I knew there would come a day to blog my cat. Looking through some old photos from back in the fall of 2006, it occured to me that this critter has spent more than sixteen years with me. That’s more than anyone else other than my parents. She certainly stayed around longer than the ex-wives.
She’s not all that friendly either. You may grab her attention long enough for a playful swat from her paws (never trimmed) and she really doesn’t like to be held. Not very active anymore either, could be her age, but the winters seem to draw her indoors where you’ll most often find her hibernating in a pair of jeans on the floor or a warm spot with the perfect angle of the sun. Other than the downstairs trot to the kitchen where she eats, she spends very little time looking out the window – thinking of birds.
A lot of people still have trouble calling her by name. DiDiDo (pronounced – Di Die Do). That’s what Chris Jones first called this little gray kitten when one of his red-headed girlfriends brought us a house-warming gift for Christmas in the early nineties when we were living in Mount Carmel (Chris had his own humor…he joked Keith Harkleroad about the name saying, “you can call her Di, you can call her Do, but don’t call her DiDiDo – rhythmic and it was good enough). Those was years of the bands and musicians living together – Ahab and the Wailer, The Watch and plenty people hanging out all the time. She grew up listening to loud music and used to spend her time strolling through the rafters of the basement and the platforms/speakers that gave her great places to explore.
She had two litters of kittens out in Hawkins County, Chadwick, Ocelot, Stripe and several others we never bothered to name.
She made the move to Kingsport pretty well (loves to hang out by the pool in the summer) and is suprisingly healthy for a cat that has sixteen years on her nine lives. A couple of years ago, what was called “that last drive” to Colonial Heights Vet Clinic because she had been hit by a car near Falls Creek road. We thought her pelvis was crushed and before the deed, the vet gave her another chance. That was three years ago and she’s still ticking.
Perhaps it was a long weekend at home recovering from surgery that I decided to blog the cat and guess it proves at least one thing. I can take care of something for more than 16 years. Of course, she’s the ultimate free spirit and not that much trouble for me and for that matter she’s always around anymore and probably will be with me till the end – whichever goes first, but that’s a record for both of us!