No joke, to the best of our knowledge Gimi was born at the SF SPCA one year ago today.
Gimi has grown into a large and affectionate cat whose personality is still quite kittenish. His latest obsession is the trash can in our office, which he loves to climb into, paw at, and otherwise scour for bits of paper he can pull out and play with.
UPDATE: Fixed – Gimi’s photo was not appearing in all browsers.
Emboldened by his success as a paperweight for my school stuff, Gimli is now trying to cuddle up to my laptop.
I was rushing to get the shot, so it’s not in perfect focus, but still worth sharing.
Gimli is almost a year old now. We rarely use his “full” name — more often than not we call him either Gimi or Gimlet. Something similar happened with Tina (she was originally named Christine) so I’m not too surprised it has happened again.
Here he is, camped out on top of my stuff while I’m trying to do homework at my “second desk”, aka the dining room table. I have way too many books and papers to try to get school stuff done on my ‘real’ desk.
It’s been several weeks since I catblogged on a Friday. Gimli is about 10 months old now and has grown into the biggest cat in the house. Here he is, hanging out in the kitchen.
He’s still a very active kitten most of the time, but can also be very affectionate. His habit of grooming both people and other cats has not gone away and is very endearing. He has, thankfully, grown out of his former habit of chewing on my nose to wake me up.
On a rainy and chlly Friday, Tommy and Gimli can be found seeking out the warmth to be found on (or near) the top of my monitor.
When you bring a pet into your home, it’s a form of Faustian bargain. Pets bring a lot of joy into a life – but their own lifespans are relatively short. You know the day will come when you have to say goodbye to your much-loved friend, and that day is always much too soon. Today was the day I had to say goodbye to my sweet companion of the last 17+ years, my cat Tina.
Tina came into my life in the summer of 1987 via the North Shore Animal League. This is a not very good scan of her then.
Over the years she lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, and San Francisco, and despite preferring people to other animals she managed to live with 7 different cats and (briefly) one puppy. When Scott came on the scene, she took to him immediately and when I wasn’t around was more than happy to hang out with him (or just about anyone else). But through it all, her favorite person was me and her favorite place to be was on or near my lap.
Despite a diagnosis of progressive renal disease 3 years ago, Tina remained an active and happy cat until these last few weeks, when her disease progressed rapidly. This week, her kidneys finally shut down and she stopped eating. Scott and I knew we had one last vet visit to make. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but seeing her in pain was worse.
There’s a lot more I could say about Tina – stories from happier times – and perhaps one day I will, but for now I am just too sad. There are three other kitties in our home, and I love each one dearly, but Tina was my first pet and has a special place in my heart. I miss her very much.
