Memories of Frisky

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One good kittycat. Secure, long-term position in loving home for the right applicant.[/B][/CENTER]
As you may know, we lost our cat a week ago Saturday. We were sad, of course, but we are doing a lot better. We have already decided that we will be getting another kitten/cat from our local shelter--once we get over the hurt of Frisky's death a little more.

Frisky, after all, was no ordinary cat. No indeed! She had many talents and skills, some learned, some picked up over the years. She definitely had a personality.

She liked to climb and explore. Did not like to be held. She would tolerate being held for a while, but then she would "get springs," as my wife called it. Many times I would see a little scratch on her breast, the legacy of Frisky's kicking feet when she felt she had been held too long and my wife didn't get the hint in time. Her last little scratch is fading away and getting hard to see.

I never got a picture of that. I never got a picture of her helping my wife read in bed. She would get in bed with a good book and Frisky under her arm. While she did not being held, she didn't seem to mind that, and when I came in to kiss her (my wife, that is) good-night, I would keep my distance if Frisky was there--lest she decide to run off.

The first nine or so years of Frisky's life with us were not documented, not be me, at least. But once I got my first digital camera in 2001, Frisky was a favorite subject. I used photography to document Frisky's many talents.

These photos are in approximately chronological order.

She was very good at holding down the bed. Especially stacks of freshly folded towels ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-OnTowels-10-01.jpg[/IMG]

While I never got a picture of her "helping my wife read," I did get this picture of her on the pillow ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-OnPillow-10-01.jpg[/IMG]

On Christmas Eve 2001, she posed very nicely on the post at the bottom of the staircase. That's Maggie closer to the camera ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Stairpost-12-01.jpg[/IMG]

Frisky was very good about testing the quality of the different pieces of clothing we buy. All we had to do was place it somewhere flat, and she would be quick to try it out ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-CoatNap-11-01.jpg[/IMG]

How to get Frisky to come out of hiding? Very, very easy, and it didn't involve opening tuna cans. All my wife had to do was hold up her slicker brush, and Frisky would jump up. She loved her slicker brush ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Slickerbrush-4-02.jpg[/IMG]

Whenever we had vanilla ice cream, she was very good about helping finish off the melted cream at the bottom of the bowl. Waste not, want not ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Icecream-4-02.jpg[/IMG]

I never got a picture of one of Frisky's strangest habits. Shoestrings. Honest!

When there was an discarded shoestring in the house, she would take it and carry it around in her mouth--while meowing with a closed mouth. I don't know how many times we were in bed and suddenly hear a meow, meow off in the distance. It would be Frisky, climbing the steps with a shoestring in her mouth.

After she died, my wife told me the time she was replacing zippers in my jacket and several others. Frisky claimed the old zipper from my jacket--picking it out among the others--and started carrying it.

Also, when I got home from work in the late afternoon and changed shirts or took off a sweater and left it on the bed, Frisky soon would be curled up on it. So when we went out of town for a day or two or three, we would leave an unwashed shirt or two on the bed. When we came back, we could see Frisky had been lying on it. It had our scent, you see.

Here, Frisky (and Maggie, too, for that matter) helped my wife show off some of her quilts. She was always ready to get her ears scratched ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Headscratch-11-03.jpg[/IMG]

She also helped us at Christmas time, inspecting my wife's new wreath ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Wreath-12-04.jpg[/IMG]

And when a mouse found its way into the house ... you might as well turn off the TV, because you'll never see anything more entertaining than that. It was the four C's: chase, command, conquer and consume. In this picture, we are at the conquer stage ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Mouse-4-05.jpg[/IMG]

She would come around to visit sometimes while we were watching TV, and one night she found her own special vantage point. Her skybox, you might say. We kept it up after that ... until last week, when I took it down. It was too hard to look at it...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-InBox-12-05.jpg[/IMG]

Would you believe that Frisky was able to look in two directions simultaneously? I know it sounds impossible, but you can't argue with pictures ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Doubletake-12-05.jpg[/IMG]

Here, Frisky helps my wife get a few extra winks in the morning ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Pillow-3-07.jpg[/IMG]

By now, I had a new camera, and the Frisky pictures got a little better. It helped me get a picture of her next to my wife, getting her tummy rubbed. She loved that, too ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-Tummyrub-3-07.jpg[/IMG]

It was spring, and the smell of fresh, new, young grass was in the air. Frisky would put her paws on the front door screen and look outside, so we moved a kitchen chair for her convenience ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Apr07-DoorChair-4-07-1.jpg[/IMG]

That is the season for "grass parties"--when my wife would take several blades of fresh new grass inside. The cats were all excited, meowing happily. Here, Frisky is hooking down my wife's hand with her paw so the grass will be closer...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Apr07-GimmeGimme-4-07-1.jpg[/IMG]

Frisky was never interested in going outside, though. We never had to worry about that. Last April, though, a rare moment: My wife carried Frisky out onto the back porch ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Frsky-BackPorch-4-07.jpg[/IMG]

Those are all treasured memories, and we have many more. We will get another cat. That much is definite. But we are realistic. Frisky was unique, and they broke the mold with her.

Our new cat will be unique in his/her own ways. That is as it should be. And we will love him/her. That is how it should be, also. With our history, the cat who decides to adopt us will be part of our family into the 2020s.