Remembering Gerald Again

During my mid-morning nap I was dreaming about my brother Gerald, and my Daddy says he could tell I was dreaming because my little paws were twitching and my whiskers were moving and I was gritting my teeth even though my little eyes were closed. Daddy says I look a lot like Gerald when I sleep but I think all cats curl up in the same ways, but even if that’s not the case, it’s not surprising that I sleep like Gerald since Gerald taught me everything I know about being a cat, so of course I imitated Gerald in all things, so here’s three pictures of Gerald sleeping and one of me, and you can decide whether we look alike:





Last time on this blog I was remembering about moving houses when I was one year old, and Gerald and I helped my Popo and Gung Gung and Uncle Joel move to Harbor Springs, Michigan, and Gerald and I loved the new house in Harbor Springs because there were great stairs to run up and down, so here’s a picture of us resting on the landing of the stairs after one of our romps:

and the basement was furnished and that’s where Uncle Joel had his room, and whenever Gerald and I visited (which was usually at holidays like 4th of July and Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years) Gerald and I loved to run down into Joel’s room because we knew it was forbidden territory and we would wait outside his door and listen for the sound of Joel’s footsteps coming up the stairs from the basement and whenever he opened the door we would race down the stairs and hide in our special kitty hiding places and make everybody look for us, and I would always hide under the big brass bed which I decided was the hardest place for people to get me out of, but Gerald had a special hiding place that he never told anyone about, not even me, and one time Daddy and Popo and Uncle Joel spent four hours hunting for Gerald in Joel’s basement and even looked outside for him but they never found him, so they gave up, and then Gerald finally came up the basement stairs with the proudest look on his face and everyone to this day wonders where Gerald’s special hiding place was and he never told anybody, not even me, because he was a proud cat and that’s the way proud cats are.

When I was two years old, Daddy met Uncle Kevin and I would try to sit on his lap whenever he came over to visit our place on Lawrence Street in Ann Arbor, but Gerald was being “Mr. Independent” and didn’t always want to say hello to Uncle Kevin but would prefer to hide in Aunty Beth’s sweater drawer or sit in the closet, but I always liked Uncle Kevin. Gerald liked the smell of certain people and whenever Uncle Jim (who worked with Aunty Beth) or Uncle Jeff (a friend of Uncle Kevin) would visit, Gerald would sniff their shoes and the cuffs of their jeans and follow them all over the house and try to get in their laps and we never figured out why Gerald was so attracted to these men unless they smelled liked dogs. And speaking of dogs, my favorite Rottweiler Becca came to visit our place on Lawrence Street a couple times and when she walked through the door, Gerald and I would just yawn because we’d seen her lots of times and we weren’t afraid of a huge Rottweiler like her because she never barked and besides we’re cats and she’s just a dog, and that would always make Daddy and Aunty Amy laugh.

Here’s another picture of me and Gerald together:


When I was three and a half years old, Daddy and Uncle Kevin moved in together so Gerald and I had a new home in their apartment in a part of Ann Arbor called Traver Ridge and that’s the place where I stole the turkey leg and watched birdies in the bird feeder like I described in my last post, and it looked like this:


We were there for only one year and then we moved to a place called Ypsilanti, Michigan, to an apartment complex called Roundtree which had a really neat enclosed patio called a “Florida room” and Uncle Kevin used to it grow his orchids and Gerald and I would try to sneak inside because it was forbidden territory. Gerald and I loved this place because we were on the third floor and had lots of windows, so we had fantastic views of the outside world and we would spend hours sitting on the windowsill watching the snow fall in the winter or the stars come out at night, but our favorite pastime was chasing each other through the whole apartment and jumping up on the bed. And Daddy bought us a wicker basket and Gerald claimed it as his kitty space:

and Gerald would sleep in that basket all the time although sometimes I snuck in too and they put the basket just outside the glass that looked into the orchid room so that Gerald could look at all the plants without going inside since they knew that Gerald’s one weakness was chewing plants and he made Uncle Kevin cross a couple times when he snuck into the orchid room and chewed on the leaves of some of his orchids.

