Inn Cats

What is it with cats at little inns and Bed & Breakfasts? Everytime we go away, there seem to be cats there. Even when I went to Aruba, there was a cat roaming the hotel grounds that wanted to follow me around.

This week we took a short trip to South Carolina to buy some roses. There are two specialty rose nurseries that are about 3 hours away so we decided to stay over night. A few years ago, we went to a pruning seminar at one of the nurseries, Ashdown. We stayed at a B&B called the Mimosa. It was awful. The rooms were musty and in need of repair. The breakfast was awful and the hostess was weird. But they did recommend we go to dinner at another nearby B&B, the Pine Crest Inn. We had such a great dinner there, we decided to stay there this time.

The Inn only has 3 rooms, but they have other outside cabins. We were able to get the Pine Room. After our initial drive to our first stop, Roses Unlimited, We headed to the Inn. We got there about 4pm and decided to take a walk around the grounds. And that's where we saw them...the Inn Cats. We first came upon a long haired black cat with yellow eyes. Since it was a hot day in the 90s, he was cleverly lying on a cement path in the shade. Must have been very cooling.


Right after we saw him, we saw his short haired twin brother:



They both were a bit cautious, but with a bit of coaxing became very friendly and wanted to be petted. Then the long haired one came running after us when we walked away:



After awhile, they and we became tired of the heat. We went inside and the black cat brothers continued their snooze on the grass in the shade:



Later that evening, we saw another long haired tortiseshell cat. We didn't get a pic of him. We did see one of the cats curled up on a telephone stand on the porch. He seemed to like that perch.

The dinner was great and the breakfast that morning was even better. When we came down for breakfast, the two long haired cats were lying on the porch in the sun. I talked to the waitress and the cats aren't allowed in the inn (boo) but some people allow them in the cabins. So I guess on our next trip, we will be in one of the cabins :)

Giants Season Ends on an Unhappy Note

My thoughts: an epic fail by Eli Manning (who was saved from the most epic fail of the playoffs by Jake Delhomme's incredibly awful performance) and also the failure of the Giants offensive coordinator and head coach.

How can you not let the other team take the ball when it means you will be facing the wind in the 4th Qtr? Tuna would never do that. And how can you pass when your QB has already looked horrible and can't throw in the wind and you have the beast RB on the sidelines?

I wanted the Giants to repeat. To prove that last year wasn't a fluke. To shup up all those Pats and Cowboy fans. And now we have to listen to the Eagles fans all year. I hope they don't win the SB, that would be unbearable.

To cheer me up, here is a countdown to Spring Training. When the real sport starts.

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Lost Cat

Are there any more depressing words? I've lived this drama more times than I care to remember. The most recent being today. First let me introduce the cast. Shadow, Rusty and Moochie are our resident felids. Shadow is our child, there is no doubt about it. Rusty and Moochie are pets, but we love them all to distraction.

Felids is a take off for the term for the family of cats, felidae. I first began using the term Felids (which is the name of this blog) because of a talk board. A long, long time ago, when I first discovered the internet, I was on a talk board called Tabby Talk. It was part of Prodigy (remember them?). Tabby Talk was a bunch of people who were crazy about cats. Or just crazy cat people. But not as crazy as another talk board ABC, Absolute Best Cats. Those people were insane. They would have mock romances and weddings between their cats complete with outfits and menus. Weird.Anyway, Tabby Talk was just plain weird people. In Tabby Talk, cats were referred to as felids. Not tabbies, felids. Got it?

Moochie was the last cat we took in. At one point we had six. One day, in our old apartment complex in Islip, a group of kids approached our car with a black and white kitten. The kitten yowled. The kid asked "Is this one of yours?". "No" we replied. Little did we know... Fast forward to the winter. It was a particularly cold and snowy winter. From our front window, I could see the black and white cat out on the stoop across the parking lot. Day after day. Just sitting there. One morning I left for work in the cold and saw him there shivering (do cats shiver?). I came home that evening and he was there. I couldn't stand it anymore. I told my husband with dread. We already had 5 cats in a one bedroom apartment. Three of them were strays we took in. So I didn't think he'd want anything to do with this latest one. But it turns out, he was watching the cat too. So we walked across the parking lot and approached the cat. He was apprehensive, but so hungry he couldn't stay away from us and the food we offered him. As he ate, I grabbed him. He was skin and bones. I gathered him in my arms and went back to our place. I had no concern for the people who's stoop he was sitting on. Obviously they did not want to take care of him.

So he became adopted. Since we had five other cats in the apartment, we had to keep him somewhat segregated before we found out his FIV status and to prevent mayhem. Plus he was intact. We left him in our bathroom over night. In the morning, I checked on him. He hadn't peed at all. I was concerned. We took him into the bedroom and were playing with him and cuddling him. Sure enough, he peed right on the bed. That should have been a sign for us, but it was too late. We even had a name picked out for him. Moochie, after the black and white cat in the comic strip Mutts.

Moochie has had a few outside adventures. The most memorable was one night when I went out with friends and then we went back to our apartment. The apartment was on the second floor, so as soon as you opened the door, you went upstairs. We had a regular door and a screen door. The screen door didn't close by itself. When we came in, my friend entered last and figured the screen door would close and though he closed the regular door. We were upstairs for awhile watching TV and I felt a draft. I looked down the stairs and both doors were open. It was a fairly windy night and the wind must have blown the door open. I did a head check, Twilight and Rusty were inside. The other four were missing.

