Getting Settled

I hope that all my furry and not-very-furry friends are having a great week so far!  I have been a busy cat, as usual ...


As  I think I mentioned before, my human mom and I moved in to a new apartment about 10 days ago.  Mom promised me it would be a new "kingdom" for me, and she wasn't lying!  This apartment is so luxurious and huge, that I am still busy exploring every little nook and hidey hole!  


Truth be told, in our last place, there were hardly any good hiding places, and no long or wide rooms and hallways for a big tomcat to run and play in.  We had to make do with very little when we moved that time; but now we are happy to be doing a little better ... Now Mom and I have room to play hide-n-go-seek; there's room for me to run and jump the furniture, tear down hallways and around corners; and -- get this! -- there is space enough here for me to have my very OWN room!!!!  

(here I am surveying and supervising the moving activities and thinking about drinking a bit of that coffee behind me!)

It's not really a BEDROOM, as the humans usually call them, because I sleep in my favorite of two or three cat beds most nights ... and definitely I always sleep wherever my human mom sleeps!  I have a favorite cardboard box that is just the right size for me, and I like that the best, better than any store-bought bed I have seen!  Sometimes I like to sleep atop an ottoman we have, which my mom has covered with a flannel blanket that I love.  And occasionally, I sleep on top of my blankets, on top of my human (never directly ON the human though, that's uncomfortable and I meooow!)!  


Sooo, my new room of my very own is more like a cat play-room!  We only have our things half un-packed, but already it's a cat's life here!  My room has a sunny window, a dish of water just for in there, a closet space that is used for my litter box (my own bathroom, haha), and some of my toys and cubes to crawl in.  Soon it will have bean bag chairs and maybe my basket of toys too.  My mom will help me decide how to organize it.  


My "uncle Sam," my human uncle, says that this photo (above) looks like it should be in the back of a book if I write one; that it should be an about-the-author picture, haha!  Truthfully, my mane DOES look gigantic in this photo; I mean, it's fluffier each year, but this picture makes it look insane!  


I'm off to mark everything here with my scent again!  A cat has to do these things! ***Purrrrs*** --Dorian

Cupcake #2 and His New, Forever Home (and NAME!)

Thus far, our man Cupcake was a young tomcat just getting along in his small and often-confusing world... When The Flood of 1994 came literally into his basement, trapping him high up on a shelf, not knowing when or whether anyone was going to come and try to rescue him ... and whether they would be successful if they did.


Cupcake didn't know it, but outside of his own basement, nearly the entire city (population over 175,000 at the time) was under water in some way.  The MAJORITY of homes had at least a foot deep of rain water in their basements and / or first floor rooms.  Even worse for our cat friend's situation was the fact that about half of ALL the main streets (forget about the small side roads!) were closed, damaged and flooded too.  


Cupcake is stoic when he tells his story to other cats... It's difficult even to imagine how he felt each day, waiting and hoping and wondering, and afraid.  He tells me that he drank the ample supply of water, even though it wasn't very gourmet in flavor; and it was SIX days without kibbles or any food at all before they got to him!!!  The Man had known Cupcake needed him, knew that he needed to get to that basement somehow, but after a couple of days dealing with human emergencies in his neighborhood, The Man STILL could not get to the house on foot, nor in a car, no way, no how.  All of Grandma's family was horrified, devastated, frightened, upset, panicked ... almost as much as Cupcake himself, he suspects.  But he never lingers too long on this part of the events.  Because what might have been a tragic ending to a young, furry life, instead became a sparkling opportunity...


After announcing to his family that the road was un-blocked and he was going to see what had become of the cat, The Man left his house and arrived at Grandma's place.  He immediately opened the basement door, where he could see that the water had mostly retreated from the area.   He called Cupcake #2's name, he craned his neck down around the stairway railing, but he saw NO SIGN of the cat.  He walked the entire length and width of the un-furnished basement, barely noting the damage, noting instead that there was no sign of the cat anywhere.  Feeling very sad but holding onto a teeny-tiny shred of hope, The Man prepared a small bowl of Cupcake's favorite delicacies (salmon-flavored canned food, plus a couple of crunchy treats) and a bowl of fresh, cold water.  The Man put these on the top step, just where he always left them. Pondering what to do, how to find Cupcake #2 and thinking about the cat's short life, The Man was startled out of his revelry by a noise that sounded like ... well, it sounded like crunching of food! ... and was that... lapping of water on a little tongue?   He shoved his chair back from where he was sitting at the desk upstairs so fast that Cupcake #2 remembers feeling weakly afraid, that maybe he should run back to safety (that top shelf had been perfect camouflage as well).  But he was too exhausted.  Starving and thirsting for REAL water, he practically inhaled everything put out for him, then looked up with huge, amber Ragdoll eyes for the first time directly into the face of The Man who, somehow Cupcake #2's instincts told him, was there to save him.