Here’s a picture of some of Uncle Kevin’s orchids here in Australia. Don’t they look yummy?

We lived in the Roundtree apartment for two more years until Daddy got a job in Australia but Gerald and I couldn’t move there right away so we went to live with Popo and Gung Gung and Uncle Joel in Harbor Springs for about seven months. We were very good kitties, and Gerald loved to sit on Uncle Joel’s lap and sleep in his bed, and we spent a lot of time sitting with Gung Gung and purring for him, because he was getting older and had diabetes and had stopped working and we knew he needed our kitty company. But Gerald could be ornery sometimes and once he hissed at Popo when she tried to put him in our bedroom at night, but Gerald wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet so he hissed at her, but Popo would have none of it and she scolded him, but Gerald just hissed back. And Gerald always used to open the kitchen cupboards with his paw and climb in and hide behind the pots and pans and both of us would try jumping on the kitchen counter or the dining table whenever anyone was around, because how else were we going to get their attention? And I think Popo thought I was a rascal just because I jumped on the record-player that one time and knocked it over and broke it, but they weren’t using it anyway because I always heard them say that no one makes LP records any more, so doesn’t that mean I can play with it? And one time I waited for them to come home from the grocery store and I stood by the front door and when they opened it I ran outside since I hadn’t seen the outside world in so long and I made them chase after me, and just for that they called me a rascal, but I had so much fun. We lived there until Christmas 2001 when they all decided to move to Florida, so Daddy came back from Australia and helped them drive down. We left Harbor Springs on Christmas Day and Gerald and I were in our carrier cages in the back of one car with Popo and Daddy driving, while Uncle Joel drove the other car with Gung Gung, and our first night we spent at a hotel in Findlay, Ohio (which is where Daddy and Uncle Joel grew up and went to high school), and it was one of the few hotels that allowed pets, but when we got there it took over an hour to check in because there was only one person working there on Christmas and she couldn’t find a room that had a stove, since Popo wanted to reheat some dinner they had bought somewhere, so they gave us a room that had no heat and was so cold that we had to change rooms. But Daddy took Gerald and me to visit Aunty Amy and Becca and Alex one more time, and that was the last time we saw them, since Alex and Becca both passed away a few years ago.

On the day after Christmas we drove down to Georgia and Gerald and I were so good that Popo kept saying she was amazed that she hadn’t heard a peep out of us but Gerald and I had figured out that we were travelling and we’ve always been well-travelled cats so we knew how to behave, although this was the longest trip we’d ever been on so far. At the hotel in Georgia we shared a room again with Daddy and Uncle Joel and I don’t remember much about the room except that Daddy snored. And on the next day we drove down to Florida and stayed at a motel in Ocala where the windows were nice and big and looked out onto a parking lot, and Gerald and I would sit in the windowsill, and people would walk by and point at us and say things like “Oh, look at the adorable cats!” and we would smirk because we loved all the attention. Here’s a couple pictures of Gerald in our window in Australia, and I bet he and I looked a lot like this to passers-by at that motel in Florida:


Finally on the next day we drove down to our new home in Port Richey, Florida, and Daddy put us in the room that would become our bedroom and set up our food and water and let us out of our cages but kept us in that room for a few hours while they adjusted the furniture in the rest of the apartment, so while we waited Gerald and I sniffed out the whole place and decided where our kitty spaces would be, and eventually we got let out and we walked around the whole house and checked out all the windows, and one of them looked out over a pretty lake and I think that was Gerald’s favorite window:

But I decided to climb on the kitchen counter and jump up on top of the refrigerator to see what was there, and there was a cool high ledge that ran along the walls of the kitchen just below the roof, so I stayed up there and everybody wondered if I would ever come down. But Gerald enjoyed scouting out the inside of the cupboards and crawl spaces under the stove and other kitty spaces like those, and above all he liked Uncle Joel’s room with the big brass bed, and he liked to jump on the bed and wait for Uncle Joel to find him, and he loved to sit in laundry, especially warm laundry after it was dried in the machine, and here’s a picture of how happy he was:

It’s time for my afternoon catnap now but I’ve had a good time remembering Gerald again and it’s made me feel better and I know I’ll have happy dreams about Gerald during my nap. I’ll tell you all about our trip to Australia next time.

