Since I call this blog Cats, Kids and Crafts, I thought it was time I introduced the cats that have enriched my life. I must also confess that I never liked cats. I grew up a dog person... never had a cat and never wanted a cat. Thanks to my Granddaughter, I now love cats, my husband loves cats and they are wonderful to have around. They know how to train their humans and each one has a very different personality. This photo is of Lizzie Tu, our youngest cat, she is looking at the jewelry, wanting to tip the box over and spill it all on the floor!
The above photo is of the cat memorial garden in our back yard. The cat angel memorial stones with engraved names and dates can be found at TerrysVillage.com. They also have dog memorial stones. The cats leave paw prints on your heart stone has glow-in-the-dark paw prints. There is also an angel kissing a kitten and a little girl laying down holding a cat.
One spring day in early 2000 my Granddaughter came in the house with a tiny cold wet kitten she had just found by itself out in our yard. I told her we would get it warm and dry and give it some food and in the morning it was going back outside. Well that never happened! That was the sweetest little cat ever and we named her Booksey Rose. She loved to get up in the book shelves and "hide" from us. She always ran and hid when other people came to our house. She never got up on things like other cats I had been around. She was just a little lady. I always say Booksey Rose was the perfect cat. She did not like people food at all except one time I was eating a snickerdoodle cookie and she jumped up and took a bite. Booksey Rose loved to 'help' me sew and would watch television for hours. She would stick her head in the computer printer and slap the paper. She and I had a nightly ritual where she would get up in my lap, we would sit and just enjoy each others company. (I have read that petting a cat will lower your blood pressure.) One night in 2005 I was petting her and found a lump by her shoulders. We took her to Dr. Cox and she had cancer. She had the lump removed, but Dr. Cox warned us that it was a really bad kind and to keep watch for more. We got to have our Booksey Rose for another year and in the fall of 2006 she left us.
Buttercup Renea came to us in the winter of 2002, after being found by a friend in the shopping center parking lot, in the middle of an ice storm. She could not have been more than four weeks old. We had to teach her how to eat and how to go to the bathroom. She was so tiny and grew into the biggest cat we've ever had. We never knew what type of cat she was but she had the wildest colored coat and huge ears atop a triangle shaped face. Buttercup Renea learned to get on our bed and jump up grabbing the pull string on the ceiling fan and turn on the light in the middle of the night. She was always up on everything and had no grace! Buttercup Renea could jump up on something and fall off at the same time. She was always right there anytime anyone came to our house. She was somewhat of an "evil" cat and forever hissing or slapping at people she did not like. Buttercup Renea would get my pin cushion out of my sewing box and drag it all over the house. She would get in the bed go under the covers between us and turn around with her head out. Then she would lay down with her back up next to my back and her claws toward my husband. Now remember I never liked cats and now I have one in my bed! OMG. We lost our Buttercup Renea in 2007 to the tainted cat food that was in the news. Dr. Cox said nothing could be done and it was awful.
At one point we had three cats at the same time. They are all house cats and not allowed outside, but we always have Dr. Cox fix our cats to prevent unwanted litters. Again my Granddaughter found a tiny kitten, again I told her we were not keeping the cat. Do you think this child is spoiled? Lizzie Miranda arrived at our house October 31, 2003 solid black little beauty. Lizzie was built and acted a lot like Booksey Rose so I always wondered if they were from the same alley cat line. She trained my husband to follow her where ever she wanted him to go and do what ever she wanted. She loved my Grandson more than anything in the world. She would allow him to wag her around and she loved it. When he was small he loved to play in a card board box. I found them both in the box all curled up sleeping together. Lizzie Miranda was affected by the same tainted cat food, but she lasted a few months longer than Buttercup Renea and she left us in 2008.
When we lost our Buttercup Renea, I did not want Lizzie Miranda to be by herself so the grandkids went to a local farm and picked out a barn cat. I told them short hair and female. I prefer girl cats. Callie Ann came to live at our house in 2007, a long hair calico cat. She is really beautiful and her photo is on the about me part of this blog. She does not like people so she runs and hides under the bed until they all leave. It did not take Callie Ann long to learn that she had been rescued from the barn and turned into a princess. My friend Pat even got the girls a "royal cat bowl set" with a crown at the top! Callie Ann loves to help me type by walking on the keyboard and rubbing her head on the mouse. If that does not distract me she gets in front of the monitor! She struts around the house with her tail straight up in the air like a huge plume!
