The Light

The little girl came out of nowhere,
Or so it appeared,
Bearing a new friend for the old man.

Tommy at the Office

Tommy has his office,
Sparsely furnished,
And Levon Helm Midnight Rambles print
we received as a special gift.
Don't wake him early,
He gets a little cranky.

Tommy POD #7

Tommy 

POD #7

(Monday, yesterday, was Post op day #7)

He is gradually becoming more himself.

He had 8 teeth pulled last Monday.

So glad we did it and are thankful for the veterinarian supports.

Tribute to a Great Cat

Great Cats,

Truly Great Cats,

are rare enough,

and plentiful enough,

that we have had a few.

Captain ...a Y2K cat

Girly was born in Y2k

aka

Whitney

A friend, Lisa, wanted a kitten.

We had so many that year that just materialized here.

With the help of Green Mountain Animal Defenders,

We were able to trap and neuter them.

Whitney and Captain were quasi-siblings.

I wanted to give Captain to Lisa.

He would have none of it. Usually mild, he stomped away.

That left Whitney,

7 toed wonderful sweet girl.

Lisa took her and had her until Lisa became ill.

We agreed to always take her back if Lisa needed us to.

The time had come.

Her name was changed to Meredian, after a song that Lisa was into...:)

When she moved back here, we changed her name to Girly Girl,

Called her also Missy, Miss Girly Girl, etc....

Always delightful,

Loving and distant.

Cuddly and defiant.

Dominant girl cat.

You don't always know the dominant cats.

Captain was dominant too. The male King.

He was furious at us for letting Whitney (his Queen) go away.

We thought nothing of it.

I was so surprised.

Girly/Missy even tweeted...

@Miguel_J_Ferrer @NCISLA_CBS @NCIS_CBS Never miss this great show! Missy here too! pic.twitter.com/OpIgVcfY8p
— Mary Gerdt (@marygerdt) May 14, 2014

Girly has been sick lately. Looked like an infected tooth.
We love our office vets, but It is so hard to get animals to the vet office.
So I called our Mobile Vet. It was a great option for us, for the cats.
We really appreciate Dr. Ross and his team of assistants for making Girly comfortable,
explaining her problems,
and respecting her choice to be seen at home.
Kind of back to the future, really.
Check them out on FB

https://www.facebook.com/VermontMobileVet/info


Girly went to heaven this morning.
The vet came and they examined her under anesthesia.
She had cancer above the bad tooth.
We were lucky she went this far.
The vet then talked to me again, We agreed to have her euthanized if it was cancer and not just a bad tooth, which had been the plan.
It was all as peaceful as could be.

As is the custom,
I opened a window.
Looked for crows...
Saw none, how odd...

Rest in Peace our Miss Whitney Meredien Girly Girl
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Tommy's Dream

Tommy the Tweeting Cat

A Cat's Life

Tommy sits there,

Watching the computer

Where sound is emanating from.

Black Cats

 

Black Cats,

Captain and Sean,

Both have left the material plane.

Captain left in 2012, the week my Mom died,

and Sean faded away in 2013.

They were with us many years

and

they were very different.

Captain, on the left was a very dominant Tom. He rarely showed it but  I had seen him rear up on occasion and flex his muscles. Captain was one of the Y2k cats. There was a feral population burst that caused us to trap and have 20 feral cats/kittens fixed and adopted. Captain did not want to be adopted. Sean was 2 years older. He was a feral loner kitten that one day decided he had enough.

He walked right into the house. We welcomed him. His loyalty was unmatched.

He was my power animal.

So if you are into cats, you are probably still reading.

If you are not, you have lost touch of that special bond that Egyptians knew.

They can see into your soul,

and give you great joy.

(& the requisite annoyance, hairballs, losing them too soon).

 

 

Sleeping Tom

Sleeping Tom

How peaceful you are
Rambunctious son of a gun,
Let sleeping cats lie.

Faces of Tommy

Tommy cooperated for some fresh photos.

jasper sean

self portrait


Sean was fairly self conscious
and usually avoided the camera.
this day he consented
for me to snap one with the kindle

We do miss him so.

And we still have 2 left

Tommy

He feels a little lost
without Sean
He also misses biting Sean's neck
or beating him up.
it is a cat thing.

Girly Girl aka Missy aka Meredien aka Whitney


She's moved more into the downstairs and she never quite knew what to do about Sean.
So she would ignore him.

Signposts

I Kept seeing Sean was a signpost,

or at least imagined he was.