OSCAR

Remembering Gerald

I’m sitting on Uncle Kevin’s legs and thinking about my brother Gerald who always sat on Uncle Kevin’s tummy or chest, which he called his “Kevin Pillow.” Here’s a picture of Gerald on his Kevin Pillow:
Gerald was not just my big brother but he was also my best friend and he’s always been with me ever since I was two months old when my Daddy chose me at the Humane Society in Toledo, Ohio, and took me to his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Actually my Popo, that is my Daddy’s mommy, signed my adoption papers, and so she has always technically been my legal Mommy, but Daddy says I’m her grandkitty.) Gerald was already two years old when I came along and Daddy was afraid that Gerald might be jealous of me and try to beat me up because we were both males and so when Daddy brought me inside he locked Gerald in the bedroom and let me wander through the whole house by myself so I could smell everything and meet my Aunty Beth and my Uncle Brian and my Auntie Sarah (who were Daddy’s housemates) and after a whole hour Gerald was finally let out of the bedroom and he ran up to me and Daddy was afraid he’d try to bite me or beat me up but Daddy didn’t know Gerald because Gerald took one look at me and licked my head and groomed me all over and everybody was so happy that Gerald liked me. And Daddy kept me in a cage at night time to keep me from getting lost in the house until he thought I was old enough and sometimes Gerald would paw at my cage because he wanted me to come out and play. And when I was about four months old Daddy had to go away for a few weeks and only Aunty Beth was around to take care of us and they weren’t sure if I was old enough for them to trust Gerald with me so they kept Gerald at home but sent me to stay with my Aunty Amy who was Daddy’s friend in Findlay, Ohio, and she had a cat of her own called Alex and a big Rottweiler dog named Becca and we got along so well because even though Becca was big, she was so gentle and so sweet and we took naps together and she was always my favorite dog. Here's a picture of me and Becca and Alex in those days:


And when Daddy came home I went back to Michigan and from that day on, Gerald and I were always together and that was for almost 12 years until a couple nights ago when he passed away.

Here’s a picture of Gerald and me together when I got back home:


When we lived in Ann Arbor in a house on a place called Catherine Street, Daddy used to take us outside sometimes if we wore a harness and I remember one time Uncle Brian tied Gerald’s harness to a tether than stretched the length of their back garden so he could explore anything he wanted without running away and he would chew the grass and roll in the dust and chase butterflies and sleep in the leaves and one time he chased a squirrel that ran up a tree and peed on Gerald. And I would sit on Aunty Sarah’s lap or Uncle Brian’s lap in the back garden because I was still really tiny and they weren’t worried about me running away because I couldn’t run very fast and they played with me and teased me by tickling my face with grass.

When I was almost six months old, Daddy and Aunty Beth moved house to a place called Lawrence Street and Gerald and I had our poo box in Daddy’s closet and we loved to sleep in Daddy’s bed each night but in the daytime we’d sneak into Aunty Beth’s room and sleep in her sweater drawer or under her bed or we’d jump up into her window. And we weren’t there very long when Daddy took me to the kitty doctor to have me “neutered” and to have me “declawed” in the front paws and I was so young I don’t remember it at all but Daddy says that because I have mitten paws I had two extra claws on each paw and that cost a little bit more money than it cost for Gerald, who also had his claws removed because we were both “indoor cats” and don’t go outside every day. And Gerald was already two and a half years old and he did not appreciate having his front claws removed and whenever he saw Daddy come into the room he would walk with a limp to make Daddy feel sorry but Daddy could tell Gerald was acting and called him a “wounded soldier” but Gerald was always very good and letting people know when he was mad. Every once in a while we’d visit my Popo (Daddy’s mother) and Gung Gung (Daddy’s daddy) and Uncle Joel (Daddy’s brother) who lived in Toledo Ohio and Gung Gung would drive the car and we’d fit both our cages in the back seat of the car with Daddy and sometimes Daddy would let Gerald out of the cage because he “trusted” him and Gerald would sit at the back ledge of the car and look out the back window and whenever a big truck would pass by he would sit up and get all excited. The ride to Toledo only lasted an hour and after the first half hour Gerald would curl up on Daddy’s lap or lie on the floor of the back of the car and go to sleep but I would be kept in my cage because I was always too rambunctious and would have tried to climb into the front of the car and jump on Gung Gung while he was driving.