After Lizzie Miranda passed I said no more! I could not take the loss of another "family member". This time one of the ladies my husband works with brought a tiny little gray kitten to their office to see if anyone wanted her. Well, Mr. Softy brought her home. Since Lizzie Miranda was our grandson's cat and he was so upset by her death we let him name the new arrival. He was only five and he said he wanted to name her Lizzie too! So, Lizzie Tu is what we named her and the Tu is because our grandson loves Chinese food! Lizzie Tu must have known that she was the replacement, because right away she was in love with this child. He comes to our house and it is like she is velcroed to him. It is mutual love on both their parts. His favorite thing to do with Lizzie Tu is to play with her using a long shoe string. He will run down the hall with her running after him and she will pounce on the string to stop it, then she gets it in her mouth and leads him back to the livingroom. It is a funny thing to watch! Another thing she does is goes to the door and meows until someone lets her out in the garage. She thinks it is adventure land and gets on all the shelves. She would like to speak English as much as she "talks" to us.
When our Granddaughter and her mom moved from our house she took Booksey Rose, but after a few days they brought her back because Booksey Rose hated it. The girls called from the mall pet store and said they had found a litter of kittens and should they get one? I said yes, just make sure it is a girl! They got Precious Kitty to live at the other house. Dr. Cox said Precious Kitty was a boy cat when we took "her" to get fixed, so we had him fixed. LOL He ran off because they let him out part of the time and one time he parted!
My daughter moved to OKC and we got her a barn cat for Easter 2003. The basket part was all the cat supplies she needed. Bubbles was a pretty little thing with the longest eye lashes ever and little tuffs of hair on the top of her ears. She loved my daughter and was not so nice to everyone else. Once in a great while she would allow me to touch her at the risk of pulling back a bloody hand! I tried everything I knew to make friends with Bubbles. I even told her that if not for me she could have been coyote dinner out at the barn and I had saved her. She could care less. One time my daughter was sick and I had gone to take care of her. We were eating lunch and Bubbles came up to me, actually ate out of my hand AND let me pet her. That should have been a warning. The next day Bubbles had a seizure and died. She is in our cat memorial garden with our other cats. RIP Bubbles 2003-2007.
Grace is my daughter's cat she obtained at a parking lot where people were giving away kittens. She is very tall and has the world's longest cat tail! She is beige with darker brown markings and has the brightest blue eyes. She flops down on the floor when I arrive and pulls herself sideways with one paw on the carpet to come to me. She is a clown.
My final "cat tail" is about my friend Pat's cat from years ago. The cat went into a new house construction site and managed to get "built" into the wall. Pat was just devastated that her cat had gone missing. Over a month later she opens the newspaper and there was her cat on the front page! The people that had moved into this brand new house kept hearing meows, so they finally cut one of their walls, and there she was so Pat got her cat back!
Share your "cat tails" by posting a comment at the end of this blog.
As child, I loved animals, especially cats. When my oldest child was 3 years old (1982), we allowed her to bring home a pretty black 6 week old kitty. My husband was not fond of cats, but a 3 year old's "please" is hard to deny. She named her "Dolly." To keep peace in the family, Dolly became and indoor, outdoor cat. Sarah Beth loved the cat and played with Dolly continously - doing all the the things she loved to do, such as dress up (used her baby brother's clothes), swing her around by her front paws, carry her on her shoulders, and even tried to put her in the bath tub. Dolly was extremely tolerant, except for the bath tub. She would let Sarah Beth put bubble bath bubbles on her, but would run when she tried to put her in the tub. Sarah Beth loved to get in things - cabinets, closests, suitcases, etc. One day, she put Dolly in the Dryer (could not turn it on). Dolly lived to be a very old cat. Her her latter years, she would even sit on Richard's lap. We all said she had Alzheimers. She died a year after Sarah Beth went to college.
