Meet Binx

I'm sorry for not posting for so long. It's that time of the year where every teacher is demanding these ridiculous, outrageous, several-hours-in-the-making projects. So, I'm over my head in craziness. So much that I haven't had a chance to write about the new addition to our family.

As many people know, Stuart and I have been obsessed with getting a dog. It's all we want in this life! We have our home. We have our cat. We have our hamster. We have each other. Now, we need a dog!! We want German Shepherds, preferably younger than a year so that we can train them and bring them up how we want.
God laughed at this plan. He laughed oh so very hard as we continually live in places where our landlords have one major rule: NO DOGS!! Stuart and I halfheartedly accepted that fact. Instead, we go to the animal shelter and walk those dogs, pretending that they are ours. Or, we spend time reading books or watching documentaries about raising and training dogs, planning on one day being PUPPY SUPER PARENTS!!! Watch us pick out a Marley and all hell breaks loose.
God laughed at us again on the evening of November 3. It was cool night, and we had the windows open to let in that fresh mountain air. As usual, Sparta was glued to the windowsill in his efforts to live outside vicariously by smelling and watching all he could through the screen. Then, I noticed Sparta had a very familiar body position and was making familiar noises. They weren't his "I see a bird or a bunny" noises. It was his "THERE IS A FREAKING CAT IN MY YARD!!! GET OUT OF MY YARD!!! I WILL KICK YOUR BUTT!" noise.
Sure enough, a completely black adult cat stood frozen in the dim glow of the outdoor light that flooded over the stepping stone pathway and front steps. When I saw him, my "save every animal in the world" gear kicked in, and I went to the door expecting him to dash away into the night. However, I was surprised to see the cat come straight up to the screen door and start meowing even though there was a hissing, spitting, angry feline in the window only a few feet away.

"Stuart, I bet he's hungry!" I said and immediately poured a Tupperware bowl of Blue Buffalo cat food. Again, I expected the cat to flee when I opened the screen door, but instead he pounced on the food, eating so heavily that he pushed the bowl off the side of the steps. Quickly, I threw on a coat and went outside to right the bowl. He ate and ate and ate!
"Baby, I think he's lost!" I said sadly, petting his thick black fur. He was so playful and sweet that I thought he couldn't be older than 2. But, man, was he huge!! He was just your perfect big, meaty black cat like straight out of a storybook about witches. All he wanted to do was rub himself against us and crawl over our laps.
It wasn't long before the worsening cold drove Stuart and I to make a decision about what we should do with the cat. It was Saturday night. The animal shelter was closed on Sunday. Several questions and scenarios raced through our heads. What if he has fleas? What if he starts spraying because he smells Sparta? What if Sparta gets at him? What if Sparta starts spraying? What if the black cat doesn't know how to use the litter box? What will our landlord say? My brain was spinning!
"It's so cold outside," Stuart said.
His heart had already melted at the cat that looked just like his childhood cat Snickers back in Raleigh. I, too, couldn't make a decision worrying about Sparta and how the cat would fare in the cold weather outside. Thinking about the essay I had just written about my devotion to Sparta, I told Stuart to put the cat out. 

He hates the harness.

Once the cat was back outside, we listened to him whine piteously so much that my heart couldn't take it, so he's stayed the night in the bathroom. Sparta was at the ultimate level of anger. He nearly took my face off!
Poor Stuart... he had to listen to the kitty whine, scratch, and cry all night long. All the cat wanted was a warm bed to sleep in. Instead, he slept in the airless, tiny bathroom with a shoe-box-turned-litter-box taking up most of the floor space. 
Stuart raced off to work early the next morning leaving me with Sparta and the new cat. It wasn't long before my reserves against bringing him into the house changed to a love for him.There are two notches in his left ear, and his left eye often "cries." He has a black nose and black whiskers. He is the perfect-looking Binx from Disney's Hocus Pocus. He also has a very strange habit of constantly kneading. For the first five days, Binx constantly extended and retracted his claws. He even did it while standing still. Once, he fell asleep and his feet kept kneading!
That morning and afternoon, I put flyers up about a found cat in our neighbors' mailboxes, posted a status on The Sylva Herald and The Western Carolinian Facebook, and the night before Stuart had called our neighbors through whitepages.com. Nothing!!! No one had lost a black cat. No one even owned a cat! We were stumped.
By the time Monday rolled around, I had become attached. Sunday night, I had a speech all ready for when Stuart came home about how I couldn't stand to take him to the shelter. Black dogs and cats are usually the first ones to be put down after aggressive animals. People just don't like the ordinary normalness of a black animal. They are overlooked, especially black cats because there are so many of them. I knew that if we took him to the shelter that I would have to wait weeks before returning to make extra sure I didn't see him in a cage. I proposed to Stuart that we bring into our family Binx as our new outdoor cat!!
And, God bless him, he said yes!!