A week after my first birthday, my Popo and Gung Gung and Uncle Joel moved to Harbor Springs, Michigan, and Gerald and I helped them move, or at least I remember Gung Gung driving one car with Gerald and me in our cages in the back seat with Daddy, and Uncle Joel driving another car with Popo, and it would ordinarily have taken four hours to drive on the freeway from Toledo to Harbor Springs, but we were also traveling with a moving truck and we kept stopping for breaks and meals and at one point Daddy was driving Uncle Joel’s car and the engine blew and his car was stuck at the side of the highway so Gung Gung drove on ahead to try and catch the truck and he had me and Gerald in the back seat all the way and then after he caught the truck he went back to pick up the rest of the family while Uncle Joel’s car was towed and it was well after midnight before we got to see our new house. But as soon as we got there Daddy put us in the room that would be his bedroom and let us out of our cages and gave us some food and water but Gerald was only interested in exploring since he told me that every cat needs to stake his territory and figure out what belongs to him in any new place and so when Daddy let us out of the bedroom we ran through the whole house checking out each and every corner into the wee hours. But it was weird because the man who drove the moving truck spent the night in the guest room and he had a dog named Britta who was an Irish setter which wasn’t as ferocious as Becca but Daddy didn’t let us check her out very much.

It's getting late so I'll write more tomorrow, but first here’s a picture of Gerald in one of his kitty spaces.

It's been only about 48 hours since Gerald passed away and I miss him so much and all I can do is think about him, and the hardest part is that he was my very best friend and I'll never see him again.

OSCAR

Missing Gerald

I’m still very sad this afternoon because I keep thinking about my brother Gerald who passed away a couple nights ago and I keep expecting him to come bouncing into the room but he doesn’t, even though the poo box still smells like him and his fur is all over the house. I know that Daddy and Uncle Kevin talked about Gerald a lot this morning because I kept hearing them say his name and I know that they’re remembering all the fun times we all had together so I started thinking about Gerald too, especially when I got my turkey treat.

Here’s a picture of the turkey that my Daddy cooked today and his favourite teddy bears are in the picture since Daddy didn’t trust me next to the turkey because one time I stole a turkey leg off the table. This was nine years ago in Ann Arbor Michigan when Daddy and Uncle Kevin started living together and they moved Gerald and me with them into a new apartment which had a great window next to a bird feeder and we used to sit there and watch birds and squirrels all day. I was only three years old and at Thanksgiving my Popo (Daddy’s mother) and my Gung Gung (Daddy’s daddy) and my Uncle Joel (Daddy’s brother) and my Aunty Beth (Daddy’s old roommate) all came over to eat turkey dinner but they locked Gerald and me in the bedroom and I could smell the turkey from under the door and I said to Gerald, “As soon as they open the door I’m gonna run” and Gerald told me to stand right by the door and be special patient so I waited and waited for over two hours and finally someone opened the door and I was right there and I ran out and jumped on the dining table in one leap and opened my mouth as big as I could get it and I lunged at the turkey leg and grabbed it with my teeth and hightailed it back to the bedroom and didn’t look back and I could hear my Popo crying “Oscar!” and everybody scolded me even though they were laughing and I didn’t care because I had the turkey leg all to myself and no one asked for it back so I took it to my special corner in the bedroom and ate and ate until Daddy came by and took it away from me for some reason but I had a good snack and after that day they always put the turkey away before they let me out of the room on Thanksgiving Day. Gerald didn’t run after the turkey or anything else because he never liked people food except for the onion bread he used to snack on when he was a kitten and because he didn’t steal anything everyone called him the “good kitty” and called me the “naughty kitty” but I didn’t care because they all laughed when they talked about me and I got to have turkey leg! But Daddy and Uncle Kevin did give me a turkey treat today and here are some pictures of me eating it.



