Rain City Story

Meet Kirby.

Kirby. The Kirbster. The Kirbinator. Our secret blend of Kirbs and spices. Kirb.

A little over two weeks ago (it has been a teency bit crazy in my world of late), Amy went to a Washington Basset Hound Rescue benefit in Seattle just to give Sally some exercise. Though I didn't tell her, I didn't want to go. Not because I don't like dogs but because I knew there would be some dogs there that would break my heart and make me take one or more home. As a bleeding heart, tax and spend liberal, this is a weakness of mine. I got out of going due to some disaster at work but the end result was the same.

Amy didn't bring a dog home but she brought home some pics she'd taken with her camera phone of a boy dog named Sammy who had been abandoned by his owner at the previous weeks' Basset Rescue Benefit. Amy was appalled that he'd been abandoned in this manner but I thought it was just about the best thing this guy had done for Sammy. I been if you're going to abandon a dog, do it at a place where you know he'd be cared for and the Basset Rescue would no doubt do this.

When I saw his picture, I had little doubt he'd be ours soon. He's supposedly pure Basset but I suspect he's got something else in him due to the size of his noggin and his lack of droopy eyes. Anyway, he's pretty damn cute but we're his 5th home. It took us about a week to coordinate a visit with the Seattle chapter of Basset Rescue run by Alexa who must have the biggest heart in the world. I think she had 20! Bassets and a very old mixed breed dog the night we picked up Kirb.

We changed his name to Kirby because Sammy was just too close to Sally, our other Basset Hound whom we adopted in a similar fashion back in the summer of 2004 (Sally also had five previous homes). Kirby and Sally got along pretty well from the start and sleep together in the same (very large) crate every night. A few tussles over food every now and then but for the most part are BFF (best friends forever). The cats and Kirby get along well though Grace has asserted her dominance a few times (Kirby wasn't hurt, just humiliated) to let Kirb know who's the boss in the house. Even so, he's got a good home now and is one lucky dude.

You can see more pictures of Kirby in my Kirby Flickr Photoset.

On the subject of Sally, the story of her adoption (which we didn't even know existed until we adopted Kirb) can be found HERE.

The Newest Member of the Family

Two weeks ago on an unusally stormy Saturday night, I went to the bookstore and forgot to close the garage door. When I returned home, I nearly had a heart attack when I stepped out of my car. An unexpected MEOW-MEOW! right in the face startled me and I instinctively covered my face. When I looked past my arm, I saw a drenched and skinny black cat standing on top of Amy's Subaru Forester (about a foot taller than my Saturn Coupe) pining for attention. I quickly put down the books and called for Amy to come help. I got a towel off my bike trainer (it's in the garage) and dried the poor guy off as he purred incessantly.

Amy took a look and said she would be back with some food and fresh water which he eschewed in favor of love an attention. After he had enough pets and was relatively dry, he took to the food like he'd never eaten before. We quickly determined he was a male (and neutered) and guessed that he'd been some family's cat because of how friendly and needy he was. I remembered that I had seen a "LOST CAT" sign nailed to a utilitly pole a few weeks ago and ventured back out in the pouring rain to retrieve it. Amy called and sadly, this was not their cat. Theirs was a brown and black male tabby and had been gone for over five weeks. We called all of the neighbors (our cul de sac has a little directory for such things) but no luck.

For Amy and I, we didn't even need to discuss whether or not we would care for him- kicking him out simly wasn't an option, but we knew we couldn't bring him in with the already tenuous dynamic between our three other cats and Sally, our dog. So we made a little bed for him which he instantly took to and made sure he had fresh water and some quality dry cat food. We would leave one of the three garage floors open just enough for him to fit under. The next day, he left while we were at the grocery. I didn't say anything but I was silently sad. I kept checking the garage every couple of hours for him but he did not return. I went to bed hoping he had found his home or another safe place. Around 2 am, I went downstairs for a snack and checked the garage one last time. I found him all cuddled up on the bed of blankets we had made for him and I felt really relieved. I woke Amy to tell her and she was happy too.

He seems to love his new digs. He now has a warm, safe place to sleep and a constant supply of good food and yet can cruise the neighborhood anytime he wants. Bentley is surely jealous. He has fattened up sufficiently and his hair has begun to grow back.

A name? Well, we haven't named him yet because we're afraid we'd become too attached (too late!) but we better get working on that because he doesn't appear to have any other plans. And that's just fine with us.

Grace Loves Figment

Maybe not as much as pineapples, but she definitely digs him.

Thanks Kell for sending him!!

The Toughest Decision

You can see more pictures of Ellie HERE.

The Ellie problem that I've written about before (here, here and here has not been resolved despite our serious efforts and it's time to let Ellie go to a better home. For whatever reason, Ellie doesn't like Bentley and Gracie and they don't like her. We had given Ellie her own bedroom with a great window looking down on the street but she needs more than that. The thing is, she LOVES people. When someone is around, she loves to climb on your lap, meow and roll around. She comes to you when her name is called. When she's outside her room (only when Amy or I'm home), she can't make a move unless she wants to get tackled by Beavis or Gracie so she just stays hunkered down behind one of us. When we lock Bentley and Grace in the master bedroom, she almost instantly perks up and has the best time.

So we need to find her a good home. I won't let her go to just anyone, it's going to have to be a friend or family who is responsible and doesn't have any other pets. She's an incredibly awesome cat and deserves a great life. Ellie is hands down the best and sweetest animal I've ever known. In fact it tears me up inside that she has to go since I always pull for the underdogs in life. She's letterbox trained, never scratches furniture and likes to cuddle when you want to. But she needs a better life and us keeping her in a home like this is incredibly unfair to her. I'm not sure how I will handle the first night she doesn't sleep behind my head on her little pillow.

If you're a reader in the Seattle area and know of a good home for Ellie, please drop me an e-mail so I can meet them and check out their place.

Thanks for reading.