So my friends and I went on a frantic search of the apartment complex for the cats. I found Sheba (Rusty's mom) right outside. Shadow and Pindar were also close by and were caught easily. My heart soared when I then saw my friend Patty approach holding a cat. They are all safe! I said to myself. But it was not to be, the cat she held was not mine. After releasing the cat and looking a bit more, my friends had to go home. It was cold dark and late. My husband convinced me to give up the search for the missing Moochie. After all, he had survived before out in the complex, he'd be fine.

Morning came and I went out and looked but he was nowhere. I was a bit frantic. I went to Kinkos and had fliers made up with his picture on it. We put them everywhere. I received a call from someone in the complex that saw Moochie. I went to that area. I saw him in the bushes. I approached carefully. There he was black with a bit of white on his right snout, white chest and white paws. I went to grab him, he ran away. This went on for a bit. Then I closed in and realized it wasn't him. It looked exactly like him, but had different color eyes and the meow was different. It was a Moochie look a like. A Bizzaro Moochie! What are the odds on having a cat that looks exactly like yours in the same apartment complex and you've never seen it before until your look alike cat disappears?

So one day went by, then two. We had a few calls, but no Moochie. I was in despair. I went to work but was sick to my stomach with worry. Then I got a call at work about someone who saw Moochie. I asked to leave early. I had about an hour and half commute, so the chances that the cat was still there were slim. Still I went from the train parking lot right to the spot, but no cat. I went home. As I got to my parking spot, there on our front stoop, was Moochie.

I didn't even turn off the engine. I put the car in park and ran up to him. He howled a hoarse meow at me and let me pick him up. He smelled like the outside and had no voice left. I brought him in and hugged and kissed him. Then I remembered the car was still running. So I went out and parked it. I saw my neighbor, a little old Italian lady named Frances. I told her that that morning I went to a church right near my office and lit a candle by St. Anthony (the patron Saint of lost causes) and Moochie came back! She asked if I said the little St. Anthony prayer. I didn't even know there was one. Then I beeped my husband and called my friends to let them know Moochie was back. We still have no idea where he was for those four days.

Since we moved to this house with a yard, we have spent a lot of bucks to put up a fence and secure the backyard so the felids can go out and enjoy the yard but not roam. It's worked out well. Except for Moochie. When Sheba was still alive, she managed to find every crevice under the fence that she could fit through to get out, but she always came back. I was able to plug up those escape routes. Shadow could jump over the fence, but didn't really care to. Rusty got out once or twice, but was too petrified to do anything except howl at the fence to be let back in.

Moochie, on the other hand, has made it his mission to get out of the yard as often as the can. After we had the fence, it took him two years, but he figure out how to jump over. So we put up Cat Fence In Railing, which contained him for awhile. Then he managed to climb up a tree and get over the fence that way. So we devised a baffle of sorts out of a plastic garbage can cover to keep him from getting up the tree. Then he would find another tree and another, until we covered every tree within jumping distance of the fence. So we thought we were safe. But every year around this time (Christmas/New Year) he gets out again. We think it's because the trees loose their leaves and it's easier for him to see how to get out. Anyway, I spent one New Years Day morning going through neighbors yards after I discovered him missing and driving though the development, spotted him in the next cul-de-sac up on a hill. That was fun.

So this morning around 10am when I realized that Moochie wasn't in the house or in the yard, I was worried, but not overly so. The only issue was that we wanted to go out shopping and there would be no way for the Mooch to get back in if we weren't there. He usually just mills around the gate to the back yard or scratches on the front door to get back in when he's done gallivanting. One day my husband was home and didn't even realize Mooch was out until he heard the scratching and opened the door.

Since he usually goes in my neighbors back yard which has woods that circle around the entire development, I made a preliminary search there. Nothing. Well, two neighbors cats, but no Mooch. We waited. I went back to the next cul-de-sac where I saw him that New Years Day, nothing. We decided that hubby would go shopping and I would wait/look for Moochie. I went out a few times and even went outside the sub-division a bit. When I pulled into a development that was under construction just to turn around, I saw a black cat in the distance. I couldn't be sure it was him or not. Surely he wouldn't be this far from home and cross that busy street! I got out and tried to find the cat, but it went over a fence into a junkyard of sorts and I couldn't see it. I went home waited a bit, had lunch and went back out. I was just driving up my own block when I saw a black cat with white chest in the house across the street and up a bit. I stopped and tried to back up, the cat ran in the back yard. So I put the car in park and went to look for it. I went in the yard, but it then went in the next yard over towards the back. I couldn't tell for sure if it was Moochie or not, but the tail was puffed up and his tail does that a lot when he's spooked. I called out to him and said 'It's Mommy!' but he kept running from me. I followed him until he ran into a big mess of brush in the back of the yard and I couldn't follow. I heard a meow, but it was still another cat. A white stray that a neighbor tried to convince me to take in a few days ago. So while this cat would gladly have gone home with me, my own cat is running for me.

I was a bit distraught. I felt as if Moochie was merely 100 feet from home, maybe was coming home and I spooked him. So I drove around a bit and walk up and down the block, but couldn't see anything. Finally I decided to call my husband. He was still out shopping and I told him I would call him when Moochie came home. It's bad at home waiting, but it's also bad being the one out waiting for the phone call. I started telling him what happened and went out the front door to check one more time. As soon as I did, Moochie popped out from the bushes and jumped up on the porch and ran in the house. I could not believe it. I don't know how long he was there, or even if he was the cat I saw across the street. But I don't care he's home.

We now have to keep him in until we can watch and see where his new escape route is (and I put his collar back on). But he's home, safe. I can sleep tonight.


based on this entry, I think I qualify for this.