I love eating turkey but it feels funny in my mouth since I had two of my teeth taken out by the kitty doctor four weeks ago after I went in for my check-up. I’m still a little mad at my Daddy for taking me there even though he says it was for my own good but I remember how he took me to the doctor’s office and they stuck me with a needle for my “shots” and they shaved the bottom of my tail and wrapped a band around it that got tighter and tighter so they could check my blood pressure and then they stuck a thermometer up my poor little kitty ass and then they stuck another needle in my bladder to take some urine and then they poked and prodded all around me and pried open my mouth and looked at my teeth and the doctor kept saying something about a “dental” and then they took me into the back room to draw blood from my paw for some kind of test and by that time I kept saying, “Are we done yet?” and I kept trying to get away and run into my Daddy’s arms and finally they were done and put me back in my cage and I kept saying “Please take me home!” and finally we went home and Gerald sniffed me and saw the base of my tail had been shaved (which we call our “shame” whenever it happens) and he ran away and hid in the closet since I think he thought his turn was next. And then a couple days later Daddy took me back to that horrible doctor’s office where they took me in the back room again and they did something to make me fall asleep and when I woke up two of my teeth were gone, including my upper right canine that was always my favorite. But I’ve forgotten about it mostly and I was only thinking about it today because Gerald got so sick and his time at the doctor’s office must have been worse than mine.

Here’s another picture of Gerald and me.


I remember how Gerald taught me all about how to be a cat. He taught me that every cat needs his own kitty spaces, and his spaces here in Australia were the left side of the bed and the dirty laundry and sometimes the inside of the closet or the inside of the kitchen cupboard if he could get in there, and my spaces are my kitty tree and my basket on the floor and the right side of the bed, and sometimes we both shared the arm of the sofa and of course we both love to play in boxes. Here’s a picture of me in my tree and me in my basket and Gerald in his dirty laundry and Gerald playing with a new box.




Gerald and I spent every day together and many times we would sleep together and groom each other because after all we’re the only kitties in the house and he’s my big brother and he’s always taken care of me, and that’s why I’m so sad today because now I have to take care of myself.

Every day Gerald and I used to play with each other so I’d run up to him and spook him and his back would arch up and I start running but look back at him and try to get him to chase me and when he did I’d run as fast as I could until he caught up and then I’d start chasing him and he’d lie with his back on the floor and put his ears back and egg me on and if I jumped at his tummy he’d grab my cheeks with his teeth and all the time he’d make a playful growling noise and sometimes he’d shriek and make Daddy say something like “Boys!” and I’d say, “Come on, Gerald, let’s see if we can make Daddy notice us some more” and I’d grab his side with my teeth and get Gerald’s ginger fur in my mouth and Gerald would pretend to be upset and shriek some more and we’d run and play until we were tired out, and we looked like this:


And I remember when I was a little kitten one of our favorite games was to play with the feather toy with Daddy and the toy was a feather tied on the end of a string and whenever Daddy brought it out Gerald would coo and run towards him because Gerald always wanted to play first and Gerald always liked to pounce at the feather so Daddy would drag it across the floor or across the bed and Gerald would crouch down real low and watch and watch the feather and he’d swish his tail behind him then he’d start to balance himself on his legs and then at the right moment he’d pounce across the room, sometimes in one leap, and grab the feather and sometimes Daddy would pull it away before Gerald got it but sometimes Gerald would catch the feather and hold it with his front paws and mouth and kick at it with his back claws and then he’d drop it and scamper away and get into another pounce position. Then when Gerald was done it was my turn to play feather toy and although Gerald taught me his way of playing I decided I would be different so I always jumped at the feather instead of pouncing, so Daddy would drag the feather towards the bed and I’d jump on the bed, like this:


