Maybe the owners need obedience training, too?

When we got checked in, and were in line again waiting for the vet, a big dog who was behind us in line came over to the carrier and sniffed Hemming through the bars.  Hemming sniffed him back, and put one of his paws up to the mesh door like he was asking the dog to play with him!

The vet and vet tech who did the blood draw couldn't barely believe that Hemming was born feral and that we'd only had him a short time.  They both said he looked and acted like a tame kitten, and were quite impressed with him!  He was so calm for his blood draw, even came out of the carrier nicely after the vet tech scruffed him.  He flinched and tried to look at his leg when they poked him, but he didn't mew in surprise!  Afterward, he walked right back into his carrier on his own, after the vet tech redirected him from wanting to jump down off the table.  We get his test results back on Tuesday, but are fairly certain that he doesn't have any bad diseases.

He's now in our office at home with the door closed, but free to roam in here.  He absolutely loves having a room of his own!  He walked around for a bit after I showed him his dishes and put him in the box to show him what that was, then I put him on my lap and petted him for a bit.  The first lap he's been on!  He wanted to climb, so he climbed up the door to the carrier, onto the top of it.  Then, after getting down from there, he climbed up the back of the computer desk onto the CPU tower and is very happy in his newfound nest.  Snuggly, purry, smiling, the picture of contentment!

Both kittens came through surgery fine

The PDX pride Mommy here:

Both kittens are recovering.  The marbled kitten turned out to be a little female, so her new name is Miss Marble.  She scratched, bit, and took off running through the house when I was transferring her to a carrier from the trap.  Not a good idea for her!  I'm alright, she's recovered from her scare, and she's in the carrier with food and water.  The polydactyl tabby/white kitten is a male, but had only one testicle.  They thought the other one might not have dropped yet, so they did an exploratory surgery, and it simply wasn't there!  His new name is Hemming.  He let me pet his paw pads, stretched his foot through the mesh on the trap, and put his head in my hand with his tongue sticking out, wiggling the tip of his tongue in nursing fashion as I was petting his nose!  He's taking a bit longer to wake up completely, and still hasn't woken up completely even though it's been about 6 hours.  I'm kind of worried about that, although he's looking at me when I talk to him.  He'll sit against the side of the carrier, then slowly start to tip over the other way, then correct himself.  He likes sitting better than lying down right now, for some reason.  Both kittens have eaten and had some water.

Tomorrow morning they go in to the mobile clinic at Petco for their FeLV/FIV testing.  They got their rabies shots today and first boosters.

At this point, we are pretty sure that Miss Marble is going back outside after the weekend's over, given her run around the house this afternoon.  Hemming seems like he wants human contact, so he's a good candidate for socialization, depending on how his personality is when he wakes up fully.

 Sleepy little boy Hemming in the carrier

Miss Marble says, "Leave me alone, woman with the flashy box!"

Two trapped!

The PDX pride's Mommy here:

Two of the kittens are trapped and inside!  We made the decision not to try for more, because we can pay for the neuter fees and then next week get these two tested for diseases.  If we trapped any more at this time, we wouldn't be able to get them tested, and we'd much rather know if they are clean before trying to socialize them.

At around 4 pm, the polydactyl tabby/white boy made his way into the trap after the canned food, got trapped, and started screaming his little head off.  He couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to go back out the way he came in.  He kept going to the door of the trap and batting at it, trying his best to make it open.  I brought him inside, where my husband and I gently talked to him and the inside cats all came to talk to him and investigate him.  Heimdall is turning out to be the best babysitter in the world, another reason why he reminds me so much of Skylar!  He lay down right next to the baby and started purring, which relaxed the baby considerably.

About an hour later, the marbled boy was trapped.  He made quite a ruckus in the trap, pulling the newspaper lining over his food, sticking his paws out the top, and turning around and around in the trap.  When I brought him inside and placed his trap alongside his brother's trap, they both calmed right down and started trying to play paws through the mesh with each other!  The inside cats went over to see the marbled boy, too, and were very interested in the rearranging he'd done with his trap paper.  He finally uncovered his food and ate, though it took him about two hours to do so because he was so stressed.

Little Bit cannot be around these new ones for a while, because she wanted to clean their behinds for them.  She was a mama cat, after all, with four boys of her own, so she knows how to treat young ones.  She just doesn't realize that you can't clean and groom someone through trap mesh.  Besides, a stranger cat trying to clean them was just scaring the little ones instead of helping.

