TESSI AND HER MINI ME

Hello, Everyone.

We are six weeks into life with Thea and things are going very well. While I expected Teddy to take right up and be best buds with her, it has been Tessi who has stepped up to the plate and become surrogate mother to her niece. Hey, who knows… maybe she knows they’re related.

Theodore has been wonderful but his time is morning time. After that, he seems to avoid her for the rest of the day. Kind of funny coming from the non stop energizer bunny who wakes us up at 2 am every morning. Apparently, he can’t handle all the energy the kitten has. He runs laps with her in the house before Bob goes to work in the morning… jumping in and out of the tub.  He leaves the entertainment to me, Bob and Tessi the rest of the day.

She was the kitten who thought humans were “gross” who has come out of her shell and when Bob and I are watching television in the evening she spends that time with us, while Teddy and Tessi are out on the catio.

Okay, I’m rambling… I leave you with some photos….

Hugs from our corner,
Arline and the Triple Ts

 

 

 

 

THE CATIO

Mission Complete!   We have built a “CATIO”.  Best thing about it… it’s an absolutely hit!  I was worried that Tessi would be too nervous to venture out and enjoy the fresh air, but she is out there more than anyone!  I’m so very proud of my nervous Nellie that she took the leap (out the window) to enjoy the birds, the butterflies and even the few bugs that have made it through the cracks (which have now been filled with silicone caulking)

We still haven’t decided exact what we want for furniture out there.  There are still perches to be added, but we are comfortable for now and enjoying it.  Teddy, of course, would like to go high and into the rafters if he could… but will have to make due with half way up.  That appears to be Bob’s limit on reaching up to bring him down and in when night falls.
I’ll keep my chatter short on this one and share some photos of the Triple T’s enjoying life on the porch.

 

Grant Out!   ♥

 

This photo is proof it is a “catio”.  Note the human on the floor and the chairs are filled with cats~  (giggles)

 

NEW BEGINNINGS

Hello, Everyone

It has taken me quite some time to come back to this blog.  I was afraid to.  Afraid to read the headline, to see Evie’s name…saddened to once again see that beautiful face staring back at me as I wrote my goodbye.  Not to say I don’t see her everywhere else, I do.  Her photo is my desktop on my home computer, my favorite photo of her hangs over the fireplace…  I see her in things that Tessi does and even more so just in my mind when I close my eyes.  Her ashes rest on a shelf in a beautiful box I lay my hand on each time I walk by.

In the two months that have passed since I last posted, we finished the “catio” and added a new member to our family.  It was a difficult decision.  One that I’m certain some folks thought I rushed into too quickly.  While I don’t feel I have to explain myself I will anyway.

We needed a diversion.  Something to help Teddy and Tessi and yes, ME, with our grief.  New life, happiness and the chance to give another a good home.

Four weeks after saying goodbye to Evie I took the drive north, back to Kelimcoons to pick up Evie’s great-granddaughter.  We named her Thea Evangeline.  Thea means “a gift” so it was a most fitting name for her.

Before even seeing her I had to have her!  All it took was, “well we have one who is very, very shy and doesn’t like people.”  YES, PLEASE!!!!  “Oh, you don’t want her.”  YES, YES I DO!

We had discussed different scenarios.  One of Evie’s daughters once she stopped breeding, maybe a kitten later on… nothing felt right except this kitten who thought people were gross, that I had never seen.

Then a photo arrived….

Oh, that face!  Be still, my heart.   I did my best to wait patiently for a decision to be made.  They wanted to give her a bit more time to come out of her shell.  I was NOT worried about this.  Tessi came to me very, very shy and has been the most sweet, loveable cat that has ever come into my life.   She may not give her heart to many, but to those she does, she doesn’t hold back.

The next photos I received of Thea again took my breath away…   What a little cutie.

On July 3rd (what was a thinking… holiday traffic and here I was heading up into the White Mountains) I threw the carrier in the car and off I went.

