Day 10... Kiki Bear

I made it to day ten.  I am really thankful that it hasn't been as difficult as the first 5 days.  It is a bit boring though.  No frills.  I eat about the same thing almost everyday.  Even though I've added eggs to my daily intake, and I really like eggs,  there are only so many ways you can eat them.  So I add things like turnip greens or dandelion greens to them and it makes it a little more interesting.

I haven't had much ambition to write for a few days because we lost Cali two days ago, our little old Calico kitty.  We inherited her from Jack, our neighbor across the street who died suddenly a few years ago.  Of course Mike and I handled the re-homing (is that a word?) of all his animals.  He had about 30 baby chickens in the dining room, two tropical birds and two cats.  He was a lot like us. Kept to himself, and loved farming.  When he died he was in the process of getting his land certified organic. When we first moved into our house he had peacocks out back.  I love peacocks and I still have some of their feathers that Jack gave me.  I have to keep them away from the cats though because cats LOVE peacock feathers.

So Cali is with Jack now.  She was the tiniest kitty.  She was an "under the covers with the electric blanket on high" kind of kitty.  Most cats like heat, but Cali liked a nice smoldering inferno to sleep in.  As she got older, in the last few weeks we set her up with a heating pad to snuggle in.  

As with all the fur babies, I had several names for Cali.  Jack named her Cali, but I called her Kiki, Kiki Dee, Baby Kiki, Kiki Bean, Kiki Bear, Turtle, and The Turtle Monster.  There may have been more, on the spot names, but I just can't think of them.  Some cats inspire more names than others.  

Every animal is special to me.  There's always a hole left in my heart.  But I can be thankful that almost all of them live really, really long lives with me.  Milo lived the longest at 21 years.  I got him when I was 20 and he died when I was 41.  That was half my life at the time.  

To share your life with an animal is almost all reward.  There isn't anything else on earth you can say that about.

I'm going to go eat something very bland and boring now.  I hope you all enjoy your day.  Until tomorrow...

Cali footies.  This was the only grey she had on her.  Just one ankle.