The Must List, November 10

1. The Cherokee Animal Care Clinic
Cats and dogs run rampant. Children play in the corner of toys or inspect the newly  arriving animals. The building itself is large, spacious, and open. There's no scary smell of vet. The employees are friendly, relaxed, and professional. We took our new cat here to get his rabies vaccination. They took him back and handed him over in less than five minutes. They even gave us his rabies tag --- no tag fee, no mailing it in!! Gaston County, you make things too complicated!! We're staying here, thank you! What a wonderful vet clinic. We were very pleased. Oh, and... $8 shot!! Heck yeah!!

2. Helium balloons
What fun! My puppy birthday balloon is over two weeks old, and it's still floating against the ceiling. The other two, sadly, have passed on! But, that's when the fun part begins. That's when you get to make a small incision in the side of the balloon and suck out all the helium and talk in a squeaky voice. I find myself extremely hilarious when I talk like that.

Starting to die...!

3. Paint your own dishes
I took another trip to Claymates, our local paint-your-own-pottery, last month and decided to spice up my dinner dishes. I painted a plate to look like you're eating your spaghetti or steak or pizza out of a pond with lily pads. I think everyone should paint their own dishes. It's creative and original. If I have kids, I think I'll take them to a paint-your-own-pottery place and have them paint their own dishes. They'll be masterpieces!

My finished plate

4. The Prince of Egypt DVD
I loved this movie as a child, and now, it's just as good but for all different reasons. First of all, Ralph Fiennes as Ramses is just brilliant! He has the perfect voice for animated films. Secondly, no matter what you believe about the story of Moses or if it even happened this is still an amazing film about faith and hope. The songs are beautiful and moving. The animation was unheard of at the time. Look carefully at the plague scene and appreciate the animated magic!

Pharaoh's wife finds Moses

5. Creative clocks
I'm very obsessed with decorating. I wish I had a bigger house just so I can keep decorating. As for this place, I've kind of run out of wall space. However, when I picking out what I needed for my Cullowhee trailer, I realized... "My gosh, I've never had a wall clock! To the Clock Section!!!" AWAY! And there, I found my adorable chef clock. He's perfect with his fork and knife hands, "Good Food Served Here!" phrase on his belly, and the wire outline of the man himself. Aside from being cute and fitting in the kitchen, Stuart gets a kick out of him, too! Yes, clocks are meant to be practical objects of telling time. That doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with it!

6. Leftover Halloween candy
You know you're still eating it... you even bought more now that it is on sale, didn't you? Yeah, admit it!!

Kodak Moment: Piddy Paws

Yesterday, I lost my best friend. After over ten years, my cat Piddy Paws' faulty heart couldn't handle life anymore, and he had to be put down. It hasn't quite hit me yet that I've lost him, probably because I wasn't there yesterday. I was three hours away in Cullowhee ironically heading out the door to inoculate our new addition to the family (but more on him later).
I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for Piddy's last moments. I hope that somehow he remembered me and all the fun that we had together growing up. We were quite a pair: an awkward skinny girl and big, fat cat. He was my best friend and confidant even when he drove me bonkers. I loved everything about him from the white lightning bolt between eyes to his extra pounds.
I feel like I said good bye to him a long time ago when I left for college with Sparta. Sadly, I could never take Piddy Paws after his refusal to use the litter box kicked up a few years ago. I never got to share another Trix yogurt cup with him or squirt water into his mouth from the squirt bottle that was supposed to be used for discipline. After a year, he didn't even run to greet me anymore and treated me like a stranger. I just hope he somehow remembered before. I always will.

Piddy Paws loved sleeping in weird places

His favorite thing in the world was being outside.

My favorite picture

Playing with Sparta

He was a fat, fat, hungry cat!

And totally cool!

Memoir of a Cat Part 3

Read Part 1 here!

Read Part 2 here!

