Belated Birthday / Anniversary for Rascal

I am such a bad Mom - I missed acknowledging Rascal's birthday / anniversary last Friday, March 11. I guess I was a little distracted with all the events of the day. But Rascal deserves better than a lame excuse like that, so tonight, she's getting a special treat - some yummy soft cat food.

Here's Rascal story, how she came to us 17 years ago. I know she may not be here with us next year (but I've been thinking this way for the last 3 years), after all, she's at least 17, maybe even 18 years old now. Scott theorizes she's just staying alive to spite the other cats.

Rascal found us 17 years ago on March 11 when we lived in West Virginia. I still remember that Friday evening I came home, tired after a long week at work. Dusk was falling and I walked out to the mailbox to retrieve the mail when I heard a “meow”, almost like a “hello”. Well, I “meowed” back. A small animal, hidden in the pine trees that lined our front yard, trotted towards me, meowing and meowing. I realized the cat must be a stray, and by “meowing” back I had “invited” the animal in.

We didn’t have any pets at the time, and didn’t want any pets, so I did what any normal person does – I ran inside the house, and turned up the TV, as to block out the constant “meowing” that had ensued outside our breezeway door. When Scott returned home later, the he fired off several questions upon entering the house - “What is that noise? Is there a cat somewhere around the house? Why is the TV turned up so loud?” I acknowledged that there was a stray cat sitting outside our door. Then I opened the door to take a peak at the animal and found this face staring back at me:


OK, not that exact face - she was much younger back then and her eyes very green, but you get the picture.

Wow, what’s there not to love? Of course, we took her in, I went out and bought all sorts of cat paraphernalia, and she cuddled right up on the couch, then onto our laps and into our hearts. I put some signs up in the neighborhood (Found: Grey Tabby Cat), but after the weekend realized she had found us.

The story doesn’t end here, because a couple weeks later, we noticed that our petite little cat was looking a little “porky” in the belly. Hmmm. Yup, she was pregnant. Case in point:



Several weeks later, she escaped down to the basement and gave birth to five little kittens, two which died, three which she cared for until we gave them away. We named the kittens Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat (after the Little Rascals – OK, Scott is the one who named them). Buckwheat looked just like his mom – a brown tiger striped tabby. Spanky and Alfalfa were tiger striped, but a light grey.

Buckwheat


Spanky and Alfafa's butt.

I was really sad when we gave away Buckwheat - he was my favorite. I ran into his new owner one afternoon at the park, who recognized me as "The Cat Lady" (not too many Asians in that small West Virginia town) - she carried on and on about how "Max" (Buckwheat's new name) was such a great cat. I was happy for Buckwheat and his new family.

So that's how Rascal became our "family starter kit" and my first "baby". She survived the move to Indiana, and the addition of our two children.


Taken in 2001 with Erica and Brian.

Now she has to put up with two more cats, but she pretty much stays out of their way.



Happy 17th Birthday/Anniversary to our Rascal!