They're sleeping now, curled up in their traps, with water bowls that they haven't touched yet.  We'll feed them some canned food in the morning, then take them to the feral cat clinic for their surgeries and eartipping.  We'll pick them up in the afternoon sometime and take them back home.  They will stay inside with us for the weekend to heal, and we will try to get them tested for diseases early next week.  They'll be inside until we figure out if they are disease-free, and then we will start to socialize them.  Once they are socialized, we will either make them our outside pets or adopt them out to a good home, depending on the level of socialization.

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

 Heimdall and Tabby greet the poly tabby/white boy.

 Heimdall being a good babysitter and purring to calm the baby down.

 Mr. Talkative!

 Carbon's not afraid of kittens anymore!  Checking each other out.

 Two brothers in traps:  marbled kitten on the left and poly tabby/white kitten on the right.

Tabby greeting the marbled kitten.

Heimdall greeting the marbled kitten.

It's Trapping Day!

It's trapping day at the PDX pride!  Mama Leopard's disappeared, along with the normal-toed tabby/white kitten.  We hadn't seen the striped kitten for a few days, either, but he came back last night!  The polydactyl tabby/white and the marbled kittens have been eating out of the open traps, as has "Daddy" Tuxie, so we're confident that we can trap at least the three little boys and maybe Tuxie as well.  We'll bring them in tonight and take them to the clinic for fixing/eartipping tomorrow.  Here's some pictures from the past couple days, where everyone was learning how to eat out of the traps.

 Tux keeping watch as the striped kitten eats in the left trap and the other two eat together in the right trap.

 Wait!  How come brother is eating in the box and I can't figure out how to get inside?

 Is this how we're supposed to do this?

 Freya:  Yep, I see them both eating in the same trap!

Hi!  Do you have any more of that yummy canned food?

Wordy Wednesday: Catching up on the news, pt. 2

Mama Leopard writes:

My boys and I have been hanging out at the house for the past week, right up close most of the time.  When we need shelter, we've been hiding in the roses around the cedar tree, just off to the right of the picture above.  It makes a great hideout, and we're camouflaged from the raccoons (even though they haven't done anything bad to us).  The lady and man say that next week there will be wire boxes over our food.  I'm not sure about that, but as long as we can still get to the food I don't have a problem with it.  At least, not until I see the boxes.

The lady (and sometimes the man) comes out at about 9 pm to put water in the bowl and put food out for us.  We show up, and if the humans are running late my kittens tap on the glass while I wait expectantly about a foot from the window.  When the humans come out, I back up but am still pretty close.  I'm learning to trust them, so I let them be within 3 feet of me now!  My babies run, but pop right back up and investigate.  My striped boy was mewing to the man, and the man meowed back to him!  My little one didn't know the humans could speak our language, so he looked from the man to me, and back again to him, then mewed again and got an answer again!

Mrs. Raccoon writes:

I had three kits around the time that Mama Leopard had her kits.  Now that they are old enough to travel well and eat regular food, I have shown them where the cat food is.  Since my kits are so young, I usually accompany them.  The picture above shows me in the middle and two of my kits.  However, two nights ago I let them go on their own to the food place.  I should have known better!  They are too young to handle the ones on the other side of the window!  The one on the other side of the window who looks like us, Little Bit, likes to jump at me when I eat.  Since I wasn't there, she jumped at my kits, and they jumped back, thinking she was going to come out and play with them!  They don't know what cats are, and thought she was another baby raccoon.  All three jumped at her at the same time, hitting the window with a bang.  That scared Little Bit, and she meowed at them.  They got confused, stood up, and put their front paws on the window, looking in at her.  She jumped again and they jumped again.  The human came and removed Little Bit.  Then the human came back to the window, knelt down, and looked my three babies straight in the eyes.  In a commanding voice, she told them that they could not jump at the window like that, Little Bit was not going to come out to play, and they had better be nice.  They looked at her, got down on all fours again, and backed up.  Still looking over their shoulders, they ran back to where I was and told me all about it!

Wordy Wednesday: Catching up on the news, pt.1

Sorry for not posting bloggie entries for a while!  We have been taking care of Daddy, because he has a crushed disk in his back.  Not nice, and it's very hurty for him.  We've been giving him a lot of extra snuggles and purrs, and Mommy has been taking care of him, too.

 Missy writes:

I've found a new snuggle spot!  It's very comfy and surrounds me, plus I can play whenever I want to.  Do you like it?  I've got another favorite one, too.  We just got our prize from Goma on Friday, and we blogged about it on the Frugal Feline.  Go see my stretchy tummy!  *gigglepurrs*

Heimdall writes:

I've found a better comfy place than Missy has!  Mommy left the bathroom cupboard open while she dried off from her shower, and I hopped in to snuggle!  Too bad they won't let me be in here most of the time.