****

Before, Sparta was a cool cat that jumped into company’s laps the moment they sat down. Now, he shies away from them until a few hours later. Before, he had Piddy Paws to play with and enjoyed sleeping the day away. Now, he waits sadly for his masters to come home each day wondering if they left for good and refuses to have any other cat or dog in his presence. When we do return home, Sparta refuses to leave our side sitting on the uncomfortable floor beside me when I work even though he could be curled up on a warm blanket or bed. The behavioral changes in him are something I will regret and chastise myself for his entire life because pets are more than pets. They are part of the family, and I hurt my best friend when he had always been there for me.

            Now, Stuart and I happily live together in Sylva as subjects of Sparta’s two-bedroom mobile home kingdom on the banks of Scott Creek. He owns my entire bed and at least half of the couch, spending his days napping and sprinting through the house now that he has a long stretch of hallway again. For Christmas, he received a three-layer kitty tree, which sits next to the window. Sparta’s happiest moments occur there as he climbs like a monkey from layer to layer or sits on top swishing his tail as his eyes follow the birds outside. Even though he has been in this setting for several months, however, Sparta still exhibits the confusion and hurt whenever we both leave and the clinginess when we return after his ordeal. My hope and my goal as I plan out my future after graduation in December 2013 is that Sparta will have a stable life from now on, one filled with love, attention, and as little road trips as possible. As much as he has done for me every day since we began our friendship sophomore year, I believe it is only fair for me to go out of my way and make his life the fullest and longest of any cat that ever lived. 

The End

Memoir of Cat Part 1

For Intro to Creative Writing and Editing, our final project for the Creative Non-Fiction section is to write a memoir, personal essay, person essay, or place essay. I chose memoir as it is genre I enjoy and I already what topic I wanted to write about. There is nothing dearer to my heart than my pets, present and past. My major dream right now isn't working for the New York Times or writing a novel. It's owning two German Shepherds... or maybe a beagle.
Since I brought him into my life full-time, Sparta has been the being in my life that my day revolves around and his around me. I can't start the day properly without cleaning up cat vomit. I can't end the day without cuddling with him on the couch. So, I wrote a memoir about him and what pets have meant to me during my life. Here is part 1.

Piddy Paws and Sparta...when they still got along

[The Untitled Sparta Project]

"Shards of glass gleamed in the yellow light of my lamp. Glitter twinkled among the threads of dark carpet. Adrenaline pumped through my body waking me fully from my deep sleep as I stared at the mess and slowly came to the conclusion that nearly everything had been destroyed. Yellow eyes stared back at me across the mess with fear and curiosity. I realized I was in way over my head.

Sanibel

Growing up, pets were a central fix on my life. My mother, who deserved to be the wife of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, played wife, mother of two, and high school biology teacher when she was not imitating Irwin by wrestling our life-sized crocodile float for the backyard pool. Real life drove a stake between her and her dreams of rescuing wildlife and working with Siberian tigers. However, that did not stop her from passing on a love and respect for animals to me, her oldest daughter. I, too, became obsessed with every furry creature that passed my way, and together, we rescued several baby rabbits, raised monarch butterflies, and took in abandoned kittens. All of our own pets, except the reptiles and small mammals, were picked up off the street or adopted from the local shelter. It seemed as if we were always bringing in a new animal because, ironically, we were never able to keep them alive for whatever reason. Sandy the lizard froze to death, Nibbles the guinea pig just fell down dead, my first hamster was eaten by the cat, Nikki the cat had an aggressive streak that bordered psychotic making her unsafe, and Frisky the cat disappeared one frosty morning and was never seen again.

Turquoise

When Sparta entered my life, we had Candy the dog, Piddy Paws the cat, and Turquoise the turtle. Ma recently put down her long-haired, pink-nosed cat Luca who had taken the place of her one true love, Sanibel the white-haired cat of princes. Now, she had found a new replacement under a car at a gas station at two in the morning. His nose was light like a cougar’s, he had gigantic lemur-like golden eyes, and a strange brindle pattern over half his face and down his back.

Candy

            Sitting on the couch, I was watching TV as usual. My sister Abbey always went to bed late, which meant that I got the TV in the morning since she’d sleep until at least noon on the weekends and in the summer. That morning, Abbey emerged from her room earlier than usual. It took two glances before I noticed the bright-eyed kitten sitting in her arms.

