Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
After living in isolation in my wife’s office during his first two weeks with us, we slowly let Boo expand both his contact with the other pets and his exposure to the rest of the house. He was more than ready to start exploring but still rather nervous about it and sought out safety zones where he could retreat when he got overwhelmed. He soon discovered the gap behind the washer and dryer could fit a Boo but not a Boolie.
This year has been a painful lesson in how long it can take a broken heart to heal. And yet how quickly, when the time is right, it can fall in love again. I didn’t want to fall for Boo in his first few weeks with us, he was shy and stressed from his time in the shelter and we didn’t know well he’d integrate with the dog and two cats, one of whom wasn’t at all happy with his arrival.
We always introduce new pets slowly but took extra time with Boo and while not always easy, it paid off in the long run. Boo grabbed hold of his second chance at life and has grown so much, both physically and emotionally, in his three months with us.
Which is fortunate, as I fell for him immediately.
This picture is from his fourth day with us.
📷: Canon M | Canon 22mm
🗓️: July 8, 2013
I spent the day at home, partly because I wasn’t feeling well and partly to ease Boo’s transition to my wife and I both being gone during the day. I’ve been spending a lot of the past few days with the other pets (who are sleeping around me in a circle now) while my wife stays with Boo, so it was a good chance for some one-on-one time.
Boo curled up on my chest as we slept through the morning, then in the afternoon as I set him on the couch to take a picture, he instead curled up beside me with his head against mine, purring loudly. The purring suddenly stopped and I surmised he had fallen asleep, so I eased back to take his picture. He flopped halfway over the edge, opened his eyes for a moment, and promptly fell back asleep.
We had a nice day, Boo and I, even if we slept through much of it.
I was sitting on the floor this afternoon when Boo came over unprompted and crawled into my lap and fell asleep. I wasn’t prepared for it and not sitting in a comfortable place, but I let him stay as long as he wanted. He’s still pretty skittish but the transformation he’s undergone in a few days is incredible. There’s a downside to this. I’ve been sleeping in the bedroom so Sam can keep his routine of sleeping on me, while my wife is sleeping in the basement with Boo, who kept her up most of the night showering her with affection.
Two days ago Boo trembled in fear at our introduction. Today he curled up beside me and slept with his head on my chest.
Remarkable.
Meet the newest member of our family, a seven-month-old kitten named Boo.
I thought it most likely we would adopt one of the many impossibly cute two-month-old kittens at the Oregon Humane Society as it seemed like it would have the best odds of integrating with our other pets. But my wife found an older kitten named Bronco who had been at the shelter for a couple of weeks but was struggling with life there. His previous owners said he got along with cats and dogs so she went down Wednesday evening before OHS closed to meet him. He was extremely shy and shook like a leaf when she met him, but eventually he warmed up to her and she wanted me to meet him.
OHS was closed on Thursday for the 4th of July but we went down first thing on Friday morning. He shook at first too when I met him but then warmed up much quicker than I expected and soon was walking in and out of my lap and purring loudly.
It was settled. He was coming home with us, and getting a new name.
I didn’t try for pictures yesterday since it was such a stressful day for the poor little fellow but in the meantime his confidence has grown by leaps and bounds. Plus a new camera arrived this morning that is much less obtrusive and he was happy enough to be my first test subject, pausing for a brief moment while playing in a paper bag.
As with Scout, Boo takes his name from Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”. At the end of the book, Boo and Scout share a moment that is one of my favorites in all of literature. Our Boo and Scout never met as Boo joins us five months after her death. Their coloring is similar but that wasn’t a deliberate choice (that’s Boo above, Scout at a similar age below). The timing worked out nicely as a few weeks ago the similarity would have been too much for me to bear.
So welcome, Boo. You’re home now.
Scout would have turned twelve today.
This was my view these past twelve years as I edited nearly every image you’ve seen here, Scout in her heated bed, sitting right in front of me. Usually she’d be curled up in the bed but sometimes she’d watch me as I worked. She was a tiny little thing so if she was laying down she had to stick her head up to reach the top. It didn’t look too comfortable but it always made me laugh.
Oh Scout, you were the best, and I miss you so.
We weren’t sure how Templeton would react to having another cat in the house when we brought Scout home in May of 2001, but thankfully he accepted her quickly. She idolized him and snuggled with him every chance she got, and he’d often lick her head and sometimes give her an entire bath. The two friends have been reunited again. As we did with Templeton, we had Scout cremated and my wife picked up her remains on Saturday. Scout’s ashes now join Templeton’s up on the mantle.
I took this picture of Templeton and Scout snuggling in the window seat of our old house in November of 2001. Nearly everything in the picture has changed since then. Both Templeton and Scout have since passed away. We moved half a year after the picture was taken and I no longer have that wonderful window seat where the cats and I so often snuggled. The pad that lined the seat, just visible in the lower left corner, was made by my mother-in-law who passed away a few years ago.
The blanket though, made by my wife for me years ago, remains. Time has taken its toll and there are tears in the fabric, but it remains the blanket I use every day in my office. It links all the pets together, as all past and present spent many hours sleeping and snuggling on it. I took it into the bedroom when Scout and I stayed there at the end of her life, she spent her last day on it as she slept on my chest.
There are more valuable blankets, but none more treasured.
Another picture of Scout at five months old in 2001. Even as a kitten Scout often wanted to nap near me, which in general I found adorable, but when I was working at the computer she would sit directly on my right hand and try to sleep, meaning I couldn’t so much as move my hand without waking her. We hadn’t yet discovered the wonder of heated cat beds, but I came up with a compromise that she accepted: I kept a pillow beside my keyboard that she could sleep on.
Templeton started using it as well, but once the cats got hooked on the heated beds, there was no more need for the pillow. I did keep the beds right beside me though, right up through today, and part of remodeling my office meant making sure there was space for three heated beds near my desk and couch.
Scout at 5 months old in 2001, she had been with us for a few months at this point. She sat and slept in very tidy positions, a big change compared to our other cat Templeton.
Boolie 