 Freya writes:

Forget snuggle spots!  I like to play!  While Mommy was taking pictures of everyone for our post about the new snuggler/scratcher, I was attacking the string hanging from the camera!

See my teeth?

I also love putting my strings in the bathtub and playing with them in there!

Happy Birthday to Rori!

Rori writes:

Today's my 4th birthday!  Wow, such a lot has happened in four years.  I was born far away from here, across the river in Portland, Oregon.  My momcat was a feral tabby and my dadcat was a huge tabby named SpongeBob.  Sponge lived across the street from the green house and brought all the ferals to the back porch food bowl.  My brother and I were the only two in our litter, and I had an older brother who looked like me as well.  My littermate brother, now named Knut, is a Siamese/tabby mix (his dadcat was a Siamese).  He got adopted to a friend when we were very little, so I barely remember him at all.  My inside family raised me, and my auntie Lydia was my mentor.  She's the one who chose me to succeed her as the Big Kitty of the House.

Today I think I'll snuggle with Mommy while she sleeps, then go check on Daddy while he naps later on.  It's my job to check up on everyone and make sure things are running smoothly in the household.  I check on the outside part of the family, too, watching through the big window to see if they're outside and making sure our purrents know if they show up.  I keep my distance from the window, preferring to watch from my chair rather than right up at the window like the others do.

Mommy always gives me a birthday rub-down, rubbing me from my shoulders all the way to my tail.  I love when she does that, and I purr so loudly to tell her how happy I am.  She'll also clean my eyes for me, as I have goopy eyes from allergies right now.  I'm glad she cleans my eyes so that I can see better.  I tell her exactly when I need that done, and she obeys.  Yes, I definitely am the Lady of the House, Big Kitty of the House!

Here's a picture of my brother Knut and me when we were about 4 weeks old.

Happy First Gotcha Day Anniversary to the Twins!!!

 Heimdall writes:

Mommy says it's been a whole year today since she and Daddy came to get us at Salem Friends of Felines.  Wow!  I remember being scared to leave my friends in the kitten room, and glad my sister was with me wherever we were going.  I'm so glad that we came to live with our family!  Mommy says that she asked Uncle Skylar to send them a new tuxedo kitten or kittens, and then she saw my picture on Save A Cat on Facebook, which uses Petfinder ads.  She told Daddy, and Daddy saw my sister's picture.  The next day, they came to get us both!

My favorite activities are kitten-watching (in the picture above) and snuggling with Mommy.  At night, I love snuggling right against her hand or her arm.  If I'm sleeping and wake up and don't feel her arm there, I move so that I'm touching her.  I also like hopping up on the recliner and snuggling with Daddy when he takes his after-work nap.  But mostly I like kitten-watching and trying to play with the kittens through the window!

Freya writes:

Wow, it's been a year already!  When Mommy and Daddy came to see us at Salem Friends of Felines, I didn't want to pay any attention to them, and squirmed to be put back on the snoozing shelf when they picked me up.  They were insistent on seeing me, though, and I'm so glad they did!  I remember talking the whole way home, putting my paws through the carrier door to grab Mommy's hand while my brother stayed in the back of the carrier.  I knew we were going somewhere good, and I wanted to be out to find out where it was!

Now, my favorite activities are playing with sockies, my blue hedgehog with the squeaker and bell in it, and annoying Rori.  I always want to play or snuggle with her, and she sometimes lets me, but not always.  I also love being brushed by Mommy, and will hop up every evening to snuggle and get my brushies!  I love my brushies!

Thinking of Skylar on his first Bridge Day anniversary

There really are no words that fully express what this last year has been like for our family.  Skylar was the first cat who ever adopted me fully, even before I adopted him.  He was my "heart cat", as one of my friends puts it.  He was everyone's favorite, the one who played with all our foster babies and taught them how to have fun.  His sister was the head of the household, but he was next.  When she passed, the new head of household (Rori) still deferred to him a lot of the time.  That alone tells you how revered he was in this family.

As I think about him today, and grieve once again, I will cry into the fur of one who looks and acts so similar to him that sometimes we have to stop ourselves before we call Heimdall by Skylar's name accidentally.  Heimdall was the name given to the keeper of the Rainbow Bridge in Norse mythology, so it's appropriate that we gave that name to the kitten Skylar sent us, three days after he journeyed.  Heimdall and his sister Freya are signs that Skylar is still watching over us every day, and will continue to watch over us on our earthly journey, waiting for us at Bridge's end.

