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Hullo Y’all!

How are you doing? Are you planning your garden? Spring is an exciting time of year, a time of rebirth. I know my orange and white cat Jimmy likes spring. He’s finally allowed to go outside because it is warm.  I know that a lot of people do not think that cats should be allowed outside, but Jimmy is miserable locked up in a house. Because last summer I adopted him off of the streets. Yes, Jimmy is from the streets.

Last summer I was staying with friends in a cute little town called Cowan, Tennessee. They have a dog and two extremely spoiled cats. One is an all-black cat named Zen. I call him Zenny. Those cats live the life of Riley. They are indoor cats but the family has a huge screened in pavilion in the back yard that they are allowed in You have to carry Zenny to the pavilion where he lounges on chairs like King Tut. Zenny eats only the best cat food, sees the vet regularly and has cat toys everywhere.

While I was staying there a cat, not much out of kitten hood would cry pitifully from the side yard. He would come into Zenny’s yard and cry to me for food. I started feeding him some of Zenny’s food and every morning the orange cat would wait for me to feed him on the back porch stoop. I made sure that he had plenty of water to drink.

Looking back I can see what made me take the plunge, (against my better judgement), to adopt him was when he would lie in front of the screen pavilion door and try to make friends with Zenny. Zenny would hiss and spit and act like this cat was way beneath him on the social scale. I have been treated like that myself a few times, (especially when I wear my sock monkey hat in the winter, it doesn’t suit the socialite types), so I was deeply hurt for him.

I decided that he was going to have a home, darn it. A home where he was loved and spoiled. I pondered over a name. I had never had an orange cat before. I decided to name him Jimmy after one of my favorite uncles. Uncle Jimmy had orange curly hair that stuck out all over his head. He was a hippy from the sixties. Uncle Jimmy bought me a Natalie Merchant album years ago and dedicated the song, “You’re so Kind and Generous,” to me. He was sweet to everyone like that. Anyhoo-I digress-

I tell people I adopted Jimmy and a thousand dollars later … Ha. Jimmy has had three trips to the vet for ear mites, ringworm and to get him fixed. The ringworm was so bad that I shudder to think what would have become of him.

Jimmy gets a regular Amazon order of the same expensive cat food Zenny eats. He has plumped out nicely. Jimmy has a five food cat tree with a scratching post, an insulated house with a 24 hour heating pad for pets. I wanted him to have his house even inside of my cabin because my cabin gets cold in the winter. Jimmy gets regular trips to the groomer for baths and to get his nails cut, where he is as good as gold for the groomers.

He would claw me to death over a bath. He’s got so many cat toys all over the cabin. He likes stuffed mice so he has a ton of those everywhere, sometimes I forget and scream when I see one. I recently hired a pet sitter for Jimmy for when I travel with work. He loves his pet sitter.

Jimmy is worth every penny and every effort. He’s so appreciative that he’s been adopted. Jimmy loves love. He will lay back in my arms like a baby and stare at me into my eyes like a baby with its mama. Oh how I love Jimmy. Until next time, have a good week, and have a literary week.