We had him15 years,

1/2 the time I have lived in Vermont.

30 (ok +3) years ago I took anatomy& physiology for RN school.

It was the first biggest test of my metal.

My instructor handed me a dead formaldehyde preserved cat.

It actually looked a lot like Sean.

About 45 years ago in Illinois, my family had a cat who looked like Sean.

We named him Paca which is Swahili for black 

(according to the 26 language dictionary I had got at the 7th grade book fair)

Mom had a black cat statue which had Sean's posture.

So I see a pattern of black cats crossing my path about every 15 years,

maybe it has no meaning or relevance,

but if it does, for me they have all been good luck.

Great Cats

He had a powerful energy.
Waves of which
We feel and see.

Sean Tuesday

Sean wants Equal Time


He is, after all, my power animal.
Sitting here in the window,
his image reminded me of
a ceramic statue Mom had
of a sleek black cat.
It always sat up high
on the kitchen cabinet.
was it another deja vu moment?

Anthopomorphism

Tommy
 Self Portrait
 

I looked  into Tommy's eyes
He looked at the screen
The camera focused
Tommy stared
Did he know he was posing
for his own photograph?
he seemed to understand, to pose, to connect
with the technology
was he evolving?
what next?

Tommy Tuesday

Tommy

Upstairs Cat Downstairs Cat

That is just how it ended up working when Girly Girl moved in.
Tommy,Gigi and Sean are downstairs,
Girly Girl is upstairs mostly, occasionally strolling
or running through the downstairs to
surf for food,
or nap.
About Girly Girl: we took a couple fuzzy pictures that are not worth sending.
We wanted to show Girly's Meridien's Mom how she is blending in with the pride, her first family,
by the fire in harmonious bliss, and that has not happened yet. The blending may never quite happen but at least they all have their respective "places" as cats and people will do.
Instead of photos, thought I would write this post and dedicate to the Photos not taken category.
Girly Girl is never still, our camera and phone always somewhere else.
Then I thought, Girly's Meridien's Mom knows all too well what she looks like, her soft white and black furry head charging at you full speed at an inopportune moment,
or her picky claws saying pick me up, then she says no, then she squeals no,
and then starts purring loudly.
I remembered how I secretly wanted to keep her when we gave her away.
Glad to have her back. She is so sweet.
Her obnoxious little whiny habits,
irresistible.




 

Subroutine Girly Girl

Our "new" old cat is settling in,
though I am observing
Subroutines are not easy to create or re-create.

Girly Girl, as we now call her,
Is implacable at times, briefly inconsolable,
then it passes.
I remember that is how she was when she was Whitney,
When she lived here as a fledgling kitten.

I watch as she circles the edge of a room,
scanning,
eyes open,
taking it all in,
where are the things, other cats,
circle again.

We pet her as much as we can
and reassure her,
still she is not to be reassured except by herself.
She is all cat.

The subroutine, the new routine of Girly Girl
Is evolving as we speak.
She develops new areas of tolerance, daring to go a little farther each day.
Tommy is jealous and yet he too, is adjusting,
(having known her once as Whitney, his sister, 12 years ago)
now he is never quite accepting
of Girly Girl.

Captain Blakely Quebec

Captain Blakely Quebec

2000-2012

A few years ago



Last week


He took ill last night. Was 12 years old. Survived Thyroid disease with I-131.
He died this afternoon of heart failure.
He is a Best Cat. More special than most.
Dominant, demanding, affectionate, possessive.
He use to "talk" to Mom on my lap through the phone lines. He would purr loudly
when he heard her voice and I would ask her but she said she could not hear him.
Then he would "Meow" and she heard that.
The cats were shaken up at our grief about Mom,
compounded today,
the whole house grieves.

 

The Thin Veil

Some believe there is a thin veil

between living and dead.

The veil is thinnest

October 31st.

So if you see a shadow,

or a whisper,

or a touch on your shoulder,

or an unexplained crash

where nothing is found,

bid them peace.

The photo is of Tommy, our rascal cat

and our ghost hag.

The days already getting darker,

and steady rain until today,

when a stiff north wind blew away the clouds

and we expect the first hard frost.

We picked what we could and

covered a few things.

Leaves still pretty green in the valley. Expect changing colors soon.

Peak in some areas of VT.

Previews of Virginia Photos

I will work on a slide show for those who want to see

the animal parade we got to see for the week of the Fourth.

Here is a preview of a few I got to edit

I do not remember their names,

But I remember how they looked up with a curiosity,

or am I reading something into this?