Be running up that road, be running up that hill with no problems

[sovay]

At the moment I have about the stamina to do a thing a day and then fall over for the next one, but today I drove to visit rushthatspeaks and then walked further around the Mystic Dam with spatch and then fell asleep on the couch under Autolycus; I consider the proceedings a wholly successful Valentine's Day.

Comments

[sovay]

That does sound like a very satisfactory Valentine's Day. It took me a moment to notice the sand graffiti, and then I burst into delighted laughter. Hail Autolycus, indeed.

Thank you!

Indeed that particular bitterly cold Valentine's Day when Cameron and I drove to a remote suburban PetCo and rescued her from not having been adopted despite the adoration and doting of the entire staff, was one of the better ones that I've had.

That sounds like an excellent thing to celebrate. How did you find her in the first place?

[pameladean]

Petfinder. She was at Petco under the auspices of a local rescue called Last Hope. We were looking for a very benign younger cat for Cam, whose last Arizona cat had died a few months earlier. I still had my beloved Aristophanes, but he was quite elderly and not up to a kitten or a really vigorous companion. Cassie's adoption blurb said that she didn't have a mean bone in her body.

The volunteer who was in charge of her hadn't brought enough carriers to PetCo when she came to collect the unadopted cats and ensconce some new ones, so she reluctantly left Cassie at PetCo for one more day. When Cam called to find out if Cass was still there, the person who answered the phone said, "Oh, one of our associates is petting Cassie right now. She is SO SWEET." Our little Valentine cat.

She probably has ONE mean bone in her body-- in her early days with us, she was sometimes called The Parrot because she had yanked very hard at my hair, Cam's, and my poor Ari's, at various times when she wanted to be fed. I mean, she knew Ari couldn't feed her; but she also knew that I was protective of him, and once I'd woken up to make her stop pulling his fur, why wouldn't I feed her? -- but certainly no more.

Icon changed to show the Cassie.

P.

[sovay]

When Cam called to find out if Cass was still there, the person who answered the phone said, "Oh, one of our associates is petting Cassie right now. She is SO SWEET." Our little Valentine cat.

That's so lovely. I'm glad she came home with you.

I mean, she knew Ari couldn't feed her; but she also knew that I was protective of him, and once I'd woken up to make her stop pulling his fur, why wouldn't I feed her? -- but certainly no more.

Mischief, who was my brother's dowager duchess of a black cat when he was married, used to scratch delicately and threateningly at the door of my niece's bedroom on nights when she felt she was being neglected, never to the point of actually waking the baby, but just insistently enough to make clear to the baby's parents that if the cat was not attended to, the baby could be woken. It was the most genteel protection racket.

Icon changed to show the Cassie.

Most beautiful Cassie.

[pameladean]

Ooohhh, Mischief was NEXT-LEVEL. That's really something.

Maybe not the favorite thing of probably sleep-deprived parents, but from this distance, I am just awed, also laughing a lot.

We didn't realize how pretty Cass was; her adoption photos weren't very good. I will add that Ninja sometimes comes upstairs to play with her, and they make a lovely study in contrasts. As I've mentioned before, he's built very much along the lines of Autolycus, while she is puffy and round. They set one another off perfectly. Also metaphorically, now that I think of it.

P.