lavendertook

For the first time, I am sitting on the sofa with Tuxie in the cat bed to the left of me, and Purrsimmon in the cat bed to the right of me, and Shuri slithered in between Purrsimmon and me, and is snuggled against me. All 4 of us are on the sofa together! Shuri and Purrsimmon look so cutely intertwined.

The girls don’t sleep together too much, because it’s hard for one of them to not start licking and then wrestling the other, so they usually sleep separate. But they’re managing it for now. They would love to be cuddling with Tuxie, too, but he still would not allow that. If he lives long enough, that may change one day. I am a happy human with my fuzzy kids around me.

In 4 days, Shuri will be a year old! She is the first of my kitties whose birthday I know since her mother gave birth to her litter in a foster home. For her birthday present Sunday, I am going to move the refrigerator, and sweep out the dozens of toys she has shoved under it for safe-keeping. It will be like being in a cat toy shop! There are times I have tried to stop her, but she is too quick, and so off her toy went where it would be stored and safe. That she wouldn’t have it to play with, is one causal chain link too far for her little brain, excellent cat brain as it is. Cats are really great at causal reasoning for one step, but one step only. Still better than a lot of people.

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So back to a simpler time, when cat wrangling was my major anxiety and hope, back to the last day of 2019 and the saga of Purrsimmon and the rocky introduction of little Shuri.

Though Shuri did not have such a storied background as Purrsimmon, and thank goodness for that, here is what I do know about her history. Her mother Silverbell was found or surrendered to a shelter in Rowan County, NC between Winston Salem and Charlotte--central piedmont area of the state. I had driven just north of that county many times when I lived in Carrboro and Chapel Hill in the 80's. That shelter needed to make room for coastal shelter refugees from the effects of Hurricane Dorian in September, so a foster in Harford County, MD took in the pregnant Silverbell and there she gave birth to a litter of 7, on September 20th, Shuri among them. Here are pics of Silverbell I saw on petfinder:



Her fluffy coat is nothing like Shuri's short one or in color except for the cute little snowshoes. I can see a resemblance in face shape.

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When I was deciding whether or not to keep Purrsimmon's name, I googled "persimmon" and was surprised to learn it was a Native American word, or rather, an aglicization thereof. Specifically, it is an Algonquin word of the Powhatan people, which are the people who lived where Purry was found, fostered, and now lives, and if I followed correctly, some descendants have taken up tribal recognition in NJ, the state where I was born and grew up. So these are all awesome connections arguing for keeping the name.

I had always thought "persimmon" was an Asian word, probably because more grocery stores carry Chinese and Japanese varieties of persimmons. But since Purry is a siamese cat, it's good that there is an Asian connection here in usage and there are varieties of persimmon trees grown in the highlands of southeast Asia. There are hundreds of varieties world wide, but the Powhatan would have been referring to the Virginia Persimmon, a tree that grows throughout the eastern US up to CT and as far west as Minnesota, and has a smaller fruit than the popular Asian varieties. In those of these trees that live at least a century, their heart wood (dead core) becomes a hard ebony wood, and ebony trees are actually of the same family. Technically, the fruit is classified as a berry, which means I have me a Purry Berry! A Creamy Dreamy Sunny Funny Furry Purry Berry with the Bluest Blueberry eyes!!! Mooooore nicknames! I will save telling you her full name for another entry.

Here's a good pic I finally got of my Elf Princess's eyes:



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IT IS DONE!!!!

As of this evening, I am completely moved into my house. The apartment is empty and clean, and the storage bin now is too, and I turned n the keys to that apartment. Joy!!!!

I am HOME!!! The kitties and I are home!!!!

It was quite a physical ordeal. Problems with movers--the first sucked--switched to others who were better, but didn't move as much as I hoped. I couldn't pay people to help me more. I'm grateful to my friend Rob for a couple sessions of help until he came down with a bad virus. Lots of leg joint pain and sciatica, and I had to take some days off from exhaustion, but I got everything down those stairs and tonight I finished the storage bin, so everything from there up a half flight. I threw out 2/3 of what I had in the apartment and bin--be proud of me! I took a full PT Cruiser load of stuff to the animal shelter, a full PT Cruiser load of stuff to the thrift shop, and have another load of stuff for the animal shelter to drop off. But even that 1/3 has filled my garage, and a lot of my guest room, and living room, so more culling ahead as I unbox. I am so grateful to have that garage aka The Holodeck. It really wasn't possible to move in until the builders cleared out of the garage the end of April, so I could put so much of my stuff in it. The digging out begins after a good week or two of extra sleep and the resumption of swimming at the aquatic center.

I moved the kitties here almost 3 weeks ago--a year to the day from buying the house. I expected Tuxie to have a hard time and Moo to adjust more easily, and for the first 3 hours, they were true to form: Tuxie wouldn't leave his carrier, and Moo snuffled his face encouraging. But once he came out he adjusted fairly quickly. I started them closed in the bedroom and established it as the Sanctuary room, let them explore the rest of the upstairs when they were ready with the stairway screened off, then downstairs a couple days later when they were ready. I think being able to huddle with Moo--they normally don't touch much--really helped Tuxie. Moo, however, wouldn't eat for 5 days, and I was afraid I'd lose her like I did my Storm when we moved to the efficiency and she never recovered. But I took some time off from moving to spend time with her, got her a dose of an appetite stimulant, and got all kinds of broth treats, and day by day she ate a little more, began to forget what she was upset about, got her spirits up, and at about 2 weeks she was acclimated and a relaxed cat. Though nervous, Tuxie quickly took obvious joy in exploring and immediately adored the new cat climber, and was delighted to see the old watchtower condo when the movers brought it, so he adjusted beautifully. The porch isn't done yet--the best yet awaits them.

Though there were many crashes, life upgrade installation is finally 100% complete! I did it! We're home! I am so not doing this ever again until I am in a little urn! Home!

If there's anything you posted that you want me to know about while I was completing my quest, please tell me and I'll try to catch up as I pick up with regular life again. (-:

This is an orchid I've had for 3 years in my living room window. I've been watching its flower spikes grow for about 4 months, and it just started opening its buds the past week. Hopefully, they'll last for 3 or 4 months.

( More Georgia O'Keeffe-y goodness herein . . . )