Harvey a.k.a. "Old Yeller"
July 1992 - July 2009
I will always remember when I first saw you at that farm in Texas. I was responding to an ad for "free Himalayan kittens." (I'm confident you didn't have Himalayan in you, bud--sorry, no fancy pedigree for you.) You were so tiny that your ears looked huge. You had a big scab on your nose, your white stomach was black with fleas and you had ear mites and worms. At the time I was looking for a friend for Mutata "Stats", your Siamese-tabby sister. I took you home and you immediately had to have a bath to get rid of the fleas. Even though you were tiny, you shredded my arms. (This was your first and last bath, but ironically you came to love water.)
You and Stats fought for two days and then you snuggled up and gave each other baths. You were a holy terror when you were young. The havoc you could wreak was impressive for your size. You used to jump at a picture (hanging on the wall) sink your claws into the bottom of the frame and hang from it. Do you remember that time I had people over for dinner and you jumped right onto the table and landed on a guest's plate? You left a PERFECT cat print in her ketchup. (We all laughed pretty hard about that. Fortunately, she had cats, so it was all good.) How about climbing Mom and Dad's 18 foot Christmas tree? Shredding the paper from the gifts before they could be opened? Chasing ornaments until they were broken? I think it was that same Christmas, after a freak snow storm, that you caught your first mouse. It was almost as big as you were. You brought it right up to the slider so that we could all see it.
When we moved to San Francisco you were so used to going outside that you cried and cried until, against my better judgment, I let you go out. I remember coming home to find you eating tuna off of somebody's porch. (They told me you were crying so they thought that you were hungry--you always did know how to work it!) Or remember the time that I got a call on my car radio on the way into work because you had somehow gotten yourself locked in the laundry room? How about climbing up that tree in Austin to the second floor balcony of an unoccupied apartment and then deciding that you would just hang there until I found you? I had to climb the tree, stem over to the balcony, crawl over, and then we just walked through the empty apartment. The second time you did it, remember that the slider was locked and we had to climb back down?!! Climbing back down was traumatic for both of us but you learned your lesson that time and that trick was not repeated... Good times!
I could never keep a collar on you when you were younger. I don't know if it was because you didn't like them, or you were just such a roamer that it got in your way. Do you remember in Austin coming home with a patient ID bracelet around your neck? Someone had written "what's my name" on it. I must have spent hundreds of dollars on collars and ID tags for you. That was the same year that I kept smelling something bad and couldn't find the source. When I took down the Christmas tree I found the Christmas gift you had left under the tree for me, a half-eaten rat. Mystery solved. I don't know if I ever properly thanked you for that~
How about the time in California when the neighbor came over asking me if you belonged to me. (I think we both know that I actually belonged to you!) I was afraid that she was going to complain about you hanging out, but it turns out that you had discovered another joy--girl scouts! She told me how you always knew when they were over and you would go next door to be carried around by a bunch of silly little girls. (She wanted to know where I got you--so she could get a kitty just like you!) I hated to disappoint her, but you were a one of a kind kitty.
When we moved in with Mom, you took to hanging with the wiener dog, Bandit, across the street. That year we discovered that you liked to be petted with wet hands. You became a beggar for "wet pets." Every time we would get in the pool at Mom's you would come over to the edge and beg for them. I wondered if you were just hot, but later you discovered that when I showered, I would come out with wet hands, perfect for petting. That was our ritual. I would shower while you would wait, meowing occasionally for me to pet you.
I don't remember precisely when I fell in love with you, but it didn't take long, and you took my whole heart. I know wherever you are that you are with Dad, Grandpa and Grandma and Shawn. You are reunited with Stats, Tootie, Lady, Bruno, Raspy--the list goes on and on. You are climbing trees again, chasing lizards, birds and mice, hanging with Dad in a garage somewhere, working on a car. We had 17 good years and I will always love and miss you, but someday, I will see you again. Until then, safe travels handsome.
Love, kisses and wet pets~
Mom
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