/sigh

Don’t we all feel like this come each new year?

We got home from Mariah’s parents about 40 minutes ago, and set about cleaning up the house after this morning’s excitement. Mariah and I were in our room sorting through finished laundry. We assumed that Caira was with Marilyn in the bathroom as we get glimpses of her in the bathroom, through the ajar door. The lights are on, and Caira is shrieking and laughing like someone is tickling her, so we pay it no mind until we hear a tremendous crash.

We run in there to find Caira sitting in the wash basin, shrieking, laughing, and hurling anything at hand at Princess. The poor cat is huddled in the corner and looking absolutely terrified.

Caira Clanton, aged 17 months.

You are mother fuckers, one and all.

I don’t care that you love your daughter and would never hurt her, that you own six cats and would never hurt them, that hey, I have this cat here you can have to replace yours, that I’m going through hard times right now, that I’m really sorry, I didn’t notice hitting anything and why are you shouting at me. It doesn’t give you fucking leeway to do 50 through a 15 mph area and run down my cat.

We loved Scooter. He was one of the most absolutely friendly and playful cats I’ve ever had a joy to know in my life - it was nearly a daily thing that we would see him at a neighbour’s house and playing with their children.

Mariah rescued both him and another of his litter from death’s door and bottle fed them back to health. Caira loved him. He was her play pal, you know. He never bit her or clawed her - a true rarity for our eclectic selection of cats - and she loved nothing more than to just hug him.

Everyone else here loved Scooter too. You’d never get him to admit it, but even Mariah’s dad loved the cat, and he’s a curmudgeon in the finest sense of the tradition.

So thank you. You ran down my daughter’s cat in front of her. Watching Scooter bleed out and die on the pavement, and knowing I couldn’t help him, was one of the absolute worst moments of my life.

Thank you, you son of a bitch.

Scooter

In amongst my wanderings and doing of the past week, I had another run-in with the world’s most awesome alley cat:

Tough Cat +1

Incoming terror

She just wants love…

I really love this cat. She’s beautiful, friendly, and very playful to boot.

/lame_blurb

I was in connemara with Mike on Tuesday morning, although honestly most of my photos outside of the IR I took at Lough Corrib were muck. We met Katie in Spiddeal on the way back for lunch and I got sun burnt.

/lame_blurb_2

The vanishingly rare Pink Tree

One alone