ReplyDeleteBeth and Sheba were littermates, half-Siamese black females. They joined my newly-married household and made it their own. While most people could not tell them apart, for my husband and I there was no problem: Sheba had a longer head and Beth a longer tail!
ReplyDeleteWhen they both came in heat at the same time, their Siamese yowling became too much for my husband, who opened the back door and threw them both out, yelling, "Here, boys, catch!" Soon we had eight kittens in our single-wide mobile home, five pure black, two eventually-sealpoint whites, and one tortoise-shell. Early on, we found out it was impossible to contain tiny kittens behind high-rise trailer doors; they went everywhere! Eventually, we found homes for them all and got the mothers fixed.
In that poorly-lit trailer one time, I came home from the library with an armload of books, which I dropped into the black recliner, causing an eruption of hissing cathood. "Sorry" didn't seem to cut it with them! I think that is about the time Beth learned to fast-forward the tape deck, too, freeing listeners to pay attention to her, as she so richly deserved.
Beth and Sheba grew into fourteen-pound regal beauties who walked handily on leashes (through airports and along city sidewalks) and pretty much got their way in everything. When we lived in a second floor apartment in California, they'd do their cat statue act in our front window. Whenever we heard a shriek outside, we knew they'd caught another pedestrian by surprise by blinking or yawning at them.
It was in that same apartment that they learned about "curtain climbers," also known as the 18-month-old children of my friends. Whenever one came to visit, you could find the girls sitting at the very top of my bookshelves, observing the strange creatures and very carefully NOT coming down until the beasties had gone.
The girls liked to circle that apartment's living room at a gallop, trying to do it without touching the floor. Once, they were half-way around the room again, after banking off my antique hutch's rolled glass front, when the glass shattered, ending their game. I think they hid from me for two days, no mean feat in a four-room apartment.
My most embarrassing moment with them came when the socially-upscale ladies of an organization I wanted to belong to came for a visit. Everything was perfect in my living room, flowers, magazines, pillows, everything. As we sat and chatted, though, here came my black demons to check out the party. I never knew what attracted them to the president's leather purse, conveniently placed on the floor, but seeing two fourteen-pound black cats trying to get inside seriously ruined the moment!
Vicky and Orion,
ReplyDeleteI love your cat stories! Thank you for sharing. But, I noticed you only named your cats one name...LOL...everyone always teases me because all my cats have a first and a middle name!
Brenda
The cat that was built into the wall lived to be about 17. That was certainly a very strange thing to open the Sunday paper and see about a quarter of the front page devoted to your cat!
ReplyDeleteI've now become a dog person and have two little dogs which are smaller than a lot of cats! Louise is a miniature dauchsund with a mouth so loud I need no doorbell! Louise is such an outstandanding name for a dog, she has not middle name. Now Joey has several names! He is an Imperial Shitzhu. His names are as follows: Joseph (Joey fits his spunky demeaner better) Harry (as in Houdini) Digger (how he accomplishes his escapes) Gizmo (his given name when he came to me). If more irritating behaviours come to light, the name list could grow! They both really make me laugh! Just last night Joey was growling at a little pink ceramic lamb that held flowers when my daughter was born 28 years ago. He was afraid to walk past her but scamperd past when I called his name. He did a quick 180 to make sure she wasn't following him and gave her a sharp bark to keep her in her place! My beloved grandson, Logan, (who is exactly to the day one year younger than Brenda's grandson)also claims they are his dogs. Well, he doesn't have any dogs so I told him we could share and he does feed them when he is here! You can imagine the surprised look on his momma's face when he told her he had two dogs! And the relief when he said their names were Joey and Louise!
My daughter says I play favorites and that I blame Joey for everything and my precious Louise can do no wrong. For example, we went shopping one day and I brought my bag into the house and went outside for something. I returned inside and saw this and said something to the effect that everything was out of my bag and immediately called Joey's name. Courtney tells me that she watched Louise remove every item! Ooops!
And yes, I remember when Brenda hated cats! One of the reasons I just had to get that crown feeder thing for her! It was really her birthday present that year!