An Anniversary

It has been a year since I adopted Polka Dot and Moonbeam. After Lollipop disappeared right after I moved them from the small storage room out into the barn I didn’t know if this day would ever come. But it has. These two cats that had such a difficult and scary beginning have been transformed. I’d have to look back in my notes to get an exact idea when the trials and tribulations came and there were some. But thay made it through and so did I. But you would never know that they were rescued from a hoarder or that they were feral except if you were someone other than me and you tried to pick them up. They don't run away and hide when people approach them anymore. Moonbeam’s eye never recovered its sight. But moonbeam can’t tell. She has not grown too big. She remains the smaller of the two. And although not always the first to make breakthroughs in personality and loss of her fearfulness, she always made the leap of faith with energy and determination eventually. By early summer both Moonbeam and Polka Dot started hanging around the house. In fact one night Moonbeam kept me awake by meowing at my window till I had to get up to entice her into her enclosure in the barn. By September most late afternoons they were sitting outside the kitchen window waiting for feeding time. As I carried their food out to the barn all I had to do was say their names and their tails stood straight up with the little hooks on the end. It made me laugh out loud, it was such joyful behavior. They would stop once in a while and roll around, looking for that extra pat on the head or tummy. Polka Dot was the most demonstrative. She would wind herself around my feet to almost trip me to get her chance of being picked up to be carried on my hip. Even Moonbeam would drop on her side and reach her paws toward me to get an extra pat. As we would get closer to the barn and their nighttime enclosure (that I close every night so they can’t get out to tangle with the coyotes, hawks or owls nearby) with just a little hesitation to make sure the way was clear they streak inside where I place the dishes. They are happy to be inside their enclosure where they feel safe. I worried for a while about them being inside a small space for the night but they don’t try to run out after they eat. The just jump up to the top of their climbing tower and proceed to clean their faces and lick their paws, and to snuggle up together to rest for the night.

In the morning, on the days I feed the horses, when I open the door to let them out I always get some rubbing on my legs to remind me that I am required to stop and give them their morning petting session