A sanctuary....just not in summer

8 Aug '09 6:20 pm

You've got it sorted! Welcome to the forum, and huge hugs to that gorgeous ginger cat. Happy gardening, M

I forgot to ask - what's his name? And is he a good gardening cat?

8 Aug '09 7:07 pm

I had to smile at your feelings Macflax "I'm beginning to feel a small glimmer of enthusiasm."Because that's my thinking too.winter has left the garden awful and drab,but yesterday I bought two roses and will plant them tomorrow.Hope the small glimmer of enthusiasm will grow into energy.
%
I have just learned that the percentage sign % is used as shorthand for "High-fives"

11 Aug '09 3:26 pm

Moosey, his name (he does have a rather manly look about him, yes?) when we got him 9 years ago was Red...we got him from a local nursery that folks kept dropping off cats and the owner just built a cat compound amongst the plants that needed shade and shelter; she'd then have the local vet check them out for shots, spaying/neutering, etc and then let you adopt them out. I would always visit this area, and check everybody out, leave a donation, buy my plants and head home....at that time we had three other kitties and had just lost our 21 yr old Frannie, the neighborhood gossip in our group and bringer-homer of strays....so I wasn't in the market for any other cats.....but after visiting Palmers for 3 weeks in a row and this cutie and his mamma were still there, they were beginning to grow on me.....imagine, to my surprise when I went in the following week I see Red all alone in his cage! Someone had come in an adopted his momma but not him! Well, that was that....he looked so lost and pitiful that he came home that day with me! Max took one look at him and promptly hid out on the porch, Charlie split outdoors and Pete let him (Red) know if he intended to stay here he'd have to abide by the 'house rules'....made up as they went along....luckily, Red was only 4mo old, so he had no bad habits to break and soon fit in right well. Being as red as he is, the name has stuck, but you know with cats/dogs/men/etc. they, over time, will begin to show you their true names.....Red was showing himself to be an adept mouser....the older guys watched with sly kitty smiles and let this young whipper-snapper take over the job....keep in mind these were true senior cats...17, 14, and 18....so Red became Red Mouser....not rolling off the tongue to easily, so it got changed to Red Moose, so now depending on what mood a particular human from his family is feeling, he can be Red Moose; Moosey Red, Mooser Cat, KiBooRed, Shmooser, or just plan RED when he's done something he know we don't approve, like catching the baby blue birds learning to fledge or the doves doing the same....keep telling him this is not fair sport.....but he is after all a cat....it's in the DNA.
Anyway, 9 years later and he is the last cat left and the others have gone on to the great garden in the sky and Red is the foreman left to oversee the gardens. He does a bang up job of keeping my back protected and my ankles warm wrapping his tale around them....problem with this, it's waay too hot for ankle warmers....I then divert his attention by stripping the dried catmip from our hanging plant (put it in the ground, every cat in the neighborhood decends on it and it's gone in 2-3 days), crumbling up a couple stems, sprinkle that on one of the pavers.....that keeps him entertained a good 10-15 minutes; then he looks for a nice cool spot on the rocks in the shade and takes a nap.

12 Aug '09 12:40 am

Aww, how wonderful to hear the tale of your cat Smile

What a nice person at the nursery.

A sanctuary....just not in summer

Looovely

enthusiasm

ginger cat-Red