Crazyish Cat Lady

SUMMER: Twelve years ago, we were living in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky when a woman pulling a red ryder wagon with 6 beautiful kittens in it walked through our yard. I had only ever had male cats, but my son, being two and a temper-tantrum thrower, convinced me to take this long haired calico. Another neighbor would call animal patrol every time Summer wandered in her yard...two "arrests" later, we started hooking her up to a long leash in the front yard, where she still managed to kill birds.

Summer has moved across country multiple times, even flown to Germany (all 14 lbs of her packed in a little cat carrier, poor thing). She comes running when you call (although I think she has some arthritis setting in from when my ex- ran her over) and "sits" for cat treats. She also single-handedly decimated the mole population in Northern Michigan.

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October 6, 2005: There's an empty space on my pillow

I can't sleep. I keep imagining her cry or a scratch at the door. I walk around the neighborhood, looking for signs of struggle, hoping to get a glimpse of her fluffy, short-legged body. She's been gone since Monday, but I refuse to give up hope.

October 30, 2005: Look what the cat/surrogate mother dragged in...

Two weeks ago I talked to a woman who wanted to know if my cat Summer could have been pregnant. I told her no, that was quite impossible because she was 13 years old, spayed and too bitchy to ever have sex. End of story? Not quite.

The mother cat, aka not-Summer, abandoned her six kittens at the woman’s house so she (Kelly) had been bottle feeding them and called me again last week to see if I might like one. She was going out of town and hod no other option but to drop them off at the pound, and she worried they wouldn’t make it (they’re about three weeks old). So I stopped by her house on the way home from work.

I talked to Kelly – it turns out she had lived in MY house a few years ago (owner #2). What could I do – this was fate. So I took a kitten (or four) home.

My son's already named one - Crackhead. I haven't given up on Summer, but she is gonna be pissed if she comes home to see four bottle-drinking, mewing fur balls in her house. I have resigned myself to being that crazy cat lady on the corner.

November 15, 2005: Formation at 1300


My dog Skylar has taken over stepmother duties for my four new kittens. When she comes into the house, the first thing she does is count heads (preferably with tongue): okay, two kittens wrestling in the kitty litter, one hanging precariously on the curtains and one in the food bowl. Yep, all play toys present and accounted for.
When I took them all outside to enjoy the beautiful weather on Sunday, I know they wanted to run and frolic through the leaves. Nope. That overprotective stepmom wouldn't even let them wander.