and Daddy would make the feather fly up high and I’d jump as high as I could about six or seven times and if I didn’t catch it I’d sit and pretend I was bored until Daddy was almost tired out and then I’d jump at the feather again and I’d catch it and grab it in my mouth and run away and pull the whole feather toy from Daddy’s grip and I’d be very proud and drag the feather toy towards my kibble dish and sometimes the handle would make scratching noises as I dragged it across the floor because of course I wanted everyone to notice that I had caught it and I wouldn’t let the feather out of my mouth until I was ready, even if Daddy tried to force it out of my mouth, but eventually I’d let it go and he’d make me chase it again and we’d play feather toy at least three times before Daddy would give both Gerald and me treats for being such good kitties and getting our exercise.

Gerald also taught me how to get attention from Daddy and Uncle Kevin by coming up to them and patting them on the shoulder with my paw and if I acted cute enough they’d let me sit on their lap and purr for them and they’d stroke my chin with the back of their hand or rub my jowls with their fingers and they’d massage my whole back and play with my tail and I love having my tail stroked (but Gerald never really liked that part until he got older). Gerald was always a bit more demanding than me since every evening after dinner he would insist on sitting on his Kevin pillow (which is Uncle Kevin’s tummy) and sometimes Uncle Kevin would say no but Gerald would always insist and sometimes Gerald would just sit on the arm of the sofa and sit and sit and sit until Uncle Kevin was ready and then when he leaned back Gerald would be in his Kevin pillow within five seconds and would purr real loud and be so happy. And at night time after our midnight snack Gerald would run into the bedroom and climb onto his Kevin pillow just as Uncle Kevin was getting into bed, and every night Gerald would sit there and purr until Uncle Kevin fell asleep. Here’s a picture of Gerald getting his chin stroked.


I miss my brother Gerald very very much but it helps me to remember all the happy times we had together. But it’s a very hot day here in Australia and it’s time for my afternoon nap so think I’ll crawl into the dirty laundry where Gerald always used to sleep and I’ll catnap a little bit and dream some happy dreams about Gerald before I write again.

OSCAR

Introducing myself

My name is Oscar and I'm a black cat and I live in Melbourne, Australia and Daddy tells me I'm twelve years old which means I'm an "old man" whatever that means but my Daddy calls me his little kitten.

Every day I wake Daddy up about 3:30 a.m. for my first breakfast since I love my kibble and if he doesn't wake up I meow and if he still doesn't wake up I take my paw and pat him on the neck and he usually wakes up and says "stop" and then I put my whiskers right in his face and if that doesn't work I put my ass in his face and he gets up and gives me my kibble for my first breakfast and then he goes back to bed, and then just before the sun comes up I wake him again for my second breakfast and usually after that I want a drink of water out of the bathtub or the sink, and if Daddy goes back to bed again he usually shuts his door so I meow and meow and meow and meow until he can't stand it any more and he gets up and lets me into the bathroom and gives me my drink and then I take a little nap until the sun has been up for a couple hours and it's time for third breakfast and I love my kibble and even though there's food left in my food dish I always like to be served fresh kibble even though it's dry kibble so I meow and meow again but by that time my Uncle Kevin is usually awake and he gives me my third breakfast and my second drink out of the tub and he sometimes tells me that I already have food in my dish but I just stand there and look at him and try to say, "Dummy, don't you know I like to be served?" and sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't so I just keep standing by my food dish and I meow until he gets it.

After my third breakfast I curl up next to my Daddy while he sleeps in and even when he gets up I stay put and sleep until it's time for mid-morning snack, and after mid-morning snack I might go poo box or run around the house with my brother Gerald (Daddy says he's 14 years old and even older than me) until it's time for mid-morning catnap and I climb up into my kitty tree in the living room and curl up and take my nap. I have kitty dreams of chasing butterflies and birdies and watching the squirrels I used to see when I lived in Michigan.

