Heck of a word, eh? Followed closely by catastrophe, catastrophism, catatonia and cat-a-wampus( next column in my Webster’s New World College Dictionary has catchpoll, catechesis and catechin–totally unrelated). Amazing what words are out there, just waiting to be used, if only we had some idea what they meant.
In any case, all of this came up when I thought that I should give an update–heads up, Porch Kitty Fan Club–about the feline situation around here. Fuego, the senior and most irascible cat in the house, is showing his age a bit, hasn’t taken a swipe at me for disturbing or annoying him in quite awhile; actually, he’s choosing to climb onto my lap with considerable regularity–never used to happen. He does not hang out with the other cats inside and he even took off one night last week and wound up spending the night outside. There was a wake-up call! He showed up early the next morning on the back step, looking to come in–ASAP ! No ill effects, apparently, and he’s been pretty laid-back ever since. He even spends time exercising on the scratching pad instead of the furniture. Quite an improvement…for the furniture, anyway. Butterscotch–she’s Number 2 but she doesn’t try harder at much of anything–and this is indicated by the fact that she now has the undisputed title of “Fat Cat” in the household. She very early discovered that any food left in any of the dishes was available at any time when she wanted to stroll down to the dining facilities; she didn’t want any morsels to go bad from exposure, so she scarfed ‘em up, just to be helpful, I’m sure. Her title as “Miss Svelte” has been revoked, as of now, and is not likely to be reinstated any time soon. She’s pretty quiet and doesn’t get into disagreements with anyone else but she has discovered that whenever I sit down at the counter to eat, my feet are just hanging there, perfectly located to serve as rubbing posts for any creature in need of a good scratch…so she has volunteered for hazardous duty–at considerable risk of being stepped on in case of sudden movement from the seating above her.
Danger! Danger!
Grimmy–Grimalkin is on her locator tag and her vet ID–is the last in line but is a free spirit, so to speak, when it comes to any number of things. She likes to sleep on the bed–during the day, during the night, whatever. She also occasionally leaps to the top of the kitchen cabinets, the bathroom cupboards, the dresser in the bedroom, mostly to stay away from the other feline denizens of the place; Fuego really, really, really doesn’t like her and there is hissing and snarling all ‘round when they happen to come across each other. More than once I have had to throw something ( coat, blanket, etc.) over them to break up the altercation. Not my favorite thing to have to do. Dangerous too.
Alas! Champ has left us and is buried in the back yard under the big tree–his last excursion to the outer world…won’t come back this time.
Now on the porch, we’ve had a change of management. Mamma Cat, now reformed but scarcely saintlike, has gone to cross the Rainbow Bridge to that Big Softness in the Sky, where she can be reunited with heaven-only-knows how many of the litters of kittens which she gave us around here. She just got thinner and thinner and quieter and quieter and never left her last warm spot of sun in the drive. She’s buried out front in the flower bed that she liked to check out sometimes on sunny days. SonnyBoy/Sunny is now the head honcho and supervises Lily (She’s the one who is mostly blind, but knows the neighborhood) as well as my comings and goings; he comes out to meet me when I come home from walks…or rides, for that matter. There is a black-an-white kitty of some sort who has been showing up early in the morning and seems to be sizing us up for possible adoption. I keep talking to him but he (or she) hasn’t decided whether to accept the invitation. He/she does seem to like the food, however. And…a shout out to the Porch Kitty Fan Club…everybody–me included–greatly appreciated the heated water dish this winter; didn’t have to break the ice once to give everybody a drink. Thanks. If any more wanderers turn up, we’ve got warm boxes, extra bowls and a spare “cat house” available.
Don’t spread the word.
