Have I mentioned here we have 7 cats? I’m not sure I have. Well, we do. It wasn’t on purpose. We moved here from Portland, Oregon with 2 cats, Puddy and Merlin.
While driving to New Hampshire this time 2 years ago, we decided to take Route 8 and go the long way, just touring Pennsylvania. We got about 3 hours out until we happened upon these signs for a “Haunted Barn!” Being that we were lollygagging and had set no time limit for our trip, we decided to follow the signs. They led into a back road, I don’t even know what town we were in, but it just kept going and going. Starting to hear banjos in our heads, we turned around and stopped at this big rig trailer that was on the side of the road. It had some funky dinosaur graffiti we wanted to photograph. While taking pictures, my Mom and I kept hearing tiny cat meows. There was a bunch of trash all around this trailer and who knew where a kitty would be hiding. It wasn’t long until we realized it was coming from a closed box. We opened the box and there were two TINY little black kittens. Needless to say, we were horrified. We scooped up the babies and headed home. After months and months of medical attention for parasites, our two new black babies were healthy. That’s Carbon Copy and Violet Nightshade.
Then there was Dahlia, Dahlia the beautiful dilute Tortie. She was abandoned, and just like Puddy cat, declawed on the front paws. Like a double dose of sadness, so we had to let her into our home.
There are two more kitties, one that was our neighbor’s roommate until she left one drunken night. Poor Fluffernutter kitty would come to our porch and scratch at the windows, covered with bits of ice and snow. Eventually, against our will (we realized we didn’t need another cat), we let him in. I’m not crazy enough to put Fluffernutter on a leash, he’s too crazy! Then there’s Lily. Lily is a semi-feral cat who came from Lancaster, Pa. A friend of my mother’s had posted on facebook how Halloween was approaching, and there was this little black cat who was hanging around when her mother went outside for coffee. She said her mom had been feeding the kitty, but they couldn’t take it in. We drove halfway to State College, Pa to meet Lily, and take her home. I’m also not crazy enough to try to put Lily on a leash for a photo in a scarf. She still growls when you pick her up, but sleeps with my mother every night, like a loving little kitty. =)
