Royce grows old

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Royce grows old

I hate to say it, but Royce is growing very old and ever more feeble. I don't know how much time we have left with him. Yesterday, Sunflower wondered if we should dig a hole in the backyard before freezeup. That could be any day now. Last year, it had happened by now.

It is very hard to dig a grave back there, once the ground has frozen.

Still, I don't think we will dig that hole now. Perhaps Royce can make it through another winter. I hope so. I think so. I'm not sure.

Of course, we are never sure, about any of us.

We are going to lose Martigne and Muzzy very soon - but for a better reason. Toast Ed and Sunflower are in the process of closing on a house in Anchorage. Once they do, they will move these two and little Wry into that house with them.

What will we do out here then?

14 comments:

Ikaika said...: Dear Royce ... what a great cat he is! I hope he will not leave you any time soon.

'Kaika's mom; October 14, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Elin said...: I feel sad reading this :(; October 14, 2009 at 11:01 PM
Parker said...: I hope Royce hangs around for a lot longer.; October 15, 2009 at 1:54 AM
Freya's Staff said...: I really hope that royce stays a lot longer too.

We're sending soft purrs for him...; October 15, 2009 at 1:56 AM
momsbusy said...: what will royce do without wry? they are best buds. perhaps frequent visits from wry (& crew) will keep royce in good spirits and health. i truly hope so. your house will feel so empty without toast ed and family.; October 15, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Angel Gracie=^o.o^= said...: Royce is such a beautiful kitty and I am so sorry to hear that the age is catching up.
I pray that Royce will stay through the winter with a healthy time. This I know is hard for your family and I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.; October 15, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Da Fambly Cat-a-blog Kittiez said...: I wouldn't dig a hole - it would feel as though I was giving up. If he passes in the winter, certainly you can keep him cold until spring.; October 15, 2009 at 11:03 AM
GLOGIRLY said...: Dear Royce,
Hang in there...you've got many more days to spend being loved and cuddled. Take care buddy.
Glogirly & Katie; October 15, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Peggy's Place said...: Dear Royce,
We are sending you feel good purrs. It's been over a year when we had the same thoughts about Babe. You can never tell......; October 15, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Unknown said...: Best wishes for Royce.; October 15, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Bill said...: I thank you all for the nice comments. I am happy to report that after I ate my oatmeal this morning and Chicago got in her laps, Royce licked the bowl clean.; October 16, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Prickley Pear Blossom said...: Kracker~ its Toast Ed & Prickley Pear Blossom not Sunflower, although we don't mind Sundflower moving with us. :); October 29, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Jim said...: Really lovely. Makes me stop to appreciate what I have, too. Life is oh so short, no?; April 27, 2010 at 3:17 PM
managetransfers Debt Settlement Live Transfers said...: It is very common to hear the phrase Ganga music "real beauty comes from within" and this is very true, even when talking about external beauty. When you feel confident with yourself,Ganga bhakti; October 17, 2019 at 4:21 AM

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Due to an unfortunate series of events that beset me as a child, I grew up believing myself to be a despiser of cats. After I married, five children came to Sunflower and I, and when my two youngest, both daughters, would see someone giving away kittens in the parking lot of the local grocery store, they would beg, "Please, Daddy! Let us take home a kitten!"

With a smile, a tilt of the head and the bat of an eye, Tryskuit and Nabysko could charm just about anything they wanted out of me, but towards cats, my heart was hard. "No!" I would deny them, "Dogs are fine, dogs are good, but let just one thing be understood: in my house, there are no cats allowed!"

And then on a hot July day in Alaska, in the year 1991, a skinny kitten stepped out of the woods behind our house - quite literally, he stepped out of a dream and came to me, to beg for my ham. He relished the ham, but he did not care for the pickle, nor the mustard.

That cat stayed, and more followed. These are the Kracker Cats, and in this blog, the stories of all will be told. These will be happy stories, humourous stories, frustrating stories, sad stories, tragic stories. Readers - you who love cats - you will laugh, and you will cry!

To see all the Kracker Cats, both the original and contemporary, scroll down.

I travel a great deal, mostly in Alaska, but I wander into many other places as well. As my children grew, I was gone from home as much as not, sometimes more. When I was home, I would tell my children bedtime stories. By the time Kaboodle appeared at our house, the boys had outgrown these stories but my daughters still thrived on them.

Now, they insisted that every story that I tell be about a cat. So I made up some wonderful ones, right on the spot, and I was always as curious as they were to see how these stories would turn out.

Then one day as I was about to climb into my airplane and fly off to a village in the Alaska bush, Nabysko, the youngest, looked up at me and said, "Daddy! Write us a cat story while you are gone!"

So I did. Not long after, I happened upon a cat. I took its picture. I inquired about its history. When I returned home, I showed the picture to the girls, and told them what I had learned about the cat's history.

Ever since, wherever I go, I try to find and photograph a cat, and learn what I can about its history.

Hence, "Cats Met Along The Way." And always I keep in mind the wise admonition of Persimon Munk:

"Every cat has a story."

Charlie Chaplain, above, chosen at random, is just one of the hundreds of cats that I have met along the way, in every region of Alaska, 24 states, DC, four Canadian provinces, England, Russia and India.

And I will be meeting more, in many other places.

As my children grew, Sunflower was forever scolding me about all these lies that I told them. "You should write these stories down!" she insisted. I ignored this advice, but then, one summer, I decided to write down a few of the tails about cats that I had told to Tryskuit and Nabysko.

These are the stories that will appear in this section of the blog.

Above is an image, created by my talented niece, Amber Swallow, when she was still in high school, to help illustrate a story about Art, a cat who tried to fly his Catabria airplane over Denali.

If any of you southerners are confused by this word, "Denali," it is the name of the mountain that so many well-intentioned folk who don't know any better mistakenly call "Mt. Mc... Mt. McK... Mt. Mck... in... in.. le.." Oh, hell! I can't even say it! I'm not talking about a hamburger here! I'm talking about the highest mountain in North America, the mountain that rises higher vertically over the surrounding terrain than does any other mountain in the world.

I'm talking about Denali.