I could go on but you probably wonder what I look like so I'll tell my Daddy to post some pictures he took of me and my ginger brother Gerald.

This is a handsome picture of my big brother Gerald about a year ago.


Gerald and I always liked to sit in the windowsill together and look at the birds and possums and neighborhood cats and other creatures in the parking lot outside since Daddy says we're "indoor cats" and we never go outside except for the times I manage to zip through the front door when Daddy comes in and I make him chase me.

I was sleepy one day and Gerald thought I needed a good licking.

But today I'm very sad because my brother Gerald isn't here any more because a couple nights ago he died and that made me very sad. Daddy whispered into my ear and told me that Gerald got very sick two weeks ago in his kidneys and his liver at the same time and he had something called anemia which made him very tired and he was something called dehydrated and I remember that Gerald stopped playing with me and wanted to be left alone and would hide in his carrier cage or in the corner of the room and he didn't want to eat any of our kibble and he got very thin and he didn't lick himself the way he told me cats are supposed to. Gerald is my big brother and he was already a couple years old when my Daddy adopted me as a kitten from the Humane Society in Toledo Ohio and when Gerald first saw me he ran up to me and licked my head:



and then he taught me all about how to be a cat and he taught me how to stretch out on the floor:


and he taught me how to roll around whenever I see dirt and how to lick myself and how to go poo box and how to watch birdies through the window and all sorts of kitty things.

Daddy says that I think I'm a dog and it was Gerald who taught me how to be a cat but I think Daddy's dumb because I know I'm not a dog because dogs are big and stinky and they bark but Daddy says that when he adopted me he learned that my cat mother died when she gave birth to me and that a woman in Toledo found me behind a building with all my litter mates and she took us all home and fed us kitten food with eye droppers until we were two months old and then took us to the Humane Society and that's when my Daddy found me. And my Daddy says that since I was raised by human hands from the moment I was born it was Gerald who taught me how to be a cat since Gerald came to the Humane Society when he was four months old and he was found as a street cat which means he roamed around the streets when he was a boy but I was always a house cat. And Daddy says that when he came to Humane Society for the very first time he wanted a black cat like me but there weren't any black kittens there, but he saw a ginger kitten that he really liked and when they put them together in a special room the ginger kitten ran up to Daddy and jumped into his lap and purred and Daddy fell in love with the ginger kitten and agreed to take him home and named him Gerald. And it was two whole years later that Daddy went back to the Humane Society and got me since I was the black cat he always wanted and he says that the woman who raised me said that I had about six litter mates of all different colors when I was born and all my litter mates got adopted on one day at the Humane Society but no one wanted me because I was black and I was there for a whole week before my Daddy chose me and the woman told Daddy that she had come back to the Humane Society to check that I was adopted since she had promised that she would adopt me herself if no one took me in a week's time and the time was up but Daddy promised he'd give me a good home and a good brother and Daddy kept his promise.

Daddy's cooking a turkey today because he says it was American Thanksgiving on the day that Gerald died even though we live in Australia and we didn't celebrate it on that day but that we should celebrate it today because Gerald gave us so much to be thankful for and above all we're thankful that Gerald lived a joyful and carefree life and that we were able to give him happiness in return for all the happiness he gave us. Daddy's been crying a lot the last couple days and even though cats don't cry tears like humans do I'm very sad myself and I hope I can show Daddy that I still love Gerald and I miss Gerald and I can comfort Daddy the way I always do by purring and curling up next to him when he sleeps. The kitty doctor's office that Gerald and I go to sent us some flowers today when they heard about Gerald and those are the flowers on the desk in the "picture of me" for this blog.

The turkey smells so good and it's driving me crazy and I'm scampering around the house all day because I love the smell of turkey! I love my kibble but I really love turkey! I'll write a little bit later after Daddy gives me some turkey.

OSCAR