ONE MONTH LATER


It had been another day of unexpected-ness.  But THIS day, Cupcake had known it from the moment the humans arrived at his house that morning, was special.  He could feel it even in his tail, that sensation letting him know that this was somehow a ... sparkly day, a day for HIM.


A different human man and his wife had arrived at the house with the usual Man.  The Wife carried a roomy, brand-new-looking, blanket-interiored cat carrier with her.  Both of them took one look at the large, fluffy gray Ragdoll-mix that Cupcake #2 had become; immediately, they were ooh'ing and aaah'ing and making cooing noises to him.  He was startled by these newcomers, but his instincts told him they were very good people and that their behavior was welcoming him.  He hardly noticed as the Husband packed up his few meager belongings -- a catnip ball here, a small plush mouse there.  Meanwhile, the Wife picked Cupcake up himself, all 14 pounds of him, and ruffled his ample coat gently... "What a big sweetie," she whispered to him.  He had become as still as a rock, not being used to human handling at ALL but thinking at the same time that he just might like it.


As you can surely figure out, these were Cupcake's forever-humans, who had come to take him out of his solitary home where The Flood had nearly taken him away with its rushing water.  They couldn't have been a better fit for Cupcake #2:  each of his humans had always loved pets and had animals in their homes, and each especially ADORED cats.  In fact, Sabrina was waiting at home to become his new, shiny, black-haired sister cat.


After bravely making acquaintance with the vet and a cat groomer who shaved ALL of his matted fur off his body and tail (It couldn't be combed or conditioned, he overheard the groomer explain to his new humans), it was time to go home.  HOME!  But right before he was carried inside and let out to explore, his new humans presented him with a gift, a name-tag like he'd seen other pets wear in the neighborhood.  And his new Mom had a statement to make as she hung it lovingly around his neck:


"This is your new tag with a new NAME for you on it," she explained, fastening his shiny gift around his hairless neck.  "You've survived more than most cats EVER even see in their lives, and you are a big boy now, a tough tomcat.  So we are giving you a new name for your new life with us..."  As his new Dad lifted the feline gently out of the carrier to bring him inside his forever home (a two-story house with windows everywhere (!) and lots of sunshine, blankets, and plenty of space to run and roll around), his Mom reached out to stroke his head with caring fingers and said:


Welcome to your new house, Rocky!  This is where you belong, now and forever.


Blogger's note:  Rocky has lived the past 16 years with that same family, and also with Sabrina, his same-aged sibling.  He definitely grew into his name, in size and fluff and personality.   He became a happy, healthy, playful (although always shy of strangers and never, ever a fan of water!) cat through the loving, careful, and patient attention of his new owners, to whom all of us that love him are just as grateful as he is for adopting him into their lives.  And now, here's the "man," the legend himself (he's skinnier now in his older age, but still healthy and playful)...

 

A Boy Named Cupcake, Part Two (of Three)

...When we last left Cupcake #2, he was living as a young bachelor, somewhat abandoned by all humans he had known, although it had never been those humans' intention for such a fate to be Cupcake #2's.  Wondering about The Man who came regularly, patrolling his territory, and napping in the warm sunshine of his very own house:  all of these had  to be put on hold immediately one night.


In the darkest part of the night, while Cupcake #2 was sleeping in a favorite corner of one of his house's beds, a terrible storm erupted in the skies outside.  Knowing that thunder and lightning often meant hours of loud, slapping rain at the windows and howling winds, Cupcake repaired to the basement quickly.  Although it had never been a favorite hang-out, it was always a safe HIDE-out for sure.  Once in the basement, Cupcake tried to sleep again, but found himself awoken very soon by what seemed like a new kind of rain. In his young life, he had seen rains through the windows and screen doors, quite a few times.  But THIS rain was harder, louder, taking on a life of its own it would seem, than anything the young cat had ever experienced.  He didn't like it, so he spent the next hours prowling nervously.  The thunderstorm went on all night long...