I held it together the whole drive up but crumbled when I walked in the door.  Greeted by generations of Evie offspring was overwhelming.  I hated the thought of what had brought me back as much as I adore the Bergs.  I should NOT have been needing to add to my furry family.   Evie should still have been with me.   But, that is not what this post is suppose to be about.

Funny, how things turn out.  When I fell in love with the unseen kitten, I knew who her mother was but not her father.  I actually thought she was no relation to Evie; then I learned that her father was Supernatural Sam.  Evie’s grandson.

Well, they weren’t kidding about shy and thinking humans are gross.  Took quite some time to catch the little stinker.  She was tiny and sly and could squeeze into and under objects a human arm could not reach.  Once everyone went about doing other things and I planted myself on the floor and waited… out she came.

She started by thinking her Uncle Nate would protect her from the scary lady who had come to take her home, but eventually made her way across the kitchen to get a drink of water.  Yes, another “water cat” like Theodore!

It took a bit of coaxing but once I had a hold of her I knew I would never let go….

So, welcome to the family Thea.

 

Hugs and Purrs,

Arline

 

A HEARTFELT THANK YOU

I don’t know where to begin.  I opened my blog this afternoon to find a flood of wonderful, loving messages from people, some I don’t even know.  New folks to my page, old friends who have been following me for some time.

I will spend my evening looking at each of your blogs.. I see cat people, dog people… all sorts of critter people.  People who “GET” how I feel.  Those who understand the loss.

Your words have brought me comfort.   I cannot thank you enough.  To have so many reach out with sympathy is overwhelming and so very appreciated.

I wanted to take this moment to also thank the staff at my veterinarian’s office who have hearts of gold, who put up with me coming in even after Evie was gone to just stand in the lobby and cry.  Folks who did all they could to save her and treated her like a queen whenever she was there.

She was my one cat I never minded leaving at the vet.  Put her in a cage and she thought she was back on the show circuit.  She’d sit at the front, trilling to the techs, as if they were judges who could be sweet talked into another title.

TICA Triple Grand Champion, CFA Grand Champion
Hollishill Evangeline of Kelimcoons

We needed no ribbons as proof.  To us… you are and always will be….

BEST IN OUR HEARTS!

Hugs and Purrs,
Arline, Teddy and Tessi

 

AN UNEXPECTED GOODBYE

It is with a most heavy heart that I write this post. I don’t come here nearly as often as I should but seem to find this my therapy when I have nowhere else to turn.

Last week we had to say goodbye to Evie. Hollishill Evangeline. Tessi’s mother…the “Mamma Bear”.

Within twenty four hours she went from a happy, healthy, running around playing with her laser light cat, to not being able to walk, blind and suffering seizures.

While we will never know the exact cause, we ran every test possible other than a brain scan and everything was normal. They lean towards a brain tumor, but of course, we will always wonder.

The last eight days have been difficult. It is always  hard to say goodbye to a beloved family member. While difficult, when it is their time, after a long life… it is expected. This was in no way expected and hit us like a brick… or better yet… a semi…barreling down the highway.

We are adjusting to our new “normal” around here. Tessi has ceased using that heart wrenching moan as she searches all of her mother’s favorite resting spots. Bob has stopped commenting on the fact that his lap is empty as that was her favorite place to spend evenings. Teddy is another story.

I started this blog because he was something “special”. Not your typical cat. He runs to the door when the bell rings. Doesn’t have an enemy. Has never met a stranger.

His reaction to the loss of the Mamma Bear is something I have never seen in my lifetime of having (and losing) pets.

Theodore is very social and for that reason appears to have been hit the hardest by the passing of Evie. He doesn’t play. He no longer sits in the window and watches the birds. He hasn’t dropped his mouse at my feet to play fetch since she left us.  It’s getting better. He’s slowly coming around. Thankfully he’s continued to eat or I would be a complete mess.

