The Time Has Come...

...to say good-bye to the Chuck Norris of all cats: Lucy.

You can read the story of this AWESOME CAT here.

We were worried about how Lucy would adjust to the move from Washington to Cali.He had adjusted to two moves before this one: the first just a few blocks and then a big change from City Cat to Country Cat. He adjusted every time and always managed to keep up his work as family critter catcher. We got a nice array of dead stuff on our door step on a regular basis. As well as a few incidents of "Look what the cat dragged in." Dead or half-dead rabbits were a favorite--he thought those should be displayed in the formal living room. He also  had established his tough reputation in his old territory--he fought off coyotes, bears and racoons and had the battle scars to give him cred.

Lucy did well on the long road trip and managed to endure his three weeks at "Kritter Kamp" while we waited for our house to close.

So the biggest change for Lucy in California was the weather. No rain. No snow.  Just purrrrfect cat weather:  always a warm spot in the sun to nap away the day. There were plenty of rabbits to chase and the occasional mouse or mole--or snake. We had begun to think of Lucy as invincible. He prowled around all night and showed up every morning at the front door to be let in and amble to the back door to be let out to eat.
Until I realized I hadn't seen him for a day or two. And then three or four. Then a week.
Lucy seems to have struck out on his own.
Is he hitch-hiking up the coast on his way back to Washington to visit some old pals?
Maybe he decided to be a beach bum and hang out at the ocean.
Or he could be down at the border working for the INS.
Wherever you are Luce, we miss you.

Local Amenities

Now that we are Washouglians, we are getting to know our new town.

We were thrilled to see this shop close by. We can surprise Dad with that kitty couch he's been hoping for this Christmas!

(Of course he assumes it's furniture made out of cats)

The Cat With No Name

This is our other cat. He hasn't quite reached Awesome status yet--he's working as an apprentice to Master Lucy and so far he has progressed from "Tolerable" to "Not Entirely Unlikeable" to "Quite Nice" level. If he takes his training seriously he will make it to "Awesome" in a year or two. This cat came to us by the process of elimination. Shane got two kittens for his 7th birthday from my sister whose cat had a big litter. Shane named one Ferrari (after the Italian car), Shanna named the other one Florence (after the Italian city). Ferrari got a case of wanderlust and took off to see the world. We got a postcard from him and a few late night phone calls asking for money but then we never heard from him again. Florence managed to have a litter of kittens before we got her to the vet (the strumpet!). Two of them lived and we gave one to a family in the ward. Then we were left with Florence and her kitten. The kitten drove poor Florence crazy-- he (ok, we assumed it was a he but you know my track record on that!) wanted to play and wrestle and fight constantly. She would try to have a peaceful snooze in a sunny spot and the kitten would pounce on her growling and biting. She finally had enough and disappeared. So that left us with the kitten...but he was about half-grown by then and yet, we still called him 'Kitten'. I told the kids it was time to give the cat a name. They couldn't agree on one. I told them if they couldn't come up with a name, I would name him Snicklefritz. They were so apalled at that thought, they frantically tried to come up with something--anything but SNICKLEFRITZ! The debate raged on for oh, 20 minutes. Then they went back to calling him kitten.

So he is the cat with no name. If you have any suggestions let me know. It would be nice to have a name to put on his "Awesome Cat" certificate when he earns it.