            “Look, Alexa!” she squeaked, cuddling the kitten as Candy tried furiously to get at what was in her arms. The kitten was completely unfazed by the short dog and kept his eyes on me. Immediately, I reached for it; furry animals were like a magnet for me.

Nutmeg

            After the usual whining and crying, Ma relented that we could keep the new kitten much to Piddy Paws’ annoyance and Candy’s excitement. It took quite some time to come up with a name, but after watching a YouTube video about a crazy, exuberant cat, we settled on the name of Sparta, or Spartacus when he had done something wrong.

            After adjusting to his new home, we realized that Sparta was unlike the usual cat. Aside from his strange but beautiful coat of miniscule stripes on his head, leopard rosettes down his back, and a ringed tail, Sparta had several characteristics of a friendly dog. YouTube overflows with videos of cats that attack, spit, and hiss at their poor owners who only want to reach out and stroke them. Sparta never attacked out of viciousness no matter what oddball position he found himself in among our arms. At the shake of a feather toy, Sparta back flipped and leaped into the air with ease and agility. He even played fetch for small furry mice toys, bounding after them and prancing back with the toy in his mouth. Occasionally, a strange gleam would enter his large eyes, and he’d streak down the various hallways with gusto and craziness.

            Then, I never knew how much of a part Sparta would play in my life. I already had a cat with Piddy Paws. Piddy was a stray I picked out of a litter at the local animal shelter as a replacement to yet another cat we could not keep alive to old age. Piddy Paws, a fat regular cat, was my whole world all through middle school and high school, and when I went to college and lived in a residence hall for a year, it was Piddy Paws I cried over incessantly, longing to return to my friend. In my sophomore year, I was allowed to have a pet in my new apartment. Piddy Paws was the cat I wanted, but Piddy Paws was also the cat that refused to use the litter box and peed on random objects. The smell of cat pee is a nose-cringing, breath-holding monstrosity that cannot be removed. To take Piddy to my new apartment would be a one-way ticket to eviction, but I had to have a pet with me. I also felt it was unfair for my mom to solely care for my cat and turtle, so I decided to pull Sparta out of her home and into mine instead of picking out a new friend from the animal shelter..." 

Piddy Paws

The Must List, October 27

1. "Love to Me" from The Light in the Piazza musical
In my opinion, this is the most beautiful, most innocent love song ever sung!! It will melt your heart.

2. "Rumor Has It/Someone Like You" mash-up from Glee
What a fun song by the Trouble Tones, a group from the hit show Glee. It's fun, it's sassy, it's girl power! And, it features the amazing singing talents of character Santana as she comes to terms with being in love with fellow cheerleader Britney.

3. Halloween candy
YES!!! It's socially acceptable to eat as much junk food and candy as possible again! I love this time of year because I can indulge in my candy addiction without being chastised... as much, anyway! There's now a large bowl on our kitchen counter filled with Nerds, Crunch bars, Laffy Taffy, Air Heads, Pixy Stix, and Butterfinger bars! Delicious!! Now, how to resist having some for breakfast?

4. Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch
Yeah, probably my favorite breakfast cereal. I have loved it since I was a kid! Peanut buttery goodness mixed with crunchy-ness and cold milk, what's not to love? It's better than the regular Cap'n Crunch. I will admit the Crunch Berries are pretty awesome, but nothing compares to the Peanut Butter! Whoever said let's make cereal that tastes like peanut butter is my hero!

5. Green Street Hooligans
It takes about half the movie to finally understand the British English being spoken, but this is a movie with a fast-paced plot and such a satisfying ending --- arguably, the most satisfying ending in film history!! Matt is kicked out of Harvard just before graduating after his roommate frames him with drug possession. He flies to England to visit his sister and nephew where he meets his brother-in-law's brother, Pete. Pete runs the local hooligans that cheer for the West Ham United football team. It's more than a match to them. It's blood, guts, glory, fighting, and life and death. Elijah Wood sheds his Frodo baby face for this moving, gutsy movie alongside future Sons of Anarchy VP  Charlie Hunnam. Be sure to check it out.

6. The Hobbit updates
Come on, you know that you're secretly checking all the different movie blogs to get more and more details about The Hobbit. It's the most anticipated movie release since The Lord of the Rings. Sir Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf the Grey, Elijah Wood is back as Frodo, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, and Ian Holms is back as the old Bilbo Baggins. This is the movie event of the DECADE!!! And, it's a trilogy yet again! This is an epic moment in film history you're not going to want to miss!