He is lost without the leader of the pack. We all are. While I joke about him being a total pain in the ass…I am overwhelmed by how he wears his heart on his sleeve. I didn’t see this coming.

The last week has been very difficult. Evie would have been seven on Saturday. On Saturday we raised the roof on our catio. Bob finally gave in and was building a haven for the cats to go outside. It was bittersweet. She would be happy, I’m sure, that we were continuing…but, it’s hard to think she won’t be out there. Basking in the sun.

Hopefully I’ll be better about posting. But, then again… I’ve said that before.

Thank you to whoever reads this for taking the time to listen.

To the Mamma Bear…
The hardest thing I could do was let you go but it was the greatest gift I could give you. Rest in peace, my friend. May the rainbow bridge be all we imagine it to be. We will always love you. Your short time here, made it Heaven on Earth for us. ♥

 

Hugs and Purrs,
Arline

53 WEEKS

A year and a week has passed and Miss Tesserae continues to do fabulously!  That new knee of hers made her a kitten again.  She has a new feather toy and jumps, leaps, bounds over everything.  She has become the occasional aggressor in battles with Theodore.  She jumps onto windowsills and now opens every cabinet in the kitchen in search of where I hide her feather toys.

It is sometimes hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since I panicked and almost cancelled her luxating patella surgery.  I’m so very glad that we went through with it.  It was a difficult decision, a sometimes difficult recovery…but worth every step (and every penny, that I finally paid off)

 

Hugs and Purrs,
Arline

9 Months Post Surgery

The last time I wrote was five months ago.  Shame on me.  Blogging is certainly not my strong suit, that’s for sure.

Tessi is doing amazingly well.  Looking back I think a lot of little quirks she had may have been due to her inability to jump or run.  I think she probably always had a problem with that knee and now that it’s repaired she’s like a new cat.

I won’t deny it…I still cringe when she jumps.  But, less and less each time.  It took me several months but I finally put the perches back on the seven foot cat tower.  She leaps up there like it’s nothing.  It is amazing.

Looking back on the fear and hesitation before having her operated on, I am so very thankful I went through with it.  She has certainly faired far better than I have.  For those of you who might remember, too exhausted to think clearly after her surgery I took a fall and separated my right shoulder.  After physical therapy, anti inflammatory meds, ice every night (still) and an MRI this summer….I guess it “is what it is” and it’s “my” new normal. Guess the arm won’t be what it was before…the older we get arthritis settles in to all those messed up spots and takes over.  Oh, well…it’s always something, isn’t it?

I’d love to say I’ll post more often, but I say that every several months don’t I?  I wonder if there’s such a thing as an annual blog?  lol

Tessi watching her fish

Evie (Tessi’s Mother) and Tessi…see the chickadee?

Kisses for the Mamma Bear

Merry Christmas!!!

Arline

16 WEEKS …

Hard to believe, it’s been four months since Tessi’s surgery.  Four months since I was torn in two as to whether to put her through it or not.  Four months since I brought her home, all drugged up and broken.

For the record, I am sooooooooooooo glad we had her knee fixed.  She is doing absolutely, unbelievably well.  She runs, she jumps, she plays, she climbs.   She’s like a new cat.

I slowly returned levels of the cat tower to their rightful place up near the ceiling.  I cringed each new level and each time she jumped up (or down).  I still do…but, I don’t know why.  She’s not having any trouble at all.

She’s the first one up in the morning, talking away, like she use to when she was a kitten, following me from room to room.  The first in the kitchen when it’s time to eat and the first to the door when I get home.

I hate the thought of ever having to do the other knee, but if it needs to be done I won’t hesitate.

Life is good!

Arline

THROWBACK THURSDAY

MAY 2011 …..the arrival of Tesserae

 

It’s been two years, and as of late, a couple of stressful months.  Wouldn’t change any of it though.  Adore this cuddly, loveable fur ball and cannot imagine life without her.

Happy “GOTCHA DAY” Tessi! ♥♥♥

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY