Pooky Lally 1988- 2009

I know it's been a long time since I have been here and I have been in a bit of a Kitty quandary but it's something I needed to do and get out of my system and pay homage to my friend.

POOKY

I think it only fair that I take the time to honor what was and will always be precious and dear to me my cat Pooky. She left this earth on July 12th 2009. I had been out of town for 10 days exploring Colorado, while away she stayed at my mothers. I knew her days were limited just by the shear craziness of her age 21 and the tiny frame of her little kitty body 4lbs. Although she was ancient and weighed hardly anything she was the most determined and loyal furry friend I have ever known. In her determinedness she waited for me to return and then declined rapidly when I got home. She ultimately died of kidney failure. What I really want express here is what a wonderful cat she was while she was alive and well.

Early Years

She was referred to by one of my good friends and previous room mate "the self assigned Queen of her domain." Not a particularly friendly cat, she chose her friends wisely. Twenty one years ago, my sisters X husband went to the downtown Kansas City library one night on his bicycle. When he left the library that night he heard a meowing coming from the bushes and out came this little scruffy, homeless kitten Pooky. All through her life she always had a somewhat homeless shaggy, semi unkempt look. It's one of the many things that endeared me to her. Bill, my brother in law at the time put the cat into a bag and rode home with her. She never did like the sound of plastic bags. He brought her to me and I can still remember the look on that poor frightened kittens face when I opened the door. We were both young and had so much more of our lives ahead of us. Pooky got pregnant within a short time after I got her. I still feel guilty that I didn't get her fixed but I really had no idea that it could be that easy, sigh... She went into heat shortly after I got her and basically drove me up the wall with her screaming and carrying on. I lived in a tiny apartment at the time with metal blinds on all the windows. She would bang on the blinds, claw and cry 24/7. She could be very persuasive and highly vocal and always had a way with getting what ever she wanted. I caved and let her out, she gave birth to two beautiful kittens a couple of months later and was an excellent Mother. She out lived the orange tabby kitten, Pumpkin this I know. Pumpkin ended up being my sisters cat, he was a cute fat long hair orange tabby who knew how to pee into the toilet. All of her other kittens I have lost touch with but would give anything to find now. Pooky had one other litter of kittens before I got my act together and got her fixed. I am happy that she had those kittens they really did bring me a lot of joy and hopefully their owners too.

Cat Dreams

Pooky, out lived too many pets to mention I was incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated cat. For those of you reading maybe you can relate to the bond that can happen between pet and owner. One of the strangest things that happen between us and I still would like to know how or if it has happened to any one else was when we would sleep together and dream. Yes I would sleep with my cat, big shocker right? The big deal was when I would sleep and dream I swear we were dreaming the same dreams together due to the content or animal like dreams that I had. Mostly dreaming of other cats, sometimes hunting. I would wake up and think now what in the world would possess me to dream of kittens and mice. This went on for years. Now you probably think I am really strange but it's the truth, I will have to do some research on it.

The Middle of the Night

On the sweeter side of things years ago when I lived with a room mate, she got a part time job decorating large chocolate bars over the holidays. They consisted of big plaque

like bars written with Happy Holidays from such and such company and big chocolate Tennis racquets with Holly branches decorated around the handle. My room mate took the chocolate home one night and worked for hours squeezing icing out on all the chocolate orders which were due the next day. The next morning we got up and looked and to our surprise all her hard work was virtually gone the chocolate remained but no personalized decorations. Pooky had come along and licked every little bit of icing clean off every single order. There she laid in the sun looking pleased and stuffed. There really wasn't much time to do anything but dash out some more decorations over the licked on evidence, no one ever found out that year their gourmet chocolate had been licked on by a cat! We still laugh about that incident.

While Away

Pooky was a clever cat, highly intelligent. She never had the wanderlust feelings that an old Tom Cat might have, she much preferred the comfort of her own home and the simplicity of familiar surroundings. When I did go away she would stay with my mother. My mother lives in a huge house and during Pooky's younger years she was kept down in the basement to wander amongst my mothers vast collection of doll houses. Once while away, my mother went down in the basement to search for my cat, to no avail she couldn't find her. She kept hearing her little meow but couldn't see where it was coming from. Finally she realized the cat had booked herself a room and made herself comfortable in one of the doll houses and was looking out the bay window watching the world (well my mom) go by.

The Right of Spring

One Easter Sunday instead of finding easter eggs in the lawn I was greeted by a perfectly dead baby bunny thanks to the Pookster. Pooky had all her claws and liked to use them she was an out door cat and exercised her cat rights. She liked the thrill of the hunt and loved early spring. Early spring met baby bunnies. This became an on going tradition with her every april several baby bunnies were sacrificed to the jaws of the great calico lawn cat. I would hear the baby bunnies high pitched, surprisingly loud screams in the middle of the night. Outside my bedroom window, under the peonies is where they had their nest. Safe from the blades of lawn mowers but not the feline predator. I still find it strange that such noises can come out of what is typically known to be a silent creature.

Cat Cries

Pooky had a several nick names one of them was Mouth. She was very vocal probably because I talked to her so much. We really did have conversations. One cold blustery fall night I had let her out to go poke around, she never went very far. I decided to paint my toe nails, I had just finished painting all ten toes cherry red when I heard the most terrible cry. Pooky was crying and yelling like she was really pissed. I could not exactly put my shoes on and run outside. So I carefully/gingerly walked on my heals with my toes up in the air to the outside of my house where I could hear her crying loudly. It was dark and cold and the leaves were blowing around outside. I called out to her and she answered back- of course. I looked to see where she was, behind a big board leaning up against the house. I leaned down to pick her fluffiness up and when I got about 2" from her I saw a big long pink fleshy hairless tail. I almost picked up an Opossum! Pooky was just across the way in the bushes watching the whole thing go down, such a clever cat.

Bird Watching

Lately I have taken to bird watching. I placed a new bird feeder right outside the window where I have the table set to eat. While grabbing a bite to eat I liked to watch the birds, close hand, come and visit the feeder. Pooky was fond of sitting in the chair where my husband usually sits across from me. Well he was gone that day so it was just Pooky and I. That day little sparrows flew to the feeders chattering and carrying on like they do. Pooky would duck and then slowly peer her head above the table to get a better look. This went on for a while, occasionally she would glance at me for a reassuring look. As if she was saying did you just see that one. after several minutes, out of nowhere a very large flicker woodpecker got curious and decided to see what all the ruckus was about. When it flew onto the bird feeder it was so heavy that it actually made the feeder crash into the window a bit. By this time Pooky was very wide eyed and just peering evenly with the table, slowly her head rose as the wood pecker lazily bit into a black sunflower seed. Astonished Pooky once again looked at me with amazement. The bird flew away, at this point Pooky began to meow in such an affirming way, as to say look what just happen right under my nose and whiskers I could almost taste him. She hopped down off her chair and walked straight to her basket of toys across the room meowing loudly the whole time. Not a big fan of toys or playing I was surprised to see she went right for the small bright red teddy bear my husband had won for me at a carnival and started attacking the living day lights out of it. In the pure expression of "I want to kill something" she satisfied her urge and I laughed my butt off.

Cat Mittens

Although she had a homeless some what shaggy look about her, she always kept her coat clean and pristine, thats pretty good considering I never once gave her a bath. I knew what was best and would rather not get ripped to shreds over silly little bath water. She had the most wonderfully soft luxurious fur and smelled like a clean sweater. In her later years as I got more eccentric about her I began to collect her fur and have saved enough to maybe make a pair of mittens out of. These mittens will rival any cashmere I know. I don't spin or knit this will be yet another project to obsess on and then blog about. Got any suggestion ???

A Friend

She came to me during unsure times and won me over with her tenacity an affection. She gave me so much and stuck with me through the toughest times. I have in my heart a depth of love that is deep I am forever indebted to her for the lessons she showed me about life. It's hard to explain but I am a better person because of her. She might be in the ground in a box out in the back yard now but to me she is forever etched in my memories and I hold them dear. I am the lucky one.