As morning hours began to wane, and Cupcake knew the sky would soon lighten even just a little bit, even with the rain, he realized he had not even THOUGHT about his food and water all night.  Looking back now, he'll tell you it must have been some sort of Divine/Feline Intervention that caused him to race up to the top basement step; that is where The Man kept Cupcake's water and variety of foods.  Having worried and prowled himself right out of energy, Cupcake recalls devouring most of his food and almost all of the water.  It might have been his late-night meal that saved his life... 


Because no sooner had he finished it, then he heard the leak.  His basement hide-out was ... no, it couldn't... COULD IT BE? ... leaking rain down the walls, onto the floor and very rapidly into puddles!?!  He didn't have much time to consider this phenomenon as more and more rain seemed to materialize from nowhere onto the walls and floors of Cupcake's hide-out.  He considered going back to the upper rooms, but at the top of the stairs, he found that the door had blown shut sometime in the night, where it was usually left open just widely enough for a cat to slither through.  


What to do!  Cupcake didn't know what would happen or when the water would stop seeping and dripping into his basement home.  So he acted quickly and instinctively and darted around searching for something he'd never had to target before:  the highest, driest, most hidden spot there was.  And he found it briskly, making his way up a "staircase" of sorts, a pile of plastic crates beside the washing machine... and from the washing machine onto the highest wooden shelf, made by Grandma's late husband many years before and still strong (and dry, in the center of the room).


Cupcake #2 watched the waters rise in the basement of his home for about two hours, he figures, before he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.  The water did not seem to be climbing anywhere near to him; however, it HAD climbed almost all the way to the middle of the washing and drying-human-clothes machines!  This observation he made the next morning, when a bright sun shone through the window wells, apparently having melted away the storms...


Cupcake #2 opened his alert and shining eyes to behold all of the wreckage:  the off-center, slightly-floating machinery!  A favorite blanket of his that had been on the floor, now half-sunken, half-on-the-surface, a soggy mess of heavy material.  A toy mouse, reeking of soaked catnip, sailed by.  Cupcake did not take long to have the thought that he did not know how to swim.  And anyway, what cat in his right mind WANTED to swim; that had always been his take on the matter.  He would have done it, to survive, if he knew how, but the fact remained, that he didn't know how.  


The spunky little boy-cat spent that morning exploring from the higher shelves.  He dipped a paw here, a tip of the nose there, taking the temperature of things, literally and figuratively.  Even if he could open that door at the top of the basement staircase, even if The Man would come and open it, even if it were standing there open right now ... How was anyone going to get to him, or him TO anyone?  


It was time to use all of his cat brain power ...
(our story will be continued later today--PROMISE)

Cupcake #2 - Intermission

Sorry, sorry, everyone!  I have to just get that out there first!  I meant very sincerely to write the rest of Cupcake #2's legendary story the following day, and not to have anyone unduly on the edge of his or her tail or worrying themselves to the point of hairballs!... Not that I fancy myself THAT good of a cat-blogger ;)  


So I promise that I will tell you the second (and in my opinion, BEST) part of Cupcake #2's (although you mightn't be calling him exactly that when you've read the whole tale ... stay tuned!) before this day is over -- this day being Monday, Nov. 1 where I am on the planet :)


I just have to share with you by way of explanation -- and some good, healthy cat "venting" -- that un-beknownst to ME, my human mom had been planning for us to MOVE to a NEW APARTMENT this past weekend.... WELL!!!  I'm assuming that most of my reader-cats have moved at least once or twice, at least to come to your forever-home if you are fortunate enough to have one just now.   Personally, this was MY SIXTH move since I was a wee litter mate!  But I stayed up ALL night on Saturday, exploring very thoroughly and diligently rubbing my scent on as many things as I possibly could!  Then I spent a warm and sunny Halloween afternoon catching up on my nap.  Don't tell my humans yet, because I'm still feigning a bit of irritation, but I think I like this (bigger, sunnier!) place.


Check back later for the story.  A guy needs his kibble breakfast before he can write properly.


***PURRRS*** --Dorian