Thank you to all our friends who have supported us through this past year.  We love you all!

Therapy Cat Tales from 7/13/11

Tabby writes:


Sorry this note is so late!  Mommy's birthday, everything with kitten watching because Mama Leopard (our feral cat) brought her kittens by on Mommy's birthday and they all are practically living on our deck now, it all means writing my note took back stage.  That's fine, though, because I love watching the kitten show!

Last Wednesday, when we got on our second bus, the man we sat next to wanted to know all about me and kept waving to me.  He has a cat that he absolutely adores, and his wife has a cat, too.  The bus driver, however, wasn't impressed with me and told Mommy I smelled up the whole bus!  I meowed at him once, right after he made that comment, and everyone on the bus smiled.  Mommy replied that I'd had a bath the day before, and that at least cats didn't smell as bad as wet dogs!

We were early, so we ended up walking from the Rose Quarter/Rose Garden Arena to the Walgreens to do some shopping.  At Walgreens, a lady saw my stroller and picked up a Snoopy doggie toy they had on sale, bringing it over to us and pointing it out to Mommy.  Mommy smiled and said that would be a great toy, if I were a dog!  The lady smiled and looked more carefully, giggling, then took the toy to buy it for her own doggies at home.  It was a cute toy, but not one I would like to have.  We also heard about a new baby chihuahua that just got adopted.

After the store, we walked to H.  My friends had bought my book!  :)  >^..^<  Mommy signed it and I pawtographed it by pressing my paw onto a stamp pad and then onto the book.  :)  I don't like to have anything goopy on my paws, but Mommy cleaned it right off so it wasn't too bad.  I didn't want anyone touching my paw pads for the rest of the day, though!  We love my book, and the residents love it, too.  They had it read to them a few days before, when it came, so we got to hear how much they enjoyed it!

I went upstairs to visit, and got mobbed in the tv room!  T., G., H., S., M., and a few others were there, waiting for me.  I made a new friend, B.  She fell and broke her arm, so she's there for a little while until she recovers.  She cried as she petted me and talked to me, because she missed her little doggie that went to the Bridge a few months ago.  She apologized for crying, but Mommy told her that she totally understood and that it was good for her to cry.  I snuggled in, then sat on her walker seat for a bit as well.  She had a Fig Newton wrapper, but didn't have any left to give me.  I looked over at G., but she didn't have any either.  That treat was GOOD last week!

I sat with G. for a few minutes, then went over to see T. and S.  I rolled around on T.'s walker seat again and rolled off again!  Surprised, I shook my head while everyone laughed.  Why, oh why can't I remember that it's not a solid back?!  I sat on S.'s lap, then went over to see M. and let her pet me.  I haven't seen her in a while, so I was really happy to see her again.  Then, I decided it was time to leave the tv room, so I walked out, Mommy following with my stroller.

A lot of my friends were either off doing other things or sleeping, but I got to visit with a lot of people anyway.  I saw B. again, because she'd gone back to her room.  She was happy that Mommy was writing down my adventures, and wondered if she'd be included.  Of course you are, B.!  I don't know if you'll read this, or have it read to you, but I loved visiting with you!  *headbonks*

D. was walking in the hallway, so we stopped to visit with her.  Mommy asked if she was trying to go to her room, or where she was going, and she told us she just wanted to walk for a while.  Good for her!  :)  I sniffed P.'s feet, making her smile.

We visited with a few people another floor, too.  They'd requested that we visit them.  One lady wasn't ready for our visit, because she was taking a nap, but she got up and let us in anyway.  She liked seeing me, but we'll come back another time when she's more ready for a visit.  A man whose family had requested a visit smiled when he was told who was visiting, and fixed his hair for us.  He was happy to have me come in and see him!  Another lady, whom we'd visited with before, was so very glad for my visit.  She'd missed me!  I lay down on the arm of her recliner and let her pet me and snuggle me, then lay down on her lap.  Mommy took her hand and moved it over my stripes while she described me to the lady, who is almost totally blind.  Then the lady petted me and told us stories about the kitties she used to have.

After we got off our last bus going home, Mommy would NOT let me walk!  I usually walk at least a third of the way home from the cross street to our driveway, but she wouldn't unzip the stroller!  She said we didn't have time.  Then, it started to rain, so I was just as glad I wasn't walking in that rain.  I did get to walk up the stairs by myself, though.  I absolutely LOVE stairs!